Disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has been charged in the 2021 murders of his wife and son.
Murdaugh was indicted Thursday (July 14) on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel announced via CNN.
Margarat ‘Maggie‘ Murdaugh, 52, and the couple’s youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, were both found dead in June 2021, three days after Murdaugh’s father, prosecutor Randolph Murdaugh III, had also died.
Last December, a copy of her last will and testament obtained by the Island Packet revealed that Maggie Murdaugh left her entire property to her husband before she and their son were mysteriously killed.
The S.C. Law Enforcement Division announced the new details about Maggie Murdaugh’s will, which was signed in 2005, and her estate records in connection to the murders of herself and her son, Paul, though no arrests had been made at the time.
The Island Packet reported Alex Murdaugh, who has been jailed since October in connection to a separate case, was entitled to the family’s 1,770-acre property, which sits between Hampton and Colleton Counties in South Carolina, according to his late wife’s will signed on August 15, 2005.
Alex Murdaugh had previously owned a property knowns as “Moselle” since 2013, but property records show he transferred ownership to his wife in 2016.
Alex Murdagh was arrested at a drug rehab facility in Orlando, Florida on October 14, where his attorneys confirmed he had been staying during the past six weeks after being shot in the head, which was later proved to be part of a conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
The 53-year-old attorney, who was shot months after his wife and son were slain in unsolved shootings this summer and accused of hiring a hitman to kill him so his other son could collect on a $10 million life insurance policy, was later formally charged in relation to stealing insurance settlement with the sons of his late housekeeper.
Murdaugh was charged with two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses in relation to the death of his longtime housekeeper and nanny, Gloria Satterfield, in February 2018.
In September, NBC News reported the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division opened a criminal investigation into accusations that Murdaugh kept money from Satterfield’s family.
The agency said the case was reopened by request from the Hampton County coroner and on “information gathered” during a separate investigation involving Murdaugh.
Hampton County Coroner Angela Topper wrote a letter to state investigators in her request confirming Satterfield’s death “was not reported to the coroner at the time, nor was an autopsy performed,” NBC News reported.
“On the death certificate, the manner of death was ruled ‘natural,’ which is inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip and fall accident,” Topper added.
Satterfield’s family released a statement in response to the announcement of the investigation, calling it a “sad day.”
“The news of the opening of a criminal investigation causes more questions at a time when the family just wanted answers regarding the claims that were asserted in connection with the death of their mother and any settlements reached,” the statement said at the time. “Today this nightmare escalated for the family with the news of the opening of the criminal investigation into the death of Gloria Satterfield.”
Satterfield’s family filed a lawsuit in Hampton County court Wednesday accusing Murdaugh and others of breach of fiduciary duty in failing to compensate the family in a wrongful death settlement.
Satterfield, 57, died in February 2018 after experiencing injuries during a fall in the Murdaugh home, where she had worked for more than two decades.
The lawsuit states “the exact details of the fall remain unclear” and her two sons, Michael “Tony” Satterfield and Brian Harriott were entitled to be paid $475,000 in direct payment to “compensate them for the grief, sorrow and mourning associated with the loss of their mother” in relation to the wrongful death settlement.
Murdaugh had the home insured through Lloyd’s of London and promised to “take care of the boys” by suing himself to collect on personal liability insurance through Lloyd’s, according to the lawsuit.
However, a “stipulation of dismissal” was filed in October 2020 — nearly two years after a partial settlement was reached with the insurance firm — ending the estate’s claims against Murdaugh, who also reportedly signed the stipulation, according to an exhibit attached to the lawsuit.
Ronald Richter Jr., who represents the Satterfield family, said they didn’t receive any compensation.
