13. Hampton County, SC: The Murdaughs (Part 1)

[00:00:00] Warning. The following episode contains discussions about violent crimes, disturbing events, and explicit details that may be unsettling for some listeners. Please be advised that this podcast is not suitable for young children, and listener discretion is strongly advised.

[00:00:15] Hey y'all, welcome back to another episode of Southern Shadows. I'm one of your host Janet, aka Mama. And I'm DK. And it's no secret that in our society, socioeconomic status impacts your access. What I mean is that the more money that you have, the more

[00:00:33] experiences and opportunities that you may have access to. I mean just looking at the different baseball camps that we're considering sending you to this summer, the prices for some of those schools is insane versus others that might not have a strong baseball program.

[00:00:49] Yeah. Anyway, we often see two sides of this play out. One, those who have access to better opportunities will take full advantage and even give back to organizations and programs that they believe in. Or two, those with all the money and power abuse it. This week, our

[00:01:09] story takes us through the complicated web of the powerful Murdoch family. Our story will be split into two parts. First, we'll take a look at the Murdoch legacy, a family deeply rooted in South Carolina society, and we'll highlight the boating accident that catapulted

[00:01:27] this family's shady secrets into the spotlight. In part two, we'll confront the shocking truth behind the double homicide that many of you are probably most familiar with right now because there's been consistent media coverage around Alec, the family's patriarch. By the way,

[00:01:45] his name is spelled like Alex, but it's definitely pronounced Alec, so I'm not mispronouncing it FYI. And they're the Murdochs, even though it's spelled like Murdo. There's so much allegedly tied to this family that it would take an entire season for us just

[00:02:03] to scratch the surface, but we're not going to do that. If you're interested in learning more about the alleged crimes that are tied to this family, I strongly encourage you to take a listen to the podcast that started it all called Murdoch Murders, hosted by Mandy Matney,

[00:02:21] who at the time was a news director for Fitz News. She spent more than two years researching all of the scandals that are tied to this family, and there's also a Netflix documentary

[00:02:31] that just came out not too long ago called Murdoch Murders, A Southern Scandal. Both of these were huge sources of material for today's episode. There are probably tons more resources out there that you can look up, but we're going to focus on the teenage son Paul.

[00:02:48] So Dee, are you ready for today's story? It's pretty wild. Any thoughts before we jump in? Nope. Let's get into it.

[00:03:28] Hampton County is located in the Low Country region of South Carolina with a population of about 19,000. The Low Country is the coastal area of the southeastern part of the country that is typically South Carolina and Georgia. It's about 73 miles southwest of the capital, Colombia.

[00:03:46] It's a place that Michael DeWitt of the Hampton County Guardian says nobody ever comes here unless you're from here. Everybody knows everybody and everybody knows who the Murdochs are. For over a century, the Murdochs have been a prominent and influential presence in Hampton

[00:04:02] County. Some even saying they were law and order. Paul Terry Murdoch was born on April 14, 1999 in Savannah, Georgia. Paul was the youngest of two sons with an older brother that they called Buster. He was described as having a love for the outdoors and particularly enjoyed hunting.

[00:04:24] At the time of his death, he was a junior at the University of South Carolina. Buster would be the son to follow in his father's footsteps, going to college, joining a fraternity and then pursuing law school after graduation. Paul on the other hand was more of the black

[00:04:41] sheep of the family, not really expressing an interest in pursuing law. In the Netflix documentary it's implied that Paul didn't really receive a lot of attention or affection from either of his parents. Instead he was raised by a nanny slash family housekeeper named Gloria Satterfield.

[00:04:59] In fact, his friend Anthony Cook would say in the documentary, Ms. Gloria is one of the best ladies you'll ever meet. She took care of Paul like no family member ever did. Gloria Satterfield would later die from an alleged trip and fall accident

[00:05:15] involving four of the family's dogs that Alec Murdoch would later confess that he lied about. It's a whole thing that we're not going to cover, but like I said earlier, there is a lot tied

[00:05:25] to this family. So if you're interested please refer to the sources that I mentioned in the beginning. Anyway, it was common for Paul to also confide in his grandfather Randolph quite a bit.

[00:05:36] The two had a pretty close relationship. In order to understand Paul, you need to first learn a little bit about who the Murdochs are. They are a family that has been living and serving as the solicitors for the 14th Judicial Circuit or Hampton County beginning as early as 1920.

[00:05:56] The patriarch, Randolph Murdoch Paul's great-great grandfather, is responsible for carving out this reputation that continued throughout the years. A solicitor is basically what South Carolina calls their district attorneys. They are elected officials and are probably at one of the most

[00:06:12] powerful positions in the South Carolina judicial system. With that much power, it could definitely have some pros and cons. It was said, quote, this was a family you didn't want to mess with. They could have something swept under the rug and no one would ever know about it.

[00:06:32] Their influence stretched across the legal spectrum from criminal to civil and their web extended far beyond courtrooms with a network of law enforcement agents, lawyers, judges, sheriffs and even the average man on the street who could possibly serve on the jury according to

[00:06:50] DeWitt. Morgan Dottie was Paul's girlfriend and she was also featured in the Netflix documentary. She spent a lot of time with the family going on trips like to the Kentucky Derby, the NCAA Final Four Games, fishing trips to Guatemala just for the past four years, always

[00:07:07] with them according to her parents. In that documentary she recalled that the Murdochs would allow the teens to drink and always had alcohol readily available. During a major watermelon festival that's held annually in town, Alec Paul's father would allow the teens

[00:07:25] to go through the back door of their law firm and drink. The Murdochs were not only okay with the teens drinking but they'd often provide it for them on a normal basis. When Paul would get especially drunk, his friends gave him the nickname Timmy because it changed

[00:07:40] his entire personality. Timmy was the one who would act erratically, get in fights with people and was basically just too drunk to really function. Morgan tells a story about a night that she and Paul had been drinking too much and when they were headed home they had an

[00:07:55] argument about who should be driving. Paul won the argument which proved to be a horrible decision because they ended up crashing into a ditch. Morgan explained that the truck was full of guns and

[00:08:07] beer cans and when she tried to call 911 he grabbed her phone hung it up and threw it. Instead he called his family who showed up immediately removed all the guns and beer cans

[00:08:19] out of their car without even asking if the teens were okay. Instead they reprimanded Morgan for calling the police because she could have quote gotten Paul in trouble. Morgan even shared Paul's abusive behavior towards her which included both verbal and physical abuse. For example during a night

[00:08:41] of celebrating Buster's graduation the two of them were staying in a hotel room. While they were settling down to sleep Paul started kicking Morgan and she yelled at him to stop. All of a sudden he jumped on top of her strangled her and punched her in the knee.

[00:08:57] So this just kind of paints the picture for you about how alcohol really changed him and how it affected their relationship dynamic. Her friends would say in the documentary that they witnessed Paul quote raging on her and that they would often see Morgan cry.

[00:09:14] Even when they'd break up they would just get right back together. Sounds toxic. Exactly the lengths that this family would go to to maintain a seemingly perfect facade would soon begin to unfold in a terrible accident involving Paul.

[00:09:32] On February 24th 2019 a night that would forever alter the lives of a group of friends started innocently with an invitation to an oyster roast in a nearby town of Buford.

[00:09:45] This is a common thing that they do in the low country when the weather starts to get a little colder according to Anthony Cook. Although Morgan and Paul were not together at this time Paul

[00:09:55] wanted her to go with him and convinced her by saying that both of her best friends would be going. They had heard that there might be roadblocks on the way so they decided to go by boat

[00:10:05] along Buford River. The group of friends had been on the river numerous times so it wasn't even given a second thought. The friends going were Paul and Morgan, Anthony Cook and his girlfriend Mallory Beach, Miley Altman and her boyfriend Connor Cook who happens to be Anthony's first cousin.

[00:10:26] Before the party Paul then only 19 bought alcohol for the boat using his older brother Buster's ID from Parker's gas station. So with a boat full of alcohol the group arrives at around

[00:10:40] 8 p.m. They pull up to the dock to join the party and basically keep going back and forth to the boat for drinks that they left in a cooler. All three couples are drunk and when

[00:10:52] it's time to leave other partygoers suggest that they catch a ride or even stay the night. Several friends at the party even offered to drive the group home. Paul, according to that friend Anthony was quote a little too proud to do that and Morgan even says

[00:11:09] quote Murdochs don't really get told no very much. Although it's clearly not a good idea the group of six friends left around 12 a.m. from the oyster roast on Paul's boat to head home but Paul

[00:11:23] and Connor had other plans. At 12 55 a.m. they docked a little way down the water because those two guys weren't quite ready to call in a night. He and Connor go into Luther's bar in downtown

[00:11:54] Buford and they grab two rounds of shots. They are on surveillance sitting at the bar where they order the shots while Miley, Connor's girlfriend and Morgan wait outside annoyed. But what could they do? The owner of their boat wasn't budging on what he wanted to do and

[00:12:11] he left the group at his mercy. Mallory and Anthony are seen just walking up and down the dock enjoying each other's company. Miley and Morgan just continue to wait for their boyfriends growing increasingly aggravated. A few moments go by and Paul and Connor

[00:12:28] finally come out of the bar and are ready to leave. Paul at this point is out of his mind drunk according to Anthony and Miley even says quote it was a dead giveaway that he was the Timmy character

[00:12:42] but he refused to allow anyone else to drive or call an Uber despite the multiple pleas from the friends. Why didn't anyone just go and call the Ubers themselves? Anthony actually briefly

[00:12:54] touches on this in the documentary. He pretty much says that he wishes he would have done things a little bit differently but ultimately I think it's just peer pressure. When everyone else just

[00:13:04] kind of goes with it you don't want to be that one person that goes against the grain but I just want you to know that if you're not comfortable don't get in the car

[00:13:15] on a boat or whatever with anybody who's drunk. They get back on the boat to go home at 1 15 a.m and this is all captured on surveillance from the dock. Paul grows more irritated with

[00:13:29] everyone who keeps insisting that he not drive. He starts doing things like leaving the steering wheel to get in people's faces, to yell at them, he starts driving in circles, he increases his speed or he drives really slow just completely erratic. At this point everyone is yelling

[00:13:47] at everyone and Paul turns his anger on Morgan. He even slaps her in front of everyone who says that they could tell this wasn't his first time doing it but apparently it was the first time

[00:13:58] he'd done it in front of them. That brings the group back down and they decide let's just head home. Paul who's still fuming puts the boat in full speed and still leaves the wheel at times.

[00:14:13] Why didn't they just force Paul away from the wheel? It's like five people versus one. That's a great question and unfortunately we'll never know what we would have done in the situation but in the documentary Connor does say that he attempts to straighten out the wheel every

[00:14:27] time Paul walks away but Paul is still ultimately in control of the situation which was about to get much worse because they could see the boat quickly approaching a bridge near Archer's Creek. There was nothing that they could do but brace for impact

[00:14:46] and all six were launched into the water. After swimming to the bank or getting back into the boat everyone realizes Mallory is gone. Anthony her boyfriend tried to swim around looking for

[00:15:02] her and hoping to find her but it was no use and the current was moving way too fast. When Connor came to he's the one who calls the police to report the accident and you can hear the teens shouting for Mallory in the background.

[00:15:18] All of the teens were distraught when the cops arrived. Morgan was still sitting in the boat with her hand bleeding and when she asked if the police had found Mallory they told her they

[00:15:29] hadn't. Connor knew that there was something wrong with his jaw and his chin. Paul had stripped down to just his underwear and he only cared about calling his grandfather. You can hear and see on police

[00:15:42] bodycams Anthony yelling at Paul saying quote you effing did this you're effing smiling bro I hope you rot in hell. There's even more body cam that shows the fact that Paul refused

[00:15:56] to speak to the police. An officer is saying quote he's not really responding to me or any of us. In fact, Mallory says that it took the police about 20 minutes to convince Paul to even get

[00:16:08] into the ambulance so that he could be taken to the hospital. Once in the ambulance Paul calls his granddad and Mallory hears him say that Connor was the driver. He'd not want to get in trouble

[00:16:22] Well exactly what I think I mean he's drunk driving he crashes the boat and now one of the six people is missing. Yeah, I don't think he wants to take the heat for that. Yeah.

[00:16:34] Connor says quote I was like really I wanted to beat the s out of him because I wasn't driving. Anthony makes a call to his mom to tell them that they needed to make their way to Buford

[00:16:47] and tells her that Mallory is missing. Anthony even begs for someone to call Mallory's parents to let them know what was happening. This is going to be important later on. All of this was

[00:16:58] caught on police dash cam because Anthony was leaning against the car. You could even hear him saying that Paul was driving as did all the other boaters in later interviews despite what Paul called and told his grandfather. The teens are taken to Buford Hospital for treatment

[00:17:16] but Anthony refused to leave until Mallory was located. At 5 30 a.m on February 24 2019 Dive Cruise started looking for Mallory but the current was just too strong. Her parents just looked on from the bank in horror. The first to arrive at the hospital was Miley,

[00:17:38] Connor and Paul. As the adrenaline was wearing off Connor could no longer really speak because of the injuries that he sustained on his jaw. The teens were still extremely concerned about their friend Mallory but no updates were available. While Morgan is being checked over by nurses,

[00:17:56] one pulled her mom aside and says I'm not supposed to say this to you but Paul is a nasty drunk and you need to get her away from him as soon as you can. Another nurse urges mom to keep

[00:18:08] Morgan away from Paul after she's brought back to the room from having an x-ray done on her finger. Paul was reportedly uncooperative according to the hospital staff. His grandfather even stepped in to tell an officer who wanted to question him that he was quote drunker than Cooter Brown

[00:18:24] according to Morgan's mom. They did draw his blood though and the results revealed a blood alcohol content or BAC of 0.24 three times over the legal limit. Alex Murdock and Paul's grand

[00:18:40] dad attempted to get in front of it seemingly wanting to cover up the fact that Paul was the one driving. At some point Connor was able to make a call to his parents to let him know what happened.

[00:18:52] His dad says that shortly after he got a call from Alec Murdock himself who tells him that their son was the driver of the boat but not to worry because they'll take care of Connor,

[00:19:02] they being the Murdochs. As Connor whose jaw is broken goes in for a cat scan Alec reaches down and whispers to him just be quiet I got you just don't say anything. When they get to the hospital

[00:19:18] Alec approaches Connor's parents in the hallway before they can even reach their son. They even recall that law enforcement came into Connor's room and told him that he had been named as the driver of the boat. So basically Alec who is Paul's dad and Randolph who is Paul's

[00:19:34] grandfather are interfering with any type of investigation that's about to happen they keep like stopping people in the hallway to say this is what happened they keep trying to get all the teenagers to like be quiet about it yeah they're just basically trying to cause confusion seems

[00:19:51] like yeah. In another part of the hospital Morgan underwent hand surgery and as they're prepping her Alec's tapped the glass saying quote I need to get in there I represent her before her mom

[00:20:04] could even get to the hospital. Morgan says to the nurse please keep that man out of my room. Miley's mom recalled asking Alec if there had been any word on Mallory and he just said to her

[00:20:16] I'm pretty sure we know how that's going to end up. I want to talk about the increasingly strange behavior from Paul's family that followed the days after the accident when the search was on for

[00:20:27] Mallory which not only included investigators but also volunteers they had to use rescue boats divers and even helicopters to try and find her. The rest of the group kept going out to the crash site every day hoping that their friend would be found alive. Anthony's parents described

[00:20:46] how he would go down to the water and just pray every day Mallory's mom described how she would beg the officers to let her get closer to the crash site but they would never let her get past the

[00:20:56] roped off area. One day though she sees Alec and his wife Maggie drive up and they're let down to the scene where the boat crashed the very area that she had been asking to get closer to.

[00:21:10] She says quote that's when I started to realize the Murdochs were more worried about a cover-up than finding Mallory. Anthony's parents even said in the documentary that Alec's brother was allowed to get the

[00:21:38] boat and tow it out of the area. How that's like removing evidence from the scene is absolutely in fact his dad even said quote they shouldn't have it was a crime scene

[00:21:49] but this just goes to show you once again how much power and influence the Murdoch family had. As search efforts continue the media releases information that one of two teens were possibly the drivers Paul Murdoch or Connor Cook. Connor's parents are convinced that Alec was doing everything

[00:22:08] in his power to blame it all on Connor. What's interesting is that all of their parents actually grew up together in Hampton County playing sports and whatnot so they knew each other prior to their

[00:22:19] kids becoming friends like they had history. Connor's dad described a phone call that he got from Alec saying that they needed to quote have a sit down and invited him to the family's law

[00:22:31] office after hours. The encounter itself is bizarre because he talks about how Alec made a show of turning his cell phone off and throwing it into his car saying that he didn't want him to feel

[00:22:44] like he was being recorded. As they're walking through the office he tells Connor's dad just pick a room because he didn't want him to think he was being set up but Connor's dad

[00:22:54] says that he knew quote yeah I'm being set up big time. Alec allegedly asks him where they stood on this whole incident with Mallory and even suggests that he can't even mourn the loss of Mallory

[00:23:06] for fear of what would happen to his son Paul. On the other hand Connor's dad is like I can't think of anything else but Mallory. He confirms that Alec just wanted everything to be hush hush

[00:23:19] basically making sure that no one implicated his son Paul as the one responsible for Mallory's disappearance. Connor himself was terrified that the Murdochs might put a hit out on him and says in the documentary quote I've always heard that the Murdochs would like make people disappear.

[00:23:36] Have they? That's weird to say. Like I said there are some weird incidents that are tied to this family. I briefly mentioned the housekeeper's death but there is another death that the older brother Buster is allegedly linked to that again would take an entire episode to cover.

[00:23:54] Seven days after the crash two volunteers found Mallory's body five miles down the river. Her family and friends were both devastated to learn that she was dead but also relieved to have found her and finally lay her to rest. At her funeral there were literally hundreds of

[00:24:14] people who came by to pay their respects like the line was down the street. Her father says that her spirit was with the Lord and knows that one day they would be reunited with her but stands behind

[00:24:26] the fact that quote we want to see earthly justice handed out because none of us are above the law. Mallory's mom was afraid that her death would be covered up by the Murdochs because

[00:24:38] she too grew up in Hampton County and had always known that their family felt like they were above the law because of this they were referred to Mark Tinsley a civil attorney who represents the family and lives in a county over. So Mallory's family sued the Murdochs for

[00:24:57] wrongful death a month after the boat tragedy allowing them to question the survivors. According to Mark no one was really forthcoming about the actual events of that night and the survivors weren't really able to be questioned without Alec or Paul's grandfather intervening up until this point.

[00:25:18] Mark took it upon himself to begin investigating the events in order to prove that Paul was the driver of the boat. He discovered the fact that Paul bought the alcohol from that convenience store and that's why the surveillance footage is now available to the

[00:25:31] public. He says that Paul's blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit which we discussed earlier. Also there were about 20 or so police officers who responded to the scene

[00:25:44] but not a single one of them put Paul in front of their cars in front of you know the camera to question him about what happened. Even after Anthony identified him as the driver. Come to find out the assigned lead investigator Michael Brock had close connections to the

[00:26:03] Murdochs. This was the exact cop that Anthony says quote Paul Murdock killed my girlfriend. Mysteriously that exchange that should have either been captured on his body cam or the police cruiser is not in in the evidence anywhere. So like he's like deleted from his footage or something?

[00:26:25] Exactly. Another officer Michael Paul Thomas who was a well known department of natural resources agent was described by Morgan as quote Alec Murdoch's bitch and he's best friends to Alec's brother John Marvin Murdoch. The phone records obtained by the beach's attorney showed that the night of

[00:26:48] the accident and days after John Marvin had made several calls to his best friend Michael Paul Thomas. John Marvin's phone records also show several calls to an Austin Pritcher. This was the officer who was in the hospital trying to interview the kids the night after the accident.

[00:27:05] We ultimately find out that John Marvin Paul's uncle assisted with the removal of the boat from the crime scene which again shouldn't have been released in the first place. The beach's family attorney says that Alec was not worried about looking for Mallory but rather causing confusion

[00:27:24] so that Paul wouldn't be identified as the driver. To be clear no one ever called Mallory's parents to let them know what happened. No one from the police department, no one from the department of

[00:27:36] natural resources, no official ever made contact with Mallory's parents. So when did they find out she was missing or how? From the friends other from the friends parents so like Anthony the boyfriends mom and the other parents called. Mark Tinsley is even able to uncover some more important

[00:27:58] information by bringing in biomechanical engineers who are able to recreate the boating accident and figure out exactly where all the kids are sitting based on the injuries that they sustained. It's concluded that because of the injuries sustained by Connor there is no way he was

[00:28:16] the one driving. Paul Murdock was indicted on three felony accounts of boating under the influence causing death on April 18th 2019 Mallory's 20th birthday for killing her and critically wounding two others. Paul was on bond awaiting trial after pleading not guilty during that time

[00:28:41] WSAV3 Low Country News reported that the current 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office to Buford County judges and the Buford County Sheriff's Office recused themselves of the case due to their connections to the Murdochs. If convicted he was looking at facing more than

[00:29:01] 25 years in prison. The friends had mixed feelings about his conviction because of the circumstances obviously. During the arraignment Alex walked in just as arrogant as can be treating it like it was just another day at the office Mallory's mom maintains that special treatment was

[00:29:20] given to them. Before pleading not guilty it's noted that Paul was never put in handcuffs he never spent any time in jail and his mugshot he had on a nice polo shirt

[00:29:34] and this case started to make headlines while on bond he didn't have to wear an ankle alcohol monitor like most alcohol related offenses. Morgan says that you still saw him on social media drinking and partying with other friends despite being under the public spotlight the

[00:29:54] family continued to be involved in controversy and Paul continued to get in trouble like speeding tickets and just other minor offenses. Buster is even expelled from the University of South Carolina for plagiarism. Paul was told not to leave the county but he still did multiple times showing

[00:30:13] the Murdochs feeling like they were above the law. Meanwhile Morgan had to undergo therapy and counseling from all of the things that she gone through with Paul and obviously the trauma of losing her best friend. In 2021 Connor Cook filed a lawsuit against Alec Murdoch claiming

[00:30:31] that Murdoch had tried to frame him as the driver of the boat needless to say this friend group was no longer intact unfortunately this will not be the end of tragedy for the Murdoch family because

[00:30:44] on June 7th 2021 while he was awaiting trial for the fatal boating accident that killed Mallory Beach Paul and his mom Maggie were found murdered at their Mozel property home. Next week you'll have

[00:30:58] to tune in for part two of the Murdochs where we're going to break down that double homicide and focus on where the family stands today. Do you have any final thoughts? No never this is just crazy it's a lot. Yes definitely a lot. Again if you're interested

[00:31:14] in all of the other controversy tied to this family refer to the source notes that you can find at southernshadowspodcast.com and we'd love to hear from you so leave us a comment on our

[00:31:24] YouTube or you can email us at southernshadowspodcast.com. If you enjoyed today's episode make sure you like subscribe and share and we'll see you next week for part two of today's case. See you in the shadows