Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Mallory Beach’s Boyfriend Screams at Paul Murdaugh After Fatal Boat Crash

Episode Date: August 16, 2021

Newly released audio from a police dashcam video reveals a distraught Anthony Cook screaming at “grossly intoxicated” Paul Murdaugh, the night Murdaugh allegedly drove a boat into a bridge piling killing Cook’s girlfriend. 19-year-old Mallory Beach was tossed from the boat in the crash. Her body was found a week later. Paul Murdaugh was awaiting trial on boating under the influence charges for the February 2019 crash. The state of South Carolina has now dropped charges against Paul Murdaugh, a move that was prompted by Murdaugh’s own death. Murdaugh, 22, and his 52-year-old mother were fatally shot June 7 on the family’s vast estate in Colleton County. That case remains under investigation and no one has been arrested in connection with it.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Darryl Cohen - Former Assistant District Attorney, Fulton County, Georgia, Defense Attorney, Cohen, Cooper, Estep, & Allen, LLC, www.ccealaw.com Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA www.angelaarnoldmd.com, Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Featured on "The Piketon Massacre: Return to Pike County" on iHeartRadio Matt Harris -  Radio Show Host and Podcaster of "The Murdaugh Family Murders: Impact of Influence" Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A double murder in the heart of South Carolina still unsolved, a double murder involving one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the region. Does that have anything to do with it? As rumors are swirling, we learn the latest. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me, an all-star panel, including Matt Harris, morning show host in Charlotte, WLNK, and podcaster of The Murdoch Family Murders, Impact of Influence.

Also with me, renowned defense attorney, former prosecutor, Daryl Cohen. Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist, joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Joe Scott Morgan, death investigator, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star of a brand new series that is a hit, The Piketon Massacre, Return to Pike County on iHeart. Also with me, guys, is Cheryl McCollum joining us, forensic expert. But first, I want to go straight out to Matt.

Matt Harris joining us from WLNK, also the star of the Murdoch Family Murders podcast. Matt, I want you to take a listen to some of the 911 call that we have obtained from the night. There's so many 911 calls to sort through, Matt. You've got the night of the double murder, the mother and son. You've got the young man found dead in the road, reportedly a hit and run. A lot of people don't think so. Then you've got the night, the day of a boat crash where the murdered son was driving drunk in the boat and caused the death of Mallory Beach. We got a lot of 911 calls to sort through, but let's start with the one, the night of the double murder. I want you to take a listen to our cut 25. It's Alex Murdoch, the dad, the husband, who finds his wife and son murdered.

Take a listen to his 911 call. I'm having an hour and a half of a winter emergency. This is Alex Murdoch at Southwest 40 South and Moselle Road. I need to police this matter immediately. My wife and child have just got bad. Okay, you said 4147 Moselle Road in Allenton? You said 4147 Moselle Road in Allenton? Yes, sir. 4147 Moselle Road in Arlington? Yes, sir. 4147 Moselle Road.

Stay on the line with me, okay? Yes, sir. Stay on the line with me, okay? Okay. I have an Alex Murdock on the line. Call us from 4147 Moselle Road. He's advising that his wife and child was shot. Okay.

And sir, give me the address again. It's 4147 Mobile Road. I've been up to it now. It's bad. Okay. Okay, and are they breathing? No, ma'am. Okay, and you said it's your wife and your son?

My wife and my son. Are they in a vehicle? No, ma'amam they're on the ground out at my kennel you know right now my head is spinning because I'm getting so many facts right now on the ground outside the kennel not in a vehicle

the dad husband has found the bodies I'm going to lock down his alibi right now but I'm hearing his voice and frankly, I'm assessing his demeanor. But I want you to hear a little bit more that 911 call. This is our cut 25, Tyler, please roll. Did you see anyone? Okay. Is he breathing at all? No, no. Is she? Okay. Do you see anything? Do you see anyone in the area? No ma'am, no ma'am.

What color is your house on the outside? What color is your house on the outside? It's white, you can't see it from the road. Okay, is it a house or a mobile home? It's a house. Okay, and what is your name? My name is Alex Murdock. Okay. Did you hear anything or did you come home and find them? I've been gone. I just came back.

Okay. And was anyone else supposed to be at your house? No, ma'am. Please hurry. We're getting somebody out there to you. Okay. Again, you may think it's cold. You may think it's hard-hearted, but I'm listening to his demeanor. Before I go to Matt Harris joining me, morning show host of LNK and producer of Murdoch Family Murders, to you, Daryl Cohen, we have to look at him. We have to look at him.

Yes, he is a very wealthy, very prominent, very influential prosecutor, runs a huge civil law firm there, rolling in money and property. He says he has an alibi, but you and I both know statistically the person most likely to have killed the wife, the mother, is the love partner, the husband. So you've got to look at him. That's just SOP, standard operating procedure, and you've got to assess his demeanor at the time of the 911 call. It's just that simple, Darrell.

We have no choice but to look at him. You always have to rule out everybody that's close to the victims. Does his voice sound legitimate? Absolutely. Could he be an actor? Possibly. Is he legitimately upset? Absolutely. But is he upset because he committed

a crime or because he saw the crime, the victims, his wife and his son? None of this is good. But if he's not ruled out, then he's absolutely ruled in. So that's what we have to do as we continue to see who may be the perp. Yeah. And, you know, if he's not part of this, which no one has indicated that he is, I know it's painful. But the reality is law enforcement has a duty to look at every single possible suspect, including him, potential suspect. Let me go straight out to Matt Harris joining us, WLNK, and from the Murdoch Family Murders Impact of Influence podcast. What do you make of his demeanor, Matt? I think it's really hard to guess what demeanor would be on anyone, how they would react when they come and see that.

And it was a very violent death to both of them from what we've had. The death certificate was just released recently on Paul Murdoch and multiple shotgun blasts to his head and body. And we haven't seen Maggie Murdoch's death certificate yet, but the word was that she was killed by a semi-automatic at pretty close point range. So what he came upon was a very gruesome scene. And so I don't know if anybody can even fathom what they, how they would react seeing that. Well, I can tell you this much, Matt. A lot of people can't relate to finding a dead body, much less of your wife and child, well, grown son. But if he had been as cool as a cucumber I would have found that very odd

if he were not crying and was not upset I would find that very odd neither of those two things are true so I believe from just hearing his voice either he's a heck of an actor or after all his years of courtroom work from dealing with crime victims as a part-time prosecutor, I don't know, was it acting? It doesn't sound like it. Everybody remembers the case of Susan Smith who cried and begged for help on camera and the deaths of her very small children when she was, in fact, the one that did it. I mean, you can fake it, but I don't know. To you, Dr. Angie Arnold, this doesn't sound fake to me.

It doesn't sound fake to me either, Nancy. And I think that, you know, I think that it's so difficult because that's, we can all get this information so quickly now and hear what people are saying on their 911 calls. And I don't, I know that there are certain times maybe that we can try to pick up from the 911 call what, who we should blame about these things. But I think that we have to be very careful about that. I think we have to be very careful about judging and hearing with our ears how people sound when they find someone dead in their family, and not one person, but two people. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A wife and a son.

Also, I'm learning a lot. Matt Harris is joining me, WLNK. You told me that the autopsy report on the son has been released. You told me that he was shot multiple times to the head and body with, I believe it was a long gun. The mom, Maggie, shot with a semi-automatic, but I find it interesting that he was shot that many times to the head and face. And the way a shotgun was used, they're saying on Paul and on Maggie, the word is it was semi-automatic, as you've said. Yes. Right. So it had to be just an awful scene to come upon. Well, I'm looking at it from, yes, you're right, Matt, but I'm looking at it from a probative point of view. What does that tell me? That tells me, jump in, Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, it tells me that, you know, if this were, let's just say, a robbery,

they would have shot the son once and killed him, shot him in the head. But they took the time to shoot him repeatedly. And I find that very probative, Joe Scott. Yeah, I do too. And the fact that two weapons are being used as well, Nancy, you know, his death certificate actually says that he was shot in the chest and in the head. So what does that mean? Was he facing the individual that he was shot? Well, if you say chest, most people think so. But in forensic parlance, we have an anterior chest, which is the front side, and then we have posterior chest,

which is the backside. So it doesn't really answer that question. But what it does sound like- I think they would have said shot in the back. Well, what it does say to us is that he was, in fact, executed. But why two separate weapons? We're talking about what I have heard, at least, a tactical type rifle that was used with the mother. Does that mean that we're looking at two shooters here, Nancy? Well, we've got two weapons.

So you're going to tell me that if you shoot these two individuals, you're going to shoot them with a shotgun, put that weapon down, and then pick up the tactical rifle and fire that at mom. Or did it happen reversed? Can you break it down in plain English? What do you mean by tactical rifle? Tactical is like a military-grade weapon, maybe like on an M4 platform or an AK-47 platform. And they recovered spent ammunition or spent brass casings at the scene out there.

I don't know how many. No one knows how many at this point in time. But we do know that they had said at one point in time they recovered multiple bits of spent ammunition. Back to you, Matt Harris, joining us WLNK. What do you know about cartridges or spent casings that were found there? They're very tight. SLED has been very, SLED is the South Carolina organization that's handling the crime. They mentioned, we've got word, there were some casings. We know that a vehicle was towed from there that was owned by the law firm,

and they found a phone. And that's about the extent of what we know, plus the death certificate that was released. In the last hours, major developments in the case of a mother and son shot dead in a prominent family in South Carolina. Number one, we've obtained more of the father, the lawyer, and the family's 911 call. Before we move on, let's take a listen to the rest of that. This is our cut 27, Alex Muradagapam finding his wife and son dead.

We know the son shot multiple times in the chest and the face. Listen. Okay, what is her name? Maggie and Paul. Maggie is her name? Yes, ma'am. Okay. And please hurry.

We're getting somebody out there to you. Me asking you these questions, don't slow them down, okay? Are you sure they're not breathing? Is he moving at all, your son? I know you said that she was shot, but what about your son? Nobody. They're not even one of them moving. but what about your son? Nobody's. They're not even one of these people. What is your telephone number?

And does anything look out of place? Ma'am, not particularly, really, no, ma'am. Okay. You know, straight out to Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Many people have made much ado about the fact that he is using niceties such as yes ma'am, no ma'am, please, under these horrible circumstances of finding his wife and son dead, shot dead. I disagree. That is ingrained in you since birth in the South.

And the fact that he's saying that, that's just, you know, a natural response. I can hear him actually crying. Now, I'm not saying it's impossible for him to be acting, but it sounds legitimate to me. And the fact that he is using, for instance, ma'am, please, I don't find that unusual given where he's from. No, and Nancy, just listen to his Southern accent. I mean, he has a Southern drawl as long as the Mississippi River. He also, in saying yes ma'am and please and these things, he's regressing a little bit back to his younger years when he was

taught how to say that. And he's feeling very vulnerable and that's a very safe place for him to be, yes ma'am. I want to go now to what else we are learning. Matt, I'm curious about the layout. With me, Matt Harris from WLNK. He said, quote, they're on the ground out in his kennel. Describe the layout for me. Okay, where the kennels are, there's the house, which is down on the property. The property spans a couple of different counties. It's about 1,700 acres. And where they are, it appears to be, what I can figure out from Google and all that is, about 200, maybe 200 yards from the house, 200 to 300 yards from the house,

is where the dog kennel is. And so if the dog kennel's there, that means that Paul and Maggie are there. Then that's about 300 yards, maybe, from where the main house is. I find it interesting that they were shot outside. Shot, as he says, quote, on the ground. That's another clue to me. Weigh in, Joe Scott Morgan. Yeah, it is. And also the distance that this is, you know, the kennels are away from the house. So to me, this means that they were either taken out there or potentially marched out there, Nancy, to get them out away from the house,

maybe in order to muffle the sound. If anyone has never been around the sound of a shotgun or the sound of say, for instance, uh, a large caliber weapon, like a long arm, like a rifle, it, the report is very loud. And not only that, if you've got this thing going off multiple times, but Nancy, this is a rural area as well. People expect, you know, it's not, not expect, but people are not surprised by hearing the report of gunfire out there. So, you know, what is the purpose for taking them out there?

I don't know. Maybe maybe to eradicate any kind of evidence, maybe to cover up, maybe to put as much distance as they can between the perpetrator, at least between themselves or any connection with the house. It is interesting, though, that they took this car away, though. I'm fascinated by the vehicle. Explain. Well, one of the reasons I'm fascinated by it is that you had to transport people out there.

The shooter had to get out there. The weapons had to get out there. And there's no other evidence that there was another vehicle out there. So at least to this point, tire tracks, that sort of thing. One of the troubling things, though, that I've kind of come across in this is that when this vehicle was removed from the scene, it was not a crime scene investigator that removed it. It was a record driver, Nancy. And you know what they told the record driver? Here, put on a pair of gloves and pull the vehicle up onto the flatbed, the skid, to take it away,

you know what's wrong with that? Well, number one, they probably drove over the perp's tire marks. Yeah, they very well could have. And any kind of other foreign trace evidence that was inside of that vehicle, you're going to leave it. I'm sure the wrecker driver is a fine, outstanding fella. But if he's getting in there in a pair of dirty old jeans, a dirty shirt, and all you're doing is telling him to put on a pair of rubber gloves to drive

the vehicle, he's contaminating that area, Nancy. You've seen us out on crime scenes. We wear, you know, some people call them bunny suits, those white Tyvek suits that we wear with hair covers and shoe covers and all this. He didn't have that. You're talking about a record driver that pulls this thing up on a skid. So I'm not real impressed by the way this whole investigation has kind of taken off from the beginning. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about a double homicide in South Carolina. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about a double homicide in South Carolina in the heart of one of the most powerful political families in the region.

In the last hours, new sound has emerged. And I'm going to go straight out to Matt Harris of WLNK. Matt, tell me what we've learned about the new audio. Well, the new audio is from a 2019 fatal boat crash that killed Mallory Beach, which Paul Murdoch was indicted on three counts of voting under the influence. And ironically, the court case, or actually the case that Mallory Beach's family had filed, was scheduled to start three days after Paul Murdoch was murdered. The timing's kind of weird on that. up with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Department's man was one of the members of one of the people that was on the boat. He was screaming at Paul Murdoch, telling him that he said,

you're going to rot in bleeping hell. He said that the other quote was that mother bleeper, he ain't going to get in no bleepin' trouble because, of course, just before that, he mentions to the sheriff deputy that he was a Murdoch. And so he says, it's never going to happen. He talks in there about another close auto crash that had happened that Paul didn't get in trouble for. And he says, he screams to Paul Murdoch, Paul, you're smiling like it's bleepin' funny. My bleepin' girlfriend is gone. Listen. Bo, you're bleepin' smiling like it's bleepin' funny. My bleepin' girlfriend is gone, Bo.

You think it's bleepin' funny? Sit down. Sit down. Sit down. Bo, you're rotting in hell. You're smiling like it's effing funny. My effing girlfriend's gone in the last hours uh dash cam video and audio emerges dash cam is um on a lot of uh law enforcement vehicles most of them there is a dash cam and it catches what's going on in and around the trooper's car. That's how this was caught. You're smiling like it's effing funny. My effing girlfriend is gone. This new audio revealing the moments after a deadly boating crash involving the drunk son, now dead, Paul Murdoch, two years before he and his mother are found shot dead at their family

retreat. Drunk as a skunk when Mallory Beach goes over the side of the boat, ends up dead. And this guy, the boyfriend of Mallory, is screaming or smiling like it's effing funny. My effing girlfriend is gone. Now, Matt Harris, WLNK, you're telling me he also says that MF ain't going to get in trouble. He's an effing Murdoch. Do I have that right?

He asked the trooper if he knew the Murdoch family. And the trooper says, yeah, I heard of them. And he says, well, but you know they're not going to get in any trouble. Something along those lines. And then he goes on to say there was an earlier accident a year ago where Paul was drinking and driving and nothing happened with it. So that's what's going on. Tell me about the incident a year before where the young Murdoch,

Paul Murdoch, was drinking and driving. And then there's the civil lawsuit, which I said the civil lawsuit was supposed to start two days later. They've officially dropped the charges against Paul Murdoch, because he's dead. The case was really under a lot of pressure from the community because no one was arrested after that Mallory Beach died in that crash for, I think it was two months. Oh, when you're saying driving under the influence, you're talking about voting under the influence, you're talking about boating under the influence, correct?

Yes, although they talk in the dash cam, they talk about him driving a truck drunk at one point. What do you know about driving the truck drunk? That was mentioned in that dashboard cam, and it was also mentioned in one of the reports that was taken at the hospital by one of the girls on the boat said this happened before in a truck. So there may have even been a third incident. Guys, for those of you just joining us, we are talking about a bloody double murder in South Carolina. Paul, the son,

mom, Maggie, both found dead on the Murdoch family home. Well, it's more of a retreat where there are kennels kept outside the city. I want you to take a listen to our friends at NBC. This is Blaine Alexander, Hour Cut 3. The 911 call came late Monday night. Officials say prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdoch came home last week and called police after discovering his wife and son murdered. 52-year-old Maggie Murdoch and 22-year-old Paul Murdoch both shot multiple times outside their home, according to investigators.

It happened in Island Town, South Carolina, about 90 minutes outside of Charleston. Now, more than a week later, seemingly little progress. No arrests, no named suspect, and from police, no motive. Which leads me back to you, Matt Harris, WLNK. Now it's been much longer than one week later. Why no progress? I don't know. I mentioned the voting incident.

I should mention that the voters were all tested, voluntarily gave DNA and fingerprints and statements to SLED about that. So they were trying to rule them out as possible perpetrators to this homicide. Also, Stephen Smith's mother, they went and tested her as well, which is the hit and run thing we talked a while ago. I do not know why, because right away, a day later, they were saying, Sledge said, don't worry about it. There's nobody on the loose. You're all safe. It's all good.

You know, I find that very unusual, Daryl Cohen, when police come out and say, hey, public, you're not at risk. There's not a killer on the loose. That suggests they know who the killer is, but yet no arrests have been made. Nancy, I think that there's progress, but there's no visible progress to the public. I suspect they're going to be looking at the entire family of Miss Beach. They're going to be looking at possible people who don't like the Murdoch family because the Murdochs are too cool and too above everyone. So I think what the police are releasing is not tantamount to having no progress. They've got progress, and I'll take wages if they're going to go ahead

and they're going to find the person or persons that are responsible for this. And I agree that there are probably two people involved. The shotgun and the long rifle don't make sense for the same person to have used it simultaneously or shortly thereafter. Yeah. You know what, Joe Scott Morgan, he's right. And you and I were talking earlier off air about the feasibility of one person wielding two long guns. The feasibility of an individual utilizing two weapons like this, and technically these are both long arms, so they've got long barrels on them. It would be logistically a nightmare in order to manage this.

This isn't like a Hollywood movie. And this thing would have had to have gone off like clockwork. I think that this had required planning. This is not some stranger that just walked up, picked these two people up out of thin air. These are people that are going to be in their circle. They're going to know them somehow. Now, maybe like Daryl had said, it's somebody that holds animosity toward them relative to some of these legal battles or whatever the case might be.

It could very well be family. Who knows? But people know them, and they know this location, Nancy. They know where those kennels are back there. They know that this area is isolated, which, again, gives them an opportunity to put distance between themselves and the bodies to to displace them essentially from the scene of the crime. So I think that the police, like Daryl had said as well, have more information. They're just not letting the public know. But everybody's terrified. Can you imagine living in this little community and you've got two people that have just absolutely been slaughtered out there? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace You know Matt Harris, let's follow up on what Joe Scott Morgan just said and it jives with what the dad is saying on the phone

this was an isolated area and you hear the dad trying to tell 911 they said what color is the house? And he goes, white. But you can't see it from the road. It is isolated. It is far off the road. What does that tell me? Somebody that knew where they were going. This was not the family home. They had to know that these two were there that night, right? And then you have to know how to get there and get them outside. Yes, that's correct. I know that Maggie has her address, but she also said she lived at Edisto at Facebook. So I don't know how often they were there.

I know Paul, through various sources and things I've read, had been living with his uncle off and on. He also had his apartment up in the University of South Carolina. had been living with his uncle off and on. He also had his apartment up in the University of South Carolina. So I don't know if people knew exactly when he was going to be there. And Paul, or I mean, and Alec was out taking his father to the hospital that evening. And they came back at 10 o'clock and they pinned it down at 9, 930. I also know people along that road I talked to had their door cam, their, you know, ring doorbell taken to see what was on it. And the one woman I talked to said they didn't see any vehicles at that point.

So nobody's door cam, their ring showed any vehicles going by? Well, at least the one, the only one, the one I talked to, she said there was nothing on her camera. No vehicles had gone by that night in that time frame. And also the homes are far off the road. So I don't know what, if anything, her door cam, her ring would have picked up. Yeah. Yeah. It depends which way we're traveling on that road as well. Also, let me follow up on something that was said earlier.

You said it. Matt Harris, morning show host, WLNK, and the Murdoch Family Murders Impact of Influence podcast. You said that members that had been on the boat the night, the earlier couple of years before, that the son was driving, they have willingly given their DNA? Yes. Yes, that's the report I have. Yes, all five of them, or four of them, gave their DNA, fingerprints, the whole works, to rule themselves out as the ones who committed the murders. You know, I find that very interesting, Daryl Cohen, from a strategic point of view. Does it in some way tell you that the husband, the father, Alex Murdoch, is not involved? Because if they're going back two or three years to find out who was involved in the boating accident looking for a perp,

that tells me that they may not think the dad is involved. I think you're right, Nancy. I don't think the dad is involved. I think you're right, Nancy. I don't think the dad is involved. I think that we're looking at somebody who was absolutely, the mother and the son were targeted. They were followed or else maybe it was random in terms of the date. Maybe they were just waiting for them to be there. But it may very well be someone who was angry from Ms. Beach's family. Maybe it was

someone who the law firm didn't do well by in their opinion. Wait a minute. Are you floating the idea that, for instance, somebody didn't make partner in the law firm, so they go and kill Maggie and Paul? That's pretty far-fetched, Daryl, even for you. Nancy, no, a client, a former client or someone who wanted to be a client or someone who thought Well, why not kill the dad, Alex? He's a lawyer. Why go kill Maggie and the son? Don't get mad.

Get even. I'm going to take care of what he loves. You know what? Go back to writing your novel, okay? Because that's not the scenario right here. This is not a revenge killing. They go kill him for Pete's sake, the lawyer that handled it. But I like the out-of-the-box thinking.

Let's try to get back away from the little green men from Mars and focus on what may have really happened, Daryl Cohen. Guys, we're talking about the double murders, the gruesome double murders there in South Carolina of a powerful family. Still unsolved. I find that very unusual. In addition to this dash cam video emerging, Matt Harris, oh, and by the way, on that dash cam video, you hear the boyfriend of Mallory Beach saying, go rot in effing hell. We also know that the son, Paul, now dead, was really drunk, intoxicated, belligerent.

In fact, his alter ego named Timmy had come out. That's what his friends called him when he was so drunk. It seemed like another personality at work. What is the other lead right now, Matt Harris? Tell me the very latest. I guess the very latest is, I guess they have dropped the charges against Paul, which would be obvious, but they did drop the charges. And the civil case is continuing on against the Murdoch family for the potential cover-up in the trying to frame somebody other than Paul as Connor Cook was the guy's name.

They were trying to spin, according to Connor Cook's attorneys. So they filed the pre-lawsuit lawsuit where they can get discovery and such from, I think, five different SCDNR agents and find out whether the Murdoch's put pressure on them to cause confusion about who might have been driving the boat that night. Okay, let's talk about that. Are you telling me that there was an active attempt to frame another individual, you named Connor Cook, as having been driving the boat the night Mallory Beach was killed. I'm telling you that Connor Cook's attorneys think there may have been, and they are trying to prove that.

They're getting their discovery first, and then you'll see if they want to have a lawsuit against the Murdoch family. Well, you're absolutely right, because several police officers have been accused of trying to diminish Murdoch's role in the boat crash, including one who filed a report suggesting that it was unclear who was driving the boat. Well, it's not unclear to the people that were on the boat. In fact, one guy says he was holding his girlfriend that Murdoch was driving so crazily, he was actually holding his girlfriend, quote,

I finally got to the point where I grabbed my girlfriend and put her in my lap in the bottom of the boat and was holding on with my eyes closed. Next thing I know, I'm in the effing water. Everybody knows he was driving the boat, Matt Harris. Next thing I know, I'm in the effing water. Everybody knows who was driving the boat, Matt Harris. Why would a cop write that? Well, because when I looked through, at least according to what they wrote on the reports,

a lot of the boaters, people on the boat, were not clear as to who was driving. People wonder whether it was Paul Murdoch's dad was there and his grandfather and they were talking to the people that were on the boat and probably telling them not to make a statement. Connor Cook never made a statement about who was driving there. So there was a lot, at least in the reports of people saying Connor and Paul were near where the throttle was and that the throttle got pushed down and then they hit the road.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I thought everybody had been begging Paul to slow down and quit driving so crazily. They had. They had. He was driving the boat. Well, Paul would occasionally go up and fight with his girlfriend, her and uh spit on her and then uh while he

was doing that connor was driving with paul would come back and take over again and then like you said the one girl she put a blanket over her head so she couldn't see and another one was down in the bottom of the boat because they were scared um so he's like i can't tell you for sure who hit the throttle until the next day then uh one of the people in the boat said it was definitely Paul. So there was a definite Paul on there. But Paul said it wasn't him, and Connor said it wasn't him. But Connor didn't point the finger at Paul. Okay, other than trying to place the blame on Connor Cook,

what more can you tell me of the most recent developments in the investigation? I think the latest is you've gone through a lot of it right now, and we're still waiting to see if they will release the death certificate for Maggie. You may be able to find something on that of interest, but that hasn't been released yet, and we're not sure why. I find that very unusual. What about it? Joe Scott Morgan, you're the death investigator. You've got the autopsy report on the son. Why not the mom? I would think that unless something super bizarre is going on with the mom, that it should be released within a matter of days.

The only thing I can think of is, you know, we're talking about a homicide and we're talking about a female that is one of the victims, unless they were doing a rape kit or something. But I can't imagine that, why they would delay releasing her death certificate, because all indications at this point in time indicate that she was shot multiple times as well, just like her own son. So it's a bit of a head scratcher as to why they haven't released it yet. And under the law, they're not under any timeline to release it. It's not like you can put a fire under their rear end and make them release the autopsy report. Back to you, Matt Harris. So we and make them release the autopsy report. Back to you, Matt Harris. So we're waiting on Maggie's autopsy report.

We understand there's an attempt to frame Connor Cook. We know that the felony charges against his son in the boating crash, Paul Murdoch, have been dropped. He's dead. He can't go forward. I assume the civil suit's still in place. What else can you tell me, Matt Harris? You know, I agree with what the guests were saying, that I think SLED and the investigative agencies know a lot more than they're saying. And I really do think that they have some idea of where they're going with the investigation. Well, we can only hope and pray. We wait

as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.