SC - Paul Murdaugh, 22 and mom Margaret, 52, found shot to death, Islandton, 7 June 2021

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When my children were teenagers, our home was the high school gathering place. We had a perfect place for them to gather with no neighbors to be bothered.

Our daughter actually had a sign…similar to a real estate sign…that said “The Party’s Here.” If we were home on a Friday night, the sign went up…but my husband and I made it a FIRM practice to make spot appearances.

We patrolled.

Every week I’d remind them if I caught anyone drinking or found one beer can afterwards..they could find a new place to hang out. Meanwhile, I learned what kids to watch, especially any new faces…and I came to really know my children’s friends. Friday night was apparently ‘break up’ night and I dried many tears in my kitchen over the years.

If they drank I never caught them…but I lived in fear of them outwitting us and someone having an accident later. I am truly stunned by the nonchalance of the adults at this clam bake…watching these kids drink and then hop in a boat with a drunk driver. Stunned and disgusted.
 
worm said:
This is the SC good old boy system on full display. I live in and have seen it work many many times. This game of “guess who was driving” is an old way to fight DUI cases as well. I think somebody was very frustrated with this case and acted on their own to get justice, feeling outnumbered by what they perceive, right or not, is a fixed for the rich legal system.

Given the number of officials in SC who have been caught up in corruption and charged, I fully feel like this is what’s happening here.
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I also read he’s being represented by a state senator?
 
I just saw this article -- please forgive if it is a repeat:

Why Were a 'Loving' Mother and Son from a S.C. Family Dynasty Murdered on Their 1,770-Acre Property?

Mystery surrounds the shocking double homicide of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and her son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, who were found shot and killed on the night of June 7

By KC Baker
June 15, 2021 04:59 PM
To outsiders, Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh seemed to lead a charmed life.

As the wife of prominent South Carolina attorney Richard Alexander Murdaugh, known as Alex, whom she met at the University of South Carolina, Maggie, 52, enjoyed the prestige that came with being married to a scion of the Murdaugh family legal dynasty.

While Alex, 53, worked as an attorney at an influential law firm started by Randolph Murdaugh Sr. in 1910, Maggie quietly raised the couple's two sons: Richard Alexander Murdaugh Jr., known as Buster, and Paul Terry Murdaugh.
Splitting her time between the family's rustic, 1,770-acre property in Islandton, in the Lowcountry, and their airy beach house in Edisto, on the coast, Maggie enjoyed attending events with her husband and sons at their local yacht club, swimming in the family's pool and spending time out on the water on their boat.
[...]
All that came to a tragic and violent end on the night of June 7, when she and her son, Paul, were shot and killed on the property of the Murdaugh's hunting lodge in Islandton, the Associated Press, The Island Packet and WSAV report.

RELATED: Mom, Son from Prominent S.C. Family Found Slain As He Awaited Trial in Boating Accident That Killed Teen
At 10:07 p.m., Maggie's husband, Alex, called 911 to say that he returned to his family's property and found his wife and son "shot outside the residence," South Carolina Law Enforcement Division spokesperson Tommy Crosby announced in a release Tuesday afternoon.

More here:
Why Were a 'Loving' Mother and Son from a S.C. Family Dynasty Murdered on Their 1,770-Acre Property?
 
This thread moves fast and this may have already been posted. First mention of divers that I've noticed.

SLED divers searching river near Murdaugh property as part of double-homicide investigation | WCBD News 2

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Law enforcement officials on Wednesday confirmed that South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) divers have been searching the Salkehatchie River near the property where members of the Murdaugh family were found shot to death last Monday.
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Sustained said:
Indeed - I'm not sure if the parents of the other kids are as wealthy or connected as the M's but rich kids tend to act out because they can and experience no backlash. PM most likely had a lot of $, dad's boat/cars to take as needed, and a lot of free time. It also seems when it comes to boating, there is a different sense of drinking while driving/boating than when in a car/truck. Probably because there is no traffic - just open water in most cases and less things to run into. The designated driver concept seems not to apply. And quite simply, I don't believe the legal penalties for BUI are as severe as for DUI.

And we don't know what condition the parents were in at the party - most of us have been to parties where parents/adults are worse abusers of alcohol than the kids. Combine that with the fact PM is a M and maybe parents didn't want to intervene.
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BBM
Here, where I live, the penalties for drunk driving a boat or any watercraft now have the same rules, sentencing and fines as being picked up for drunk driving a vehicle. You get a breathalyzer and taken into jail on the spot.
Noted** also same with driving golf carts around here while drunk. You get hauled into jail for that too.

Not sure what the laws are in SC though. Might be different there.
 
How were his Family able to prevent PM from having a sobriety test on the night of the crash? SC has implied-consent? The police report said they were all grossly inebriated yet no test is given? No arrest?

Can I get a DUI on a boat in South Carolina? | The Law Offices of A. Randolph Hough | Columbia and Charleston SC | Criminal and DUI Defense Attorney


‘You also need to understand that the concept of “implied consent” applies to boating as well as driving. Implied consent means that by operating a watercraft of any sort, you are implicitly consenting to chemical tests of breath, blood, or urine to determine the presence of drugs or alcohol should you be arrested. You can read the full text of the law here, but these are the highlights:

  1. If you arrested for BUI, you implicitly agree to a chemical test. This is usually a breath test.*
  2. That chemical test has to be “administered by a person trained and certified by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), using methods approved by SLED.”
  3. You could be forced to pay the $50 fee for the breath test if you plead guilty or are convicted of BUI.
  4. If your test registers a .08 blood alcohol content (BAC) or above, the officer doesn’t need to run anymore tests. It is inferred that you were under the influence of alcohol.
    1. If your test registers a .05 BAC or lower, it is presumed you were not under the influence of alcohol
    2. If your test registers between a .05 and a .08 BAC, no inference is made, but it CAN “be considered with other competent evidence in determining the guilt or innocence of the person.”
 
girlhasnoname said:
From the article BBM:

The two were found dead inside their home June 7, killed by gunfire. The Colleton County Coroner ruled their deaths as homicides.

I thought they were found outside near kennels? Could be misreporting somewhere.
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That report is wrong. Everyone else, including SLED, reports that it was outside the home (BBM):

SLED UPDATE ON STATUS OF ONGOING MURDAUGH DOUBLE MURDER INVESTIGATION

"On June 7, 2021 at 10:07 PM, Alex Murdaugh called 911. During that call, Murdaugh
indicated to the Colleton County Dispatch Center that he had returned to family property
located at 4147 Moselle Road in Islandton, South Carolina to find the bodies of his wife
Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and his son Paul Murdaugh shot outside of the residence on the property..."

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division
 
Bridger said:
Hmmmm is right. I don’t think they’d be setting up hotlines if they had even a pretty good idea of what happened.
Click to expand...
Hopefully it's because they don't want to be accused of having tunnel vision on one suspect. Hopefully....

Maybe this was a "for hire" situation. Those can be tough to solve. JMO.
 
stmarysmead said:
When my children were teenagers, our home was the high school gathering place. We had a perfect place for them to gather with no neighbors to be bothered.

Our daughter actually had a sign…similar to a real estate sign…that said “The Party’s Here.” If we were home on a Friday night, the sign went up…but my husband and I made it a FIRM practice to make spot appearances.

We patrolled.

Every week I’d remind them if I caught anyone drinking or found one beer can afterwards..they could find a new place to hang out. Meanwhile, I learned what kids to watch, especially any new faces…and I came to really know my children’s friends. Friday night was apparently ‘break up’ night and I dried many tears in my kitchen over the years.

If they drank I never caught them…but I lived in fear of them outwitting us and someone having an accident later. I am truly stunned by the nonchalance of the adults at this clam bake…watching these kids drink and then hop in a boat with a drunk driver. Stunned and disgusted.
Click to expand...
That was nice of you to do. I have known people whose parents would do the same thing & they let it be known that there was to be no alcohol, tobacco, or drugs. They would let the kids know that if they found them to have any of the above on them or at their house, they would never be allowed back & their parents would be called to let them know what was up.
I think it is a possibility that the adults were also drinking WITH the kids at the oyster party, which is just a tragic situation for all of them to be in.
 
Subiechik21 said:
That was nice of you to do. I have known people whose parents would do the same thing & they let it be known that there was to be no alcohol, tobacco, or drugs. They would let the kids know that if they found them to have any of the above on them or at their house, they would never be allowed back & their parents would be called to let them know what was up.
I think it is a possibility that the adults were also drinking WITH the kids at the oyster party, which is just a tragic situation for all of them to be in.
Click to expand...

I'd bet those kids were drinking before 18 let alone 21 and the parents were used to it. If you want alcohol as a teen, there are ways to get it as evidenced by them buying from Parker's convenience with fake IDs. <modsnip> Some of the parents may have let the kids drink at home figuring it was safer than them running the roads after drinking. I'm old enough to remember when the drinking age was 18 and kids getting beers/spirits as young as 15/16 with fake ID. I've heard some parents say if they're old enough to go to war and get killed, they're old enough to have a beer. If the police really tried, they could bust half of most college campuses for underage drinking.
 
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Spartygirl said:
BBM
Here, where I live, the penalties for drunk driving a boat or any watercraft now have the same rules, sentencing and fines as being picked up for drunk driving a vehicle. You get a breathalyzer and taken into jail on the spot.
Noted** also same with driving golf carts around here while drunk. You get hauled into jail for that too.

Not sure what the laws are in SC though. Might be different there.
Click to expand...

They have tightened up quite a bit. I often see DNR doing booze checks on area lakes on the news. They usually hand out stiff sentences to offenders who crash w/injury or death.
 
MimosaMornings said:
The oyster roast was on Murdaugh property.
Underage drinking
Operating a boat while intoxicated in foggy weather owned by Murdaugh.
Were the adult Murdaugh’s not at their own party?
Click to expand...

just to clarify ... the oyster roast was on Paukie Island at the Woods' house ... party not hosted by Murdaugh family or on their property.
 
stmarysmead said:
How were his Family able to prevent PM from having a sobriety test on the night of the crash? SC has implied-consent? The police report said they were all grossly inebriated yet no test is given? No arrest?

Can I get a DUI on a boat in South Carolina? | The Law Offices of A. Randolph Hough | Columbia and Charleston SC | Criminal and DUI Defense Attorney


‘You also need to understand that the concept of “implied consent” applies to boating as well as driving. Implied consent means that by operating a watercraft of any sort, you are implicitly consenting to chemical tests of breath, blood, or urine to determine the presence of drugs or alcohol should you be arrested. You can read the full text of the law here, but these are the highlights:

  1. If you arrested for BUI, you implicitly agree to a chemical test. This is usually a breath test.*
  2. That chemical test has to be “administered by a person trained and certified by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), using methods approved by SLED.”
  3. You could be forced to pay the $50 fee for the breath test if you plead guilty or are convicted of BUI.
  4. If your test registers a .08 blood alcohol content (BAC) or above, the officer doesn’t need to run anymore tests. It is inferred that you were under the influence of alcohol.
    1. If your test registers a .05 BAC or lower, it is presumed you were not under the influence of alcohol
    2. If your test registers between a .05 and a .08 BAC, no inference is made, but it CAN “be considered with other competent evidence in determining the guilt or innocence of the person.”
Click to expand...
I think grandfather was one of the first people to arrive on the scene. I'd have to look through the "missing" thread but the 911 dispatch sent first responders to the wrong bridge so there was a delay and many other mistakes or gratuities towards the family occurred.
 
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