Case cruises to an end

In the few short months following the guilty verdict of accused murderer, Alex Murdaugh, various financial and legal details have continued to resurface, leaving onlookers to question or assess the arguably ugly past of the prominent South Carolina family.  Serving two consecutive life sentences, Murdaugh was entrapped in various legal woes that contributed to his debt and the subsequent alleged motivation behind his accused lethal actions in 2021, which left both his wife and son slain.  One of the stronger theories of Murdaugh’s intent to kill focuses on his inability to pay his various financial misdeeds, including damages in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Specifically, earlier this year, Murdaugh’s only living son Buster reached a settlement in a lawsuit that intended to assign liability for the tragic death of his younger brother Paul’s friend Mallory Beach.  In 2019, Mallory Beach stood as passenger aboard the Murdaugh family boat, which crashed into a bridge in Parris Island.  Paul was driving the boat at the time of the accident, and alcohol played a role in the negligent incident.  Several passengers flew overboard, and Beach’s body was not recovered until eight days later, five miles from the crash site.  According to the lawsuit, alcohol was purchased illegally from Parker’s Kitchen, listed as an additional defendant in the case.

Using his older brother Buster’s identification, Paul, who was underaged, was able to purchase the alcohol with his mother’s credit card.  The boat was co-owned by both Alex and Maggie Murdaugh.  Regarding the settlement, Renee Beach, Mallory’s mother, is entitled to receive a $250,000 payout.  The money will stem from the sale of the Murdaugh family property in Moselle, worth $4 million, stretching across the counties of Hampton and Colleton.  Once the property is sold, Buster Murdaugh will be afforded $530,000 from his mother’s estate, a sum that may aid in the rebuilding of the older Murdaugh son’s life.