This comes just a day after the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) began a new criminal investigation into the 2018 death of the Murdaugh family housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, citing inconsistencies in her death certificate.
Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer who allegedly tried to stage his own death for a $10 million insurance payout after his wife Maggie and son Paul were mysteriously killed in a double homicide, turned himself in to police late Thursday morning. He is expected to appear in court Thursday.
Murdaugh, who was heavily addicted to opioids at the time, according to his lawyer, survived a gunshot wound to the head on Sept. 4. It was initially believed he was the victim of a random shooting while pulled over on a rural road changing a tire.
However, authorities say they later found that the alleged assailant, 61-year-old Curtis Edward, was given the gun by Murdaugh and then instructed to shoot him in the head so Murdaugh’s remaining son could collect his life insurance. Edward was arrested on charges connected to the incident, and also charged with distribution of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
Murdaugh was issued an arrest warrant on charges of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud earlier this week, his lawyer Jim Griffin told CNN.
His other lawyer Dick Harpootlian said in an interview with the "Today" show that Murdaugh admitted to having orchestrated the shooting because "he didn’t want law enforcement spending more time on this fake crime instead of focusing on solving the murders of Maggie and Paul.”
Just a day before Murdaugh turned himself in, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) began a new criminal investigation into the death of the Murdaugh family housekeeper Gloria Satterfield by the request of the Hampton County Coroner’s Office.
“She had been a housekeeper for the Murdaughs for 25 years. She had been the fabric of the family,” the attorney for Satterfield’s two sons told the Daily Beast. “The Murdaughs certainly viewed Gloria as part of the family.”
She died in 2018 of “injuries sustained in a trip and fall accident,” despite her death certificate stating the cause of her death was “natural,” coroner Angela Topper told authorities. “In light of the inconsistencies noted above, I feel that it is prudent to pursue an investigation into Gloria Satterfield’s death,” Topper said.
The criminal investigation into her death is directly related to information gathered during an investigation into Murdaugh, SLED said.
Satterfield’s family had pursued a wrongful death lawsuit in common pleas court against Murdaugh at the time of her death, according to authorities, but her sons alleged that they never received the $500,000 settlement for her death that they were owed, according to the Daily Beast.
Their attorney alleged that the original lawful death settlement was guided by Murdaugh.
