Who Is Anthony Cook? He Sued Alex Murdaugh Relating to His Ex-Girlfriend's Tragic Death

It’s been over three weeks since the Murdaugh trial began, and there's still no end in sight. Alex Murdaugh is currently on trial for the double murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul, with a backlog of other charges against him including tax evasion, pocketing lawsuit settlement money from badly injured clients, and money laundering.

Earlier in the trial, the judge ruled that the prosecution was allowed to introduce evidence relating to Murdaugh's other criminal activity. This included details about a tragic boat accident that involved his now-passed son Paul.

In 2019, Paul Murdaugh crashed his family's boat in a horrific accident that left his friend Mallory Beach, 19, dead. Two years later, Mallory's boyfriend Anthony Cook, who was also on the boat that night, filed a lawsuit against Alex Murdaugh for his son's actions that night. Here's everything we know about Anthony.

Anthony, who appears in Netflix's Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, started dating Mallory on New Year's in 2019. While their romantic relationship was tragically cut short, the pair had been best friends since childhood.

On the night of Feb. 23, 2019, they attended an Oyster Roast with Anthony's cousin, Connor Cook, and his girlfriend Miley Altman. Paul Murdaugh and his then-girlfriend, Morgan Doughty, also joined them.

To get to the event, Paul Murdaugh took them all out on his family's boat. Despite the fact that the group was underage, a lot of drinking occurred that night.

In the early hours of Feb. 24, they gathered on board to return home. Sadly, not all of them would make it.

"He was outta his mind drunk," Anthony recalled of Paul Murdaugh in the docuseries. But unfortunately, the latter teen was set on driving despite his friends begging him not to.

"I heard a scream, then I was out," said Anthony of the crash. He explained that when he finally came to, he realized Mallory was not with him and continued to dive in and out of the water searching for her, but it was too late.

After the accident, Paul Murdaugh was charged with three felony counts of boating under the influence in connection to the crash. He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and was awaiting trial at the time of his death, per Greenville News. But after his death, all of the charges were dropped.

In 2021, Anthony filed a separate civil lawsuit that named Alex Murdaugh, the convenience store where Paul Murdaugh purchased the liquor, and the clerk who sold the alcohol, per WSAV.

In this suit, Anthony claimed that Alex Murdaugh knew his underage son was illegally buying alcohol and knew that his son was already drunk when he took the boat out on Feb. 23, 2019.