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The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 3 /// 549

October 29, 2022 / 52:16

This episode covers the mysterious death of Stephen Smith and its connection to the Murdoch family, as well as the death of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdoch's housekeeper.

The hosts discuss the details surrounding Stephen Smith's death, found on a country road in South Carolina in 2015. They highlight the lack of evidence for a hit-and-run and the speculation surrounding his relationship with Buster Murdoch.

They also examine the circumstances of Gloria Satterfield's death in 2018, which occurred after a fall at the Murdoch home. The episode details the subsequent legal actions taken by Satterfield's sons and the alleged misconduct by Alec Murdoch.

Listeners learn about the connections between the two cases, including the reopening of the investigation into Smith's death following the Murdoch double homicide. The hosts express skepticism regarding the Murdoch family's involvement and the handling of both cases.

The episode concludes with a discussion about the ongoing investigations and the implications for the Murdoch family.

TLDR

Stephen Smith's mysterious death ties to the Murdoch family, alongside Gloria Satterfield's suspicious death and subsequent legal battles.

Episode

52:16
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thank you [Music] [Music] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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click on the store Page and Colonel that is enough of the business all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab
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a beer let's talk some true crime [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] hang up the county now what was your
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emergency room crockettville Road I see somebody laying out what road are you what's the name of the
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highway that you're on I know it's probably a road I just know it's Crawfordville Road yeah
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oh hold on just a second and which way are you headed okay uh the back way to pull it off
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already uh-huh yeah okay you're on that road just before you get into crockettville
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seven o'clock over here make that right okay [Music] oh all right so what's your name and call
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that number uh my name is Ronnie keeper okay all right Mr Gabriel can I get a phone
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number for you uh I don't know about this your phone but can you call this number I'm going to
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work okay but this is a good number to reach you back at yeah okay all right we'll get an officer
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headed out that way to see what's going on okay uh I ain't moving or nothing like that
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but um from my point he didn't talk all right we're getting also headed out that way okay all right
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[Applause] [Music] there it is it's a 9-1-1 call we have a driver out on a country road and he
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finds a lifeless body lying in the middle of the road the body is identified to be a one Stephen Smith
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Stephen Smith was just 19 years old when his body was found in the middle of a country road in Hampton County South
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Carolina who is Stephen Smith and what does his death which was over six years ago on
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July 8 2015 what does this death have to do with anything with the Murdoch murders case that we're covering well
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that's because on June 23rd just three weeks after the Murdoch's double homicide killings sled
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release the following statement it says sled has opened an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith based upon
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information gathered during the course of their double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdoch that really
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makes me curious on what evidence they found well and not to really kind of put a a marker on the severity of either
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situation they're both horrific tragedies but we've seen this movie before right Captain where we have a
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high profile case a double homicide there was one out in Delphi Indiana where later they tell us hey during the
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course of our double homicide investigation we've been LED on to other investigations of criminal activity that
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may or may not have anything to do with this double homicide right so we've seen
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this before and it's always interesting when they're uncovering these little tidbits and breadcrumbs to lead them to
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potential other perpetrators or maybe it is in some weird way connected we've seen this tangled web of the Murdoch so
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far and it only continues to grow and get bigger and more stranger as we go now in regard to the Stephen Smith case
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there's some thought that during the course of the Paul and Maggie Murdoch murder investigation that they may have
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uncovered some information in regard to the Steven Smith case from Paul Murdoch's phone now I cannot
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confirm that that's accurate I cannot confirm that that's true that is the rumor that was swirling around about the
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same time that sled announces hey we're going to be doing a full investigation into this Stephen Smith case what's
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interesting is they weren't actively investigating the Steven Smith case at the time as far as I could find and
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we'll get into that and and the reasons why but in regard to the Steven Smith case this to me is one of the biggest
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mysteries in the whole Murdoch Saga what is this young man doing out in the middle of a country road in the middle
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of the night all by himself when the driver finds him he's already expired by this point he's he's already dead and
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thank God that that guy stopped and called into 9-1-1 because this is the middle of the night it's pitch black out
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there anybody could have just could have run the body over right which could tamper with the evidence at at the scene
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and you know what I don't know how many Clues we have at the scene but as you said it could have taken a bad crime
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scene and made it even worse from an investigation evidentiary standpoint well let me just point this out again
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this the Smith case we're looking at it going look this is maybe an accident maybe a hit and run but let's go back to
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that phone Paul's phone you have to remember in the boating accident the cops knew that Paul's phone was there
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they should have collected Paul's phone as evidence and they never did and clearly this is rumor and speculation
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but obviously something during the course of that Paul and Maggie Murdoch investigation LED them back to 19 year
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old Stephen Smith who was killed over six years prior in regard to this situation here Captain what we have here
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is the policer called to the scene and they arrive on the scene of this what's got to look like a hit and run on the
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surface they arrive at 4 00 am where they found Stephen lying in the road now he had a
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seven and a half inch laceration on his head his skull was crushed there was a gaping hole in his forehead and his
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shoulder was dislocated Steven's death certificate says he died due to severe blunt force trauma to the Head the
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damage to Stephen's face and head was so horrific so bad at first it was thought
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to have been a gunshot wound right then investigators decided that it was a hit and run but by all accounts there was
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zero that's a big fat zero evidence at the scene of a hit and run there's no skid marks no car parts no paint chips I
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mean there's there's no evidence of a vehicle having been involved in whatever happened to Stephen Smith again what we
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do know of this family is once there was a tragedy and there was a there was a dead girl that they knew and
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instantly instead of caring about that loss and caring about that family's suffering
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they instantly go into cover-up mode and protect ourselves protect our family mode yeah and in here in this situation
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with Stephen Smith it looks to me like they may not know the investigators may not know exactly what they are dealing
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with here right some more things from the scene when Stevens found he still has his shoes on his phone and keys were
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still in his pocket and from what I've been told those are that's not typical of a hit and run the other thing too is
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keep in mind the location and the time of day it's dark out there this is a country road this is pretty open out
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there he would have been able to see a vehicle coming from a good distance away and when investigating the this whole
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Saga really the first time that you hear about this evidence to me it seems more
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like a drop point than it does an area that somebody would be hit by a car well and it also seems here captain
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that the local authorities you know we have the the South Carolina Highway Patrol they're investigating they're
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responding to the scene but it sounds like there was some squabbles over was this a a more traditional homicide or
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was it an accident right the thing here is important that if it was if Steven was a victim or
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determined to be is what I think we should say determined to be a victim of a homicide
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then the South Carolina Highway Patrol would not be the investigating agency okay so they would hand that over to
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sled so that's why it's so interesting that just three weeks after the double homicide of Paul and Maggie that we have
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sled coming out and saying we are opening up an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith it seems like
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something along the way has changed from Hit and Run to homicide or at least that's the thought of law enforcement at
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the local level now the autopsy at the time did not help to clarify things remember they're still arguing is this a
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homicide or some kind of hit and run accident the pathologist this is Dr Aaron press now ruled it to be a hit and
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run but was not able to really clarify why she came to the conclusion other than to say that well he was found
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on the road so no real evidence pointing to it other than where this poor young man was found
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regardless though Captain the South Carolina Highway Patrol will continue to investigate this case as it were back in
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2015. Colonel could you give us some background on Steven Smith yes it would be my pleasure there Captain as we
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said Steven Smith was 19 years old at the time of his death just a young man with a whole big bright future ahead of
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him he was a nursing student and Stephen was working toward his life goal of becoming a doctor now interestingly
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enough we can tie him to this case in more ways than one and one way being that he's a former
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classmate of Buster Murdoch you know we spent so much time in episodes one and two talking about the youngest son
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Paul Murdoch but we didn't spend a whole lot of time about talking about Buster Murdoch the the older of the two sons
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yeah the Murdoch family had the name Buster and they were going to use it for a dog but they never got a dog so when
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they had a son they decided to use the name Buster now Steven's body was found about 10 miles from the Murdoch's home
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which sounds really interesting on the surface but it was also you know his body's also found less than 10 miles
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from his own home so I don't think that that really indicates anything now per media reports quote his death has never
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been fully explained police files have suggested that Mr Smith ran out of gas on the side of the road about three
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miles from where his body was found the gas cap was reportedly dangling and open
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an older man who claimed to be in a relationship with Stephen told investigators that he had been on the
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phone with Stephen and Stephen told him him that he was going to run out of gas and that some guys in a pickup truck
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were harassing him and it has been mentioned before captain that he Stephen his own words says that he has been
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picked on from time to time from some of the guys in town well it's a small town
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and a lot of times you have small minds and I would assume him growing up that he probably had some harassment coming
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from the guys about his sexuality in January of 2016 the highway patrol Sergeant his name is Todd Proctor
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obtained a search warrant for Stephen Smith's phone and phone records the search warrant affidavit states that the
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death was under mysterious circumstances saying quote the investigation has led to this individual not not being struck
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by a vehicle and possible Foul Play end quote we don't know what if anything was found
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in those phone records but here we have the highway patrol doing their due diligence to check the victim's phone
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records the highway patrol continued to investigate this case even though again they do not investigate homicides and
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even though this case was believed to be a Murder by several Troopers looking into it but they didn't talk too many of
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the people who were the subject of tips and this might be where they kind of dropped the ball a little bit here
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captain from the tips that they're getting one of those people would have been Buster Murdoch
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that they're hearing tips about Buster Murdoch and some of his friends but they're not actually speaking with
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Buster and these friends some attempts were made to speak with these individuals however when phone calls
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went unanswered or emails went unrequied to it seemed to be that that was enough
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to stop them from inquiring about Buster and his cronies a lot of this Captain is
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coming from multiple sources and what's being said is that in the course of conducting interviews in the hit and run
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mysterious death of Stephen Smith in that case investigators heard the Murdoch name come up more than 40 times
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is what I was able to find more than half of the people interviewed had heard the same rumor
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that buster Murdoch was secretly gay and involved with Stephen Smith or had been
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involved with Stephen Smith at some point again remember they were classmates I believe the name of their
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high school that they both attended was Wade High School ABC 15 news reported that case files indicated 10 of 18
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people interviewed by highway patrol had mentioned Murdoch possibly being involved in the death of Stephen with
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some indicating Stephen and Buster may have been in a relationship however law enforcement was never able to formally
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tie Buster Murdoch to the case nor Tracked Down the original source of some of these rumors additionally attempts to
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reach Buster for questioning went unanswered records showed what happened was the highway patrol Sergeant Proctor
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called Buster to talk to him about Stephen Smith but Buster conveniently never answered his phone so Proctor
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emailed him and never got a response and it appears that that once that went down
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Captain Sergeant Proctor ran out of ideas and just kind of gave up on talking with Buster Murdoch well again
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you have to remember this family has a lot of power and this community and so at least
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they're trying to investigate this at least they're trying to ask questions it's a sticky situation I wish that it
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would have been pursued much more hardcore than that you have a situation where you're hearing You're simply
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hearing rumors as the investigator that's all that this stuff is you cannot formally tie
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Buster to the victim here you also can't get any hardcore evidence to tie the two
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of them together but you're hearing the same rumor over and over again so it is something that
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does need to be tracked down and something that needs to be to be sourced and figure out why you are hearing this
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person's name his friends names and why he's tied to this story time and time again when you're talking with people
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that know the victim or that went to school with the victim well you're hearing from his partner about the
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harassment you're hearing from others about his harassment and being bullied that instantly takes this investigation
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not from just a murder but a hate crime more stiff penalties for for that situation so like always the the Murdoch
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seem to be not answering questions and trying to protect themselves it looks like that in some point in 2016 the
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investigation into the mysterious death of Stephen Smith well that case stalled and I don't know if we would call it a
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cold case but it simply stalled out and this would be until Paul Murdoch was shot dead
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when we have sled announcing that it was taking a new look at the case again this is six years later well obviously
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since they found something from this double homicide that led them to re-open this case the whole world is wondering
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how is this connected to the murdochs yeah everybody's going to want to know answers to that question and many more
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but of course sled is not going to address what the information was that that they
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gathered in the Murdoch investigation what may have led them to Stephen Smith or why they're reopening this
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investigation and how it's linked to the Murdoch case it's it's all very it's all
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very confusing but there's a lot of stuff that's obviously going on behind the scenes here that we are just not
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privy to this Stephen Smith case when sled announced that they were going to be examining the case
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this is when we have Steven's mother Sandy Smith she told fits news quote I've been waiting on this day for
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2174 days wow she said that on the night that Stephen died apparently Stephen ran
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out of gas but his mother has said publicly and repeatedly that she does not and will not believe that Stephen
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was accidentally hit by a vehicle she told the Hampton County Guardian that she believed her son's death was
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the result of Foul Play and a possible hate crime because her son was openly gay and then we also have some other
00:22:10
information coming from the family that it apparently at some point Stephen Smith told his twin sister that he had a
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fling with a boy and that the boy he was involved with was privileged now we don't have the sister naming any names
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just the fact that her brother told her that he was involved or had a fling with
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a boy and it was a privileged boy or a boy from a privileged family law enforcement is not opening up their case
00:22:39
files for us to take a peek right so when you hear these rumors time and time again you're going to go talk to the
00:22:47
community you're going to talk to people that went to school with them I guarantee you that they have
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eyewitnesses or at least ear witnesses that also heard these rumors just taking a look at what little information has
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been put out there about the Steven Smith case and the Steven Smith crime scene he's found about three miles from where
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they find his abandoned vehicle one point that I cannot shake is a fact that his mother has brought up time and
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time again that her son would not have been out there walking the street trying to get
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somewhere trying to find gas and then accidentally got hit by this vehicle I believe
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the general thought is that he was walking and he was walking in the road and maybe a semi truck that didn't see
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him and apparently he didn't see the semi truck or was too close to it that one of the mirrors
00:23:46
smacked him as it drove by hit him right in the head and that's why we don't have
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other injuries to other parts of his body and just the head well that would make some sense that's the thought
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however everybody knows to get the hell out of the way of the semi truck and again we
00:24:02
pointed out he would have seen this truck at a good distance away and then we have to factor in that whoever hit
00:24:08
him never bothers to report it or didn't know that they hit him but the thing that she says that I cannot shake and I
00:24:15
have to keep circling back to is that Stephen had a cell phone with him that night she says I know my son he wouldn't
00:24:22
have been out there walking he would have called someone somebody would have went and picked them up or somebody
00:24:27
would have taken gas to him or he would have called and got a ride from somebody
00:24:30
I mean we know he had some communication with his partner or boyfriend according
00:24:35
to that man yes right according to that man the thing is it troubles me and it really boggles my mind to to discredit
00:24:45
his mother and say you know what Not only would he not call for help but he would walk three miles before an
00:24:52
accident would occur I mean how long was he going to walk without calling anybody
00:24:56
it just it doesn't ring true it doesn't ring true so what could have happened here is somebody could have been
00:25:04
harassing him he could have run out of gas just like the the man says that hey I was on the phone with him says some
00:25:10
guy's in a truck are harassing him and he's going to run out of gas well that all could have went down that
00:25:17
way and his car may have ended up on the side of the road I don't argue that I don't
00:25:24
think that he walked to where his body was later found and until somebody can prove to me that that is the case I just
00:25:32
have a hard time believing that the Smith family had an open casket funeral for Stephen and this was so everyone
00:25:41
could see what was done to him his mother Sandy said his head had to be reconstructed with Putty for the viewing
00:25:49
and there was something else the day that Stephen passed away Randy Murdock was the second person to
00:25:58
call the family after the coroner this is according to Stephen's twin sister Stephanie she has said on the record
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repeatedly that on the day that her brother was killed they receive a phone call from the coroner so let them know
00:26:18
that a loved one has expired the second call that her father got received after being notified to the
00:26:26
death of his son is from Randy Murdock Alec Murdoch's brother he's saying Randy Murdoch is
00:26:36
telling the father that he wanted to take on the case and he would take on the case free of charge
00:26:42
the family told police that they thought that this offer was weird why would the
00:26:48
Murdoch's offer to help free of charge seemingly out of the blue well this is the same thing that they tried to do
00:26:55
with the boating accident let's get somebody on the inside so we can control the narrative
00:27:02
[Music] thank you [Music] [Music] all right we are back and a quick reminder if you need more True Crime
00:27:34
garage for your earballs check out our bonus show called off the Record and if you want to see us live at brewdog in
00:27:41
February well go to our website click on the events page there are still a handful of tickets left to that event
00:27:50
well Captain all of this lead up is leading us to yet another mysterious death tied to the Murdoch family this is
00:27:58
the death of 57 year old Gloria Satterfield the housekeeper and nanny for the murdochs who had been employed
00:28:06
by them for 20 years she died after a strange slip and fall or trip and fall accident at the
00:28:13
Murdoch's home on February 2nd 2018. now supposedly she tripped over the family dogs fell down the stairs hit
00:28:23
her head and suffered severe head trauma while hospitalized from the fall Gloria
00:28:28
had a stroke went into cardiac arrest and then died on February 26 2018. let's take a quick minute to
00:28:38
listen to this news clip where they're going to play a portion of that 9-1-1 call
00:28:43
and with that breaking news here at five sled released a 9-1-1 call as part of the investigation into the death of
00:28:50
former prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdoch's housekeeper Gloria Satterfield died in 2018 after falling
00:28:57
at the Murdoch's family home according to a report from the Carlton County Sheriff's Office the 9-1-1 call was
00:29:04
initially made from a person identified as Maggie take a listen what's going on out there uh my
00:29:11
housekeeper has fallen and her head is bleeding I cannot get her up okay you said you saw on me she's
00:29:17
bleeding from the head yeah okay is she on the ground or is she you know on the ground she's on the ground she's on the
00:29:24
ground uh no not really is she awake at all yeah here's another clip where you'll hear
00:29:32
Maggie and it's believed to be Paul responding to the 911 operator he's just not like responding appropriately but
00:29:40
she is awake man she's not so she's not in front okay I just I I've already got them on the
00:29:48
way me asking questions does not slow them down man knowing if she conscious is one of the things that the medic
00:29:54
needs to know if she's responsible to you no do you know she's ever had a stroke or anything before man can you
00:30:01
stop asking her I already have them all the way I already have them on the way me asking questions does not slow them
00:30:06
down in any way these are relevant questions that I have to ask for the ambulance no I don't encounter she's
00:30:12
just mumbling okay I believe she's maybe hit ahead and had maybe another concussion or something
00:30:19
now obviously we don't have the whole clip to analyze but it's pretty telling that both times when a member of the
00:30:28
Murdoch family gets irritated with the 911 operator that once they push back once the operator pushes back and says
00:30:37
look me asking these questions does not affect what time the ambulance is going to get there and these this is
00:30:44
information we need to know it goes from um you know man why do you need to ask that I'm so annoyed too
00:30:53
answering the question not only by the mother but also by the son yeah and the tricky thing here is
00:31:00
when you're looking at these 911 calls and and giving a little analysis on them look the you're right when you first get
00:31:09
the pushback from ma'am can you quit asking us all these questions basically is what again it's reported to be Paul
00:31:17
Murdoch who who says that on the 9-1-1 call you you go with the situation of of thinking well
00:31:24
they don't want the 911 operator asking too many questions because they don't know how to answer them because whatever
00:31:30
situation they are phoning in they might be telling lies or making it up but as someone who's been in a situation
00:31:41
where I've had to rely on 9-1-1 and calling for the help of others I can I can kind of side with the
00:31:48
Murdoch's here with Maggie and Paul in the regard that in the situation I was in it was it was
00:31:56
me by myself and the other person was unresponsive and so I was caught in this Catch-22 situation of trying to answer
00:32:06
the operator's questions but also feeling like I need to be tending to the person that I'm calling about I
00:32:14
found myself in a situation where I caught myself getting a little frustrated with the operator because I
00:32:21
felt like my time was better served for the person that I was calling about so these different circumstances because
00:32:29
there's a whole family there so it's not like he's growing hey ma'am stop asking her these questions because
00:32:34
she's tending to her they have multiple people making this phone calls right every situation certainly is is
00:32:42
different and unique and so I'm just trying to offer a little a little aside here on why this might be
00:32:50
it because they don't come off well Paul and his mother do not come off well sounding well in this this clip here and
00:32:58
I'm not arrogant I'm not running to their defense but I'm just offering up information as to why they may come off
00:33:06
as sounding arrogant or frustrated with the operator I don't know that we should
00:33:10
say that the whole family was at the home when this accident took place that's not
00:33:15
my understanding right of the situation so it very well may have just been Maggie and Paul there along with Gloria
00:33:23
Satterfield regardless at the end of the day sadly Gloria succumbed to her injuries
00:33:28
as said while in the hospital 24 days later she has a stroke and goes into cardiac arrest and then passes away
00:33:36
the aftermath is where things get really complicated for the Murdoch's and for this True Crime Story that we're trying
00:33:45
to tell here today and that's because in December of 2018 a lawsuit was filed on
00:33:51
behalf of the satterfield's adult sons this lawsuit is filed against Alec Murdock this was because as the story
00:34:01
goes according to the Satterfield boys that at Gloria's funeral Alec tells the boys that look this is this is my not
00:34:11
necessarily his fault but something that he's somewhat responsible for because this happened at his home and that he
00:34:20
would take care of them by getting them money they deserve some money for the death of their mother and that he would
00:34:26
get them money from his personal liability insurance provider so most of us out there have insurance that will
00:34:34
cover us if some horrific accident like this were to take place or or whatever the situation is takes place at your
00:34:42
home right that somebody can be compensated and it doesn't have to be going after the the homeowner personally
00:34:51
well a lot of people do die from Falls and especially stair Falls and then you would also
00:34:59
the initial story seems plausible anyways right the she gets caught up with the dogs she trips and falls
00:35:10
Alec Murdock has a policy in place to protect him in the event of anything happening at his home
00:35:16
so he says hey I'm going to hook you up with an attorney and what you're going to have to do is you're going to have to
00:35:22
sue me and then my insurance company will take care of paying everybody so what he does is he quote unquote
00:35:31
hooks them up with Corey Fleming remember Corey Fleming he's the lawyer that Alec got to represent Connor Cook
00:35:38
in the boating accident case right and Corey Fleming arranged for Chad westendorf a banker at Palmetto State
00:35:47
Bank to serve as the personal representative of Gloria's estate so Chad's job will be to represent her sons
00:35:56
and her son's interest as far as lawsuits negotiations and settlements are concerned
00:36:03
now per this plan we have westendorf and Fleming they then file wrongful death suit on behalf of
00:36:11
Gloria's estate against Alec Murdock the lawsuit raised a wrongful death claim but did not allege any criminality on
00:36:20
the Murdoch's part and in court Alec admitted that the accidental death had occurred in his home so his insurance
00:36:29
company needed to pay up this is all fairly common stuff but when you throw in a tragic boat accident a double
00:36:38
homicide and then this weird Foul Play slash hit and run case all surrounding the same people well this then becomes a
00:36:47
very sticky situation and really just another mystery along the way but here we have another situation
00:36:55
Captain where Alec is getting involved and look the the boat situation is one whole
00:37:02
different mess entirely but this would be rather unconventional for a person to come forward and arrange for
00:37:11
the other party to sue themselves right like I'm I'm going to have you Captain sue me and I'm going to
00:37:21
help you do that by hooking you up with an attorney and telling you what you should do and leading you to suing me
00:37:29
yeah it all just comes off as very shady correct now anybody on the outside looking in would
00:37:36
say the same thing and go well this this seems very fishy where the things get dicey for all parties involved and where
00:37:44
things I think just get a little confusing for the satterfields is again the mother Gloria she worked for the
00:37:51
Murdoch's for 20 years this guy is a successful attorney he's a big time lawyer they trusted him
00:38:01
that's that's where a lot of problems seem to be in this case people trusting people that they find out much later
00:38:09
they probably really didn't know that person very well and it had they known them the way that they know them now
00:38:15
there would be no trust this happens a lot I mean even with business anytime that there's a serious
00:38:22
business decision you should have Outsiders that are not connected to you help you
00:38:30
so when this guy comes forward and says hey look you should sue me and here's the lawyer to do so you could
00:38:38
easily say okay well this lawyer is not Alex's brother it's not a family member but he is still
00:38:48
connected to Alex so you go hey thanks for the advice but no thank you because this is now a business transaction
00:38:57
and I need to get somebody that is not connected to the situation in any way shape or form ten
00:39:05
months after the lawsuit Alex insurance company settled for 505 000 to compensate glorious Sons for
00:39:16
their pain and suffering of this after fees taken by the law firm the Satterfield boys were supposed to
00:39:23
see a payout of 475 thousand dollars then their attorney Corey Fleming submitted a second
00:39:31
wrongful death claim and pursuant to this in a second settlement a second insurance company agreed to pay 4.3
00:39:41
million dollars of this amount the boys were supposed to get 2.76 million dollars after all the fees and payments
00:39:49
to their lawyers per an order signed by a one judge Carmen Mullen on May 13 2019.
00:39:59
well seems like this all worked out in the end per what Alec told the boys that they
00:40:07
should get for the loss of their mother however glorious Sons never got any money at all they didn't see any money
00:40:15
not only did they did they not get any money it sounds like they didn't know about the settlements at all this until
00:40:21
they read about it in the newspaper during the wake of the whole Murdoch Saga in 2021 and the report says quote
00:40:29
they were never told of the settlements they were never told of the Court hearings they were never told of the
00:40:34
disbursements so even though they sign up to sue Alec Murdock their their attorney Corey Fleming kept
00:40:44
them at a good distance to the point where they didn't know about the settlements they didn't know about court
00:40:50
hearings they didn't know that money was being paid out in those lawsuits so what
00:40:55
the heck's going on here well as our listeners can easily put it together this whole thing has been engineered by
00:41:00
Alec Murdock his buddy Corey Fleming and then now they bring in another bad guy Chad westendorf Corey Fleming as we
00:41:09
pointed out was Alex Alec Murdoch's college roommate and The Godfather to his son Paul a connection not disclosed
00:41:17
to the satterfield's sons according to their lawsuit and Chad westendorf took on the role as a court appointed
00:41:25
personal representative a fiduciary for the boys who was supposed to represent their interest in the administration of
00:41:33
the lawsuit instead it appears that the three men entered into a scheme to keep the money
00:41:39
legal fees of 1.4 million dollars were collected by Fleming's firm in which he was named partner all right you went out
00:41:48
and you drummed up some good business for us guess what we're going to make you a partner and what westendorf got we
00:41:55
don't know but it was almost certainly a good chunk of change or at least fees racked up by his bank and Alec Murdoch
00:42:04
pocketed the rest yes you're hearing that right Alec Murdoch teamed up with some of his
00:42:09
buddies and shafted the poor Satterfield boys at the same time as ripping off these insurance companies and keeping
00:42:18
the money for himself and for themselves I just want everybody to ponder this for a second
00:42:25
you have to understand that their mother died serving this family it is not until after the double
00:42:34
homicide years later what three years later they'd learn oh by the way we did win those lawsuits and we were granted a
00:42:43
lot of money and that doesn't bring back their mother but it it helps out their family quite a
00:42:51
bit and they didn't find out that they were awarded that money like I said about three years later well they
00:42:58
instantly know that they're cheated right when they read that in the newspaper that we actually won these
00:43:04
lawsuits and settled out of court unbeknownst to us so where the heck is all that money well this is going to
00:43:11
lead them to sue basically Alec Murdoch again but also now they're going to sue everybody that was involved Corey
00:43:20
Fleming Chad westendorf and the companies that they work for basically suing any person or entity that made
00:43:26
money the wrong way the first time around and they filed that suit in September of
00:43:33
2021. again this is because Alec Murdock allegedly diverted more than 3.5 million dollars in death
00:43:45
settlement money meant for the satterfields to an account controlled by him personally okay so the way that this
00:43:55
works out Captain is Alec directed Corey Fleming his good old buddy and pal to pay the death settlement monies intended
00:44:03
for the satterfields to an account called Forge at a P.O box in Hampton South Carolina called Forge Forge now
00:44:13
the reason why he did this is there is another company a legitimate company named Forge Consulting LLC that often
00:44:21
did business with Alec Murdoch's private firm pmped in structuring these payout settlements
00:44:31
so Alec used this name or created this fake company in a similar name to a legitimate company so this gets real
00:44:42
confusing when somebody tries to go back and forensically go through the paperwork
00:44:47
and try to find out where money's got misappropriated does that make sense yeah so the satterfields have no idea
00:44:57
about the settlements furthermore the second settlement for 4.3 million dollars was never placed in
00:45:04
any public court docket so shady that's right it was never placed in any public court docket the fact that the whole
00:45:11
thing was done off the Record if you're nasty makes it clear that it was intended to be a secret this second
00:45:19
claim was never filed in state court so there is no public record of the settlement nothing is on the court
00:45:26
record that's a direct quote from the Satterfield boys new attorney and look Captain to put it plain and simple this
00:45:36
is not Kosher because under South Carolina law settlement documents are supposed to be a matter of public record
00:45:43
filed in State Court what this means is that this was all done off the books under the table on the DL and was
00:45:51
clearly fraudulent in short Alec Murdock Corey Fleming and westendorf used the sound matterfield boys as their pawns to
00:46:02
line their own Pockets well and even if their plan was well let's get this money
00:46:07
not tell them about it I'm going to take this money turn it into more money so then I get a little bit more of the pie
00:46:14
but they still get their money it's still a sham well good news Captain because in
00:46:20
October of last year Corey Fleming and his Law Firm that he worked for agreed to a settlement with the satterfields
00:46:28
Corey Fleming and his firm have agreed to pay back all legal fees and expenses and will pay full policy limits to the
00:46:38
Satterfield estate now Corey Fleming he's forever cunning isn't he he's not admitting that he did
00:46:45
anything wrong on the contrary he claims that he too is a victim of Alec Murdoch
00:46:51
but his firm Corey Fleming's firm that he worked for in which he was once named partner they're not buying it neither am
00:47:00
I after the settlement was announced they cut ties with Corey Fleming and the South Carolina Supreme Court promptly
00:47:08
suspended Corey Fleming's license to practice law this shows you the character of Alec
00:47:15
Murdock you have somebody that served your family for all those years somebody that should
00:47:22
be as close as a family member to you and you straight lied to her sons and say do this and I'll help get you the
00:47:31
money that you should be awarded you get that money awarded to them from these insurance companies that you
00:47:41
probably have been scamming for years and you don't even tell them about it I'm assuming the plan was for him to
00:47:50
keep the money oh yeah and he just shows you how big of a scumbag this guy is and then when you see Paul's
00:48:01
actions when you see Buster's actions this this man with zero character which is a low life scumbag no wonder they had
00:48:13
not a shred of good character in their body and what's amazing here to me Captain is
00:48:21
it looks to me that there's a strong possibility that the satterfields may have never sued
00:48:26
Alec Murdoch to begin with and that Alec Murdock pretty much spearheaded this whole lawsuit to begin with he sees
00:48:35
their tragic loss these boys and I keep calling them boys they're they're young men
00:48:41
they were very close to their mother very close to their mother and yet he sees their tragic loss as an opportunity
00:48:49
for him to make a few bucks and it's just I mean it's absolutely sickening now this other part there's more to the
00:48:59
satterfield's lawsuit and this part to me is extra concerning captain the sons made it clear the Satterfield boys made
00:49:09
it clear that they were never informed what actually happened to their mother it seems as though people still have
00:49:16
questions unanswered questions all these years after Gloria's death as to exactly
00:49:22
how she died in the Murdoch home per the New York Times quote Angela topper the coroner in Hampton County South Carolina
00:49:31
said the death was never reported to her office and no autopsy was conducted now
00:49:38
that Alec Murdoch's entire life is under a cloud of Suspicion the coroner requested a reopening of the
00:49:45
Gloria satterfield's death inquiry the problem with all this is you can't believe a word
00:49:53
that comes from anybody in the Murdoch family because for all we know it was an accident
00:50:01
but you have to change the way the event happens in order for it to be a slam dunk case against the insurance policy
00:50:11
if that makes any sense yeah what really happened to Gloria Satterfield remains unclear
00:50:18
on September 15th spurred by the lawsuit by the satterfields alleging the fraudulent insurance settlement plot and
00:50:27
the letter from the coroner and all the rumors and suspicions surrounding Alec Murdock sled announced that it was
00:50:34
opening a criminal investigation into the death of Gloria Satterfield and also going to investigate the alleged misuse
00:50:42
of the insurance proceeds so for those keeping score we have one accidental death one family Conn out of insurance
00:50:51
money one tragic boating accident one attempted cover-up and a double homicide Colonel do we have anything
00:51:00
left in this Saga surprisingly enough there is more [Music] for everything true crime I check out
00:51:23
true crime garage.com and ladies we have some really cool new long sleeve T-shirts check those out limited number
00:51:32
at truecrime garage.com and until tomorrow be good be kind and don't learn thank you
00:52:08
thank you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Most controversial
  • 75
    Most heartbreaking
  • 75
    Biggest twist

Episode Highlights

  • The Mysterious Death of Stephen Smith
    Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old nursing student, was found dead on a country road, raising questions about foul play.
    “What is this young man doing out in the middle of a country road?”
    @ 08m 11s
    October 29, 2022
  • Rumors Surrounding Buster Murdoch
    Investigators heard the Murdoch name mentioned over 40 times in connection with Stephen's death.
    “You're hearing the same rumor over and over again.”
    @ 19m 26s
    October 29, 2022
  • Sandy Smith's Fight for Justice
    Sandy Smith has tirelessly sought answers regarding her son's death, believing it was a hate crime.
    “I've been waiting on this day for 2174 days.”
    @ 21m 36s
    October 29, 2022
  • Alec Murdoch's Involvement
    Alec Murdoch offered to help the Satterfield family after Gloria's death, raising suspicions.
    @ 26m 42s
    October 29, 2022
  • The Mysterious Death of Gloria Satterfield
    Gloria Satterfield, the Murdoch family's housekeeper, died after a strange accident at their home.
    @ 28m 00s
    October 29, 2022
  • Settlement Secrets
    The Satterfield boys were unaware of settlements awarded to them until years later.
    @ 43m 06s
    October 29, 2022
  • Alec Murdoch's Exploitation
    Alec Murdoch saw the Satterfield boys' tragic loss as an opportunity for profit.
    “It's absolutely sickening.”
    @ 48m 52s
    October 29, 2022
  • Reopening the Investigation
    The coroner requested a reopening of Gloria Satterfield's death inquiry amid suspicions.
    “What really happened to Gloria Satterfield remains unclear.”
    @ 50m 14s
    October 29, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • This is maybe an accident, maybe a hit and run.
    The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 3 /// 549
  • I've been waiting on this day for 2174 days.
    The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 3 /// 549
  • I do not and will not believe that Stephen was accidentally hit by a vehicle.
    The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 3 /// 549
  • It troubles me to discredit his mother.
    The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 3 /// 549
  • They were never told of the settlements.
    The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 3 /// 549
  • It's absolutely sickening.
    The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 3 /// 549

Key Moments

  • Beer Review01:06
  • Sandy's Conviction21:51
  • Suspicious Offers26:42
  • 911 Call Tension29:32
  • Family Betrayal47:20
  • Scamming Insurance47:41
  • Tragic Loss48:35
  • Criminal Investigation50:32

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown