Alex Murdaugh murder trial: Friday marks 4 years since Mallory Beach’s boat crash death

Friday marks four years since Mallory Beach was killed during a boat crash in South Carolina while aboard with Paul Murdaugh and several of their friends. 

Beach’s death, and the boat crash that caused it, took the spotlight during portions of the ongoing double murder trial for Alex Murdaugh, who is accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and their youngest son, 22-year-old Paul. 

Paul Murdaugh had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit when he slammed his father’s boat into the pilings of the Archer’s Creek Bridge on Feb. 24, 2019, while Beach and several others were aboard.

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Beach never made it out of the water that night, and her body was found eight days later, about five miles from the crash site. Four others were injured. 

Paul Murdaugh allegedly used a credit card belonging to his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, and ID belonging to elder brother Buster Murdaugh, to illegally purchase alcohol while underage from a convenience store owned by Parker’s Corporation earlier that day.

Paul was eventually arrested and charged with three counts of boating under the influence. The tragic wreck led to a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit that triggered the Murdaugh dynasty’s spectacular downfall. 

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Alex Murdaugh has been accused of confronting other injured teen passengers of the fatal 2019 boat crash at the hospital, telling them not to speak to law enforcement. 

Alex, the disgraced scion of a once-powerful legal dynasty, is standing trial on charges that he fatally shot Maggie, 52, and Paul in June 2021. 

He has pleaded not guilty, and took the stand for the second day on Friday.  

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In January, Beach’s family reached a settlement with Buster Murdaugh, 26, Murdaugh’s only living son, as well as the estate of Murdaugh’s deceased wife.

Renee Beach, Mallory’s mother and personal representative of her daughter’s estate, along with co-receivers Alex Murdaugh and John Murdaugh, will receive a $275,000 settlement from the sale of the Murdaugh family’s nearly $4 million Moselle property across Hampton and Colleton Counties. Buster Murdaugh will receive $530,000 from his mother’s estate once the property is sold, and attorneys fees will also be settled.

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Beach’s death was a central topic discussed in the Netflix documentary “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.”

The three-part series aired Wednesday during the fifth week of Murdaugh’s double murder trial in Walterboro, South Carolina.

The boat crash and surrounding events have also been in the spotlight during the ongoing trial.

Mark Tinsley, the Beach family’s attorney, testified that Mallory’s mother, Renee Beach, had wanted to go down to the Archers Creek Bridge after the crash, where the boat crash had occurred, but the scene was cordoned off.

“[Renee Beach] is told she can’t go down there and just a few minutes later Alex’s father and his wife pulled up in a car and are waved under the tape, and they go down to the bridge, and she was very upset by that,” said Tinsley.

Tinsely also said Alex approached him at a bar while he was representing the Beach family and tried to bully him “into backing off” the case.

The attorney said he faced pressure from the community not to pursue the Murdaughs.

“The Beach family stood on a causeway for eight days while their daughter’s body was in the water,” Tinsley told the court. “I don’t think there’s any amount of money someone would be willing to take to go through what they’ve gone through.”