Alex Murdaugh.Photo: Andrew J Whitaker/AP/Shutterstock
After disgraced South Carolina lawyerAlex Murdaugh was convictedof murdering his wife and son, new details have emerged surrounding his former housekeeper’s suspicious death.
In Feb. 2018, Gloria Satterfield — the longtime housekeeper for the Murdaugh family — died after an alleged trip-and-fall accident at the Murdaugh family estate. Murdaugh saidSatterfield tripped over his family’s dogs, which caused her to fall, Eric Bland, an attorney for Satterfield’s sons, told PEOPLE previously.
“No dogs were involved in the fall of Gloria Satterfield on February 2, 2018,” the documents, from Monday’s filing from Murdaugh’s own attorneys in federal court, read. “After Ms. Satterfield’s death, Defendant [Alex Murdaugh] invented Ms. Satterfield’s purported statement that dogs caused her fall to force his insurers to make a settlement payment, and he stated that she was not on the property to perform work.”
Gloria Satterfield.Brice W. Herndon and Sons Funeral Home
On Sept. 15, 2021, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announced that it wasopening an investigationinto Satterfield’s mysterious death.
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Three months prior to the civil lawsuit, on June 7, 2021, Murdaugh’s wife Maggie and son Paul were found shot to death on the 1,770-acre South Carolina property, where the family’s former hunting lodge was located.
Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh.
On Oct. 14, 2021, Murdaugh was charged with misappropriating insurance settlement funds in the wrongful death suit that followed Satterfield’s death, authorities announced. And in July 2022, he was indicted for murders of his wife and son.
After a lengthy trial in early 2023, Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering Maggie and Paul and receivedtwo life sentences in prison.
Murdaugh still faces dozens of charges connected to alleged financial crimes, including misappropriating money from his former law firm and defrauding clients of funds. A trial for those charges will be held at a later date.
source: people.com
