The family of Mallory Beach, the young woman who died in a fatal nighttime boat trip in 2019, has reached a $15 million out-of-court settlement with “all remaining defendants” weeks before the civil trial.
Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge in Beaufort, South Carolina, in February of that year. Her body was found five days later.
It is believed that 19-year-old Paul Murdaugh was intoxicated at the time. Buster is accused of lending his younger brother his ID so he could buy alcohol before the accident.
After months of negotiations, a “global settlement” was reached with “several defendants” including convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh, who is behind bars.
That means the trial, which was scheduled for August 14 in Hampton County, South Carolina, is now being canceled.
In addition to Murdaugh, who owned the crashed boat, the other defendants include Greg Parker, owner of a convenience store in Savannah, and his company, the Parker’s Kitchen gas station chain, which sold alcohol to Murdaugh’s son, the alleged driver of the boat at the time of the accident .
The family of Mallory Beach, the 19-year-old woman who was killed in a fatal nighttime boat trip in 2019, has reached an out-of-court settlement with the rest of the defendants
Family patriarch Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison in March this year for the deaths of his wife and son
19-year-old Beach was thrown from the boat when it crashed into the Archers Creek Bridge in Beaufort, South Carolina in 2019. Her body was found five days later
The six youths on board, who were under the age of 21 that night, were thrown from the ship and all but Mallory Beach made it ashore. Her body was not found for a week
The Beach family alleged that a Parker’s supermarket clerk negligently sold alcohol to an underage Paul just hours before the accident, which ultimately contributed to Mallory’s death.
Although the clerk selling the alcohol looked at the ID and checked it through her system to verify that it was valid, she did not verify that the person handing out the driver’s license was consistent with the height, weight or matched the face of the person who bought it.
Attorney Mark Tinsley confirmed limited details of the settlement agreement to News 4 on Sunday night.
Other occupants of the boat also settled claims against Parker’s, including Morgan Dowdy, Miley Altman, Conor Cook and Anthony Cook, splitting $3 million.
Connor Cook and cousin Anthony have solved the case for $1 million each, while Dowdy and Altman will split the remaining million.
“The case will not be heard,” Palmetto District Attorney Bakari Sellers tweeted ahead of Sunday’s settlement. ‘That’s (Parker’s) last pebble.’ I’ll sort myself out.’
Most of the money will benefit the Beach family
Paul was charged with three counts of drink driving in April 2019. But while awaiting trial, the 22-year-old was shot dead in 2021
Most of the money will benefit the Beach family.
“We are pleased that we were able to resolve this case and prevent the Beach family from going through the pain and suffering of a trial, hearing testimonies and reliving the deaths of their daughters.”
“We are pleased that the settlement agreement is also non-confidential so that the public will see that no matter who you are or how much money you have, you will be held accountable,” wrote Mark Tinsley, attorney for the Beach family, in a statement.
The six youths on board the boat the night of the crash, all under the age of 21, were ejected from the ship – and all but Beach made it ashore. Her body was not found for a week.
Paul was charged with three counts of driving under the influence in April 2019.
But while awaiting trial, the 22-year-old was found shot dead at their hunting lodge with his mother Maggie in June 2021.
Paul’s father, Alex Murdaugh, who has since been convicted of the murders of his wife and son, had tried to convince the jury that someone else had killed Maggie and Paul in revenge for the boat accident.
The victims of the boat accident and their families recently appeared in a Netflix documentary called Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.
Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife and son in March. He had long claimed that someone else was responsible for the murders that followed the boat wreck
Paul Murdaugh and his mother Maggie (left) – both named in a Mallory Beach lawsuit – have since been murdered. Husband and father Alex (second from right) is behind bars for the murder of his son and wife. Alex’s eldest son Buster (right) has already put in the $50 million and paid an undisclosed amount to Mallory’s family and other survivors of the boat accident
Before the murders, one of the six teenagers on board the boat had testified that they were afraid to talk about the Murdaugh family because they knew how to “cover things up”.
All survivors reported this to the authorities [Paul] Murdaugh was drunk and there was controversy over his decision to drive his boat.
Beach’s friend Anthony Cook offered to get them all an Uber home, but Murdaugh insisted they would travel by boat, despite the fog and lack of light on the ship.
Cook told attorneys that Murdaugh had a “crazy” alter ego named “Timmy” who came out when he was drunk.
On the night in question, Cook explained, “Everybody was arguing and arguing the whole time.” We went around in circles several times. We strolled around idly… Miley kept screaming that she had to work in the morning. She was ready to go.
“All Paul did was make a fool of himself … then for some reason Paul acted like he was on drugs or something.”
“During an argument he started undressing and it’s 40 degrees outside.”
According to Cook, Murdaugh stripped “down to his boxers” and pugnaciously refused to let anyone else drive his boat.
Both Cook and Altman recounted how Murdaugh “slapped, shoved and spat on” his girlfriend Doughty as the bitter argument raged on.
When asked if Murdaugh ever spat on her when he was sober, Doughty replied, “No.” She admitted to seeing him smoke weed and do cocaine on other occasions.
Describing the horrific scenes as the youths begged Murdaugh to let someone else drive or just take them home, Altman recalled, “I yelled at him once and he just said to me he was like shut up and leave the flap.” down. “Nobody else drives my boat.”
The Mallory Beach family (pictured) also reached a tentative settlement with Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, in a $50 million lawsuit earlier this year after she was killed
Paul Murdaugh was believed to be intoxicated when the boat with six people on board crashed in Archer’s Creek near Parris Island and Buster was accused of lending his younger brother his ID so he could buy the alcohol
One of the boat’s passengers told attorneys that Paul Murdaugh had a “crazy” alter ego named “Timmy” who came out when he was drunk
Archers Creek Bridge in Beaufort, South Carolina, which the boat crashed into in 2019
Doughty recounted how she and Beach huddled in the boat, arms crossed, while Murdaugh continued on the journey that was doomed to end in such tragedy.
Finally, Cook recalled, the boat suddenly lifted off. In a chilling reminiscence, he said: “We went from idling at two miles an hour to the bow of the boat sticking out in the air, and I went aft.”
Cook pulled Beach down beside him and held her, but the next thing he knew he said he was “waking up” in the water, grabbing at piles of grass and debris and fighting the fast current and freezing temperatures.
Alex Murdaugh, 54, is pictured during his February 2023 double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina
Both Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found shot to death at the South Carolina estate in June 2021
The survivors then quickly discovered that no one could find Beach. Her body was found a week later.
In January 2023, “several defendants,” including Buster, settled after months of negotiations with the Beach family and three of the other surviving passengers of the fatal accident.
Four years after the boating tragedy and nearly two years after the murders of Maggie and Paul at their South Carolina home, family patriarch Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of his wife and son.
Murdaugh is now serving two consecutive life sentences for murdering Maggie and Paul at the family hunting lodge in June 2021.