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Son Of Alex Murdaugh’s Dead Housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, Renews Calls For Body Exhumation
“[We want] to see if there's any foul play or anything," Michael Satterfield said during a televised interview with Chris Cuomo.
The son of Gloria Satterfield, the now-dead housekeeper of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh is demanding his mother’s body be exhumed for possible signs of “foul play.”
Satterfield died under allegedly suspicious circumstances after a supposed accidental “trip and fall” at Murdaugh’s estate in 2018. Her family was told at the time that Satterfield had fallen down a flight of stairs, according to a statement from their lawyers.
Satterfield was rushed to Trident Medical Center in North Charleston where she suffered a stroke, went into cardiac arrest and died on Feb. 26, 2018, according to an arrest warrant in the case.
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One of Satterfield’s sons, Michael "Tony" Satterfield, is now speaking out following Murdaugh’s murder convictions last week, putting pressure on authorities who are reinvestigating her death to exhume and re-examine her body for any signs of foul play.
"[We want] to see if there's any foul play or anything," Michael Satterfield told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo during a televised interview on Tuesday.
Murdaugh was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility for parole in the 2021 slayings of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and youngest son, Paul Murdaugh. Throughout the trial, Murdaugh maintained his innocence.
Attorney Eric Bland, who represents Satterfield’s two sons, fielded questions from Cuomo alongside his client this week. Bland explained that exhuming and re-examining Gloria's body could provide investigators with vital new clues pertaining to her cause of death.
"She flipped twice obviously," Bland said. "She had significant closed-head injury and open-head injury with 12 broken ribs. The real issue is gonna be if somebody was told before Paul and Maggie died — or Alex goes off to jail, Alex obviously isn't going to say anything — if they know something."
The Satterfield family attorney, however, did express some doubts that the former longtime Murdaugh housekeeper was murdered.
"I don't think anybody would try to kill her and then let her get in an ambulance to go to a hospital to get medical treatment only to survive and say, 'Look, I didn't get pushed down the stairs by dogs, it was by human hands,'" Bland said.
Mystery, however, had swirled around Satterfield’s death long before Murdaugh had been accused of murdering his family.
"The police have some doubts about Alex's story,” Bland said. “He told an insurance adjuster exactly what he thought happened, which is that the dogs pushed Gloria down the stairs. It's gonna be difficult when they exhume her body, Chris, to really determine were those done by human hands or by the fall.”
"Everything around Alex is danger, lies, deception,” Bland added. “We know that he capitalized on Gloria's death financially and used it as an opportunity to enrich himself at the expense of the boys who were exploited in this process."
The Satterfield family had previously filed a wrongful death suit against Murdaugh — and were awarded millions of dollars — however, the disgraced legal scion allegedly pocketed the money.
After Satterfield’s death, authorities suspect Alex Murdaugh directly encouraged her sons to file a wrongful death lawsuit against him, referring them to his close friend, attorney Cory Fleming.
Fleming ultimately secured a $4.3 million settlement with the insurance company for the Satterfields, however, her sons, Michael and Brian, were never paid out, according to the arrest warrant.
“To date, Tony and Brian have not received any monies from any claims or settlements with Murdaugh and his insurance carriers following their mother’s death — Not one dime,” Bland wrote in a lawsuit against Murdaugh.
In September 2021, months prior to Murdaugh’s arrest in the double murder, South Carolina authorities announced they’d re-opened the investigation into Satterfield’s death. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson later slapped Murdaugh with an 18-count indictment for alleged financial crimes related to the alleged defrauding of Satterfield’s family. Murdaugh’s friend and fellow lawyer, Cory Fleming, was also charged in the botched insurance scam plot.
No one has been criminally charged with homicide in direct connection with Satterfield’s death.
Oxygen.com has reached out to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for further comment.
Prior to her death, Satterfield had worked for the Murdaugh family for 25 years. Bland previously described Satterfield as “a fabric of the family.”
Last week, Murdaugh’s brother, Randy Murdaugh, publicly cast doubt on his brother’s claims in relation to Maggie and Paul’s killings, telling the New York Times, he’s “not telling the truth.”
“He knows more than what he's saying. He’s not telling the truth, in my opinion, about everything there,” Randy told the newspaper.
Satterfield’s son said Randy’s comments are further justification to exhume his mother’s body.
“I guess it means a lot," Michael Satterfield added.
