Body of teen found near Murdaugh estate to be exhumed
Criminal defense attorney Phil Holloway on the renewed investigation into a teen's 2015 death following the Alex Murdaugh murder conviction.
Murdaugh housekeeper Gloria Satterfield's sons "want justice" in her 2018 death after she apparently tripped and fell up the front steps at the Murdaughs' home on their South Carolina hunting estate, Moselle.
Satterfield died days later in a hospital, and an autopsy was never conducted.
Her death certificate said she died of natural causes, which her family and Hampton County Coroner Angela Topper later disputed because her injuries were inconsistent with that conclusion.
With Alex Murdaugh's financial crimes trial upcoming, the Satterfields "want justice" for their mother and other victims, attorney Eric Bland previously told Fox News Digital.
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"They want to see that he has to pay, just like everybody else does to get their full cup of justice when they commit a crime," he said.
The Murdaugh family said their housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, fell up the front porch steps at their South Carolina hunting estate in 2018. She died in a hospital. (Eric Bland)
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has opened an investigation into Satterfield's death.
Prosecutors said during Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial that the disgraced lawyer secured $4.3 million in insurance settlements for Satterfield's family after her death, but he kept most of the money for himself, never alerting the family that he had secured a payout.
Tony Satterfield testified during the double murder trial that Murdaugh had never given him a penny of the multimillion-dollar settlement. Satterfield claimed he didn't even know the case had been settled until he read a news story about it.
The Satterfields were able to recover a multimillion-dollar settlement from their mother's death, but Murdaugh allegedly stole it. (Brice Herndon Funeral Home/ Joshua Boucher/The State via AP)
"Any time, over the years, did [Murdaugh] ever tell you that there had already been a recovery in the case?" prosecutor Creighton Waters asked Tony Satterfield on the witness stand during the double murder trial.
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"No," Satterfield responded, adding later that he "trusted" Murdaugh.
Michael "Tony" Satterfield, son of Gloria Satterfield, answers questions from prosecutor Creighton Waters during Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., Feb. 3, 2023. (Sam Wolfe/The State, Pool)
Murdaugh testified that he remembers "lying to Tony and looking him in eye on many occasions."
It was "not easy" for the Satterfield family to come forward, Bland said, describing his clients as "religious" and "non-judgmental people."
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"They have a lot of feelings for the Murdaugh family," Bland explained. "But they wanted to accomplish four things: They wanted to find out what happened, which they did. They wanted to recover the money that was rightfully due them, which I was able to do with my partner, Ronnie Richter. And we recovered for them more than $7½ million dollars. And we got a $4.3 million judgment against Alex. We wanted to hold Alex accountable. … And they wanted to get an apology, which they got."
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has opened an investigation into Satterfield's death. (Eric Bland)
On Labor Day 2021, Murdaugh allegedly hired hitman Curtis "Cousin Eddie" Smith to shoot him in what he described as a scheme to get a $10 million insurance buyout for his oldest son, Buster, but the bullet missed Murdaugh's head.
The previous day, his family's generations-old personal injury law firm forced Murdaugh to resign after learning that he had allegedly embezzled millions from the firm and its clients, including Satterfield's family.
Murdaugh paid Smith using funds obtained from the Satterfield settlement, according to the Satterfield attorneys.
Alex Murdaugh and Curtis Eddie Smith (Colleton County Sheriffs Office via AP, File)
The family of Stephen Smith, Buster Murdaugh's high school classmate who died in what police initially called a hit-and-run just miles from Moselle in 2015, recently hired Bland to represent them as they work to find new answers regarding Smith's death. SLED has also opened an investigation into the fatal incident.
On Tuesday evening, officials announced that Smith's actual cause of death was homicide.
Alex Murdaugh is now facing trial for 99 alleged financial crimes from 19 separate indictments in South Carolina. He is accused of embezzling an estimated $9 million from his family's decades-old personal injury law firm and its clients.
Alex Murdaugh listens to defense attorney Jim Griffin give his closing arguments in Murdaugh’s trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse March 1, 2023. ( Joshua Boucher/The State/Pool)
Satterfield's sons will "absolutely" testify in a future trial against Murdaugh, Bland said.
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Prosecutors said during his double-murder trial that the disgraced lawyer killed his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, June 7, 2021, in an effort to distract from his alleged financial crimes, which were beginning to mount in 2021.
Satterfield's sons have since established Gloria's Gift, an organization to "assist families in need in Hampton County to provide a special gift or meal at Christmas to their loved ones."
