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Murdaugh Murders, Part 8
51 Plays17 days ago
We are back to our coverage on the Murdaugh Murders. We are continuing through the timeline of the days, weeks, and months after the deaths of Maggie and Paul.
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Fixate Today Gone Tomorrow. I am Nikki and I'm here with my Aunt Joy. We are two neurodivergent ladies who obsess about various topics.
00:00:10
Speaker
Joy is autistic and I have ADHD and we are letting our hyper fixations fly.
Overview of the Murda Murders Case
00:00:17
Speaker
Today we are fixating on the Murda murders. Music
00:00:30
Speaker
Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back. We are continuing to talk through, i guess, everything that happened to Alex from the time of his wife and son's murder to his trial.
00:00:45
Speaker
We left off in 2021, we're going through 2022, that'll bring right to the trial.
00:00:51
Speaker
Let's talk about sources quick. We used Murdaugh Murders, A Southern Scandal on Netflix, Murdaugh Murders Podcast, WJCL News, ABC News, People Magazine, Inside Edition, AP News, Wikipedia, and the books Swamp Kings and The Devil at His Outboat. Right.
00:01:16
Speaker
This part gets a little bit boring for a little while. A little bit. Lots of charges. like There are so many charges against this matter. So many lawsuits and all the things. Now we're starting to fill in yeah big picture of every like yeah and everything.
00:01:31
Speaker
The yeah totality of all of his crimes are starting to Yeah. Pile up. and So we're going to jump from December 2021 to May
SLED's Investigation into Gloria Satterfield's Death
00:01:41
Speaker
2022. Things were relatively quiet. I think as investigations go, that happens. But in May 2022, SLED announced that they were continuing the Gloria Satterfield investigation.
00:01:52
Speaker
And the next month, June 4th, SLED announced that Gloria Satterfield's body would be exhumed. So, ah first of all, is in jail this whole time. Yeah, yeah. so I mean, i think he's not in prison, but he's in like their local jail, I guess. Right. And let's remember Gloria Satterfield was the housekeeper slash nanny from when the like for many, many years that fell on the front stairs and yeah died. Yeah.
00:02:22
Speaker
On their property at Moselle. Okay. So opening, reopening the case. I mean, i at this point, they would have known part of the insurance fraud was
Financial Crimes and Legal Battles
00:02:33
Speaker
now known. that because Because he had fraudulently swindled her sons out of the money owed. Right. But exhuming the body? i don't know. so i'm I have two thoughts. at First, I was like, was this just kind of another scare tactic ah to kind of, don't Alex, we're still looking at everything.
00:02:56
Speaker
Like we know everything kind of deal. And then I realized like that's a huge thing to do as a scare tactic is exhume someone's body. Is it possible that they were like, there is another death linked to this family. We have to actually investigate this. And cover ourselves. Yeah, like, oh, shoot, someone else died around them. We need to look into this. Now, I'm going to say, i mean, I don't think they, like, killed Gloria Satterfield.
00:03:25
Speaker
No, I don't think so either. I do think, i don't I don't think she was pushed or anything. I think it was likely an accident. And then they did the wrong things afterwards, as the Murdoch family tends to do.
00:03:37
Speaker
Right. And I don't even, like I'm going to give benefit of the doubt to Maggie and Paul and just say that, you know, Alex had taken these steps with her family to get the life insurance or that get the property insurance money. Or maybe, maybe they did. And I mean, maybe, you know, I guess it could be looked upon as, yeah, he was trying to help help them. i don't know, like the whole dogs tripping her, like,
00:04:01
Speaker
That may or may not have been the truth, but one way or another, I do think she fell down the stairs. I mean, it could he could have even blamed the dogs because there was something structurally that caused it, and that would put liability on him, too. I don't know. I mean, the dogs might also, but... Now, the thing that... This is where, with Alec, that, like...
00:04:20
Speaker
shocks me is so he got the settlement from the insurance and gave none of it to our sons right now he could have been sneaky i could see being sneaky and you know giving him a million and pocketing the other i don't know whatever too well he had done that before he had done that and i don't know if it was before this or not but like he had meddled with settlements before and like told the client they were getting less than they were they were supposed to right But it's like he's becoming more emboldened and just took, in this case, he just took the whole the whole amount. I'm going to call that a bad move on that.
00:04:57
Speaker
It's just like, there's so, it's hubris. There's so much hubris with, you know, they get yeah more and more yeah brazen with the things that they can think they can get away with. yeah In the end, though, after everything was said and done, I do believe the family did get her Her sons did get the the settlement money for what it's worth. Yes, I do think so.
Drug Ring and Further Criminal Activities
00:05:19
Speaker
June 28th, 2022, Alex and Curtis Smith are formally indicted on criminal conspiracy and other drug charges.
00:05:30
Speaker
Allegedly, they had been running a drug ring in Colton County from 2013 to 2021. And it was including purchasing and distributing oxycodone. Now, I think and we the case is coming to the forefront. We're learning more and more now.
00:05:49
Speaker
I think there's much more to this. i don't think it's just the oxycodone thing. And I don't think it's just Colton County. I think maybe that was where they were. Right. And maybe, you know what I'm going to say what I think here. this is going take a little bit. Okay, let's do it. Everyone, go back and listen to my Moselle geography. The mini-sode, yeah. I know. But I said so much in it that really pertains to these Oh, no. I was just telling them where to find it. So, couple things.
00:06:18
Speaker
There's so many things. I do think that... So, if you ever read Swamp Kings... Swamp Games goes back through the generations of this family, not just, you know, and there had been corruption for many generations, including a lot of bootlegging. So I think them the Murdoch family owned an island that they had a, I mean, it's not the Edisto beach house that we hear about, but the greater Murdoch family, like his father or whatever owned, and they called it Murdoch Island. and And it was one of these um kind of like,
00:06:51
Speaker
I guess, what do they call Like border islands right off of the coast. And then so people like build a little property just on their own little island, which I do definitely think, and it's been known that these are perfect places to drop off.
00:07:07
Speaker
Drugs, like they're deep water port. So it could, drugs can be brought up to them. And in the dark of night, they're very secluded, i think. And it may be one of of those passive things, like maybe Alec wasn't actively involved in it, but like kind of turn, I don't know.
00:07:25
Speaker
And I don't know if that would have been his whole family. One thing that Swamp Kings did point out, which I've never heard before, was that there was a bridge that was built between their island and like whatever the mainland of the road was. um and was actually built by, it like, they had the police do it. I don't know. It seemed i like I had to go back and read the exact wording on it. It was like showing their corruption with the police. And I was like, but that seems like. That's a lot. That's a lot. So also talk a little bit about Alex.
00:07:58
Speaker
association with a gentleman named Barrett Bulwer, who died years before before this all happened. But he and Barrett, like, they owned, purchased some of these islands off the coast also. okay So I also really point out how, like, there's, like, a river... like We'll get into that, I guess, in a little bit separate. but So I think that the whole drug charges, i think there was definitely something more. It was not just this. It wasn't a little thing. And I mean, they do call it running a drug ring. Yeah. So...
00:08:32
Speaker
ah Yeah, and I think this is what we're going to hear more about coming up I think it was a big deal. And honestly, we haven't really up to this point, there hasn't been a whole lot of media attention on this. Right. Maybe because it was still undergoing investigation and it was something much bigger. So I look forward to hearing that and look forward to sharing some of my more theories on this as we go forward. you mean is you look forward to being right. Right.
00:08:58
Speaker
ah ah you know what this is terrible i like feel like i gotta get my theories out before everyone really figures right because i figured this stuff out years exactly you've known it all along nobody listens to our podcast but at least i know there was a recording of it and our our 50 dedicated listeners they know you're right yes they know On July 13th, 2022, Alex was formally disbarred as an attorney.
00:09:30
Speaker
And the next day, ju July 14th, 2022, Alex was charged with the murders of Paul and Maggie, and he maintained his innocence. And it is about the time. I can't believe it took this long for him to be disbarred, quite honestly.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, I know. So this is an interesting, don't even want to say like side tangent that happened, but I've heard nothing about this since it happened.
00:09:59
Speaker
August 2022, former sex worker named Lindsay Edwards came forward. She, quote, serviced Alex at a private party with other local powerful men. And she alleges that drugs were being heavily used there. So we don't really have a date for when this happened. No. Which I'm curious about. They did in the Hulu series, the new one newer one that just came out.
00:10:28
Speaker
the um they They do kind of like have a scene where he... goes to like a hotel room you know okay we talked about this before though it's not quite how i picture i mean i feel like that's what the implication is but i don't know i just feel i feel like especially now knowing that blanca has come forward and kind of indicated that he had this sort of alternate group of friends who sounded like they were Not on the up and up, but not definitely not part of his social circle.
00:10:58
Speaker
I feel like that and that and that may be his connection to the drug world. ah
Allegations and Alex's Criminal Profile
00:11:03
Speaker
Yeah. I think that probably a sex right. Like that was sort of they were all kind of intertwined and being the fact.
00:11:10
Speaker
Yes, I agree. and I said this before we started recording, but I picture it like in The Handmaid's Tale when all of like the commanders go to Jezebel's, which is like the club that the gentleman's club and are just like being horrible, powerful people and treating all of the people there terribly, except for each other who are having the best time. That's how I pictured it. i i I think you very well could be right. But it does seem like it's maybe a little more secretive. Like it like a little bit out of their sort of... Like, I don't know. Do you see his brothers there? I'm not sure I've seen his brothers there. It's a different crowd. Yeah. So Lindsay alleged that Alec began choking her and, quote, coat violently penetrated her.
00:11:57
Speaker
She does allege rape, that she clawed his arms to escape. She said that her madam and her bouncer chose not to intervene because the madam had a service agreement with Alex.
00:12:11
Speaker
She alleges that there were three more violent encounters that she was forced to participate in by her boss and that she was even beaten by Alex. And at the time, it was being investigated by SLED. Again, we never really heard much more about it. I don't doubt that any of those things happened.
00:12:29
Speaker
And, you know, with how much we have talked about South Carolina corruption, perhaps being investigated just means that it is a case that's open. Therefore, no one can like FOIA any information about it or things like that. Mm-hmm.
00:12:45
Speaker
Mm hmm. perhaps there were more people involved that they don't want known. And i I would not surprise me. Right. Like I lean more toward that than like disbelieving this person.
00:12:59
Speaker
Oh, for sure. Definitely. I think this happened. Yeah. No, I agree. And I think there probably happened to others. Yeah. And I don't think, I think this is the dark side of his character. I do think, I think Murda had a couple sides to his character. And I do think there was part of him that was like a family man to some extent, but I think he definitely had this deeper, darker violin.
00:13:24
Speaker
And I, you know, I also think he took on the, um I don't think he has a personality. I think he takes on roles. Yep. And when he's with family, he's family man. When he's in the town, he's good old boy. When he's an attorney, he'll do whatever he has to do to win or whatever. And I think he just as we talk about a bit with J.P. Miller, I think he probably got involved with things above his head, but he had to play the role of yeah this person. Yeah. No, I agree.
00:13:54
Speaker
All right. We're going to get into stuff you know, because I have no idea about this. September 12th, 2022, Forge Consulting filed a lawsuit against Alex and Bank of America.
00:14:05
Speaker
According to Forge, they, quote, suffered serious harm to its business reputation and credibility because of Murdaugh and Bank of America.
00:14:16
Speaker
Forge alleged that Alex set up a fake bank account using Forge branding to steal money from clients and that Bank of America did not do basic due diligence to discover the fraud. Oh, I'm sure I bore everyone with this stuff. but but Let's like understand this a little bit.
00:14:35
Speaker
So Forge Consulting is a legit company that is some sort of investment company where clients would put their, like after ah they won a lawsuit, they could put it there. Or I even believe that the Alex could have put money in there and like so to kind of be managed.
00:14:55
Speaker
So almost like a trust company. Kind of like ah like a money manager of some sort. Again, I don't know this for a fact, but I think that's what it is. But Alex, who, I mean, I got to give him credit. He's pretty smart on this. He created a bank account.
00:15:11
Speaker
Interesting at Bank of America versus at like his friend's Lafitte's bank. And he created it under the name of Forge. Yeah. So that way, but it was his own personal account. But he would then, when the clients would win these lawsuits, right? He could take that money. He would deposit into...
00:15:32
Speaker
a forge account. So it looks legitimate. Yes. But he was really putting in a personal account. Okay. I don't know. i find that so interesting. I don't know. It's just so many steps to be horrible. Yeah.
00:15:46
Speaker
Yeah. But definitely, I mean, and then we get into like kind of money laundering. Yeah. I will not bore people too much with that. But, but yeah, this was basically how he could sneak money away and how it kind of kept it under wraps for so long. Yeah. Yeah. And we talked a little bit about how, you know, at one point he would, like he had some different strategies and he went,
00:16:07
Speaker
some of these clients would win these big suits. He would give them like a portion and then give himself a portion. Yeah. But then he got greedier and greedier as time went on. And I think it kind of like with the Gloria Satterfield, his old housekeeper, i think that to the point that one, like he didn't give her sons any of the money.
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah. he He thought he could, he was emboldened enough to think he'd get away with. Yeah. So that's what the whole forge consults. Okay. But that really does, like you said, it opens up the ability for so many other crimes.
00:16:42
Speaker
And it shows to what level he was thinking through these things. I mean, that was it was... He had put deep thought into it and planning. and Yeah. And it worked. i mean he it even can I mean, that's how he hid it from his own law firm, too. Right. Not just the people he was swindling from, but but his own law firm. It worked. And i I do believe that was eventually that is what their, like, the internal accountant ended up starting to put together the pieces.
00:17:09
Speaker
It was one of them. She figured out. Figured that out at some point. Okay. And then the fault of Bank of America is basically just not... Yeah, not investigating. Stopping it? Like not investigating something weird? i' i Yeah, I'm wondering if that went anywhere. i imagine it probably didn't. Yeah, I mean, because i to me, I mean, not that I have any reason to understand this stuff fully, but it doesn't seem like they necessarily would have been at fault. I mean, and basically, you can open up an account in the name of...
00:17:40
Speaker
pretty much anything so i'm not sure what would fly yeah but who knows maybe there was some kind of settlement like out of court settlement whatever yeah i mean it would make sense for a bank of america to just settle and be like i don't want our name associated right and you can see also how forge consulting i mean it made sense for them i mean they had a yeah very valid um point to be sued for that yeah absolutely So October 7th, 2022, a lawsuit was filed by a gentleman named Manuel Santis Cristiani from Mexico.
00:18:14
Speaker
There were many plaintiffs in this, and I think Alex's law firm was like one of the plaintiffs. There was a bunch of different people implicated. But the allegation is that accident settlement money was never given to him.
00:18:28
Speaker
And I just added this because there are a lot of these. And I don't think a lot of them went to a lawsuit level. But just reading Devil at His Elbow, there's so many fraud cases like this.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. i mean And we heard about a handful of them. yeah They kind of made the news. But I think like this is one I said, I don't i don't remember hearing about this particular person. But I think there's there's a lot out there that we didn't. Now, I mean, a lot of this money had like was settled in the end, and a lot – the law firm ended up having to cover a lot of of the the losses that he had taken. so And I do think that, as as did his brother, Andy, who was part of the law firm, but also specifically had lost money to Alex Fraud. And his friend Chris Wilson, too. I mean, I think it was over $100,000 that he ended up yeah never receiving back. So a lot of people paid for this these crimes. yeah Thankfully, I believe all the clients were made whole. Yeah, good.
00:19:31
Speaker
Okay, good. and I don't know by who would be able to kind of make sure that the clients were paid what they were owed if it was like the law firm's insurance because that's so much money like there's no way that just like the people at the firm or the firm itself can cover that all but it's it is yeah right yeah I'm not sure how that works yeah ironically the insurance for the law firm who did all the lawsuits against the insurance companies ah we live in a crazy world right exactly so weird
00:20:05
Speaker
in Also in October 2022, Alex and Curtis Smith's attorneys appear to implicate each other, basically, like each other's clients in. Like, no, you set up the fake suicide. No, you set up the fake suicide. And probably remember, like, there's also the whole drug part of it, not even just the suicide, right? Yeah. And again, like, we have never heard a ton more about this. Is that, and is it just because it, you know, it's not a big deal? Is it because- Or is it because there's ongoing investigations and there's bigger stuff in there? Yeah. and why does it not surprise me in the least, but that the attorneys would turn on each other? Yeah. it's And I think it's the, the like, whoever is who's the mastermind of it? Yeah. Is the question.
00:20:49
Speaker
and And I wonder. Well, I'm pretty sure, i'm pretty sure I have an answer. But who knows? Who knows what Cousin Eddie was up to? I was going to say, who's your answer? Because I'm like, i actually. I think it was Alex. See, and I think it was. for different reasons. Right, right.
00:21:04
Speaker
And I think that they, like, I think he came up with the idea. And Curtis Smith was like, okay, this will benefit me in all these ways. Like, I think it was like a mutual mutual benefit. Yep. I think, yeah, I think they they each had their own speciality, if you will. Yeah. um I think a lot of the drug stuff. I mean, I think that was Curtis like connections and yeah, but maybe because it was such different parts of society, they kind of got away with it because they weren't associated with each other outwardly. Yeah.
00:21:35
Speaker
So. And they each fancied themselves a smarter one. Oh, yeah. And he doesn't even know I'm doing this for this reason. Right, right. And it's probably true to some degree on both sides of it. Yeah. And finally, on December 16th, 2022, the South Carolina state grand jury indicted Alec on nine counts of tax evasion.
Tax Evasion and Legal Implications
00:22:00
Speaker
alleging he stole nearly $7 million dollars from his law firm and did not pay taxes. Again, this is so interesting. Doesn't seem interesting. But isn't it interesting that a lot of the state indictments come down on taxes. Yep. Because if you're actually reading what this says, it's like, yeah, this is not that he stole all that money.
00:22:22
Speaker
He stole all that money. That's a separate issue. He stole it, but he didn't pay taxes on it. Yep. And this is a very common way, a common in. for invest for the government, whatever, to get into a case so that then it opens up the financial records and then they can dig. And this this goes to, you know, this case, but also like to cartels and any kind of large money money laundering. It very often starts with the IRS, which we do not give credit to the IRS for doing. But yeah, a lot of times they are the in to breaking these large cases. Yeah.
00:23:00
Speaker
Because you can't just suddenly go through somebody's tax, like records, financial records. You need to have a reason to get the warrants to do that. It's always taxes or like, I forget the charge, but it's something with the mail, like doing crimes through the postal service is always another way in. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:23:21
Speaker
Yes. Yes. They're like the catch all to get in. Yeah. And this, we saw this with, for those of who followed the Micah Millick case, kind of the same thing. it was like the big end to getting to investigating the fraud.
00:23:36
Speaker
And ah I'm going say probably money laundering. I was going to say, add that Yeah, that was occurring around that case. So I just find that so interesting that, yeah, not, can't necessarily right off the bat, get him for all the money he stole.
00:23:54
Speaker
But you still have to pay taxes on the money you stole. And that then will open the door to all of the other things that we're going to charge you with. And there's so much. Yeah. Because yeah this. Yeah. I mean, it becomes endless. The number of. Yeah. It's an amazing number of charges. Because he's not even been charged with the deaths yet. No, no. Right. Like this. Like. And the trial starts pretty quickly related to the murders. Right. Also, and like that hasn't even happened. So it's like, right, I got like investigators or not even investigators, prosecution, like, they lined things up how they were supposed to. Right. And so, you know, Alec was pretty quick to take to plead guilty on a lot of the financial crimes.
00:24:38
Speaker
And I tend to think that he, you know, as far as the either he thought he could get out of being convicted for the murder charges or he has banked on the fact that he will get some kind of mistrial on that. And even though he will spend the rest of his life in prison for the financial charges because so many, it would be a different type of prison. It would be more white collar. And ah definitely, but, and he would know that. yeah And, you know, very different way of spending the rest of your life.
00:25:13
Speaker
Oh yeah. The question is, is that going to happen? We'll get into it, but everything with Becky Hill right now, I, like I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. No, I don't either. Yeah, that sucks, but we'll get into that eventually.
00:25:28
Speaker
We have a, we have a, I know, but
00:25:32
Speaker
I think there is something to be said that at least some of these charges could get overturned or mistrial. You know, there there are things in the works. And for everything he has done, he does not have a ah defense team that's like slacking. No.
00:25:49
Speaker
I think he's going to end up with more quote unquote wins in this than lot of people expected. I think he's going to end up – I don't think he's going to end up a free man. i No, no. I don't think that's possible. I think all of his money, all of his high-powered attorneys, i think they're going to pay off to some extent.
00:26:07
Speaker
We'll see. I know. He's, I, and that's awful. And then i mean that, but that, as far as the timing of us covering this, I mean, I know it's kind of an old story and a lot of people had kind of heard through, but we're getting so much more information now. And now we'll find out about those, the, you know, the mistrial and how, you know, how that's going to move forward. Plus there's been a couple of new series shows yeah that have come out. So it kind of has brought this to the forefront.
00:26:34
Speaker
And honestly, out of any case that, in the last whatever, 10 years, this is one that really has taken hold and stood the test of time.
Systemic Corruption and Comparisons
00:26:45
Speaker
And I believe you know, I get interested in these cases when I think there's a deeper level of crime that's going on behind or corruption. And I think this is a key example, like where I see like a lot of the corruption around the drug stuff and smuggling. And you tend to see it more from the angle, like it, well, With like the Miller case, you saw it more from the angle of like the church corruption. And the, like I get, I get almost like granular and you get big picture. Like I get super focused on, and not that you're not focused on victims, but I get super focused on the specific names and faces of the victims. Whereas you can broaden that and see the grand scheme of all of these victims, if that makes sense. Yeah, but it probably makes me look a little cold sometimes. No, not at all. I was going to say- Yeah, because I was going say, now that you say because it is, like, I kind of see the, like- Yeah, it probably makes me. was going to say the actual opposite that it may maybe makes me look a little cold because I'm so focused on individuals and not systems. So it's for both of us, which is why we're a good match because we can pull each other. Well, we can we can paint that picture for each other. Yeah, no, I agree. Our brains work so differently that that helps us. I agree. Yeah, I think that helps us. I think that's a good thing for us.
00:28:09
Speaker
And I also do think and we try to look at the whole picture too, not just, um I think that yeah one of the keys to how we look at these cases is, Not just, you know, bringing them forth again, but really trying to look at it it from a different perspective, looking at the human beings involved and trying to put, yeah you know, trying to see multiple sides, multiple facets to all all the people. Yeah, absolutely. All right. It's a short one today, but. Yeah, well, we had a couple longer ones, so we got a balance that.
00:28:37
Speaker
and And I'm going on vacation. Yes. And it's always weird like when our notes, or there's like a natural point to to break, but it's not an even point with like yes the things we're talking about. But it's right. This is a good natural point. Yes, exactly. So, okay. Well, we will talk to you guys soon.
00:28:54
Speaker
And yes, Joy's going on vacation, so she she gets a nice little Christmas break. Yes, yes. Well, we all get Christmas break. I get fine i just get mine at a nice resort.
00:29:06
Speaker
Exactly. All right. Bye. will talk soon. Bye.