A double murder rocks the Murdaugh family, and causes investigators to reexamine two more unexplained deaths in the family’s past. Just how many skeletons does one family need in their closet?
A double murder rocks the Murdaugh family, and causes investigators to reexamine two more unexplained deaths in the family’s past. Just how many skeletons does one family need in their closet?
This podcast contains sensitive information about violence, sexual assault, and domestic abuse.
Find episode transcripts here: https://dark-dynasties.simplecast.com/episodes/the-murdaughs-only-murders-in-the-family-part-3
0:00
SYD: This podcast is intended for mature audiences episodes discuss
emotional, physical and sexual violence listener discretion is
advised.
0:13
SYD: Welcome to dark dynasties, the podcast where we focus on
different rich and powerful families who have ultimately exposed
themselves to be corrupt, messed up, and you know, very dark.
0:25
OLIVIA: Today we'll continue discussing the Murdoch family and how a
boat crash led to their downfall.
0:30
SYD: I'm Syd, OLIVIA: I'm Olivia, SYD: and welcome to dark dynasties.
Hello,
0:39
OLIVIA: hello, how are you?
0:40
SYD: Hello. I'm just fine. How are you? OLIVIA: I'm
0:42
absolutely fine. SYD: So
0:43
SYD: we've been talking about this Murdaugh family, OLIVIA: the
Murdaugh
0:46
OLIVIA: murders. And if you guys are tuning in now and you're you
haven't seen the first two episodes that we did on the Murdaughs, you
can always catch up by following along on Discovery plus, we are
watching the Murdaugh murders. SYD: Yeah.
1:00
SYD: And that's kind of what this is based on.
1:03
OLIVIA: So if you want to go ahead and watch that and follow along,
you can or you don't have to.
1:07
SYD: Yeah, you know, it's a free country.
1:09
OLIVIA: It is it really is.
1:10
SYD: So the last episode, we ended on this crazy 911 call
1:15
OLIVIA: after basically this giant boat crash caused by Paul Murdaugh,
who was a 19 year old heir basically of like a very, very powerful
family. SYD: Yeah,
1:27
SYD: he's a he's a rich kid in a family of a bunch of district
attorneys who have kind of controlled the law in this small town.
OLIVIA: They kind of
1:35
OLIVIA: are known for being able to get away with anything. In 2019
Paul crashed a boat while grossly intoxicated. And one person Mallory
Beech was thrown from the boat and died and so he is supposed to stand
trial for that. And everyone actually in the in the small town in
Hampton county even was just shocked that he was even going to stand
trial. SYD: Yeah,
1:58
because this family doesn't often have to, you know, have consequences
in the same way other people do.
2:05
OLIVIA: Yeah. So as to the fact that Paul is indicted is shocking,
even though you know, he gets to have no bond he's drinking
2:12
OLIVIA: while he's not sure host to beat. SYD: He's doing a nice
version of it.
2:15
OLIVIA: He basically on June 10 is supposed to stay on trial.
2:19
SYD: However, I believe it's three days before OLIVIA: June 7 2021
SYD: 911 gets a call from Alex Murdaugh OLIVIA: Paul's father Alex.
SYD: His father Alex saying that he's found his son and his wife shot
dead OLIVIA: at his own property SYD: near the dog kennel. OLIVIA: So
2:38
OLIVIA: this is a crazy turn. This is where we ended our last episode.
It's where we will pick up the story this episode.
2:45
SYD: So basically, first responders arrive, and Paul's body is found
in the dog kennel shot with a shotgun. And Maggie wife and Paul's
mother. Yeah, is 15 feet away shot several times with a semi automatic
weapon. OLIVIA: So
3:00
OLIVIA: what's weird here is that there's two different guns used.
Right? So where there are two different shooters,
3:06
SYD: it appears to be two different shooters, but it also could be and
this is what a lot of people suspect. OLIVIA: Yeah. SYD: It could be
somebody trying to frame it as two different shooters. OLIVIA:
Absolutely. SYD: We also have to remember that, you know, when the
coroner arrived, they said the time of death was just 30 minutes
before the 911 call,
3:25
OLIVIA: which is actually a really short amount of time, usually,
especially because Alex claims that he was off the property when this
happened. He was visiting his father, he was on his father's property.
And then he came back and found that he came back. She kind of
shockingly close to when they got shot, and then immediately called
911. SYD: Yeah, so it's pretty fishy.
3:42
SYD: And on top of this, you know, of course the murders three days
before Paul supposed to stand trial OLIVIA: very suspicious date. SYD:
So Alex Murdaugh becomes a person of interest. OLIVIA: Yeah, because
obviously
3:54
OLIVIA: a spouse always becomes the person of interest. The person who
finds the body is always the number one suspect. That all combined
makes him an Absolute Person of Interest. SYD: Oh, yeah. He's like a
double Person of Interest. OLIVIA: Yeah. And this explodes all over
the news. Sure. Next morning. SYD: Yeah,
4:09
SYD: the news starts going crazy with theories of like why we're Paul,
Maggie targeted. There's like a theory that it's a criminal that the
Murdaughs put away. OLIVIA: Murdaughs were just
4:18
OLIVIA: District Attorneys for so long that like if someone got out of
jail and was there back in there, then they're here
4:24
OLIVIA: for revenge and they're gonna kill the Murdaugh family. SYD:
Another theory is that Maggie Murdaugh wasn't living at their home and
was meeting with a divorce attorney. OLIVIA: Oh, wow. SYD: Yeah. And
so if you know Maggie Murdaugh wasn't happy in the marriage. Do you
think Alex Murdaugh was angry? She was trying to get away. OLIVIA:
Yeah.
4:43
OLIVIA: Alex Murdaugh's attorneys also denied this and insisted that
they were totally happy but also at the same time. I don't know how
much of a track record this guy has about being trustable in what he
says.
4:54
SYD: Yeah, I guess it was a huge rumor around town. Yeah, that
everyone was like no, Maggie Murdaugh has and been living on the
property. Yeah. Maggie Murdaugh has been seeing a divorce attorney.
People have been seeing this happen. So you know, it's likely that
something's going on
5:09
OLIVIA: there were three deaths involved in this family Paul, Maggie
and Mallory being investigated. SYD: Yes. Paul was
5:17
SYD: responsible for Mallory think yeah, was responsible for driving
the boat when Mallory disappeared and then died. And now we have these
two mysterious deaths on the property. Yeah, double homicide. So you
know, the investigation starts. People are, you know, looking into
this
5:33
OLIVIA: SLED, which is the state law enforcement division is looking
into, you know, Paul and Maggie's murders.
5:41
SYD: And this causes them to two weeks after the investigation to
reopen a 2015 case, where a 19 year old boy named Steven Smith was
found dead on the side of the road.
5:56
OLIVIA: And yeah, and the crazy thing about this is I think that the
cops haven't even released what it is that they found that made them
look into the Steven Smith case.
6:07
SYD: This is an open investigation. OLIVIA: This is still going on.
SYD: So we don't know what the thing was that cops found that made
them go we should reopen this other case from 2015. Yeah, but they
found something that made them go like this is now important to open
for this investigation as well. OLIVIA: Which is good,
6:25
OLIVIA: because the Steven Smith case is absolutely crazy and deserves
to be looked into more than it was absolutely so we can get into that.
SYD: Yeah. Let's
6:34
SYD: talk about the Steven Smith case. Because this is pretty crazy.
6:37
OLIVIA: So Steven Smith is he was from Hampton, South Carolina. SYD:
Yeah, he
6:40
SYD: was in nursing school. He wanted to be a doctor. OLIVIA: He was
19. SYD: And he was openly gay in the south, which you know, obviously
is probably pretty difficult. OLIVIA: Yeah, his everyone
6:51
OLIVIA: who knew him was said that he was like just an absolute
individual and was just like a really confident, wonderful person that
just everybody around him loved except for I assume all the homophobic
people around him SYD: and yeah, that
7:04
SYD: that would probably be the case. Yeah, yeah. He he, you know, is
described in the Docu series as just like, this really, like wonderful
person who people love who people really respected. OLIVIA: And yeah,
that
7:16
OLIVIA: were close to him. But then, you know, the people of South
Carolina in general were
7:20
SYD: harassing him and mistreating him. Yeah. So one night at 4am, a
man is driving down the road and going to work and he sees a body and
he calls the cops, right. Law enforcement finds that the body is
Steven, in the middle of the road, and he's found with like a massive
wound on his head, his shoes and his clothing are totally intact.
7:43
OLIVIA: So it's really interesting when you see someone, I think,
usually in a crime of the hit and run. If someone is really hit with a
car, their shoes are not going to be on their shoes usually fly off
their clothes. Clothing is usually ripped and torn. It's different
forensic evidence than than a classic hit and run.
8:00
SYD: Yeah. When the coroner got there, it's immediately ruled a
homicide. OLIVIA: Yeah,
8:04
OLIVIA: you know, coroner said this. This looks like he was shot in
the head
8:08
SYD: and mysteriously later on. It was changed, which I've never
actually really heard of that I've never heard of, of somebody saying
it's very clearly this and then later on them changing it to something
just running really not clearly. OLIVIA: Yeah,
8:23
OLIVIA: I mean, it's a sketchy thing to do. It sounds like they're
trying to cover something up.
8:27
SYD: So it's ruled a homicide. And then later on the cops change it to
a hit and run OLIVIA: regular hit and run. SYD: So there's a cop named
Michael Duncan. Yeah. And he's saying this doesn't add up.
8:39
OLIVIA: Yeah, he's as confused as we currently are. SYD: And he is
openly being
8:43
SYD: like, this is not a hit and run. It doesn't look like a hit and
run. This is like a homicide inspecting the body. He's like, this
doesn't make sense. OLIVIA: Yeah, he
8:50
OLIVIA: inspects the body and goes like, there is no way this was a
regular hit and run. This was a homicide.
8:55
SYD: There are no car parts anywhere. You know if there would be car
parts or debris or something. Yeah, there's no sign of any like, car
accident anything like OLIVIA: yeah, and
9:04
OLIVIA: his Stephens car actually was three miles away on the side of
the road out of gas and his wallet was in his car. So it's confusing
either. Doesn't all add up. SYD: So then
9:14
SYD: Steven's father, you know, Steven, being the victim in this case,
right. Steven's father gets a call from Randy Murdaugh. Oh, and that
is Alex Murdaugh's brother. Yes. Yeah. And Randy asks if Steven needs
representation, right and at first Yes, family is like That's amazing.
Yeah, like I can't believe such a big shot lawyer right would contact
us and offer to
9:38
SYD: help us OLIVIA: and this is in 2015 which is way before you know,
it's way before the boat crash. It's way before anything happens that
painted the murders in anything but a positive light.
9:47
SYD: Yeah. And so Steven's family is honored and you know, the
Murdaughs are a big deal. Meanwhile, Duncan would be getting calls.
Duncan, the police officer, would be getting calls when he was on the
Murdaugh's property. OLIVIA: Yeah, so
10:01
OLIVIA: when he was driving around trying to just sort of like,
investigate and look around, anytime he was on the Murdaugh turf, he
would get a call of someone being like, Hey, do you need anything? I
see that you're here. What are you looking for? Can we help you?
10:13
SYD: It was clearly threatening. Yeah, you know, there's something off
there. So a week into the investigation, Duncan, or the police
officers questioning this talks to Steven's boyfriend who was the last
person to see him that night, right. And Steven apparently was calling
his boyfriend, saying I'm being followed. Someone is harassing me.
He's got harassed by some guys in a pickup guys and a pickup truck.
And the boyfriend is sure it's murder.
10:43
OLIVIA: Right. What gets even crazier as you know, Duncan starts
interviewing all of Steven's friends. And they all have the same
answer. It's this weird kind of small town rumor mill thing again,
where it's like, you know, you can't be can't prove it, but everyone
is giving the same very specific answer that the person who did it was
Buster Murdaugh,
11:01
SYD: and maybe even Paul his brother, too. OLIVIA: Absolutely. And
11:04
OLIVIA: when we say Buster Murdaugh, just to be clear, we are not
referring to uncle Buster Murdaugh we were referring to Paul's older
brother buster. Yes.
11:13
OLIVIA: So Alec Murdaugh. The two sons. SYD: Yeah, Buster. And Paul.
OLIVIA: Yes. SYD: So the rumor going around OLIVIA: goes like this
SYD: is that the brothers were going for a joyride. And they passed
Steven. And they turned around and drove drove by him and Paul hit him
with a baseball bat in the head. And based on you know, the stuff
we've heard about Paul, in the past of him getting really angry and
violent when he's drunk OLIVIA: does not not sound right doesn't not
add up. SYD: Right. Like there's a concern to be had. It's
11:46
SYD: not unbelievable. OLIVIA: The part that is a little bit crazier
to hear, which is also just such a layer on it is that apparently
there were a lot of rumors that Buster and Steven maybe sort of had
some sort of a thing in high school, which, you know, if you are in a
homophobic part of the country, and you have some weird, toxic
masculinity energy, you're taking out on someone that you used to be
attracted to, it would make sense to target a person. You know, I
mean, not like it would make sense. But you know what I mean? Like,
12:21
OLIVIA: yeah, it adds up. It adds up. SYD: Yeah, basically, the talk
of maybe there being some sort of, you know, hidden relationship, and
12:30
OLIVIA: this is just speculation, right? And rumors, and there's no
evidence for this but it is interesting.
12:34
SYD: Yeah, yeah. Or flirtation or something. And people were saying
that there's a chance that maybe bustard didn't want to be associated
with that. If if he was trying to cover it up, right. And so
basically, the case dries up. Yeah, that nothing happens. They just
call it a hit and run. Yep. They say no, the Murdaughs were no part of
this. Yeah. Which is insane.
12:57
OLIVIA: Yeah, completely closes until Paul and Maggie are murdered, in
which case it actually gets opened back
13:02
OLIVIA: up. SYD: Yeah. And we're not again, we're not sure what opens
No, we're still waiting.
13:07
OLIVIA: Yeah, there's, they're, they're still looking through it. So
that is really crazy.
13:12
SYD: so you think, Okay, this was the only other thing to come out.
You know, during this investigation, there's no other things but
there's another murder. So let's talk about this person. Okay. All
right. This is a woman named Gloria Satterfield, Gloria Satterfield
was the Murdaugh housekeeper who basically raised the kids.
13:31
OLIVIA: She worked for them for 20 years. She was their housekeeper.
She cooked for them. She cleaned for them. She raised the kids. Yeah.
And she's got a single mother. They did not pay her. She did not have
I mean, they didn't pay her well.
13:43
SYD: They paid her but maybe a maybe not a good livable
13:45
SYD: wage. OLIVIA: did not give her vacation days are sick.
13:48
SYD: If you watch the Murdaugh murders, you'll see her friends are
interviewed and they talk about her in a very loving way. She seems
like she was a really selfless person. And she really loved those boys
like her own even though they had a lot of issues. And you know, she
has told her friends about things that the kids used to do when they
were younger that were like not okay, you know, again, like we talked
about earlier, Paul, hurting animals and things like that that were
concerning. Yeah, absolutely. Gloria Satterfield apparently, fell down
the stairs.
14:19
OLIVIA: So in February 2018 911 gets a call from Maggie Murdaugh. And
Maggie says our housekeeper fell down the stairs. She's bleeding
14:30
SYD: and Maggie just discovered her there. Yes. And Paul was there as
well. 911 is asking like is she breathing? Is she okay? What's going
on? They're not really giving straightforward answers. You can listen
to the 911 tape.
14:44
OLIVIA: The 911 tape is shockingly casual. It's kind of creepy to
listen to there's it's very straightforward and cold. Like there's not
a lot of feeling
14:55
SYD: at some point. Maggie, she hands the phone to Paul. Yeah. And
Paul is talking to the 911 An operator, and he asks the 911 operator
to stop asking him questions. OLIVIA: Yeah,
15:05
OLIVIA: he's like, can you stop asking us questions and the 911
operators like, No, this is literally my job and we're still sending
people. It doesn't slow it down. SYD: Yeah.
15:11
SYD: the 911 operator takes it in the same way. Probably most people
would take it of like, oh, this person is worried. And they want us to
hurry up. Yeah, we are going as fast as we can. And you know, we're
here for you. Yeah. But his delivery is much colder than that. It kind
of suggests that maybe he doesn't care so much. OLIVIA: No, he
15:28
OLIVIA: just sounds like he's rushing through the process and is like,
irritated with them.
15:32
SYD: Yeah. So Gloria goes to the hospital for three weeks. OLIVIA: And
15:36
OLIVIA: this is the just the most fucked up part is that she can't
15:40
OLIVIA: talk. SYD: No. So she has swelling in her brain. She has
subdural hematoma. She can't tell anyone what happened. But she's like
her friend thinks that she tried to tell a friend but like wasn't able
to. Yeah. But while she's in the hospital for three
15:57
SYD: weeks, OLIVIA: and had worked for this family for 20 years,
16:00
SYD: Alex Murdaugh does not visit her once. And period.
16:04
OLIVIA: No one visitor except for Maggie visits her. One time.
16:07
SYD: One time Yeah. Maggie Murdaugh visits her one time after she has
known this woman who has raised her children. Yeah. 20 years. Yeah.
16:15
OLIVIA: And there was speculation in the Murdaugh murders docu series
that potentially Gloria had found Paul's drugs and had threatened to
show them to someone or show them to another. There's some some
speculation around that. And that potentially that could have happened
the day she fell down the stairs
16:38
SYD: And that essentially what that is suggesting. Yes. In this case,
is that allegedly allegedly at the funeral.
16:46
OLIVIA: This is where it gets super weird. SYD: Yeah.
16:50
SYD: At the funeral, Maggie didn't talk to Gloria's best friend. And
Alex Murdaugh.
16:57
OLIVIA: So yeah, so Gloria has two sons that she raised as a single
mother, you know, and her two sons are at the funeral. Alex comes up
to them and says, Hey, let me make this right. This is my fault, which
is for a second, they're hearing that you're like, oh, wow, is he
actually going to take accountability for something for real, SYD: but
then he ends that statement was saying my dogs did this. OLIVIA: Okay,
now let's back. Let's just dive into that for a second. The 911 call
is recorded. You can hear it. You can hear it. We've heard it. There
are no dogs. There's not a single dog. You don't hear a dog barking.
You don't hear anyone referencing a dog. You don't hear any. And also
apparently the dogs were like big dogs that were like rowdy. They
weren't like quiet, sleepy dogs that might have just been there during
the call like they will Yeah, they if his dogs quote unquote, did
17:47
OLIVIA: this. SYD: Yeah. It would have been mentioned earlier. OLIVIA:
Yeah, the dogs would
17:52
OLIVIA: have been mentioned in some way shape, or form maybe or heard.
SYD: So
17:55
SYD: Alex says after pinning this on his dogs, which first of all not
cool. Yeah. Second of all, Alex says, I'm going to sue my own estate
and get you boys some money.
18:06
OLIVIA: So what So Alex literally says, I will represent you. And we
will sue
18:14
OLIVIA: me. Yeah. So this makes no says it's not a thing lawyer can
do. No. SYD: I was thinking like, oh, yeah, that must happen all the
time. No, no, no, it doesn't. It doesn't. OLIVIA: That's not a thing.
SYD: So there's a direct conflict of interest here.
18:29
OLIVIA: He is. He is literally, it is literally so not a thing.
18:34
SYD: So you know, obviously, you know, Alex is like I have a great
attorney who can help represent me in a lawsuit against my estate.
I'll work with him. Yeah. Which again, doesn't make any sense. Yeah.
But they trust this guy.
18:48
OLIVIA: Right? Well, he was a family friends that he he came to them
saying, you know, I knew your mom forever. I can take care of you guys
heard that's their whole thing. They They do that to people. SYD:
Yeah.
18:57
SYD: And these two boys are, you know, their mom has worked with this
person for 20 years, of course, you would think this person would have
your best interests in mind. OLIVIA: Especially
19:06
OLIVIA: if they're telling you to your face that they do. SYD: So the
boys take
19:09
SYD: a backseat and you know, they're told to wait for settlement
money to come through OLIVIA: just wait
19:14
OLIVIA: and you know, and they basically sign everything to a guy who
comes on to be their quote unquote, representative for glory as a
state. So yeah, taking themselves out of the process, basically. SYD:
Yes.
19:27
SYD: So someone else is coming in. There's like, transactions being
made that like the, the boys are not aware of like this is just kind
of OLIVIA: so
19:39
OLIVIA: basically I guess the moral of the story is if anyone ever
says hey, let me help you by suing myself. Just don't even listen to
them. No. We're gonna get into the rest of the story in a second but
we do have a quick SYD: Oh, yeah,
19:53
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21:12
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21:13
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21:26
SYD: At least I've written that, you know, this has nothing to do with
that. OLIVIA: No. SYD: So Alex Murdaugh offers to sue himself for the
boys, and it works. But we don't find out what happens to the money.
The boys are waiting for this settlement money. OLIVIA: Every time
21:42
OLIVIA: they call, they're just told, Oh, wait, it's still being you
know, it's still coming through just wait. They wait and wait and
wait. And they literally find out about a $505,000 settlement from
reading about it in a newspaper.
22:00
SYD: Because later on a reporter discovers the court records. So this
is put in a newspaper article and they read it in fine print. And
they're like, Wait a second. We never got this money. Yeah. So they
found out about it from reading an article in a newspaper. And now at
this point, they're like, OLIVIA: Well, what do we do? SYD: No one
knows where half a million dollars is
22:22
OLIVIA: now and actually it's even more money than that. Which is even
crazier. Which we're gonna get into so much next time.
22:28
SYD: There is so much weird conning going on. I can't even tell you
22:32
OLIVIA: the thing that shocks me is how much crazier it gets. Yeah, in
just even the next episode. Yeah, it is absolutely crazy. SYD: Stick
around.
22:41
SYD: You're gonna want to hear about this. We're getting into some
possible hitmen situations. OLIVIA: We're
22:48
OLIVIA: getting into all kinds of money laundering situations. SYD:
I've been Syd OLIVIA: I've been Olivia,
22:54
SYD: thank you for listening to dark dynasties.