Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #7 - Who Killed Mallory Beach? Part Three

Episode Date: August 12, 2021

Investigative journalist Mandy Matney discusses the Murdaugh family's involvement in the 2019 boat crash on Archers Creek near Parris Island that killed Mallory Beach and the subsequent investigation Shocking new audio evidence was recently released by SCDNR and we take a deep dive into the implications of that evidence. On this episode, we dive into dash cam videos and depositions, that suggest a potential cover-up by law enforcement and the Murdaugh family.  Paul Murdaugh's blood test revealed he was 3.5 times over the legal limit. Anthony Cook, a passenger, identified Paul as the driver, but this was not reflected in official reports. The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office and SC DNR's initial handling of the case is criticized for bias. Matney also mentions ongoing legal actions and the impact of the Murdaugh family's influence on the criminal justice system. Lots to cover, so let's dive in... 🥽🦈 And a special thank you to the Bannon Law Group for supporting our mission. From the big house to your dream house, the Bannon Law Group has got you covered. BannonLawGroup.com We are incredibly thankful to Caitlin Lee for our new podcast artwork and and October Genius for the enhanced theme song! This episode of Murdaugh Murders Podcast discusses horrific community tragedies. Hopeful Horizons creates safer communities by changing the culture of violence and offering a path to healing. If you or someone you know is experiencing interpersonal violence please go to hopefulhorizons.org to learn more about their mission.  Join ⁠LUNASHARK Premium⁠ today and check out our ⁠LUNASHARK Merch⁠! ☀️👕🧢🛍️ Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Members ⁠⁠⁠⁠also get access to ad-free listening, searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on ⁠⁠⁠⁠lunasharkmedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ all in one place. ⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out our LUNASHARK Merch 👕⁠⁠⁠⁠ What We're Buying... Here's a link to some of our favorite things: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email ⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: ⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠TrueSunlight.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter.com/mandymatney⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter.com/elizfarrell⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Alec Murdoch. I need police and an ambulance immediately. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark, and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch. Family first. To unravel the story piece by piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, Wednesdays. And stream Murdoch, Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers.

Terms apply. I believe I know who killed Mallory Beach. And now that more evidence has come to light, I'm troubled by what we know happened during the investigation of her death. My name is Mandy Matney, and I've been investigating the Murdoch family for more than two years now. This is the Murdoch Murdoch's podcast. So before we start this episode, I want to give a quick shout out to all of the low country locals who have supported us with this. podcast. We've been fortunate to receive feedback from people literally all over the world, but the

support we have from our own backyard means the most of us. From the very beginning, we've been sponsored by a local law firm, the band and law group, and so many businesses have helped us with little things along the way. If you've noticed, our theme song got a little facelift this week, thanks to our new friends at a local business called October Genius Music. We've also been featured in the Celebrate Hilton Head September issue, also known as CH2 Magazine, so be sure to check that out. Finally, I want to thank my wonderful fiancé David Moses for supporting me 100% during this podcast endeavor. When I first started reporting on the story in 2019, I was working for a soulless corporate news organization for employers that didn't care about me, this story, or any of my sources.

I almost quit journalism in 2019 and I am forever thankful for encouraging me and always having my back while reporting on this story. And thank you to every single person who subscribes and believes in our mission. Investigative journalism is not dead. And I believe our company is the future of news. In the two months since Paul Murdoch and his mother Maggie Murdoch were murdered on their hunting property, about 60 miles west of Charleston, South Carolina, we've learned a whole lot about the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach. For a recap, when Paul Murdoch was murdered, he stood accused of three felony boating under the influence charges in the boat crash. On February 24,

2019, he allegedly crashed a 17-foot center-consul fishing boat into a piling just outside of Parris Island, South Carolina. While the criminal investigation of Paul Murdoch ended with his death, authorities are now looking into obstruction of justice allegations involving his powerful family members, according to sources and attorneys representing boat crash victims. In the weeks since Paul's murder, officials and attorneys have released a mound of information in the case. That information has been released for two reasons. One, because the criminal investigation is over, and two, because one of the passengers on the boat, Connor Cook, recently filed a bombshell petition alleging that law enforcement officers conspired against him before Paul Murdoch was charged.

And in the last few weeks, we've learned so much. We've read hundreds of pages of depositions from officers who responded to the scene. We've watched hours of dash cam footage from the scene and listened to horrific audio. We've read shocking affidavits from hospital staff members who watched Alec Murdoch and his father, who was a solicitor for decades, moved from room to room and allegedly orchestrating a plan. And we've read heartbreaking statements from the survivors on the boat who witnessed Mallory Beach's last few moments. But this week, the Beaver County Sheriff's Office released more than an hour of video, a huge missing piece in this puzzle. The recently released dash cam videos raise

questions about the alleged conspiracy between the Murdoch family and their law enforcement connections. The videos released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request further confirm what attorneys have previously alleged in depositions. But Mallory Beach's boyfriend Anthony Cook, who was also Connor Cook's cousin, was very clear with Officer. who was driving the boat. The audio from the dash cam is gut wrenching. The civilians are underneath the bridge still in the boat. The most severe of the injured is on the boat underneath the bridge off the walk down to him.

Here, Anthony Cook is sobbing as he speaks to Stephen Domino, a Beaufort County Sheriff's deputy. He's in disbelief that his girlfriend is gone, and he's hesitant to get in the backseat of a cop car when he's instructed. Domino reassured Anthony that he's not in trouble, but he wants him to calm down. Just sit right here. I'm not closing the door. I'm gonna get you a cigarette. Sit right there. Sit right here.

You got everybody coming out here. You're my concern, okay? I'm fine. No you're not. Listen, Pete, I'm here for you. All right? Me and you don't, we're chilling. I understand you're upset.

I ain't about to sit here and tell you to calm down, okay? But I'm gonna get you a cigarette. About 14. How about 14? Listen, man, my mom works for a slave. Okay, listen, that's cool. I didn't told you you're not in trouble. All right.

How about that? I need to call her. I need to call her. So that's Anthony saying that his mother works for the South Carolina law enforcement division. This is interesting that he feels the need to say that in that moment. So on the phone, Anthony tells his mother what happened. Mom, y'all need to come.

I'm gonna be for quick. We damn, we hit a bridge in the boat. Conner's fucked up. Conner's messed up bad, we can't find Mallory. Morgan's messed up bad. We can't find Mallory, ma'amara. Where are we at? We're at Paras Island.

Paris Island Bridge. No, it's just telling you. Interest to Paris Island, she's going to listen. Paris Island, the interest to Paris Island. The interest to Paris Island. Yeah. I don't know, Mom. There's 50 cops out here. Everybody's shit up. I said there's 50 cops out here. And one of the cops is nice enough to let me call you. Mom, there's 50 cops here, Coast Guard, everything. We can't find Mallory. It's been 30 minutes, Mom.

You probably need to call Mr. May here, Mr. Phillips. He's telling his mom to call Mallory's parents and tell them the news. So here, Domino takes the phone and speaks to Anthony's mother. Your son's not in trouble or anything right now. Like I said, he's very asking him the right to be in the shop right now. He probably do to end up eventually coming down this way. You don't have a problem with that, but he probably don't have a problem with that. He told me you're in law enforcement?

Okay, alright, yes man. War here, like I said, I'll let you come see your son soon to get here. I got them pretty much as calm as I can get them. You know, I fully understand. So me and him work, I'll be hanging out within the dark time, okay? Just Google Paris Island. Yeah, just Google Paras Island, the main entrance gate. Yes, we're around the main road.

One way in, one way out, you will not miss us. Oh. All right, just Google, Paris Island. Yeah, the Marine Corps base, like it just from. So while Domino was on the phone with Anthony's mother, Paul Murdoch apparently walked past Domino's car, according to the dash cam recordings. We're on the main road, you want to mess up. You get that motherfucker right there away from me. All right.

Yes, man, we'll be here. All right. You're talking about that one with no shirt off? Hey, do not. I don't want you getting in trouble, you hear me. This is no, we'll get no trouble. You do what I said? Well, I was on the way.

I told him, I said, Hey, let's see what, fuck, let me try. Let's see a man. I'm, uh, um, I'm hanging with you. It's your mom, it's okay. Yeah, motherfucker ain't, what's the fucking, you're not in trouble.

What are you on, man? You're gonna get no fucking chunk. Oh, yes. You're fucking smiling like it's fucking funny. Sit down. My fucking girlfriend's gone, Beau. Do you think it's fucking funny? Sit down, sit down, sit down.

Folks right fucking hell. Sit down. Hey, somebody put him in the bar, the one with the towel. Go ahead. Where's your cigarette? What's your cigarette? You need another one? Here.

Here, I ain't got a lot now. Don't waste him here. Here, go ahead. Go ahead. Broke the cigarette, and I got you. He's going away. Don't even look down at the bar in the push. All right.

On another Beaufort County dash cam video, you can hear officers speaking to Paul Murdoch, and they are not at all treating him like a suspect. After y'all hit the bridge, did y'all beach the boat up there on the side of the thing or did it the boat? Do you think y'all hit one of the markers in the beginning of it? Sure. Can I use your phone? Can I use your phone? Hey, boy.

I ain't got my phone on me, brother. You ain't got your phone on you? No, you dropped yours in the grass right back there. That's no, drive you. Hey, you've been checked out? By name, ma'am. Oh. Hey, buddy.

You got to check out by name or not? Yeah, I'm fine. Sure? I think we should get to check down, right? Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, what's your last name, buddy? My name, buddy. My name, my name.

N-U. R-D-A-U-H. Paul, B-A-U-L? Buddy-A-U-L. All they're fine, man. Hey. They're down there looking, okay? They got a good search on it, right?

Yeah, yeah. They're probably underneath. They're gonna find you, okay? They're down there looking right now, okay? You know they got it. That's a good search, right? Yeah, they got a good team down there looking for, okay? Can I use your phone?

I don't have my phone on me, buddy. Here, hey. Here, stay right here. I'm gonna go get that one you dropped from the ground back there, all right? Yes, sir. You got it already? Yeah. Where it's a pile and where you see the boat before.

So while the people that we had. It's a total father-cels. It's running this way when they hit the bridge, so she probably got ejected in the car and the car and carried her down that way. So while sitting in the back of Domino's police car, Anthony Cook told Domino what happened that night. What about the driver of the boat C-21? No. Is everybody on the bus been drinking? Yeah.

Especially the driver? How big to drive that fucking boat? But the driver, how much as he had to drink. Anthony then told Domino that most of the group wanted to go home after the oyster on Pauke Island around midnight. Dude, I can tell you this much, we left, I don't even know where the fuck we were. We left and stopped fucking downtown Buford. And me and him about fall on the fucking dark

because I told him not go up there that a fucking bar that we need to be going home. Downtown? How are you drinking down there in New York? Hell, I wasn't. I stayed on the damn boat. But he was drinking actually at the bar? I reckon. I didn't go up there. The group left downtown Beaufort around 117 a.m. on February 24th, 2019.

So y'all came from downtown through the creek, and that's when it was going way too fast. So seconds before the crash, GPS data showed that the boat was traveling in around 29 miles per hour, which is very fast for a boat as it approached the narrow winding waterway of Archer's Creek. So I don't even know, I finally got to the point I granted. my girlfriend and put her in the bottom of the boat and was holding on my eyes closed the next thing i know i'm in the fucking water i can't find you man paul mallory and anthony were ejected into the water connor cook and paul's girlfriend were severely injured and taken to the hospital while anthony who dislocated his shoulder stayed on scene anthony cook sensed that the murdock family influence

would play a role in the investigation anthony a hampton county native who grew up with Paul Murdoch knew of the Murdoch's power in the Low Country Criminal Justice system. The re-generations of Murdox all served as solicitors, which is South Carolina's version of a district attorney over a five-county region in the Low Country from 1920 to 2006. This enabled the family to amass hundreds of political, prosecutorial, and law enforcement connections. You all know Helleck Murdoch? I know, yeah, I know the name.

That's his son. That's so driving the boat. Good luck. You matter who you know. Here, Domino rejected this assumption that good old boy politics would play a role in this investigation. He said, well, it don't matter who you know to Anthony. Here, Domino asked Anthony one more time who was driving the boat. The driver is the one.

driver is the one with no clothes on, correct? Behanz, who is you? The one you were getting mad at back there, he was in his drawers. You had, last one driving whenever I got down in the floor of the boat and kept on boxers. Yes, sir. You need a cigarette, right, Bobble? This is my dude, um, when you busted in Mount five. He's got, still got clothes on, correct?

Yeah. All right, that's what, yeah, they're good. Everybody's good, physical-wise. Okay, but I just wanted, we need to know exactly the driving, and that's, you say, that was the last one you saw, so that's what I told them, because his ass will be responsible, okay? Do you hear me? Don't worry about that. We're going to handle on that end, okay? All right.

So several minutes after talking to Domino, Austin Pritcher, who was the first officer from the lead investigating agency, SCDNR, ask Anthony Cook who was driving the boat. Hey, I'm with Department of Natural Resources. Who was driving the boat? Crash out six of them. The last time I grabbed my girlfriend and got down in the bottom of the boat. Paul was driving? Paul was driving? Yes.

I begged and begged and begged and begged to let me drive. Uh-huh. Where were we all coming from? Paul. Okay. And Paul was driving, not Connor? If Connor was driving. Having that happened after I had been flipping the fucking down the bottom of the

D&R. They were both sitting on the front seat. You were laying in the front of the bottom, no, the back of the bottom of the boat. Before you hit? Yes. Okay, and Paul and Connor were sitting on right behind the console? Yes. I had done fault with both of them for 30 minutes about letting me drive,

and both of them thought it was fucking funny. Yeah, okay. Okay. All right. Well, we don't do everything we can find her, okay? I appreciate it. Yes. But Pritcher did not write this in his SCD and our report.

Instead, he wrote that Anthony, quote, did not know, unquote, who was driving the boat. Pritcher wrote in his report that other officers who arrived on scene before him thought it was Connor Cook or Paul Murdoch driving. the boat. Yet in all of the police reports, there is no evidence of any witnesses on scene telling law enforcement that Connor was driving. On the other hand, Domino's Beaufort County Sheriff's Office report reflected exactly what Anthony Cook told him. Domino was the only deputy on scene who identified Paul Murdoch as the driver, where is Corporal Jack Keener, a deputy who had connections to the Murdoch law firm, offered a different assessment. of the situation.

At the time of the crash, the sheriff's office had said it was merely assisting SCDNR the lead agency in the investigation. Beaufort County deputies who arrived on scene before SDNR laid the groundwork for the entire investigation, and Keener wrote in his report that it was unclear who was driving the boat. But he admitted in his deposition that this assessment was his personal opinion, and that no one else had said anything to him that would indicate Connor Cook may have been driving the boat. Specifically, when he was asked if anyone told him, if Connor Cook may have been driving the boat, Keener gave a strange answer about how he didn't think girls could handle driving the boat,

and that's how he basically deduced it to either Paul or Connor. He said, I personally run this creek. I was born and raised here. It can get narrow and skinny at sometimes, and the tide was going to. out, I don't think any of the girls were driving the boat. I don't know what kind of experience they may have, but it has to be one of the three boys. Mrs. Beach's boyfriend was mad. He just said he wasn't driving the boat, and then he's mad at Paul Murdoch. Also, keep in mind that the Murdoch law firm previously represented Keener's family in a $2.5 million lawsuit. In Keener's dash cam video that was recently released, there is no indication that he ever questioned any of the

of the other passengers about who was driving the boat. Keener's two driver theory was subsequently passed to SCDNR. Austin Pritcher, the SCDNR officer who was accused of manipulating his reports to favor Paul Murdoch, only offered Connor Cook a field sobriety test that night. SCDNR never sought a warrant to compel the hospital to draw Paul's blood that night, but the hospital did anyways because he was perceived as behaving so erratically. They were worried that he had a head injury. However, in the last few weeks, SEDNR has revealed that Paul Murdoch's blood at 4 a.m. on February 24, 2019, was about 3.5 times over the legal limit.

But you have to think about it. If the hospital had not taken it upon themselves to obtain Paul's BAC, who knows of SEDNR would have had enough to file charges. Three weeks after the boat crash, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office recused itself from the investigation. due to its long-standing relationship with the Murdoch family. Still, its involvement prior to this recusal clearly impacted the direction of this investigation. And because of the initial confusion in the investigation, it took two months for authorities to charge Paul Murdoch with three felony boating under the influence counts. And unlike the vast majority of felony BUI cases, Paul Murdoch never stepped foot in jail. At the time of his death, he was facing 25 years. in prison for the charges. And I want to talk about those charges for a minute because it's another

story, yet most of the media and the public is just not understanding. The Attorney General's office told a local newspaper last week that they were dropping charges against Paul Murdoch. That is not at all to say that they're clearing his name or that the charges wouldn't have stuck had he been alive. They were dropping the charges simply because you can't have a trial for a dead person. While the investigation of Paul Murdoch ended, With his death, authorities are now looking into obstruction of justice allegations involving his powerful family members, according to both my sources and attorneys representing boat crash victims. Soon, a judge should decide on Connor Cook's petition, which asks the court for permission

to depose several law enforcement officers in connection with a potential lawsuit. According to the petition, the officers may have information of a collusion or a civil conspiracy to shift the blame of the boat accident away from Paul Murdoch by wrongfully shifting the focus to Connor Cook. In the explosive depositions attached to that petition, attorney's questions suggest that several pieces of evidence appear to be missing, including Paul's phone, which was picked up by another officer on scene, which you heard in the audio earlier. Also, DNA swabs from the boat and photographs of DNA processing, which could have proven where Connor was positioned in the boat at the time of the crash, considering a pool of his blood was on the right side of the boat.

And an audio recording of Anthony Cook telling Michael Brock that Paul Murdoch killed Mallory Beach. Michael Brock has a long list of personal ties to the Murdoch family, yet he was named as a lead investigator in the case. Brock spoke with Anthony Cook on scene on February 24, 2019, later that day. He said that Paul Murdoch killed his girlfriend, according to a Paris Island military police officers sworn affidavit. But Brock didn't write that in his report. Instead, Brock wrote that Anthony flipped out and was yelling at Paul, failing to note why he was angry at Paul Murdoch in the aftermath of Mallory Beach's disappearance. In Mallory Beach, the beloved, bubbly 19-year-old who lit up every room she walked into, unfortunately gets lost in the chaos of this story. Anthony,

refused to leave Archer's Creek Bridge on the day she went missing. Is anybody in the water looking for? Yes, we got tomorrow. We got DNR, fire departments got their boats in the water. Coach Guard is on the way with the chopper and DNR's in route. All right. She's in the bottom of her. They're going to have a dive team.

We got a dive team, we got a bunch of resources. Yeah, I have a bird. Regardless, like I told you, regardless of that, the outcome we will find this. All right, but you just got to keep faith that she's somewhere on the faint floor. You see what I'm saying? Beach's body was found a week later by two men in a boat about five miles from the crash site. Beaver County Coroner Ed Allen determined that she died of blunt force trauma and drowning. The three officers who are accused of falsifying their reports, Michael Brock, Jack Keener, and Austin Pritcher still work in law enforcement. Dominus,

the officer who showed kindness and compassion to Anthony and identified Paul Murdoch as the driver of the boat in his report was fired from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office for alleged drug use in July 2020. However, he was never charged. So a few days after we said we were going to be taking a break, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office suddenly filled our Freedom of Information Act request and gave us hours of audio, which is what you heard in this episode. We didn't get much of a break, and we still need it. My wonderful fiancé, David Moses, has a busy couple months ahead of him

as he is spearheading the Savannah Seafood and Spirits Festival at the end of August and the Polo for Heroes event and Bluffton this October. So check both of those events out at Seafoodand spirits.com and polo the number four heroes.com. Those events and others help us support organizations making the world a better place. They assist with children that have nowhere to go, victims of violence, wounded military, first responders, and much, much more. Check out the links in the descriptions, and we hope to see you there. Thank you, David.

So while David is busy, I have a lot of reporting, digging, and FOIA requesting to do on this case. I need some time for that. But again, as we plan, if anything major breaks, we will be back, and we can promise you that. Be sure to subscribe to the Murdoch Murders podcast. In the meantime, so you don't miss an episode. And follow me on Twitter at Mandy Matney or on Instagram at Mandy underscore N underscore Hiltonhead for updates on the latest episodes. And in the meantime, to support this podcast, visit Murdochmurterspodcast.com. And thank you all for all of the support we've had over these last few crazy weeks.

Thank you to everyone who gave us a five-star review. Thank you to everyone who shared this. podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, all of it. We so appreciate you and thank you. We will be back soon, so stay tuned. The Mardock Murder's podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiance, David Moses. Produced by Luna Shoeck Productions.