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Murdaugh Murders, Part 2
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On episode two of our series on the Murdaugh Murders, we talk about the mysterious deaths of Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Fixate Today Gone Tomorrow'
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. Joy is autistic and I have ADHD and we are letting our hyper fixations fly.
Unraveling the Murdoch Murders
00:00:16
Speaker
Today we are fixating on the Murdoch murders. Music
00:00:31
Speaker
Welcome back, everybody. we are on episode two of our series on the Murdoch murders. Last time we talked a bit about the family history and how the family got established, the kind of powerhouse that they became.
00:00:44
Speaker
Going forward, we're going to kind of take things case by case. There's a lot of criminal activity around the family, specifically Alex's Maggie Paul Buster. That's what we're going to focus on for the rest of the series.
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, definitely a lot of suspicious happenings um associated with the family. Now, there are also in the ah older generations there were also, but obviously we we can't get into everything.
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah. And for the sake of this is the stuff everybody talks about, right? They don't really talk about the the history of the crimes, alleged crimes that may have happened before this generation.
00:01:21
Speaker
Right, right, right. And maybe a lot of this stuff would have slipped through the cracks and never really – well, I mean, I think that it it did. I mean, it was never really brought public until the entire tragedy um of the family unfolded. And then it really brought light to some of these other cases that had been associated with them.
00:01:44
Speaker
And um they were reexamined or reopened by law enforcement. Yeah, absolutely.
The Mystery of Stephen Smith's Death
00:01:50
Speaker
So today we are going to talk about the case of Stephen Smith. A caveat up front.
00:01:55
Speaker
First, I put these notes together a very long time ago, so I know more things have happened since... I've taken these notes. But the majority of the things that have happened since have primarily been related to reopening the investigation of his death. I don't think there's been any huge new discoveries or anything like that.
00:02:13
Speaker
So when my notes kind of wrap up, I don't... think necessarily there's a ton to update at this point they are still actively investigating i know um the true sunlight podcast arranged a walk in his memory to raise some money i think for the investigation and some independent testing and things like that so it is still there was ah also for the um to exhume his body yes yes yes think they raised i think they raised like a hundred thousand yeah I think it was, I think they hit their goal for sure. So things are definitely still happening. Nothing has really been reported to my knowledge at this point.
00:02:47
Speaker
So just want to say that. Also want to say, i think we're really good about using the word allegedly, but let's up front say everything is alleged. And, and I think is, um, you know, of course we're talking about the Murda family and, and some connections. And so we're making the connections here, but I do think, um, we hear a lot about his mother, who is a huge advocate of his,
00:03:08
Speaker
And i mean as she says, she's not trying to incriminate anyone. She just wants the to know what happened to her son and get down to the truth. Exactly. She wants justice no matter what it is.
00:03:20
Speaker
but She just wants to know what happened. It doesn't matter. that it's attached to the Murdoch family name. She doesn't care about that. She wants to know what happened to her kid. Yeah. She's grateful that um attention has come back on to her son's case and that they reopened it.
00:03:36
Speaker
And that was a consequence of everything that happened with the Murdochs. But yeah, she's not necessarily, she's not looking to blame yeah anyone. She's just looking for them.
00:03:48
Speaker
The truth. Exactly. So our sources for this episode, The Murdoch Murders, A Southern Scandal on Netflix, Murdoch Murders Podcast, CBS News, Court TV, ABC News, Wikipedia, and the books Swamp Kings and The Devil at His Elbow.
00:04:07
Speaker
Swamp Kings, right? Yes. Okay. There's multiple, not just the one. No, because it was every generation, right? Yes. Perfect. Perfect. All right, so Stephen Smith was a high school classmate of Alex Murdoch's oldest son, Buster.
00:04:25
Speaker
On July 1st, 2015, Stephen told his mother, Sandy, that he was going on a deep sea fishing trip with a, quote, prominent person.
00:04:36
Speaker
One week later, on July 8th, 2015, 19-year-old Stephen Smith was found dead on the side of the road around 4 a.m., m At the time, there was no evidence of a car accident, which would have been the most likely explanation of finding a body on the side of the road is something vehicular related.
00:04:53
Speaker
But there was a bloody wound on Stephen's head that appeared to be a gunshot. His car was found pulled over three miles away with its gas cap removed.
00:05:04
Speaker
Lieutenant Thomas Moore suggested that this looked staged. But the gas tank was empty, but it was still kind of strange, like with the cap like hanging there. Why would you?
00:05:14
Speaker
Yeah. Why would you leave that? So there's question on whether, you know, whether somebody could have came and like siphoned off the gas or it just was suspicious. It's a weird detail. Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:25
Speaker
And he is. and And he had left his um wallet in the car. So if he was walking for gas, like wouldn't he have his wallet? I think so. Yeah. Some strange things. You need your wallet to get the gas. Yeah. The autopsy was performed pretty quickly at 1230 p.m.
00:05:42
Speaker
where the medical examiner determined that the wound wasn't a gunshot, but it was blunt force trauma from a pedestrian being hit by a car. And that was primarily determined. I mean, they know it was blunt force trauma, right? But because his body was found in the road it was just an assumption that was made yeah i think it was the circumstances of where he was found yeah however sandy his mother doesn't believe this to the to this day doesn't believe that this is what happened and the nature of the wound it doesn't ah a lot of the circumstances don't kind of add up to what a ah a pedestrian hit by a car a hit and run like that would
00:06:21
Speaker
would look like. I mean, he still, the shoes were still on his body. The rest of his body was not all that scraped up, but when there was no other broken bone. Yeah. There wasn't a lot of trauma really. No. Yeah. It was just um the major trauma to, um,
00:06:36
Speaker
To his head. Yes. So on July 17th, 2015, in a recorded interview, officers discuss a rumor of Buster Murdoch being in a car with other young men.
00:06:50
Speaker
Now, what the suggestion is here is that Buster perhaps was having some sort of homosexual relationship with or, you know, involved or or found something out about Stephen. Stephen was a gay man.
00:07:04
Speaker
And it sounds like ah in the Lowcountry, that's probably, it's probably difficult to be a gay man. Yeah. And it's, as you know, in a small town. Yep.
00:07:15
Speaker
um And also he was very proud and um and outgoing. Yeah. and and And it was not something he tried to hide. but Yeah. Which to the good old boy type, I imagine, is a bit of a threat.
00:07:28
Speaker
Not a threat that, of course, not a threat that Stephen would do anything. Just a threat to who they are. Definitely would make them uncomfortable. Yeah. So July 2015. In a recorded interview, officers discuss a rumor of Buster Murdoch being in a car with other young men.
00:07:45
Speaker
In this car, they saw Stephen walking on the side of the road or doing being on the side of the road, and they struck him with some sort of object. So basically, Buster was out maybe kind of joyriding on these...
00:07:58
Speaker
Back roads. Now, we don't know this. Again, this is just a rumor. No. And this is literally like this wasn't a conversation with Buster. This is investigators talking about a rumor. And I mean, I think the rumor came up a few times that and and yeah thats the Murda, Murda boys, Buster, you know, kind of it just came up in a lot of different forms that.
00:08:19
Speaker
um You know, people heard that they were involved in it, but but it was a rumor that was repeated a lot. Yes. So there was never any evidence released publicly about this rumor, but the case file shows that investigators called Buster, but never actually spoke with him. And he denies it. Yeah.
00:08:37
Speaker
having anything to do with this. Yeah, let's just put that out. Like he completely to this day denies any anything to do with with Stephen, I think at all. I think he's like, yeah, I knew him. But the case was reopened.
00:08:52
Speaker
When they reopened the case after the investigations into Alec, it was reopened because of what they said was new information that came forward as a result of the Alec Murdoch.
00:09:05
Speaker
um
Reopening of Stephen Smith's Case
00:09:06
Speaker
investigation. So there's something, there was some, some tie um back to this case that caused it to be real. Yeah. July 22nd, 2015, the pathologist says that the cause of death determination was made because Steven was found in the road. As we said, August 6th, 2015, Sandy visited the scene and found a footprint 200 feet away from where the body was found.
00:09:30
Speaker
Now it is gosh, a month since Steven was killed. So footprint's interesting. Who knows if that was there at the time, if it wasn't there.
00:09:41
Speaker
But I think at the scene of a crime, even a month later, anything should be considered. And I think part of the point was that also that they there wasn't a lot of investigation at the time of the accident since they yeah were quick to call it...
00:09:57
Speaker
um An accident. or Yeah. Also, ah both Alex and his brother, Randy. Alex said he has one brother, Randy, or or maybe him and also his other brother, John Marvin.
00:10:10
Speaker
were seen out at this at the crime, I guess it wasn't a crime scene at the time, were seen um the next day out at the the the site where the body was found.
00:10:25
Speaker
I think so. So on August 26, 2015, the county coroner publicly disagreed with the pathologist who has since been fired.
00:10:37
Speaker
The pathologist, not the coroner. September 2nd, 2015, a report revealed gunshot residue tests were performed on Stephen's body. Whether that was to rule out gunshot or...
00:10:51
Speaker
Because they did think it could have been a gunshot. We don't know. But those did come up negative, correct? I think so, yeah. On December 7th, 2015, an anonymous email was sent to investigators implicating Buster and two other young men in Stephen's death.
00:11:09
Speaker
On December 18th, 2015, a man named Daryl Wilson tells investigators that his stepson, Patrick Wilson... told him that his friend, Sean Connelly... wow.
00:11:23
Speaker
Like, this guy told this guy told this guy. So Sean Connelly had said he had been driving drunk and hit something that he assumed was a deer. And when he returned to the scene the next day, Connelly saw police and left.
00:11:38
Speaker
Okay, so this gentleman was told by his stepson that he was out, um had been drinking while he... No, not the stepson. So... This man said his stepson said that the stepson's friend.
00:11:54
Speaker
Oh, okay. So it's even further. Okay. All right. I know. Was was this Sean Connelly with them? Or was he said was he in the car? I don't even know if he's related.
00:12:06
Speaker
Like if he's friends with Buster. I don't even know. So the investigators attempted to contact both Daryl Patrick Wilson and Sean Connelly, but never actually ended up speaking with them.
00:12:20
Speaker
Later, Sandy Smith asked Connelly about his involvement, and Sean Connelly said, I absolutely but didn't ever say that. So, I mean, it could be a rumor or it could be something that he's frightened to come forward or doesn't want to be involved and Or it could even be, um could be that Patrick Wilson is friends with the Murdaugh's and was asked to maybe suggest something to someone.
00:12:47
Speaker
Ah, okay. That was my thought, too. You're smart thinking. Yeah. We also have to remember, these are like really rural, rural roads. Like, Yeah. First of all, where I'm sure there actually are deer a lot and such. But um yeah, like where this is happening, there's not traffic.
00:13:05
Speaker
There's not. Yeah, it's very rural. Right. In 2016, Stephen's case is officially declared a cold case. September 28th, 2016, Sandy reached out to the FBI for help.
00:13:19
Speaker
ah FBI agents came to the home and tried to look through Stephen's phone, but I don't think they were successful. And there was no further follow up after that. Yeah, doesn't seem like they were too helpful. And but again, at this time, it's still considered a hit and run, right? Yeah.
00:13:34
Speaker
Which I guess it's I mean, I guess that's still a criminal investigation. Yeah. and ah And they could have also just maybe had compassion for a mom in grief and was like, well, we'll go see what we can do, but never intended on much else.
00:13:48
Speaker
On June 23rd, 2021, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, opened hit-and-run investigation related to the death of Stephen Smith based on findings while investigating Paul and Maggie's murders.
00:14:05
Speaker
So SLED is like the state agency, right? So they're called in a lot of times, I guess they're next level, And I've always gotten sort of the feeling that they're called in, like, maybe because it's sort of known that some of these smaller areas, smaller counties, a smaller towns, they're maybe more prone to corruption. And i mean, they're just, but there's there's some possibly bias rooted in the fact that they're just small communities. And so SLED is a more considered a more.
00:14:40
Speaker
It's the next level up, basically. that Right. Maybe a bit more impartial. and The SLED's website says the primary mission of the state law enforcement division is to provide quality manpower and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies.
00:14:56
Speaker
But we'll see throughout this entire case, there's a lot of distrust. The locals here in the local, there's a lot of mistrust of SLED, kind of seen as the outsiders coming in. Yeah, it's it's the people who maybe think they're better than us coming in and trying to tell us about our community.
00:15:16
Speaker
Right. In March 2023, SLED confirms that they are investigating Stephen's death as a homicide. At this time, Sandy, his mother, raised $80,000 to exhume Stephen's body for an independent autopsy.
00:15:32
Speaker
SLED said that they don't need the exhumation to show it was a homicide, which think is interesting. Very interesting. And at the time, Sled had wanted to wait to announce any developments in the case, concerned that witnesses would be afraid to come forward until after the trial.
00:15:48
Speaker
And the trial is, of course, of Alec Murdoch. And throughout everything, Buster has maintained that any suggested involvement is, quote, baseless rumor. So Sled did not want to announce any developments, but I'm assuming just because of the attention the case was garnering that a lot of this came up.
00:16:09
Speaker
I think so. And I also think SLED maybe didn't, I don't think they would have said it, but it's a way to protect Buster during the trial. Also, if they come out and say like, you know, we have this evidence pointing to Buster or even saying anything, I think would put more of a spotlight on Buster. And especially if he wasn't involved, I can see being like, we need to kind of.
00:16:30
Speaker
rein it in until the spotlight falls dies down a little bit which is horrible for his but for steven's mother yeah like in her mind they could be protecting the person who's involved in her son's death instead of figuring out what happened to her son it could go either way right because and ah you know on the flip side here's this buster who's going through one tragedy after another and if he wasn't involved of of course that's That would be horrible. but Yeah.
00:16:56
Speaker
Or he was involved and is still getting away with it. So the implication in this is Buster's motive would have been he did have some sort of relationship with Stephen and it was going to be discovered or Stephen maybe threatened to to expose him. or I don't think it was...
00:17:15
Speaker
like ah this is another one of my fixations um the gay panic defense have you heard of this wow where it's it's uh men trying to justify hurting someone or killing somebody because the person the victim was gay and was like trying to hit up oh okay it's like been completely debunked but like a lot of cases in the 90s and like the um the people the men who killed matthew shepherd they tried that was their defense and i think that If I'm remembering correctly, the judge was like, you are not allowed to use that defense.
00:17:48
Speaker
Like, was straight. like I was like, that's a pretty darn weak defense. don't even You don't even get to try. Yeah. But there been a couple of cases. There was, like, ah a man who murdered another man after they were on the Jenny jo Jones show.
00:18:00
Speaker
And the victim, like, told him he had feelings for him on TV. And then the... The person who he confessed to later murdered him. And so the defense was like a gay panic defense. It's just not a thing. It's just not a thing.
00:18:16
Speaker
So theoretically, I guess, rumor would be that Buster and Steven had some kind of relationship. that um some type of homosexual relationship of some sort.
00:18:28
Speaker
I think that's the gem. That's the what's out there is what the motive would be. Yeah. And then, yeah, Buster didn't want anything exposed. And the kind of, I don't know, the the other thought, the other idea um that I've heard is, you know, like basically rowdy group of kids driving around, you know, involving the Murdaugh's very potentially,
00:18:51
Speaker
baseball bat type of thing and yeah they attack him with they see a gay kid walking on the road and leave them and that historically murdochs can get away with whatever and yeah so that's kind of where we are with the stephen smith case like i said up up top there is a lot of investigation still going on um and i know that the True Sunlight podcast. This is like their focus with the whole Murdoch murders case now is getting some sort of justice for Stephen Smith. I know that Mandy Matney, I think, has a pretty good relationship with his mother.
00:19:28
Speaker
and it's just trying to, again, it doesn't matter who perpetrated it. The Murdoch name isn't what matters. What matters is... getting justice for her son.
00:19:39
Speaker
And if it's not a Murdoch, I don't think she cares. I think she just wants whoever did it. Yeah, right. And I don't think she, yeah, she doesn't necessarily point to the, yeah she's very neutral on just finding wanting to find out who who it is. not Yeah.
00:19:53
Speaker
Who knows personally, but publicly she's very good at. yeah She just seems like a good lady and she just wants to know what happened to
The Housekeeper Gloria's Tragic Fall
00:20:01
Speaker
her kid. The next case we want to talk about related to Alex Murdoch is the death of Gloria Satterfield.
00:20:08
Speaker
Just for this portion of my notes, I just want to mention I also used Seventeen Magazine, People Magazine, and the New York Post. So I didn't use those for the Stephen Smith part, but I did for this part.
00:20:19
Speaker
So Gloria was the Murdoch family. I believe she was the housekeeper, but she was really like a matriarchal figure in the home. Yeah, she was a housekeeper slash nanny. Yeah. who and With the Murdoch family for years, right?
00:20:38
Speaker
20 years. Very close to Maggie. Very close to the boys. a second mother to the boys considered helped raise them. I think a second mother figure to Maggie as well. yeah Just very, very close.
00:20:51
Speaker
She, I don't think she had a bad relationship with Alex, but it was like, I remember babysitting. This is like completely different, but babysitting when I was a kid and being like super awkward with the dad, but like really fine with the kids and the mom.
00:21:05
Speaker
I remember the exact same thing. I would hate when like I would need a ride home and the dad would give ride home. Like oh it was so weird why was that so awkward i thought about it before we've had babysitters who live like a good 20 minutes away nate's been like i'll take him and i'm like it's all right i'll do it i that yeah that's and i just like i just remember the feeling i do too so i think gloria had been with them and um we haven't really talked about but the family family's got like these weird nicknames for everybody i think they call it like they call her go go
00:21:42
Speaker
and She was very yeah religious. She was a single mother herself. Yeah. And, you know, by all accounts, a kind hearted, hardworking woman. Yeah. Loyal, loved, loved deeply.
00:21:53
Speaker
Just a good person who kind of became a member of this family as well. Yeah. On February 2018.
00:22:03
Speaker
57-year-old Gloria Satterfield fell at the Murdoch family home. According to Maggie, she fell going up the stairs to the home, which I am the queen of falling up the stairs.
00:22:15
Speaker
So I totally believe this. And this is per the 911 call. That's where she states. Yeah. that's what The dogs were kind of running around her feet.
00:22:27
Speaker
As she was going up the stairs, Maggie said she fell backwards and hit her head. Although I think at the beginning, there was no talk of the dogs. Right. So... It was just foul, right? Yeah. so and Which I think is pretty important. that Like on the 911 call, it was... Yeah, you're right. 911 call, there was no mention of dogs. It was just basically...
00:22:46
Speaker
We heard something. We looked out. Our housekeeper had fallen going up up the stairs and is unconscious. Yeah. So on February 26, 2018, Satterfield dies from her injuries, which is a long time to – I feel like that's such a long time to to be alive still from injuries like that. yeah so Yeah. She was in the hospital for a while. Yeah.
00:23:09
Speaker
I don't believe during that time that Paul had ever gone and visited her. I don't – I don't think that they really thought she was going, they they thought she was going to recover. Yeah. And the other thing I think of, of that too, is doesn't sound like Paul and Buster had a lot, ah had experienced a lot of loss, had really understood.
00:23:29
Speaker
And if they, there was some loss, it was family. They perhaps weren't super close to, or like didn't have that same like bond with Gloria. And it's another thing of like, Not being able to recognize consequences of things, not even what they did, but consequences of any action.
00:23:45
Speaker
Like somebody fell and got injured. ah consequence of that is that she dies, but they can't get there. Right. I mean, yeah, I would guess that there they have a hard time dealing with the emotions that Of a true loss, right?
00:24:00
Speaker
they Yeah. Maybe they've never really dealt yeah with that type of emotion. and Uncomfortable. And sudden too. In my experience, a sudden loss is so much more traumatic than something you know is going to happen. something you know A loss that you know is coming is still, it's horrible. It brings up grief. It's traumatic as well. But when it's unexpected, it's kind of the like your world is shaken. Yeah.
00:24:25
Speaker
Um, in the 911 call, uh, Paul does get on the phone after his mother. I think his mother, Maggie made the phone call, but Paul does jump on the phone. And to be honest, he would, he kind of sounded kind like a little bit of a punk. I mean, he the way he was talking was not very respectful.
00:24:44
Speaker
Um, not necessarily not respectful to Gloria, um But definitely not respectful to the 911 operator. And even like fully grasping the situation.
00:24:56
Speaker
yeah like And not that he couldn't. Minimizing it. minimize Yeah. Minimizing it and and like making a choice to kind of to minimize it and to, don't know, kind of brush it aside. like Like the thing of they can't see the next steps in front of them. So it's just like, whatever. She fell. Yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
So before the fall, allegedly, Gloria had found drugs underneath Alec's bed. And she was too afraid to tell Maggie, so she went to Paul about this.
00:25:26
Speaker
No, don't think we've talked much so far in this podcast about Alec's history with prescription medication abuse.
00:25:39
Speaker
Yeah. But he has... claimed um that he had been addicted to opioids. ah He said for the last 20 years.
00:25:50
Speaker
Gosh. But we do know that he went to rehab in 2017. um that that I think the family thought it was successful, but from all I've read, it wasn't. and Actually, things got worse after that.
00:26:10
Speaker
So this would be – so that would be a year right before – Well, and this is early 2018. This is February 2018. So it could have even been fresher than that, less than a year.
00:26:21
Speaker
Okay. So they could have – presumably the family could have felt like, okay, he went to rehab. He's better. And then when she found these pills, it – open their eyes to the fact that that he was not recovered and i if i'm remembering correctly the netflix documentary gets into a little bit of um there might have been even an ultimatum from maggie that if if he didn't get help she was gonna leave and things like that and i could that would then kind of lend itself to why gloria would be afraid to tell her when they had such a close relationship yeah all that timing would make sense too
00:26:59
Speaker
So rumors started um after rumors, especially after Paul and Maggie were killed, that either Paul or Maggie pushed Gloria down the stairs in the Netflix documentary.
00:27:12
Speaker
Anthony Cook, who is Mallory Beach's boyfriend. um We'll talk more about Mallory Beach in another episode, said that Paul loved Gloria too much and he wouldn't have hurt her.
00:27:25
Speaker
And I think like I take this seriously, this statement, because I think there's something huge to be said about teenage boys like recognizing somebody's like their peers love for somebody, especially somebody who's not actually related to them. Yeah. And does that make sense? It's like they he saw this relationship and understood what it was.
00:27:50
Speaker
And Anthony Cook was close friends. um With Paul. And although we haven't gotten too much into it, by this point, he had reason to feel very strong hatred. Yeah. I mean, he had very negative feelings about Paul.
00:28:07
Speaker
So if he proactively brought up brought this up again, it says a lot. Yeah, I agree. ah agree. Now, i I mean, what do you think about that?
00:28:19
Speaker
Like, I don't think, I don't see Paul and Maggie as the type of people who would have intentionally, you know, that there's these rumors about like and intentionally pushing her or i just don't see that.
00:28:33
Speaker
i don't see that from them. I don't either. Especially Maggie, I feel like. like And the reason I say that is because we know Paul had that same temper his father did.
00:28:46
Speaker
And so I can see a world that maybe there's a conversation about the drugs that she found and that Paul lashed out somehow. That's really the only thing I could really conceive of. I can't see...
00:29:02
Speaker
I can't see Maggie lashing out at the messenger like that. That would be the only thing. But also, I think that's a stretch given what Anthony said, too. Like, I don't think Paul would have chosen his like father's honor over Gloria. yeah I think there was a true accident that happened. And then Alex goes on to find a way to profit from it.
00:29:24
Speaker
But i yeah, i don't I don't think anyone intentionally sought to certainly not kill her, but I don't you know and you don't think there there was intentionality to that.
00:29:35
Speaker
That's kind of what I think, too. i do I feel like it was an accident. But what Alex then does sure makes that come into question, right? ah So right Alex actually told Gloria's sons that the fall was his fault.
00:29:51
Speaker
Right. And he comes up with this plan to sue himself for the insurance payout. And he tells her sons that he will take care of them financially if they are on board with this.
00:30:06
Speaker
So this is when he kind of he he brings up the fact that that the dogs, his dogs, right, caused this accident. We hadn't heard about yeah dogs being involved in this at all before that.
00:30:21
Speaker
And if that was the case, then um his homeowner's insurance would have to pay out to Sutterfield's family based on the causation.
00:30:35
Speaker
And this the timing is also suspicious. Because one month before Gloria's fall, Alex had taken out commercial insurance on his own property. And by suing himself, he allegedly collected around $4.3 million. dollars Yeah, I think he had some kind of an ah ah on his regular homeowners. I think he had like a $500,000 limit in these situations. And then he had like an umbrella policy.
00:31:03
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that that went up to like the $4.3 million, dollars which he eventually collected. i think he actually like spoke to her sons about this at her funeral.
00:31:16
Speaker
I don't even think that – although she had been with the family for you know many, many years, I don't get the feeling that the family even really – I mean, they – They knew she had sons, but yeah.
00:31:27
Speaker
And there's kind of actually like really historical precedent to that of like the, the housekeeper um having her own family outside of the the house that the world of the rich family doesn't know about.
00:31:42
Speaker
So that makes total sense to me. Yeah. ah and Yeah. It's sad, but yeah. So yeah, I think what happened was, yeah, he approached him at the funeral to say, Hey,
00:31:53
Speaker
I want to take care of you guys. and And at that point, he kind of embellished the story so that he could um justify or he could sue that suit for the insurance money.
00:32:07
Speaker
Yeah. Gloria's family found out about this policy he had taken out before her death from the newspaper. They never received any money from Alex, even though they were entitled to about $4 million. dollars if What he said was true, that he would take care of them and he would handle it.
00:32:26
Speaker
So he was – they believed they were working with him. Right. But he kept putting them off, putting them off. Yeah. And had not – they had received no money. Although this was – like we're talking years later.
00:32:42
Speaker
Yeah. But in the meantime, he had received this $4.3 million dollars and he had it essentially for his own use. And no money went to her her children who, as an aside, needed money. I mean, theyre they were they they definitely could have used the the money. Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:06
Speaker
Absolutely. September 15th, 2021, SLED announced that they had reopened an investigation into the death of Gloria Satterfield.
Insurance Fraud Revealed
00:33:17
Speaker
And less than a month later, on October 2021, SLED had reopened investigation into the Satterfield. Gloria's sons, Tony and b Brian, file a lawsuit against Alex, alleging that he diverted $3.5 million dollars into a fraudulent account.
00:33:32
Speaker
I'm sure this is just because I'm not very smart about things like this, but I want like, why is it $3.5 million instead of the $4 million or $4.3 million? that just can i just don't understand. I'm sure there's a reason.
00:33:45
Speaker
I'm thinking, yeah I thought about the same thing too. I'm thinking either, yeah, he, he diverted 3.5 and then now it, like he had to repay them the 4.3 because of it interest. And I don't know.
00:33:58
Speaker
Yeah, it was just something I don't understand. Because, and I mean, i again, they had that, you know, the two insurance policies. So it would make sense to me that maybe he did give them the $500,000 from his um initial.
00:34:12
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Okay. But I don't think he did. i think that it's said that he never, they never received a penny. So otherwise, yeah, I would have. thought that so yeah i don't know just a thought i had because i don't i don't know how any of that works on june 4th 2022 sled announced that glorious satterfield's body would be exhumed and i think this was at trial but i can't remember um may 2023 alex admitted that he quote invented the story about gloria falling over the dogs to ensure an insurance payout yeah um and
00:34:51
Speaker
I don't believe, although yeah um they did announce that her body would be exhumed, I don't believe it's ever actually happened. I don't think it has been either.
00:35:02
Speaker
That's what i was just going to ask if you had any idea. And I don't know. i I know part of it had to do with she being buried with her husband. So the process would have kind of disturbed his body too. I don't i don't know that that's the reason it wasn't done, but I know that that was a big factor.
00:35:24
Speaker
i also know that her attorney was Eric Bland, who's I guess kind of a good guy. um yeah And even he said – He does Cup of Justice with like the True Sunlight's like sister podcast or offshoot. And even like he said, well – exhuming her body and, you know, wouldn't really matter because, i mean, nobody denies that her, that she she fell on the stairs and hit her head.
00:36:00
Speaker
That it they wouldn't find anything. And the charges would be related to the insurance ah side of it, the insurance kind of scheme, not not necessarily. Like her cause of death was never like changed or or up for question.
00:36:16
Speaker
right I don't know if there's if they're suspicions. Maybe they should be more an investigation, but I don't. Maybe they are. Maybe they did. And realized that the best they could – not the best they could do because it's still pretty good. But what they could do is focus on the insurance part of of it. i I don't know. I just didn't get the feeling her sons were – unlike with Stephen Smith.
00:36:38
Speaker
I think Stephen Smith's mother definitely wanted his body exhumed. And it made sense. Yeah. And that there was definitely criminal activity. I think in this case, ah i I don't know that her sons were um as concerned about it. I i think they they partially were concerned about disturbing her body. And if if the justice they can get is...
00:37:01
Speaker
Through the insurance scheme, get it, you know? Yeah. So with this admission that he invented the story, he was indicted on 22 new fraud charges related to the insurance scheme.
00:37:14
Speaker
The coroner publicly said that the death should have never been called, quote, natural. So- Just like talking about Alex a little bit. I don't – this wasn't his first big win that he started doing this in. But this was – I think this was his biggest takeaway money. I mean he I think he made more from this – This insurance scheme. Yes, this fraud scheme than – think it was his biggest payoff that he – Yeah. So I don't know – I guess by then, yeah, he was feeling pretty confident in his abilities –
00:37:47
Speaker
to do this um and i do i find it i don't know i find it kind of crazy that he didn't give the boys some something that i agree and i wonder like Then I start to think about, I think a lot of people are painting him as this like and incredibly calculating, like always planning ahead.
00:38:08
Speaker
I think it's more that he's performative to what's in front of him. And I don't think telling that telling her sons that he would give them money was like... a ruse or something like that. I think probably in the moment he was like, I'm going to help them. And then when he saw the money and was like, nevermind.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah. I think he's a very opportunistic man. And yeah, I have a feeling in his mind, ah hey i'd like, this is, this is what I picture in his mind. The sons had no idea that this was even a possibility to get this, and any insurance money.
00:38:41
Speaker
So in in Alex's mind, I feel like he opened up that possibility, brought it to them um to let them even know that that they could collect some money.
00:38:52
Speaker
Then, yeah, he of course, embellishes it to get his you know as much as possible more. And I think in his mind, he could justify it like as if, like,
00:39:04
Speaker
They would never have even known. Also, I could really see Alec being like, they don't need $4.3 million. Like, they don't have any. So I don't think they need quite making the judgment call on his own. Any little bit I give is a gift. Yeah, they wouldn't have. Yeah.
00:39:21
Speaker
Yeah. i I just sort of see it. that way with him yeah it's just that like self-absorbed and that's kind of what i'm like i see him being earnest in talking to them after she died and being at the funeral and maybe even believing himself when he said i'll take care of you financially and then got home and was and looked at you know the possibilities and was like nope never mind i'm He kind of does the same thing with Mallory Beach's family at first.
00:39:51
Speaker
Yeah. And I think he maybe believed it until he sat down and thought about things and was like, oh, that's dumb. Yeah. No, i think i I think that's a really good point to make that in the moment. Yeah.
00:40:04
Speaker
he mill On some level, he may be kind of wanting to help people, but then ah then once he can think about it and find out how he can benefit, then that that's easily walked back.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah, that goes right out the window. Just in general, I was surprised. I guess I originally, when the story was coming out, I didn't realize how soon before it the boat crash that this all happened, that yeah For some reason in my mind, it had been years and years ago that the Gloria Satterfield had, but it was it was really right right before.
Media Influence and True Justice in Murdoch Cases
00:40:40
Speaker
but it was they were it was about a year before. and yeah The timeframe was not too far off. Yeah. Which then, you know we'll get into it, um what happened, of course. But I mean, it's it's a year. It's a little more than a year from the beginning.
00:40:55
Speaker
the death of Gloria to the boat accident. And I wonder if Paul got any help for grief or if it was like, as soon as she wasn't around, they could be like, she was the housekeeper.
00:41:08
Speaker
Like, why are you so upset? Yeah. And he pushed it, you know, not, I'm certainly not relieving him of any accountability with the the boat accident, but right that would make a lot of sense to me that part of their family dynamic is like the men in this family are,
00:41:24
Speaker
strong and we do all these things that we don't get upset about the housekeeper. Right. No, I agree. um And maybe even within Paul, maybe he he had mixed emotions. Maybe he didn't know how to deal with that.
00:41:36
Speaker
But, you know, there's that part of him. Why am I so upset about the housekeeper? Yeah, she was our housekeeper. And then and then a and another huge part of him was this this woman like largely raised me And those yeah feelings where he didn't quite know how to how to feel like it's like ah he works part time at his at his uncle's tractor track ah dealership. Right. It's like that part of him is like grieving and mourning. But the part of him that wants to I feel like please his father.
00:42:08
Speaker
is like Right, yeah right. Just as far as i think you said that the coroner said the death should have never been called ah natural.
00:42:19
Speaker
Just to like oh clarify on that, there are like there's five like the corner like there's five manners of death that coroners can attribute a death to. So that it's natural, accident, suicide, homicide, and undetermined.
00:42:34
Speaker
So when they say it shouldn't have been natural, it it should have been accident. Probably should have been undetermined. Well, oh act i would I mean, I would think it would be. Yeah. But I just bring that up because it shows a little bit like how there's been a narrative like once the case, once the general case came forward.
00:42:53
Speaker
Yeah. then of course you look back on all these other things that have happened in their lives. And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of questionable stuff that went on in these people's lives and around them.
00:43:05
Speaker
why But we just have to watch, I guess, that we that when we're looking back, we don't rewrite history, I guess. and see Yeah. And so so sometimes I think like kind of like the media like tried you know even something saying something like,
00:43:20
Speaker
the death should have never been called natural. Well, that it shouldn't have been, but there's sometimes, um, it sounds like there's an implication maybe that the family did intentionally try to harm her or something. And I think, yeah the key point is no, it shouldn't have been natural, but, um, it should have been accident. and I just think it's really important that we make sure that like we don't,
00:43:43
Speaker
look We don't create a narrative upon looking back that makes makes things maybe even worse. Yeah. or a And i think this is important, too.
00:43:54
Speaker
That narrative, if it's incorrect, means that true justice won't happen. Right. And if it's like getting tunnel vision and, you know, when cops get tunnel vision and investigations, it's kind of the same thing.
00:44:08
Speaker
if If the narrative that's being created is this one thing and that's perhaps not the entire truth, that's not real justice. Right. We should be, yeah, looking looking for the the truth of the matter.
00:44:24
Speaker
All right. think it's that's a good point. Yeah. All
Preview: The Boat Crash and Mallory Beach
00:44:27
Speaker
right. Well, we're going to stop for today. Next episode, we're going to talk about the boat crash and the death of Mallory Beach.
00:44:35
Speaker
um I think... this was like the family turning point. Definitely. Yeah. And so this is, a this is going to be ah an important one, but we will talk about that next week. I hope you come back and join us and we will talk to you next time.
00:44:53
Speaker
All right. Bye guys. Bye.