Alex Murdaugh tried to interfere with boat crash investigation at hospital, docs show
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2019 Boat Crash Coverage
The crash of a Murdaugh family boat in 2019 killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and started a chain of events that would remain in the news two years later. Here are the stories from that crash.
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This story first published July 20, 2021.
New documents released from the 2019 boat crash investigation involving Paul Murdaugh reveal how extensively his father, an influential attorney, inserted himself in the early hours of the criminal investigation.
In the morning hours of Feb. 24, 2019, Murdaugh’s father, Alex, a volunteer prosecutor for the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, and his grandfather, Randolph, the former solicitor, burst into Paul Murdaugh’s room in Beaufort Memorial Hospital. They forbade police from obtaining any statements from the 20-year-old, according to several witness statements and interviews.
Investigators with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources were there to figure out who was driving: Paul Murdaugh or Connor Cook, one of the five others in the boat.
Several hospital workers noted how Alex Murdaugh, the boat’s owner, attempted to intercept other boat passengers before officers interviewed them, according to the tranche of documents released on Friday.
“Mr. Murdaugh seemed to be trying to orchestrate everyone getting on the same page,” according to one nurse.
DNR’s release of documents comes more than seven weeks after Paul Murdaugh, who was indicted in the crash near Parris Island that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach, was found shot to death, along with his mother. Police have provided no information on suspects or motives in the June 7 double homicide.
Earlier this month, lawyers for Cook filed a civil petition alleging that some law enforcement officers may know about efforts to hamper the crash investigation and shift blame away from Murdaugh.
Sworn statements attached to the petition outlined several inconsistencies, deviations from common police practices and inaction by officers involved in the investigation.
‘Concern was staying out of trouble’
Alex Murdaugh’s behavior at the hospital the night of the boat crash was so troublesome that ER staff told him to either go back to his son’s room or leave the ER, according to the nurse in charge of the ER at the time.
The nurse, Linda Blount, asked a security guard to “keep an eye” on Alex Murdaugh and make sure he did not go into other passengers’ rooms, according to documents.
Karen Taylor, the nurse assigned to Murdaugh’s room, told DNR investigators that “Paul’s father spoke with Connor’s parents and after the conversation they told Connor not to say anything.”
Connor Cook’s written statement to DNR about the crash was two sentences, one of which read: “I remember seeing the bridge and that’s about it.”
Taylor, Murdaugh’s nurse, said Alex Murdaugh asked a DNR officer “multiple times if he had reason to believe that Paul was driving the boat.”
Two nurses said Murdaugh was looking through the emergency room’s tracking board, which assigns patients and nurses to rooms.
Alex Murdaugh stopped Connor Cook on his way to a CT scan and told him not to say anything and that he would take care of it, an ER technician told investigators.
Taylor “got the impression that the concern was staying out of trouble rather than what occurred,” according to her interview.
What happened in the crash?
The 17-foot-boat was carrying six passengers when it crashed into bridge pilings in Archer’s Creek near Parris Island.
Mallory Beach was flung from the boat and went missing.
Divers with DNR spent days searching the area for Beach. Her body was found five miles from the crash site.
Several conflicting statements from passengers early in the investigation made it unclear whether Paul Murdaugh or Connor Cook was driving the boat.
Nobody was charged for nearly two months following the crash.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and the Solicitor’s Office recused themselves from the investigation because of their ties to the Murdaugh family.
The S.C. Attorney General’s Office took over and indicted Paul Murdaugh. He pleaded not guilty.
‘Weird, corny teen drama movie’
Morgan Doughty, Paul Murdaugh’s ex-girlfriend, became noticeably anxious, according to her nurse, when Alex Murdaugh tried to get into her hospital room. Doughty wouldn’t let him come in.
From the hallway, Murdaugh kept telling the nurse that Doughty “was with him and that he needed to tell [her] what to say,” according to Doughty’s amended statement.
Blount, the nurse in charge of the ER, told investigators that she could smell alcohol on Alex Murdaugh and had to tell him multiple times to stay in his son’s room. She saw him try to get into Doughty’s room.
Several nurses noted that Paul Murdaugh had arrived at the hospital heavily intoxicated, in only wet boxers and socks. He tried to get out of his hospital bed three times, ripping off the monitors attached to his body, they reported.
Laura Kent, the ER technician, told investigators that Paul Murdaugh “did not express any concern” about the others involved in the crash.
When Kent asked Murdaugh for a urine sample, he smiled at her and asked Kent if she was going to help him, according to Kent’s sworn statement. Murdaugh also pointed to Kent’s buttocks and said “wow, that’s nice,” according to her statement.
Kent, who described the atmosphere of the ER as a “weird, corny teen drama movie,” also said that Alex Murdaugh was moving around the ER, trying to speak with other patients and watching the monitor to keep track of where the other patients were located, according to the record of her interview with investigators.
Shifting the blame?
The family’s behavior during the boat crash has come under scrutiny during the investigation into the deaths of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.
A state grand jury is reportedly looking into whether there was obstruction of justice by anyone in the boat crash investigation.
Among the documents released Monday, Anthony Cook, in a March 2019 interview with investigators, said he was worried about the Murdaugh family shifting blame from Paul Murdaugh to his cousin, Connor Cook.
“The Murdaughs are out to pin it on him,” he said.
This story was originally published July 20, 2021 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Alex Murdaugh tried to interfere with boat crash investigation at hospital, docs show."
