here

Death of Mallory Beach[edit]

In February 2019, Alex's younger son Paul Murdaugh was charged with three felonies, after the death of his teenage friend Mallory Beach in a boating accident.^[5][19] Paul's blood alcohol content was .286, over three times the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle, yet despite being the driver of the boat, Paul was not given a field sobriety test, was not taken to jail for booking, nor was he ever handcuffed. This led to the speculation that he had received special treatment by virtue of his family connections.^{[5][7][14][40]} The judge denied a prosecutorial request that he wear an alcohol monitor.^[5][40]

In court documents, Beach's family implicated Alex and Buster in providing alcohol to the then-underage Paul.^[41][42] As of September 2021, SLED were investigating allegations that police may have been pressured not to charge Paul.^[9] The family of Connor Cook, another of the teens onboard the boat during the accident, filed a lawsuit claiming Alex had encouraged the Cook family to retain a long-time friend of Alex's, Cory Fleming, in order to orchestrate the protection of Paul.^[37]

The Beach wrongful-death case began the unraveling of Alex Murdaugh's criminal enterprise by exposing financial information that spiraled into an inquiry into Murdaugh's alleged financial wrongdoing. In the days before the killing of his wife and son on June 7, 2021, Murdaugh was under immense pressure. A judge had scheduled a hearing for June 10 to consider a motion to compel Murdaugh to turn over his financial information. Likewise, his wife Maggie had made arrangements for a forensic accountant to review the family finances.^[5][7][43]