The 22-year-old man killed with his mother in South Carolina last week had a history of aggressive and outrageous behavior when he had been drinking, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, 22-year-old Paul Murdauch and his mother Maggie Murdoch, 52, were fatally shot at the family’s hunting lodge on Monday. Alex Murdoch, Paul’s father and Maggie’s husband, reportedly found the bodies but told police he was not home at the time of the shooting. There is no indication that police consider Alex Murdoch a suspect in the murder investigation.
Investigators are reportedly probing the possibility that Paul Murdauch was the intended target of the shooting. At the time of his death he was awaiting trial in the boating death of 19-year-old Maggie Beach, who was thrown from a boat Murdauch was sailing in February 2019. Police documents stated that Paul Murdoch and the other boaters were extremely intoxicated when the boat crashed.
Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, related to a civil lawsuit against Murdauch for Beach’s death, show that Murdaugh’s friends described the young man as having a different personality when he drank alcohol. They even had a name for his so-call alter-ago: “Timmy.”
“It’s a different name because he turns into a completely — totally different person,” Anthony Cook, who was Beach’s boyfriend and is Murdaugh’s cousin, said in a deposition obtained by the Daily Mail.
Murdaugh’s friends also reportedly said that he was acting aggressively and took his shirt off during the fatal sailing trip — which was during the winter.
“He started taking his clothes off during one of the arguments, and it is 40 degrees outside,” Cook said, according to the report. “I’ve seen him do it a few times when gets [drunk]. I don’t know why he does that.”
Other passengers on the boat reportedly asked Murdaugh to stop sailing and bring it to dock, but he allegedly ignored them and kept driving the boat in circles before it crashed. He also may have pushed or slapped another boater, possibly his girlfriend.
The Murdaugh are a prominent family with several members in high-ranking legal positions. Paul Murdaugh’s grandfather Randolph Murdaugh III, former Former South Carolina 14th Circuit Solicitor, died on Thursday, just three days after his grandson and daughter-in-law were killed. He was 81 years and had reportedly been in ill health.
Police have not yet made any arrests or named any suspects.
CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
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