Alex Murdaugh, who is currently serving life in prison for killing his wife and son, has settled the wrongful death civil suit that prosecutors alleged first motivated the murders.
Court records confirmed that a civil case against Murdaugh ended on October 10. The judge ended the case after Murdaugh’s insurer, Progressive, paid out $500,000 to the family of Mallory Beach, who was killed while boating with Murdaugh’s son, who was allegedly drunk behind the wheel.
Beach was 19-years-old and attending the University of South Carolina when she and her friends joined Paul Murdaugh — Alex’s son — for a boat ride in February 2019.
The trip ended when the boat crashed into the Archers Creek Bridge, tossing Beach into the water. Her remains were found eight days later in a nearby river. The teens had been drinking on the night of the accident.
Paul was charged with boating under the influence but never made it to trial; his father murdered him.
Two years after the incident that took Beach’s life, Murdaugh killed his son Paul and his wife Maggie. Prosecutors argued during his trial that Murdaugh was trying to keep millions of dollars that he had stolen from his clients and his law firm hidden, and felt that his son’s wrongful death suit was going to threaten the money.
He ultimately shot and killed his wife and son at his family hunting cabin. Murdaugh denied killing his family and insisted he had been visiting his mother, who was suffering from dementia at the time.
On March 2, 2023, Murdaugh was found guilty on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime after just three hours of jury deliberation.
Two months later, Murdaugh was indicted on 22 more charges, all stemming from his financial crimes. He pleaded guilty to all 22 counts and was ordered to pay $8.7 million to compensate his victims, as well as being sentenced to an additional 40 years in prison on top of his life sentence.
Two more months after his indictment, Murdaugh learned that the wrongful death case — the one that prosecutors said started the whole sordid tale — would be settled.
Beach’s family sued multiple entities tied to their daughter’s death, including Murdaugh, who owned the boat, and the shop that sold the teens alcohol, Parker’s Kitchen.
In July 2023, a judge signed-off on a $15 million settlement between the Beach family the defendants. The payout hung in limbo for more than a year because Progressive refused to pay out its share of the settlement until Murdaugh’s name was dropped from the lawsuit.
Once Murdaugh was dropped from the litigation, Progressive paid out its share and a judge closed to case.
