These are the deaths and inquiries linked to the Murdaugh family

Alex Murdaugh called 911 on June 7, 2021 to report that he found his wife Margaret, 52, and son Paul, 22, shot dead outside their Islandton home about an hour from Hilton Head Island, said the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). .

Colleton County Sheriff’s Deputies said the two victims had multiple gunshot wounds.

SLED has resumed the investigation, but the matter is still not resolved. Alex Murdaugh has denied responsibility for the murders.

“My brother loved Maggie and Paul like nothing else on this earth, just like he loves (his other son) Buster,” Alex Murdaugh’s brother, Randolph “Randy” Murdaugh IV, told “Good Morning America” After the murders. “So there’s no way he could have anything to do with it, I can assure you.”

Dick Harpootlian, an attorney for Alex Murdaugh, said this week on NBC’s “Today” show that the murders took “a heavy toll” on Murdaugh, as did his father’s death the same week.

The death of his wife and son was followed by an announcement from his law firm that he had embezzled funds. A self-initiated rehab around the same time plunged Murdaugh into “massive depression,” Harpootlian said.

Stephen smith

On June 22, SLED announced the reopening of an investigation into the death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, whose body was found in the middle of a road in Hampton County on July 8, 2015.

Although authorities have not announced a link between Smith’s death and the Murdaugh family, SLED said it is opening an investigation into the murder based on information gathered during the investigation into Margaret’s double homicide. and Paul Murdaugh.

SLED did not specify what this information was.

According to an incident report from the South Carolina Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT), Smith’s body was found on the road with a blunt trauma to his head.

While a pathologist cited in an SLED report says that Smith appears to have been struck by a vehicle, the responding officer mentioned in the MAIT report cited “no vehicle debris, skidding or injury consistent with the that someone has been struck by a vehicle ”.

Smith’s shoes were also both tied and loosely tied, the report added, and investigators saw no evidence to suggest he was struck by a vehicle.

The notes of the investigators in the file indicate that “according to the family, Stephen would never have walked in the middle of the roadway” and that he was “very nervous”.

According to notes taken by an SLED investigator at the scene, Smith had injuries to his left arm, hand and head.

His vehicle was found about three miles away, according to this report, and added that the gas tank door was open and the fuel cap was hanging off the side of the car. The vehicle’s battery was functional but the car would not start, he added.

Smith’s death is still unresolved.

Mallory Beach

Mallory Beach was a 19-year-old woman who was killed in a boating accident on February 24, 2019.

Beach was thrown from the boat – along with a man – when the boat struck a bridge, according to an affidavit from an officer supervising the scene.

According to a report from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR), a doctor who treated Paul Murdaugh after the boat accident reported that Murdaugh was “clearly intoxicated” and had difficulty speaking.

Beach’s body was found about a week after the crash by volunteer researchers, according to a DNR crash report.

Three people on the boat told investigators Paul Murdaugh was driving, but another passenger named another person who was also on board that night as the driver, according to the affidavit.

At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh was facing charges, including Boating Under the Influence (BUI), causing grievous bodily harm and causing death in connection with the boating accident.

Gloria satterfield

On September 15, SLED announced that it is also opening a criminal investigation into the death on February 26, 2018, of Gloria Satterfield, 57, and the management of her estate.

Satterfield was the housekeeper of the Murdaugh family for more than two decades before she died after what was described as a “trip and fall accident” at the Murdaugh’s home, according to attorney Eric Bland, who represents his estate.

SLED said he was opening an inquest based on a request from the Hampton County Coroner which highlighted inconsistencies in the ruling on how Satterfield died, as well as information gathered in other inquests ongoing SLED involving Alex Murdaugh.

Satterfield’s death was “not reported to the coroner at the time, and no autopsy was performed,” the coroner’s request told SLED. In addition, her mode of death was deemed “natural,” which was “inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip-and-fall accident,” the coroner said.

In the aftermath of Satterfield’s death, a wrongful death claim of $ 500,000 was filed against Alex Murdaugh on behalf of his estate, Bland said. But the estate did not receive any of the $ 500,000 owed from a wrongful death settlement in 2018, Bland added. The attorney filed a lawsuit on behalf of Satterfield’s estate against Alex Murdaugh, former estate attorney Cory Fleming, as well as Palmetto State Bank.

“We are talking about an extremely small rural town where this family presides over a number of different capacities and people see the power that this family has had,” said Bland. “So normally …