Fleming is the attorney who Murdaugh suggested to Connor Cook too after the boat crash.
‘Anything They Get In, They Get Out Of’: Bombshell Deposition Filed In Murdaugh Case
In deposition, Cook said that he was scared to tell SCDNR investigators the truth when they questioned him the night of the crash.
Respectfully SBM
Cook, who sustained a broken jaw in the crash, said that he was “scared” to tell investigators the truth — that
Paul Murdaugh was driving the boat on February 24, 2019 when Beach was killed.
Specifically, he said he was scared because of the Murdaugh family influence.
“I mean, just anything they get in, they get out of,” Cook said of the Murdaugh family. “I’ve always been told that.”
In deposition, Connor Cook said that Alex Murdaugh approached him while he was getting X-rays at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, just hours after Mallory Beach went missing in the horrific boat crash. This statement is supported by a
nurse’s affidavit.
“There’s a couple of things that had happened in Hampton that I heard about,” Cook said.
Cook then told attorneys about rumors claiming that the Murdaughs were allegedly involved in
two other deaths.
“Well, one was said that Paul had pushed his housemate down the stairs and she died and nothing ever happened,” Connor Cook said.
“And another one, there was something that Paul was supposedly involved with a guy, got found beat up in the middle of the road that they got out of,” Cook said.
In deposition, Connor Cook told attorneys he hadn’t hung out with Paul Murdaugh since the fatal boat crash. He said they were friends growing up, but mostly hunted together at Moselle, which is the property where Paul and Maggie were found murdered on June 7, 2021.
Connor said that alcohol was openly provided to minors in the walk-in deer cooler at Moselle, where the Murdaughs often hosted parties.
A security guard overheard Paul’s father on the phone saying “she’s gone, don’t worry about her” — when Mallory had only been missing for a few hours, according to the SCDNR file.
According to the SCDNR investigation files, two of the boat crash survivors told authorities that they were afraid of the Murdaughs and assumed that they were working on a coverup.
Paul’s girlfriend told her nurse at Beaufort Memorial Hospital on the night of the crash that Paul and his drinking habits “almost killed them in a vehicle accident before while he was intoxicated.”
She didn’t mention details, but said they were in his truck.
During Connor’s deposition, the attorney said “Paul Murdaugh may have had some other accidents that were alcohol-involved.”
“I heard he wrecked his truck a few times because of alcohol, but I never witnessed it with my own eyes,” Connor said.
The videos show
Anthony Cook was clear with law enforcement from the very beginning that his cousin Connor was not driving the boat at the time of the crash.
Particularly, Anthony Cook told
Austin Pritcher — one of the SCDNR officers accused of manipulating his reports to favor Paul Murdaugh — that Paul was driving moments before the craft crashed into a piling.
“Who was driving the boat?” Pritcher asked.
“(When) I grabbed my girlfriend and got down to the bottom of the boat, Paul was driving,” Anthony said.
“Paul was driving?” Pritcher asked.
“Yes, sir,” Anthony responded.
Pritcher did not write that in his SCDNR report, however.
Instead, he wrote that Anthony “did not know” who was driving the boat.
In deposition, Connor said Paul “was pissed and everybody was ready to get home, so he hauled *advertiser censored*” in the final moments leading up to the crash.
“Did anybody ever tell Paul to stop the boat and take them to the dock to get off?” an attorney asked Connor.
“Yes, sir,” Connor said. “Anthony and Mallory.”
“What did Paul say?” the attorney asked.
“That it would be all right. We (were) fixing to make it home,” Connor said.
