Disgraced South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh and his deceased wife Maggie 'knew about their son Paul's underage drinking before a fatal boat crash and did nothing about it,' the victim's mother claimed in an amended lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday by the parents of Mallory Beach, who was killed aboard a boat helmed by Paul Murdaugh in 2019, depicts his parents as willful contributors to their son's underage drinking.
'Paul Murdaugh's consumption of alcohol was condoned, encouraged and facilitated by Richard Alexander Murdaugh and Margaret Kennedy Branstetter Murdaugh,' the lawsuit said.
Paul, 22, and his mother, 52, were found gunned down on their hunting estate in Islandton last June in a murder that remains unsolved.
Maggie's husband, Alex Murdaugh, has been rotting in jail since being accused of hiring a hitman to kill him in an insurance fraud scheme and for embezzling money from his law firm.
The Murdaugh family on the same boat used by Paul, pictured in green shirt and blue shorts, in the fatal accident that left Mallory Beach dead in a 2019 crash
Pictured: Paul Murdaugh's mugshot, taken after a drunken 2019 boat crash that left Mallory Beach, right, dead
The lawsuit, filed by the parents of Mallory Beach on Wednesday, depicts his parents, Alex and Maggie Murdaugh, pictured with Paul, as willful contributors to their son's underage drinking
The lawsuit by Beach's family was filed one day before the three-year anniversary of the wreck, which added the estates of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh as defendants.
The suit claims that a drunk Paul Murdaugh, who was only 19 years old at the time of the fatal crash, had spoken with his mother on the phone around two hours prior to the crash, and that she 'failed to stop' him from driving the boat despite being him being clearly intoxicated.
The amended complaint, filed by Allendale attorney Mark Tinsley, accuses the mother and son of negligence. The boat smashed into Archer's Creek Bridge in Beaufort County in February 2019, killing Beach and injuring five others aboard.
Beach, 19, died when she was thrown from the vessel. Her body was found on in the water by a fisherman a week later.
Paul Murdaugh was charged with three felony counts, including causing Beach's death. He was awaiting trial when he and his mother were killed.
Paul was 'highly intoxicated,' 'drunk', and 'belligerent,' after spending an evening drinking before he and his friends got on the boat, according to legal documents seen by DailyMail.com.
