SLED to exhume Satterfield remains as Alex Murdaugh investigations continue

South Carolina's top law enforcement agency will begin a process to exhume the body of Gloria Satterfield, the former housekeeper to Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, while an investigation into the suspended Hampton County attorney continues.

Satterfield died Feb. 26, 2018, after what was reported at the time as a “trip and fall” incident at Murdaugh's home.

The State Law Enforcement Division opened an investigation into her death on Sept. 15, 2021, while investigating several other cases connected to Murdaugh, including the alleged theft of her wrongful death settlement.

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Investigators now reportedly believe that her remains may hold additional clues to the circumstances surrounding her death. In April, SLED contacted the attorney to Satterfield's estate, Eric Bland, to seek consent to give SLED the authority to exhume her remains, Bland said Friday.

On Friday, SLED said in a statement that the complex process would "take weeks, not days."

“Agents from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) sought and received permission from the Satterfield family, through their attorney, to exhume the remains of Gloria Satterfield," the statement from SLED reads. "This investigation is still active and ongoing."

“SLED has been very respectful and considerate of the family’s feelings and how traumatic all of this has been for them,” Bland told The Hampton County Guardian.

Bland went on to say that this was going to be a “very, very delicate process” because Satterfield’s husband is buried with her.

Satterfield lies at rest in the Johnson-St. Paul Cemetery in Hampton County and is interred with the cremated remains of her husband, David Michael Satterfield, who died on May 14, 2013.

Bland said SLED would have to transport Gloria Satterfield’s remains to Charleston for analysis, then rebury her in the original spot, per the family’s wishes.

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No date has been announced for when the exhumation could happen, Bland said. Hampton County Coroner Angie Topper said Thursday that no one has contacted her office on the matter.

Satterfield, who was employed as a long-time housekeeper and nanny for Murdaugh and his late wife, Maggie Murdaugh, reportedly fell down exterior steps at the Murdaugh’s vast rural Colleton County estate, Moselle, on Feb. 2, 2018, and suffered a head injury.

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After her death, Murdaugh then allegedly orchestrated a scheme, along with fellow suspended and accused South Carolina attorney Cory Fleming, in which he convinced her heirs, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott, to file a lawsuit against his own insurance, using Fleming as their attorney, after which the two lawyers allegedly stole the death settlements, according to charging documents.

Murdaugh was first sued in civil court on the matter on Sept. 15, 2021, then criminally charged with the fraudulent insurance scheme on Oct. 16, 2021. Since then, superseding indictments have been levied against him in the case.

On May 11, a federal lawsuit was levied against Murdaugh by the Nautilus Insurance Company, one of the insurance agencies allegedly defrauded in this scheme.

This lawsuit raised new allegations related to Gloria Satterfield’s death.

The lawsuit states Murdaugh rushed to the scene, arriving before EMS when Gloria Satterfield fell, and that Murdaugh stated that Ms. Satterfield briefly regained consciousness and told Murdaugh that his dogs had caused her to fall. This statement was heard by no one else and is contradicted by Gloria Satterfield’s later statement to hospital staff that she had no idea what made her fall, according to the lawsuit.

The suit also states that on March 29, 2018, Murdaugh claimed Gloria Satterfield was at his property not to perform work for Murdaugh and his family, but to collect a check for work performed for someone else, thus avoiding a worker’s compensation defense. Rather, she was there to perform work herself, the suit states.

During a 2021 bond hearing, Murdaugh’s attorneys read part of an apology from Murdaugh to the Satterfield family and stated that he pledged to sign a confession of judgment. On May 31, 2022, that $4.3 million confession of judgment was finalized in Hampton County Court of Common Pleas.

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SLED is also investigating the June 7, 2021, homicides of Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, at their Moselle home. No arrests have been announced.

Murdaugh is now facing 11 civil suits after an alleged decade-long, multi-county financial crime spree in which Murdaugh stole more than $8 million from clients, partners and other attorneys.

Murdaugh was suspended from the practice of law by Order of the South Carolina Supreme Court in September 2021. Murdaugh has been the target of waves of indictments since late 2021 and is now facing a total of 82 criminal charges. He remains in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County on a $7 million bond with no ten percent option.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Alex Murdaugh investigation: SLED to exhume Satterfield remains