Paul Murdaugh’s longtime girlfriend has broken her silence to accuse the murdered 22-year-old of physical abuse – and claims his family once helped cover up a serious car accident when he was drunk driving.

Morgan Doughty, 23, opened up about her tumultuous relationship with Alex Murdaugh’s younger son Paul for the first time in a new Netflix documentary, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal. She described him as an abusive partner who often drank and claimed that one night he started kicking her and when she told him to stop, grabbed her by the throat and punched her.

Doughty described the events after a 2017 Christmas party where she claimed a drunk Paul crashed his truck and his family rushed to the scene to hide guns and beer cans in the vehicle before police arrived.

She also recalled how family housekeeper Gloria Satterfield found bags of pills belonging to Alex Murdaugh, who was addicted to opioids, and told Paul about it, the same year she died of a fall at her estate.

The new allegations come amid the fifth week of Alex’s double murder trial, in which he is accused of shooting dead his son Paul and wife Maggie on June 7, 2021 at the family’s sprawling hunting lodge in Moselle, South Carolina.

Morgan Doughty broke her silence to speak about her relationship with Paul Murdaugh, claiming he was a frequent alcohol abuser and crashed his truck full of beer cans and guns in 2017, an event she said his family helped stop to cover up

Doughty, pictured with Paul, said their romance soured over his alleged heavy drinking and physical abuse, and claimed he once grabbed her by the throat and hit her

The three-part Netflix documentary delves into the scandals and suspicious deaths linked to once-celebrity legal South Carolina scion Alex Murdaugh and his family between 2015 and 2021.

In the documentary, Doughty, who moved to South Carolina with her parents early in high school, said she had a strong bond with Paul and the two began dating in their junior year.

Alex Murdaugh (pictured) is on trial for the 2021 fatal shooting of his son Paul and wife Maggie at his hunting lodge

During their romance, Doughty said she and her friends would hang out at Paul’s house, where his parents reportedly regularly offered booze to the minors.

“Whenever I came to the Murdaughs’ house, it was normal that they drank and they always kept a lot of liquor in the house,” Doughty said.

Claims of Murdaugh’s prevailing drinking culture align with what Doughty told police after the death of her friend Mallory Beach, 19, in 2019 – who was killed in a boating accident said to have been driven by Paul while intoxicated.

In her affidavit, Doughty presented 25 videos of minors drinking alcohol while Alex and his family were present.

But while the fatal boating accident was under deep investigation, Doughty claimed Paul was responsible for another drunk driving incident two years earlier.

On December 25, 2017, Doughty claimed she drove a drunk Paul home when he “aggressively” demanded that he drive his truck.

She said he then lost control and crashed into a ditch, adding that beer cans and guns rolled everywhere in the truck.

When she tried to call 911 for help, Doughty said Paul grabbed her phone and hung up, opting to call his grandfather, Randolph Murdaugh, and Alex instead.

Doughty claimed Randolph, Alex and Maggie Murdaugh rushed to the scene and before checking on the teenagers, they cleared the truck of guns and beer cans.

She added that they fined her for calling 911 because it would have caused trouble for her youngest son, Paul.

Doughty said Alex and Maggie Murdaugh were fully aware of their son’s drinking and often offered alcohol to minors. Pictured: a picture of Doughty giving Alex an injection in 2018

Doughty said Paul would regularly drink with friends as a minor (left) and drink alcohol provided to him by his parents (right).

Doughty said there was a prevailing culture of alcohol consumption on the Murdaugh estate

Doughty said their relationship began to deteriorate in part due to Paul’s alleged constant drinking, and her friends warned her to stay away from him.

In the documentary, her friend Miley Altman said she and Beach would tell Doughty they were going to end things with Paul, saying the couple would break up and get back together over the weekends.

Speaking of her relationship with Paul, Doughty said, “I think our relationship is just something that I’ve really held onto just because when it’s been good, it’s been really good. But when it was bad, it was really bad.’

She said their arguments started to get physical, and it all came to a head one night when they were celebrating Buster Murdaugh’s graduation and Paul started kicking her at a hotel where they were staying.

Doughty noticed that Paul was drunk, and when he told her to stop, he grabbed her by the throat.

“He got on top of me and I just remember him yelling, ‘I told you to shut up,'” she recalled.

“Just hold my throat. I just remember then he hit me in the knee really hard,” she added as she started to cry.

On the day of the boat wreck, Doughty claimed that Paul hit and spat on her.

Doughty’s parents, Bill and Diane, said they had no idea what their daughter was going through but said she was done with him the day of the accident.

“She was done,” her mother said. ‘That was it.’

“She always said Mallory saved her, and that’s really a way she saved her.”

Along with her own inner turmoil, Doughty also offered insight into Paul, saying that he often felt he was a disappointment to his family and that he only got approval from the family’s housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.

Doughty said Satterfield was “Paul’s second mother” and that the housekeeper told him about “pill bags” that Alex heard.

Alex had abused opioids for years and was often confronted about it by his family, including Paul, just a month before he and Maggie were murdered on June 7, 2021.

Doughty noted that Satterfield’s discovery happened in 2018, the same year she fell to her death at Alex’s hunting lodge.

Doughty also said Paul (left) felt he was a disappointment to his family after his brother Buster (right) pursued a career in law like their father

Paul’s biggest supporter was housekeeper Gloria Satterfield (pictured), Doughty said, describing her as Paul’s second mother. She died in a fall at Alex’s hunting lodge in 2018, the same year she found the legal scion’s “pill bag.”

Most of the first episode of the Netflix series was dedicated to Beach’s death and Paul’s alleged role in it.

Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge in Beaufort, South Carolina in February 2019. Her body was found five days later.

It is believed that 19-year-old Paul was intoxicated at the time, and brother Buster was accused of lending his younger brother his ID so he could buy alcohol before the crash.

Anthony Cook, Beach’s boyfriend, and his cousin Connor Cook, Miley’s boyfriend, also spoke in the Netflix series.

Connor opened up about his outrage when the Murdaugh family tried to frame him for crashing the crash boat.

“I wanted to beat him to death for not driving,” Connor said, adding that he was relieved when Paul was finally charged with Mallory’s death

At the time of his death, Paul was awaiting trial for three felonies — two for driving under the influence of alcohol and one for causing death and physical harm.

He was charged and released on $50,000 bail.

According to legal documents viewed by , Murdaugh was “highly intoxicated”, “intoxicated” and “aggressive” on February night two years ago when he crashed his boat into a mound on Archer’s Creek.

All six youths on board that night were under the age of 21 and were ejected from the ship. But Beach didn’t make it to shore.

Beach’s mother filed a $50 million creditor’s lawsuit against the estate of Paul and his late mother Maggie, while other survivors of the boating — Doughty and Altman — also filed claims against the $10 million and $5 million Murdaugh estates .

Creditor claims filed against an estate are legal means for claimants to receive money they believe is owed to someone after they die.

Doughty’s friend Mallory Beach (pictured) disapproved of her relationship with Paul. Beach, 19, died when an allegedly drunk Paul crashed his father’s boat in 2019

Pictured: Blood found on Murdaugh yacht after fatal boat accident

Paul was allegedly driving the boat drunk with his friends on board when the boat crashed and everyone was thrown overboard, with everyone except Beach returning to shore

Pictured: Paul (right) walks to the yacht with the group of friends on the night of the crash

Last month, the Mallory Beach family reached a preliminary settlement with Buster Murdaugh in the $50 million lawsuit.

The cost of the settlement was not released, but ABC News 4 reported that it was a “substantial” amount.

The settlement will reportedly mean Buster and his late mother Maggie Murdaugh – who was accused of knowing her son Paul was drunk when he went boating that night – will no longer be named in the lawsuit.

That would leave only Paul and Buster’s father, Alex, and Parker’s Kitchen convenience store (where Paul bought underage alcohol) as names.

SCHEDULE OF MURDAUGH FAMILY MURDERS, DEATHS, SUITS AND ARRESTS

Police investigating the double murder of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh have also reopened the case in a 2015 hit-and-run by teenager Stephen Smith

July 8, 2015: Teenage boy Stephen Smith dies

Smith was found on the side of the road.

Police are officially classifying his death as a hit-and-run, but he sustained blunt force trauma to his head.

His mother has since shared her belief that she believes he was killed in a hate crime because he was gay.

Case notes from revealed that Paul’s older brother Buster was named multiple times in the investigation.

The police wanted to know more about his relationship with Stephen.

Stephen’s mother said he had an affair.

Years later, one of Paul’s friends said in an affidavit that the family had “covered up” other murders.

He mentioned Smith’s death.

February 2, 2018: The Murdaugh family’s housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, dies

Gloria Sattlerfield, housekeeper of the Murdaugh family, dies

Gloria died after falling down the stairs at the family home

The family gave her family $500,000 for a wrongful death, but it’s unclear why her death was deemed her fault.

Alex Murdaugh was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Satterfield was only 57 when she died.

She left behind a husband and children.

Her death was also mentioned in the testimony of Paul Murdaugh’s friend.

February 23, 2019: Mallory Beach dies after being thrown from a boat driven by Paul Murdaugh

Mallory Beach, 19, died in February 2019

Paul was later charged with drinking and behaving “aggressively” that night.

He had been released on bail.

One of the six teenagers on board testified that they were afraid to talk about the Murdaugh family because they knew how to “cover things up”.

The boy named Stephen Smith and the housekeeper and claimed Paul pushed Beach off the boat.

June 7, 2021: Paul and Maggie are murdered

The mother and son were found shot to death at the family home in Islandton, South Carolina.

Alex Murdaugh says he found her in the house.

The coroner said the couple had been dead an hour at most when he discovered them.

It was later revealed that Alex waited an hour to call 911 about her death.

Alex’s son Paul, 22, (left) and his wife Maggie, 52, (right) were found dead of multiple gunshot wounds at the family’s hunting lodge on June 7

Alex’s father, Randolph Murdaugh III, died “peacefully” at home three days after Maggie and Paul were found dead

June 10, 2021: Alex’s 81-year-old father, Randolph Murdaugh III, dies “naturally” and “peacefully” at home

Alex Murdaugh’s alibi for the night his wife and son were murdered was that he was visiting his ailing father in the hospital.

The father died just three days later as a result of cancer.

September 3, 2021: Alex resigns from his law firm amid allegations that he has misappropriated funds

The company hired a forensic investigator to review the accounts.

September 4, 2021: Alex calls 911 and claims he was shot in the head in a drive-by

He only had “superficial” wounds and was also able to call his brother.

September 6, 2021: Alex resigns from the law firm

In a statement, he said: “I’m resigning from my law practice and entering rehab after a long struggle that aggravated these killings.”

September 14, 2021: Police arrest a suspected killer in Alex’s shooting

Police said Alex Murdaugh staged his own shooting in a botched benefit scheme designed to allow his surviving son to collect a $10 million life insurance payment.

Curtis Edward Smith, 61, was arrested on charges of assisting suicide, assault and assault, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Smith, of Walterboro, South Carolina, is a former client of Murdaugh, who represented him on minor transportation matters and in a 2015 lawsuit Smith filed against a forest management company.

According to police, Murdaugh paid him to shoot him in the head and kill him, making it look like a random drive-by attack.

September 15, 2021: Police launch a criminal investigation into the 2018 death of Satterfield

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) announced that it is investigating the 2018 death of Gloria Satterfield and the subsequent handling of her estate.

Satterfield, 57, was Murdaugh’s housekeeper and nanny for around 25 years when she suffered a fatal brain injury following a mysterious fall at the Murdaugh family home.

She died a few weeks later on February 26, 2018.

SLED said that Hit opened a criminal investigation into Satterfield’s death based on a request from the Hampton County Coroner and “information gathered during the course of our other ongoing investigations into Alex Murdaugh.”

September 16, 2021: Alex reports to the police about insurance fraud

Murdaugh turned himself in to police in connection with the insurance fraud scheme, where he arranged his own killing so his surviving son could collect a $10 million payout.

He faces charges of insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and making a false police report.

November 29, 2021: Murdaugh faces 27 new charges after being charged with alleged financial crimes totaling $4.8 million

Murdaugh was charged with 27 additional charges, with prosecutors saying he stole nearly $5 million in settlement funds he received for his dead housekeeper, an injured state police officer and others, as well as fees for his legal practice.

December 6, 2021: Satterfield’s family is suing Bank of America for allowing Murdaugh to hide life insurance funds intended for them

The bank has been included as a defendant in the trial of Murdaugh, who is accused of cheating Gloria Ann Satterfield’s sons out of life insurance money after the housekeeper’s mysterious death.

Statterfield’s sons say the bank looked the other way when it allowed Murdaugh to set up a fake account and wire insurance payments to himself and a cousin.

June 28, 2022: Alex Murdaugh and Curtis Smith are charged with drug trafficking

Murdaugh is accused of writing 437 checks valued at $2.4 million that Curtis Smith – the man he hired to assassinate him – cashed over eight years to September 2021.

Smith kept some of the money for himself and used the rest for wide-ranging illegal activities, according to indictments released June 28.

According to prosecutors, this illegal activity included a “distribution network” for the painkiller oxycodone.

Both men were charged with possession, manufacture or distribution of narcotics.

Russell Lafitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, is facing charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and misappropriation of bank funds for allegedly helping Murdaugh steal money from his clients’ settlements

July 21, 2022: Palmetto State Bank CEO faces bank fraud charges for “helping Murdaugh steal money from his customers”

A federal grand jury has indicted Russell Lafitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, of allegedly conspiring with Murdaugh to steal $8.5 million from his client’s settlements.

He is accused of bank fraud, wire fraud and misuse of bank funds.

November 8, 2022: Lafitte faces federal proceedings

The federal trial of Lafitte for bank fraud began Nov. 8.

The Associated Press reported that defense attorneys Bart Daniel and Matt Austin argue that Murdaugh manipulated people and lied to Lafitte.

They say he was just a pawn following Murdaugh’s instructions and did not knowingly participate in the alleged fraud.