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thank you [Music] [Music] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that knows all of Bill Belichick's personal New Year's
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resolutions here is the captain that's right don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk it's good to be seen and it's good
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to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week we are drinking 614 lager by
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the good folks over at Wolf's Ridge Brewing 614 is a Midwest light lager that's lightly dry hopped and has subtle
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melon and citrus notes it's only 110 calories so it goes great with my fake diet that I'm pretending to be on and
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it's 4.2 percent ABV garage grade 3 and 3 4 bottle caps out of five and here's the big cheers to our garage friends
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that are likely pretending to be on diets as well big cheers to nurse Chrissy at Johns Hopkins Bayview
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Hospital fighting the covet and a big cheers to Leslie in Dublin Ohio next up Captain we have a shout to Trevor in
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Louisville who says he loves the captain and appreciates my know-it-all attitude
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a big shout out to Alan and Raven Virginia next up Captain we have Stephanie and Omaha Nebraska and last
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but certainly not least we have Angel and Rina in Sterling Heights Michigan everyone we just mentioned well they
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went to True Crime garage.com and they clicked on the beer fund donate button and for that well we thank you and a big
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tribute beer run to Bob Saget rest in peace my friend b double e double r u n beer run
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and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
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crime [Music] foreign [Music] South Carolina this is the low country a generally
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rural Coastal area with a rich history with a down-home folksy population and a distinctly Southern feel at 6 36 pm on
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the evening of February 23rd 2019. six privileged teenagers three boys and three girls set off from a riverfront
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property referred by the wealthy land-owning Murdoch family as the island to head to an oyster bake this was a
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multi-family gathering at the riverfront home of another family the teenage crew
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armed with a variety of six packs stepped onto the Murdoch family's 17-foot Sea Hunt center console power
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boat and motored over to the island and docked at the woods home who were hosting the oyster bake the teens
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partied there and it appears they continued to drink at the Gathering although whether the adults provided the
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alcohol to them knowingly is Up For Debate the six kids left by boat at 12 11 A.M the boat had no running lights so
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they will use flashlights to navigate their route along the waterway at 1 13 am surveillance footage captured the six
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walking down the well-lit deserted new day dock in downtown Beaufort to the Murdoch family boat
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the youngsters were Paul Murdoch his girlfriend Morgan Doty Anthony cook his girlfriend Mallory Beach and Anthony's
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first cousin Connor Cook and his girlfriend Miley Altman they boarded the Sea Hunt and pushed off
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from the dock at 1 17 am they had no idea what was about to happen at 2 20 am a frantic 9-1-1 call
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came into the Beaufort County Emergency Services Connor Cook was the caller 911 where's your emergency
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please fire in with us [Music] we're we're about the northern Street yeah Archer Street
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archers Creek archers Creek that's that's crazy what's going on this Bob Pierce island wait what what's
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going on we're in a boat crash do you know what what kind of a boat crash um a boat did you see a boat crash
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okay so you're at other area at the dock hello are you are you at the dock no we just passed in a boat wait are you
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in the water are you we're we're in the boat [Applause] okay okay hang on one second okay I'll
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call in reference to the disabled I'm sorry uh boat crash [Music] there's six people on board they
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currently have one missing all right it's in archers Creek which is right there off of Paris Island there's a
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bridge on paraceland they're underneath it they crashed into the bridge house trying to
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form I'll be in rounds to the Bell Bridge he also notified Port Royal and of him oh no as well
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make a notifications okay it's uh one female and that's all the description I have
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over right now em miss one respond to it and accident with injuries 50 Marines Drive Boulevard in Paris
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Island repeating it's going to be a change in that location their own malecon drive down
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right before you get to the traffic circle [Music] evidently the girl was sitting on her
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boyfriend's lap when they hit the bridge at a high rate of speed and now she's missing um foreign
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[Applause] Connor Cook the caller sounds pretty calm but as it turns out he was talking slow
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because he's talking with a broken jaw the dispatcher tells officers that the boat Hit The Archers Creek Bridge
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leading to Paris Island at a high rate of speed the missing girl was sitting on her
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boyfriend's lap when the boat hit the pilot some of the occupants were ejected into
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the water as you heard when the call was placed in 9-1-1 all of the occupants were
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accounted for minus one nineteen-year-old Mallory Beach after 30 minutes the Beaufort County Sheriff's Department
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responded to the scene of the accident along with EMS and the fire department First Responders arrived to find the wet
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kids freezing huddled together injured and crying all except for one Paul Murdock
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who stood in his boxer shorts alone making a phone call to his grandfather Randolph Murdoch
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by the time the Department of Natural Resources which holds jurisdiction over boat crashes arrived all of the kids
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except Anthony were at the hospital Anthony was still pacing on the shore waiting for search boats to locate his
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girlfriend Mallory no field sobriety tests were administered at the scene which is
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surprising to say the least Beaufort water search and rescue described the condition of the boat
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after the crash as follows the front left side which would be the driver's side is split open from the
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nose all the way to the back there's a six foot gash where the boat actually came apart at the scene blood
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was on the floor of the boat photos showed the boat was severely damaged and the bridge pilings had marks and dents
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from the impact before they trailered the boat and removed it from the scene DNR officials took photos of what they
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found on it there were life jackets per protocol but there was a lot of other stuff that was
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not protocol pursuant to a search warrant an inventory dated March 4th reflects that a total of 49 bottles and
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cans of alcoholic beverages were found on board 27 of them were empty and there was more
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police collected surveillance footage showing 19-year-old Paul Murdoch buying alcoholic beverages at a convenience
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store in Ridgeland this was at 5 30 PM the evening before the crash he used a fake ID that belonged to his
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older brother Buster who was several inches taller heavier and several years older
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two of the other teens also purchased alcohol at the same place just minutes earlier
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and police found surveillance footage of Paul Murdock and Connor Cook entering a
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Beaufort bar called Luther's rare and well done at 12 55 a.m they ordered two rounds of shots
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the bouncer made a written statement that he checked the IDS of the two subjects
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they had South Carolina over 21 horizontal IDs after they asked him if their friends could come in and he said
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no not if they were miners Paul and Connor down their drinks at which time Paul added a video to the
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Snapchat story of the two doing Jaeger shots note they each had two drinks in the span of 12 minutes
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they left the bar at 107 am 10 minutes later the boat with six passengers will leave
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the dock one hour after that Connor Cook will be on a call with emergency Personnel explaining that they crashed
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the boat and the passengers were thrown from The Vessel and one of them Mallory Beach was still missing it took a week
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for Mallory to be found on March 3rd her body was located in a marsh about five miles from the crash
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site she died from blunt force trauma and drowning and Mallory's death would kick
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off a series of events that would rival the plot of even the most far-fetched Thriller
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this is true crime garage and this is the Murdoch family murders [Music] after the crash at Beaufort Memorial
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Hospital the kids were all put in separate rooms and examined by nurses and doctors to assess their injuries
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some of the kids had serious injuries and required surgery a nurse who examined Paul Murdoch who was not really
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injured reported that he was quote only wearing boxers and that he was grossly intoxicated and belligerent
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adding that he appeared to be the most intoxicated and uncooperative of those involved a Doctor Mark Mercer
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corroborated this saying that in the examination room Paul was being unruly and uncooperative with the medical staff
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he observed that Paul was clearly intoxicated and slurring his speech and unsteady on his feet
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now this didn't come out until later but WRDW reported that a blood test taken at
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the hospital around 4 a.m showed that Paul Murdoch had a blood alcohol level of 0.286
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so to break that down this is more than three times the legal limit and that was
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two hours after the accident so his levels would have been higher at the time of the accident
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this alcohol test was not administered at the request of law enforcement which I think it's important to point this out
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here Captain this test was not administered at the request of law enforcement this was conducted by the
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hospital staff at their choosing because Paul was acting so aggressive and strange at the hospital and to the staff
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they were trying to determine what was wrong with him if he had something seriously wrong with him and I think we
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both find it pretty strange that law enforcement didn't do a sobriety test the minute they arrive at the scene look
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not all of us have been there but some of us may have there are situations where you can't even get back into your
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vehicle before they administer some kind of test to you to see if you're able to
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drive or should or should not be driving this is a horrible situation here obviously Captain because we have one
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missing who would later turn out to be dead we all know that booze and boats don't mix but factor in all the other
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factors these are kids too you know we said he's over three times or nearly three times
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the legal limit but he's not even legal to be drinking in the first place and with his behavior you wonder if he was
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on something more than just alcohol yeah and I think we can examine that a little
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more as we go along and get to know Paul a little bit better while the kids were at the hospital
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pretty quickly Alec Murdock now I want to address some things here real quick before we get too far into the weeds
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there's a lot of different ways to pronounce a lot of the different names and places in the story and we are
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simply going off of the information that we have and what we've been able to review as far as Beaufort or Beaufort
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goes or Murdoch or Murdoch and Alex or Alec tomato tomato potato potato let's Call the Whole Thing Off
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the important thing here Captain is that while we're at the hospital we have Paul's father Alec Murdock
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he's a prominent lawyer in the area and we also have Paul's grandfather Randolph
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Murdoch remember Paul was on the phone with him while the other kids were huddled together and crying and scared
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right Randolph is also a prominent lawyer in the area both of them are on scene at the hospital makes you wonder
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if that's the reason why law enforcement didn't do the initial sobriety test well
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and I don't think anything's weird with father and grandfather being at the hospital you know with their grandson
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and son there injured after a tragic accident right that's normal but when your kids in the
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hospital you rush over there to make sure that he's okay that's totally understandable that does not appear to
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me to be what Paul and Randolph were doing at the hospital they were conducting their own sort of business
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their own sort of funny business while they were there right as it has been alleged in court filings and backed up
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by witness statements Alec and Randolph started trying to keep all of the kids from talking to the police
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more specifically they were trying to stop the kids from telling the police who was driving the boat which would be
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very important in this situation and even worse it seems like they tried to imply that
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maybe one of the other kids Connor was the actual driver of the boat at the time of the accident
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this of course is extremely Shady but some of the kids were telling the nurses and officers that Paul was drunk and he
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was driving the boat like a maniac with no lights on and he drove right into the
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bridge Paul denies driving the boat and Alec Murdoch exerted his influence to somehow
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delay and confuse things so that the police reports basically said we're not sure who was driving the boat
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we need to investigate this further well obviously you should be operating anything when you're that intoxicated
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but on top of that like you said they couldn't even see anything because of the fog so they're using flashlights and
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this Yahoo seems that he decided to drive recklessly and try to show off for his friends well it's illegal to be
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driving a boat at night with no running lights as well so good point there's just all kinds of laws being broken here
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by these these 19 year olds we said teenagers one of them was 20 at the time but uh yeah just underage uh and poor
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poor decision-making and I'll take that a step further and I think we're going to see this poor behavior from one Paul
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Murdoch one of their friends is now dead because of this that makes you a murderer it seems like Captain the Alec
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was successful in getting the other parents to agree to stop their kids from Talking probably by telling them that
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they should consult an attorney before speaking with law enforcement but the result was to protect his own
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kid Paul Murdoch from liability yeah this is pathetic right he's going to present this as oh it's it's in your son
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or daughter's best interest to not talk to the police until you have a chance to
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lawyer up but in reality what he's doing is protecting his own son not everybody
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police obtain search warrants for Mallory Beach's Apple watch and iPhone and the boat's Garmin but for some
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reason they did not seize Paul's phone or search it as far as I was able to tell
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they also reportedly did not take Paul's wallet which contained the ID that he used to purchase the alcohol right the
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fake ID they also obtained a search warrant for the boat's storage compartments and containers for any
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evidence of illegal underage possession of alcohol which we detailed the warrant states pursuant to the
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ongoing boating accident investigation it has been determined that parties on board and involved were underage and had
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been in possession of and consuming alcohol in violation with South Carolina law
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further based on witness statements it is believed that the vessel had been operating in a reckless or careless
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Manner and that evidence of such operation and the identity of the operator may be found on or in the
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vessel basically they want to search the boat to try to confirm who was driving at the
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time of the accident and what the whole situation was it led up to this accident
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the police are saying they are looking for evidence of who was driving one of the search affidavits says boat
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occupants were unable or refused to identify who was operating the boat this hmm might be in their legal document
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however to me Captain it appears to simply not be true this is an untrue statement in their document
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because we know that Miley told a nurse again she was one of the people on the boat tells a nurse and a police officer
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that Paul was the one driving the boat and that he was drunk in speeding and the Crash was a direct result of his
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actions now we have another person Morgan also on the boat she tells police as well that Paul was driving and that
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his driving was quote scary Anthony told police that Paul was crazy drunk and was driving the boat like a
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maniac but the police hemmed and hauled and danced around pinning it on Paul until
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finally they had no choice now we took a look at the actual handwritten statements of some of the
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kids that were on the boat that horrible night and they spelled out in detail what actually happened the police saying
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that they weren't sure who was driving was just completely indefensible clearly they were afraid
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fits news reported that one officer who wrote in his report that Paul Murdoch was driving the boat was later fired
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from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office which goes with my suspicion on why police didn't follow protocol
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and why they didn't test Paul when they arrived at the scene don't you think Captain In the Heat of
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that moment it's easier to go all right well maybe we don't test rather than test and then have to worry about the
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results later or covering up those results it's easier to just not do it and maybe it gets overlooked or they
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can't do their jobs if their hands are tied and your hands would be tied if you know that you're investigating somebody
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that has the power to to get rid of your livelihood I want to take a more detailed look at the the
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timeline leading up to the accident just after the accident as well I think it will help to make these the situation a
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little clearer so when the group when the six kids left the Woods house at 12 11 A.M several adults at the oyster bake
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recommended that the kids take an Uber home instead but the 16s got onto the boat and
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departed in the dark reportedly they had come by boat in the first place to avoid a DUI checkpoint
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that they knew would be in place that night so they're already making arrangements to to drink and hang out
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undetected that night well it's pathetic because you have the means like you said
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to take an Uber and you you chose not to so Paul drove the boat from the oyster bake party to
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the new day doc at a waterfront park in downtown Beaufort Paul and Connor wanted to get shots they
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wanted to go to this bar and the whole group would go there and they would do drinks and shots together so they docked
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the boat now no one else wanted to go like the rest of the group's like no it's late let's get home
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but these two are like now we we want to continue this party we want to keep the
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the roller coaster ride going Miley had to work early the next morning so obviously she wants to go home Morgan
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Paul's girlfriend yelled at him not to go to the bar but he ignored her and he and Connor went into Luther's at 12 55
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a.m the rest of the kids stayed at the park and hung out on the swings until after a few minutes when Morgan and
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Miley went to Luther's and tried to get Paul to leave now a little insight as to what's going
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on at Luther's at the bar Paul had just knocked over a bar stool and was trying to fight a guy outside of
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the bar Connor helped them get Paul to leave and they went back to the boat this is at 1
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13 a.m and Paul was visibly drunk and swaying this is based off of surveillance video this is my opinion no
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one else's Morgan and Miley sat up front in a blanket on the boat and Paul and Connor were at the console with Paul
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driving and Connor Manning the GPS and Mallory and Anthony sat in the rear on the live well with Mallory on his lap
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Paul started spinning circles in the boat and horsing around and almost hit a sailboat and the others got
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mad and told him to let Anthony Drive but Paul got defensive and started yelling at everyone
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according to a statement from Miley Altman Paul was very very drunk and was stretching his arms and hands out with
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his fingers spread wide apart one of the things that Paul does when he is very drunk so this seems pretty
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stupid to you and I captain this stretching out your arms and fingers but this is something that his inner circle
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his group of friends knows when this dude gets drunk this is something that he typically does this Paul character
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seems like a spoiled rich brat according to Anthony's statement and too bad he didn't get punched in the face
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that night right well according to Anthony's statement Paul had hit quote that drunk
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stage where Paul will start stretching his arms and his hands out and widening his
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fingers out as wide as he can this is weird right but it gets crazier Anthony and the others told police that
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Timmy was out that night well who the heck is Timmy Timmy was the alter ego of Paul Murdoch this is what
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his friends call him when he gets to a certain level of drunkenness and he gets mean and very toxic
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Timmy stretches out his arms and hands and his eyes get as big and round as half dollars and he doesn't blink
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now the nickname Timmy had been the nickname Timmy had been initiated one night at the Murdoch Family Home and
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mostly when Paul was about 16 and he got super drunk and turned into a different
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person and they said that once he reached this level reached the Timmy level that Paul
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loved to tear stuff up and got very destructive angry at this point his friends knew that it
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was time to leave so they're on the boat they're getting ready to leave he's turning into Timmy and his friends are
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telling him look you can't be driving the boat let one of us drive and instead he's he's reacting
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even crazier like oh I can't drive this is my boat and he's spinning it in circles basically doing donuts to which
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to the point where he almost hits a sailboat before they even take off out into the waters well Paul is turning
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into this Alter Ego this angry drunk and you just wish that one of these people would have stepped up and stopped all
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this and maybe their friend would still be alive foreign [Music] foreign [Music]
00:29:35
we are back cheers mates cheers captain you couldn't write this story that's right here in
00:29:44
the garage we always say that each case is unique there are no two that are the same but with this one they certainly
00:29:50
broke the mold here this is one of the most bizarre and strange stories I've ever that I think we've covered here in
00:29:59
the garage with many twists and turns it's up there with uh boys on the tracks well on the night that Mallory Beach was
00:30:05
killed I don't care how confused law enforcement and other agencies seem to be in the very beginning I understand
00:30:14
that Alec Murdoch and his father Randolph was they were really making it very confusing and getting everybody to
00:30:23
keep quiet in the beginning but on the night when Mallory Beach was killed Timmy AKA Paul Murdoch was driving the
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boat that's based off of statements that we've reviewed and everything that we could find now according to these
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statements Paul continued to drive like a nut speeding up and then slowing down abruptly so he's not just drunk he's
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just being a complete asshat at this point and really just horsing around and you can't be doing that when you're out
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in the water in a boat in the dark in the fog no running lights and you got other people
00:31:00
on your boat as well at one point he's driving so dramatically and acting so dramatic that Anthony and Mallory
00:31:09
were thrown onto the bottom of the boat and Anthony demanded that Paul either let him drive or let him and Mallory get
00:31:19
out of the boat and leave they'll figure out how they're going to get home but Paul says no and he continues to drive
00:31:26
the boat erratically Archer's Creek is a narrow tidal Waterway and it was Pitch Black outside so this of course is
00:31:36
particularly dangerous and of course no one is wearing a life jacket Miley's statement said that she yelled
00:31:44
at Paul to let Connor drive but he lost it and started screaming about how it was his boat and no one else was going
00:31:51
to drive it spoiled brat Anthony later said in his deposition that Paul said quote it was his boat and nobody knew
00:32:00
the effing River like he does and he is the only one driving the effing boat yeah you knew the river so well that you
00:32:08
ran into a bridge Paul then drove the wrong way and almost hit a large swing Bridge
00:32:15
which was in the opposite direction from where they were going so he's completely off the rails by this
00:32:22
point so Conor grabbed the wheel at this point and averted the crash if it wasn't
00:32:27
for Connor stepping in here they would have already wrecked the boat Paul then took off all of his clothes
00:32:34
except his boxers now keep in mind it's like 40 to maybe 45 degrees out there that night
00:32:41
shrinkage and then he abandoned the wheel and he goes up front to the front of the boat
00:32:47
where his girlfriend Morgan is sitting and he starts yelling at her she pushes him away and Paul hit her and spit on
00:32:56
her and called her a whole bunch of a whole slew of names yeah so he's abusive rich
00:33:03
self-entitled prick well I love these kids because they think they're rich they should keep in mind it's their
00:33:08
parents that are actually rich they've not done anything yeah but look at how his father's acting afterwards
00:33:15
self-entitled prick himself so we have Paul's girlfriend who will tell police that this was not the first time that he
00:33:22
had hit her uh Morgan started crying Paul then went back behind the console and wrestled the Wheel from Connor and
00:33:31
Miley stayed up front comforting Morgan Paul had his hands on the wheel when Miley last saw him so this is according
00:33:39
to her statement last she saw Paul had his hands on the wheel Anthony and Mallory sat on the boat's bottom huddled
00:33:46
together they last Saw Paul driving as well according to their statements Connor was next to Paul the boat sped up
00:33:54
and we know this from the Garmin remember they put the they got the search warrant to get the tech from the
00:34:02
Garmin that was on on board the boat sped up from 24 mile an hour to 27 and then all the way up to 29.
00:34:10
according to the garmin's memory and remember the boat had just a flashlight held by Connor for lighting to see where
00:34:17
it was going right all of a sudden the bridge came out of nowhere and the boat hit the piling at 29 miles per hour
00:34:25
Paul Anthony and Mallory were thrown into the water of Archer's Creek the problem here is when you hear 29 miles
00:34:32
an hour that's not that fast when you're in a car that is pretty fast when you're in a
00:34:39
boat yeah and you have to keep in mind too when you're in a car you have you have a top
00:34:43
right you know you have a you have a rooftop there that can stop you from being ejected from the vehicle you don't
00:34:50
have that in this situation yeah but this guy Paul he knows the he knows this Crick better than anybody
00:34:57
right say a creek or a river it's a it's a creek it seems like the worst episode
00:35:03
of Dawson's Creek ever Miley and Morgan and Connor were thrown to the floor of the boat the boat came to a stop on the
00:35:11
shore Paul and Anthony were able to fight the current and swim to shore but Mallory was nowhere to be seen
00:35:19
Miley and Morgan started screaming for their friend Connor called 9-1-1 and Paul called his grandfather on Miley's
00:35:28
phone on the shore Anthony screamed at Paul that this was all his fault and Paul
00:35:34
yelled at him to shut up and stop talking so it seems like he goes into Murdoch mode
00:35:40
everybody shut up don't say a word this is what happened next and this is according to People magazine
00:35:46
and I will censor myself here as I go through this Captain because it's a little much quote early this summer raw
00:35:54
police car dash cam footage from February 24 2019 crash scene was released by the Beaufort County
00:36:03
Sheriff's Office and obtained by fits news on the recordings Beach's boyfriend Anthony cook is sitting in the police
00:36:13
car when Paul walks by Anthony can be heard yelling at Paul and tells police Paul was out of control
00:36:22
that night none of them wanted to go to the bar and Paul was driving the boat when it crashed and beach was thrown
00:36:29
into the swirling current he says quote that mother effort needs to rot an effing prison end quote yeah Paul or AKA
00:36:40
Timmy [ __ ] princess Dingle donkey son of a motherless goat well Anthony's not done
00:36:47
voicing his opinions here he about Paul he says quote he ain't going to get into
00:36:52
no effing trouble and Paul allegedly Smiles at Anthony at this point and Anthony erupts screaming quote you
00:37:02
effing smiling like it's effing funny my effing girlfriend is gone and at this point he obviously doesn't know that
00:37:11
she's dead no but it's been quite some time and they've not been able to find her in the
00:37:17
ambulance Paul was belligerent and hostile and had to be strapped down by the EMTs and watched by an officer
00:37:26
police on the scene noted that he was visibly intoxicated see this is where you shake your head and go what the hell
00:37:32
like okay law enforcement in the the emergency Personnel they are alerted pretty quickly that Paul Murdoch he's
00:37:42
he's a person of some kind of power and influence here yeah and we also have police stating that
00:37:51
very early on once they arrive at the scene that this dude is visibly intoxicated yet nobody is going to
00:37:58
nobody's going to test anybody to see how intoxicated these kids are well they should have tased them right in the
00:38:07
butthole but as frustrated as I want to be with the cops the problem is the whole department because you notice when
00:38:14
he shows up and he acts like a freaking [ __ ] and then raged basically a psychopath is what he's acting like the
00:38:24
nurses don't hesitate the the staff at the hospital does not hesitate to test him
00:38:29
because they're in an establishment that at least protecting their jobs it seems
00:38:34
to me that these police officers showed up and because of their department and whatever connections they have to this
00:38:41
Rich entitled brat and his father it seems like their Department wasn't protecting them because like you said
00:38:48
one of the cops was fired yeah and when Paul was asked who was driving this again on the scene
00:38:56
when Paul was asked who was driving he says why do you need to know who was driving that isn't going to help find
00:39:02
Mallory now at the hospital Paul's father Alec and grandfather Randolph Murdoch by the way the former solicitor
00:39:11
and we'll get into that here in a little bit barged in and prevented Paul from giving any statements to police
00:39:19
Morgan's statement specifically says that when she got out of surgery Alec Murdock tried to enter her room multiple
00:39:28
times but the nurse would not allow him in in the hallway he kept saying that he
00:39:35
needed to tell Morgan what to say so Alec Murdoch stopped investigators from being able to speak to his son after the
00:39:44
accident all Paul's interviews had to be coordinated through his lawyers and the 14th judicial circuit
00:39:52
solicitor's office recused itself from handling the case for reasons that we will get into
00:39:59
so the Murdoch's managed to control the narrative to a certain extent muddy the Waters of the investigation provide
00:40:07
confusing information and slow the prosecution of one of their own Paul Murdoch well obviously it seems the way
00:40:17
law enforcement is acting or reacting to Paul that his family has some kind of power
00:40:24
but obviously we don't understand that being an outsider so what is their family background right who are the
00:40:32
murdochs and why do they have so much power that's the first thing that you want to know when you see this situation
00:40:37
well in 1910 we're gonna go way back in time here captain in 1910 Randolph Murdoch graduated from law school and
00:40:46
returned to his small hometown of Hampton South Carolina to go into private law practice The Firm he founded
00:40:54
would grow over the next 110 years to become the impressive Peters Murdoch Parker elsroth and Dietrich PA so
00:41:06
hopefully we don't have to say that too many times but that was the name can you
00:41:09
repeat that one more no thank you Murdoch was so successful that in 1920 he became the first man to be elected to
00:41:16
the new office of solicitor of the 14th judicial circuit this covering five counties and three thousand two hundred
00:41:26
square miles okay so what is a solicitor the solicitor title is equivalent to a district attorney or a prosecutor in
00:41:35
other jurisdictions but and this is a big but but unlike in other jurisdictions the chief prosecutor also
00:41:44
maintained his private practice so staying with his private law firm and representing private clients at the same
00:41:53
time as being the prosecutor basically of this jurisdiction yeah it seems like a conflict of interest you think the law
00:42:03
firm went on to become one of the largest personal and vehicular injury firms in South Carolina so not just in
00:42:10
this little area in the state so he's an ambulance Chaser well but he's kind of able to work both sides of the fence
00:42:18
there right yeah according to the firm's website they have won millions and millions of dollars in settlements and
00:42:26
jury awarded damages for their clients this is because they made abundant use of an unusual law in effect in South
00:42:36
Carolina that permits personal injury plaintiffs who are South Carolina residents to file a suit in any County
00:42:44
in which an out-of-state company owns property and or conducts business regardless where the accident took place
00:42:52
right so for example if someone lived in Hilton Head and got into a fatal accident in New Jersey and wanted to Sue
00:43:01
Firestone Tires they could because those tires are sold in South Carolina right it's a legal concept called Forum
00:43:10
Shopping in the state courts were known to be very friendly to civil plaintiffs so his Law Firm was so successful at
00:43:17
suing the railroad company this is CSX that they're building was known as quote the house that CSX
00:43:27
built now I might just be a dumb guy in the garage but uh this seems a little shady well
00:43:33
this firm has represented pretty much everyone in the area they were the go-to firm and they were keeping up to 50 of
00:43:41
the settlement funds because when you signed on with them as a client you there's a certain expectation here
00:43:48
that you're not going to get with other firms you're basically signing up and almost
00:43:54
guaranteeing yourself that you're going to either a win your lawsuit or B this firm will will get them to settle
00:44:02
out of court you're going to get a bunch of money and therefore they can keep a higher percentage of it because their
00:44:08
success rate is so good we don't get paid unless you get paid I don't think we get paid at all
00:44:17
Randolph senior was a powerful and successful man working both sides of the courtroom basically lining his and his
00:44:24
family's pockets and building up a power base at the solicitor's office ironically Randolph senior was killed in
00:44:31
a train accident in 1940. remember after the train place all that that seems a little suspicious his son Randolph
00:44:40
Buster Murdoch Jr took over his father's private practice and public office upon
00:44:46
his death and served as the 14th circuit solicitor from 1940 until 1986. a 46-year term that is believed to
00:44:57
be the longest term in any solicitor in U.S history according to Bluffton today the situation was a classic example of
00:45:07
nepotism with Randolph the third holding the title of assistant solicitor under his dad Buster and then taking over the
00:45:15
solicitor role in 1986. Randolph III his son is Alec Murdock who carried on the tradition by working in
00:45:25
the solicitor's office under his dad and continuing as a volunteer prosecutor there until September of 2021 after the
00:45:35
Murdoch's holding both private and public position came to an official end right so at that time Captain after
00:45:44
Randolph III retired or went into 100 Private Practice in 2006 basically we have an
00:45:53
86-year streak in which a Murdoch held the title of solicitor in this area well like I said it's a conflict of interest
00:46:02
but it's a way also to build generational wealth so now you know his son now has a leg up
00:46:11
on the rest of the world because his father is going to be he's going to be an inheriting money from his father he's
00:46:16
going to be an inheriting power from his father so for 86 straight years they a Murdoch held the title of solicitor in
00:46:24
this area as you pointed out a huge outrageous conflict of interest but this whole time
00:46:31
they're still practicing law on the private level as well right now after the last Murdoch this Randall
00:46:40
third officially retired from the solicitor's office in 2006. Duffy Stone a Murdoch Ally and tight friend was
00:46:47
elected so even though they're out at this point their tentacles are still way involved in stretching throughout this
00:46:56
area and everything and as far as the law goes and the murdochs continue to prosecute in Hampton County for the
00:47:03
solicitor's office as sort of a contract prosecutor so this means that the murdochs were still cloaked in the
00:47:11
mantle of the legal powers that be in this area right even though they were not elected and they had multiple
00:47:18
conflicts of interest now we need to tell the story of our Murdoch family of four
00:47:25
Alec the successful father his wife Maggie and their two sons Buster and Paul Murdoch Maggie Kennedy branstetter
00:47:35
was a sorority girl at the University of South Carolina when she met Alec Murdoch
00:47:42
who was one year ahead of her at school they were really perfect for each other that's what everybody says I mean they
00:47:49
were Rich they were entitled and they both were destined for success the couple married in 1993 and owned
00:47:57
four properties together including the mostly property their hunting lodge which Maggie preferred
00:48:04
their edesto beach home their home in downtown Hampton and the island which we heard about in the intro Buster AKA
00:48:14
Richard Alec Murdock Jr born 1996 and then we have Paul who was born in 1999. those are the four that make up the
00:48:25
Murdoch family of four that will be talking about the most during these episodes now per the Wall Street Journal
00:48:33
the boys were redheads and outdoorsmen they hunted played pool rode go-karts frequently at mostly this is a
00:48:43
it's described by The Wall Street Journal as a 1700 acre hunting property that the family owned and called their
00:48:52
Retreat Maggie notoriously spoiled the boys who were hard playing and hard partying types Buster attended Warford
00:49:02
College studying government and international Affairs in the Summers he interned at
00:49:08
his father's his family's law firm and then went to law school at the University of South Carolina School of
00:49:16
Law from the fall of 2018 to Spring of 2019. The Wall Street Journal reported that
00:49:22
buster was kicked out of law school for plagiarism in the spring of 2019. now as
00:49:29
for Paul per the Wall Street Journal he was a criminology major at South Carolina
00:49:35
this was ironic because in his years from 2017 to 2018 he ran into quite a bit of legal trouble himself getting
00:49:45
cited for half a dozen minor legal infractions over the course of roughly a year
00:49:51
he was charged with alcohol possession and a jury trial was scheduled and delayed five times he had a bench
00:49:58
warrant for a failure to appear at some point and was sentenced to an alcohol diversion program in 2018. sounds like
00:50:05
it didn't take yeah you think an avid boater motorboater he was cited by DNR for littering and possession of alcohol
00:50:13
on Memorial Day Weekend 2017. days after he graduated from high school canoe so this was not his first
00:50:21
time with alcohol and a boat and getting in trouble well there's no punishment you're going to
00:50:28
keep repeating your crimes but it's also great to hear their background or to have an understanding of
00:50:36
this family's background because because of the information and the work that they do when they go to the hospital you
00:50:43
you really start understanding how how much of a malicious intent they have by not being cooperative with law
00:50:52
enforcement right and so it seems this gives us again a good understanding of why the cops would be hesitant to man
00:51:00
up and lay the blame on Paul Murdoch in this boat situation now fortunately Captain you and I don't live or work in
00:51:07
Hampton South Carolina so I have no problems spitting the truth here from everything I've seen and
00:51:14
reviewed all signs say Paul was hammered drunk and driving the Murdoch boat when
00:51:20
Mallory was killed now this is from People magazine which has been diving into the juicy Murdoch scandal with a
00:51:27
Vengeance quote you don't cross the Murdoch says a local attorney or if you do cross them you don't let them find
00:51:36
out that it was you who crossed them because they'll come down on you hard and they'll come down on you with all
00:51:43
that they've got they have a lot of influence and power and they'll use it against their enemies end quote so
00:51:51
clearly the police felt the menacing presence of the Murdoch's in regard to the Mallory Beach investigation
00:51:58
the investigative delay in arresting and charging Paul for the crash was so Shameless that a grand jury was
00:52:05
eventually impaneled by the Attorney General's office to examine how officers investigated the crash
00:52:13
in fact the state grand jury was to specifically examine whether there was obstruction of justice by anyone
00:52:22
the Murdoch's Family Law Enforcement Officers included everyone according to One news source called The
00:52:30
Island packet this was because Alec and Randolph Murdoch prevented the teen Boat
00:52:35
passengers from talking to investigators and may have prevented sobriety tests from being conducted as well and I say
00:52:42
kudos to the Attorney General's office for not cowering to these Shady white collared thugs like like some of these
00:52:51
asshats did now listen to this this is from the Post and Courier the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office released
00:52:58
recordings from its deputies dashboard cameras in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Post
00:53:05
and Courier the new recordings include a brief conversation between a Department of
00:53:12
Natural Resources officer and Beach's boyfriend the victim's boyfriend Anthony cook
00:53:18
the DNR officer Austin Pritcher whose job it was to determine who was driving ask cook who was driving before the
00:53:27
crash cook immediately implicated 19 year old Paul Murdoch this is from the transcript here captain
00:53:35
who was driving the boat Pritchard said the last time I grabbed my girlfriend and got down in the bottom of the boat
00:53:41
Paul was driving cook said Paul was driving the officer followed up yes sir cook answered I begged and
00:53:49
begged and begged and begged to let me drive yet in his report on the crash Pritchard
00:53:56
did not document that comment he wrote that cook did not know who was driving that's
00:54:04
that's messed up and later that morning after speaking with other passengers at a nearby hospital Pritchard told his
00:54:11
supervisor he suspected someone else entirely Pritchard testified at a deposition that he did not know why he
00:54:20
didn't document Cook's statement further on the dash cam when being asked about who was driving the boat concerns about
00:54:28
the Murdoch family's reach were raised in the moments after the crash according to this release video
00:54:35
while he was still at the scene Anthony cook asked an officer if he knew who Paul's father was saying do you all
00:54:45
know Alec Murdock cook said oh yeah I know that name the officer said that's his son cook said after a pause
00:54:54
he added so good luck that one line right there and I'll read it again so good luck that shows how clearly
00:55:06
everyone knew that the murdochs were protected and this case Paul specifically even the guy who was good
00:55:13
friends with Paul and who just lost his girlfriend and was injured in the boat crash new Paul was living under the
00:55:21
protection of his powerful family just like Anthony cook told the officer so good luck the recordings also
00:55:29
captured Paul talking to a Beaufort Deputy named Jack Keener who opted not to collect as evidence Paul's cell phone
00:55:39
Paul asked to borrow the deputy's phone the stones on this kid can you imagine asking to borrow the officer's phone
00:55:47
yeah Keener answered that he didn't have one with him but reminded Paul that he had just been holding one saying you
00:55:55
dropped yours in the grass right back there the deputy said so Paul tries to hide his phone by
00:56:01
dropping the officer not only did he see this but gave verbal confirmation of the
00:56:08
phone's location and yet Paul's cell phone never made its way into the collected evidence so the police are not
00:56:14
just showing favor to the Murdoch's here I'd argue that they are actually obstructing justice yeah I totally agree
00:56:21
Ronald klopp a security officer at the Beaufort Memorial Hospital told investigators that the the at the
00:56:31
hospital after the boat crash ran off Murdoch the grandfather kept telling Paul to keep his mouth shut and Alec was
00:56:40
trying to get into the rooms of each of the survivors klopp overheard Alec on his phone saying
00:56:48
I I want you to really take this in here everybody this security officer overheard Alec
00:56:54
Murdock saying on his phone quote she's gone don't worry about her what a piece of [ __ ] other Hospital Personnel back
00:57:01
this up so this is not just one person saying this this is people saying he is on his phone at the hospital and he's
00:57:09
saying the words she's gone don't worry about her can you imagine this scenario this is real life [ __ ] here just a few
00:57:17
hours after a lovely young woman just 19 years old loses her life Alec Murdoch father of the idiot that was driving the
00:57:25
boat is on the phone saying she's gone don't worry about her basically forget all about Mallory Beach she's old news
00:57:34
we need to protect the kids that survived I'm telling you Captain this Alec Murdoch I think they removed his
00:57:40
soul to make more room for stomach well he's a real pile of [ __ ] but the level
00:57:45
of piles of [ __ ] in this case already and like you said Mallory Beach Mallory Beach she's the one that was missing and
00:57:55
at this point they don't know what happened to her but your son was driving like an animal acting immature and
00:58:03
Reckless and and she's missing from a boat this is the pile of [ __ ] that you raised and then you're going to go no
00:58:11
wonder he acts like a pile of [ __ ] because now you're acting like a pile of [ __ ] it's almost like everybody
00:58:16
immediately showed up on the scene they protected themselves they didn't care about Mallory Beach they didn't care
00:58:22
what happened to her and it's like they just wanted this all to go away and and to save themselves this is a horrible
00:58:30
act by so many people involved law enforcement the family's a Paul his his grandfather his father right the only
00:58:38
people acting as they should are the other passengers that were on that boat and their families and the hospital
00:58:44
staff and and but people aren't even taking their word serious or writing them down and you know what I think here
00:58:51
we have have here too Captain is a situation that was made a little easy for some of the law enforcement agencies
00:58:59
involved here in the Murdoch land they're basically a good old boy Network and what they're able to do here is
00:59:09
basically passing the buck as to who screwed up right it's not necessarily hey you know you can look at me and I did it
00:59:16
wrong or our agency did it wrong what you have here is you have the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office pointing out
00:59:22
that the boat crash was the dnr's jurisdiction then you have DNR the agency whose officers were non-committal
00:59:30
about who was driving but thank God there's only so long that the Murdoch's could protect Paul
00:59:37
because on April 18 2019 Mallory Beach's birthday Paul was indicted for his role
00:59:44
in Mallory's death he was charged with three felonies boating Under the Influence causing death and two charges
00:59:51
of boating Under the Influence causing great bodily injury the solicitor's office recused itself because of all
00:59:59
their connections with the Murdoch's so the South Carolina attorney general prosecuted the case instead but it took
01:00:08
nearly two months after the crash for Paul to even be charged that's ridiculous this is a quote from Bluffton
01:00:15
today Murdoch was never handcuffed never entered into jail his booking photograph was taken in a
01:00:23
courthouse hallway in his own clothes a judge denied a prosecutor's request to make him wear an alcohol monitor and
01:00:32
Murdoch was allowed to travel freely about the state while awaiting a trial date that never came on May 6th Paul
01:00:41
pled not guilty to all charges and he was released on a fifty thousand dollar personal recognizance Bond his family
01:00:49
posted bail and he went back to his privileged life foreign [Music] garage for your ear balls make sure you
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the Record link and we'll see you back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't look
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foreign [Music]