Alex Murdaugh ‘plotted murder of his wife and son for SIX MONTHS to keep his financial crimes secret’ – after family was sued over death of Mallory Beach in drunken boat crash
- Attorney Alex Tinsley believes a decision made by Murdaugh after he was sued for the Mallory Beach boat crash indicates he had planned to kill
- The convicted murderer had the chance to keep his wife out of the boat crash lawsuit, but he refused
- The 2019 boat crash became a central event in Murdaugh’s murder trial as prosecutors argued it may have fueled his motive
Alex Murdaugh may have planned to murder his wife and son for over six months due to mounting pressure to conceal his financial crimes, attorney Mark Tinsley has claimed.
Tinsley represents the family of Mallory Beach, who was killed in an infamous boat crash in 2019 allegedly caused by Murdaugh’s son Paul when he was 19 years old – an event Tinsley says may have fueled the former lawyer’s motive.
The attorney, who testified at the disgraced legal scion’s trial, said that he became suspicious that Murdaugh’s plan to butcher his family was months in the making following the discovery process for his civil lawsuit against the patriarch.
After finding pictures that ‘documented that Maggie knew about Paul’s drinking’, an issue that was blamed for the boat crash, Tinsley requested to have the images included in his lawsuit against Alex Murdaugh for the incident – which would have protected Maggie from her own suit.
Murdaugh, however, refused the request, forcing Tinsley to sue Maggie to include the pictures, which he told The Interview Room: ‘Was shocking to me… the denial of those requests to admit indicated that he was already contemplating (murder).’
Attorney Alex Tinsley, pictured, represents the family of Mallory Beach, and testified during Murdaugh’s murder trial
Alex Murdaugh, center, may have planned for six months to kill his son Paul, left, and wife Maggie, right, according to Tinsley
The February 2019 boat crash involving Paul became a central event in Alex Murdaugh’s high profile murder trial, with prosecutors arguing that the accident may have fueled his decision to kill as a way to prevent his financial crimes being discovered.
Paul, who was underage at the time, allegedly drove his parent’s boat at high speed while drunk before crashing into a bridge, killing Beach and injuring others on board. Tinsley subsequently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Murdaugh and others.
Tinsley said after he began representing the family of Mallory Beach, he first visited Maggie’s Facebook page, ‘which had picture and video after picture and video of Paul with alcohol.’
‘Paul in the boat with alcohol. Paul loading the coolers. Paul sitting on the sandbar with beer between his legs… Those photographs clearly documented that Maggie knew about Paul’s drinking.’
Tinsley said he sent the images to Murdaugh’s attorney, and in November 2020 he requested to include the images in the civil case to ‘admit that Maggie knew, that all of the things that by then had been sanitized from her FB account, were imputed to (Alex) for purposes of liability.’
But his ‘olive branch’ to Murdaugh was swiftly denied, a decision that shocked Tinsley. ‘So, here’s a way to protect your wife, this person that you love more than anything, to keep her from being sued,’ he added.
The refusal forced Tinsley to sue Maggie to admit the evidence in the lawsuit. Since Maggie was killed in June 2021, before he could complete suing her, he instead sued her estate since Alex was the beneficiary.
‘It was shocking to me,’ he added. ‘And it wasn’t until after the murders that I really put two and two together why he would do that.’
Alex Murdaugh is pictured during his murder trial in February 2023. He is currently serving two life sentences for the killings of his wife and son
The Murdaugh’s were a notable legal family for decades in South Carolina
Tinsley said his suspicions that Murdaugh was planning to kill his wife were heightened due to a ‘disturbing’ conversation the disgraced former lawyer had with Maggie’s sister, Marion Proctor.
Proctor testified during Murdaugh’s trial that she asked him if Maggie had suffered after she was shot, to which Alex said no, adding ‘whoever did this had been planning for a long time.’
‘I think he told the truth then,’ said Tinsley.
The wrongful death suit is set to go to trial in August, however Murdaugh, who is serving two life sentences, is not expected to take the stand.
Convenience store Parker’s Kitchen, which allegedly sold Paul alcohol on the night of the crash, is also being sued.
After Alex Murdaugh was sentenced in March for the murders of Maggie and Paul, the father of Mallory Beach refused to shake hands with the Murdaugh family, and claimed ‘justice has been served’.
And earlier this year, the family of Mallory Beach reached a tentative settlement with Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster Murdaugh in a $50million lawsuit after she was killed during the fatal late night boat ride on February 23, 2019.
It is believed Paul was driving drunk when the boat of six people crashed in Archer’s Creek near Parris Island, and Buster was accused of lending his younger brother his ID in order for him to buy the alcohol.
According to legal documents seen by DailyMail.com, Paul was ‘highly intoxicated,’ ‘drunk’ and ‘belligerent,’ on the evening when he sped his boat into a piling.
The six youths on board that night, who were under 21, were ejected from the vessel – and all but Beach made it to shore. Her body wasn’t found for a week.
Paul was indicted on three counts of boating under the influence in April 2019.
But while awaiting trial, the 22-year-old along with his mother Maggie, were found shot to death at their hunting lodge in June 2021.
Paul’s father Alex Murdaugh, who has since been convicted of his wife and son’s murders, had tried to convince the jury that someone else had killed Maggie and Paul in revenge for the boat wreck.
The boat crash victims and their families recently appeared in a new Netflix docuseries called Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.
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