Stephen Smith, Gloria Satterfield bodies to be exhumed. Here's what you need to know.

In the tragic Murdaugh crime saga, victims have fallen, and soon, more information may rise in incidents with possible connections to the family.

The double murder conviction and matching life sentences of disgraced and disbarred South Carolina attorney Richard "Alex" Murdaugh offer resolution and legal vengeance of sorts in the grisly June 2021 killings of Murdaugh's younger son, Paul, and his mother, Maggie.

In an earlier case connected to the Murdaughs, the body of Mallory Beach was missing in Beaufort County waters for just over a week before being recovered in early March 2019, following the Feb. 24 boating accident involving an intoxicated Paul Murdaugh allegedly piloting his father's boat.

Beach was buried and mourned by the Hampton County community, and legal vindication in form of financial damages has begun with a large portion of the recent sale of Murdaugh's estate, Moselle, going to the Beach family. This civil justice may continue when the Beach family's wrongful death suit against Murdaugh and other parties is heard in Hampton County Aug. 14.

Pain, lessons linger:Where does Hampton County, SC go after Alex Murdaugh verdict?

'Our bar is bruised': SC lawyers see Alex Murdaugh crime saga a stain on legal profession

But as these victims are symbolically put to final rest in courtrooms around the South Carolina Lowcountry, the remains of two other deceased people connected in some way to the Murdaugh saga are now set to be exhumed from the grave and further investigated.

An effort to exhume and autopsy the body of Stephen Smith, whose death state police began investigating just weeks after launching the Murdaugh murders investigation, has already raised in excess of $110K. Meanwhile, the S.C. Law Enforcement Division is still poised to exhume the body of Murdaugh's late household employee, Gloria Satterfield, who died at his Moselle estate in 2018 during a case that has launched a criminal investigation and civil suits worth millions.

Mother of Stephen Smith raises $110K-plus to exhume, autopsy son

In the wake of the double murder conviction of Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, another local family still waiting for answers and justice in the unsolved homicide of their loved one is making a renewed drive to find the truth and a resolution to a years-old "cold case" that isn't cold in their hearts.

As Murdaugh's trial consumed the world's media and the public's attention from Jan. 23 until its March 2 conclusion − Murdaugh was found guilty of killing his wife and son, earned him two consecutive life sentences − Sandy Smith has impatiently waited for a conclusion of her own. But she has been waiting for eight years.

The body of her son, Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old nursing student and Wade Hampton High School graduate, was found lying in the middle of rural Sandy Run Road in Hampton County, almost like a discarded piece of roadside litter, on July 8, 2015. He died from blunt force trauma to the head, but there was controversy surrounding the case from the start.

At first, officials ruled the death a hit and run, but investigators now consider it a homicide based on evidence at the scene.

For years, rumors circulated around the Lowcountry that the case was connected to the Murdaugh family, and that name appeared dozens of times in witness statements to police, yet the case grew cold and to this day there have been no arrests or even official confirmation that the case is, in fact, Murdaugh related, or not.

Buster Murdaugh speaks:Says 'vicious rumors' about his involvement in Stephen Smith's death

Alex Murdaugh's attorneys:How much money could lawyers earn for double murder trial, appeal?

But an eight-year unsolved murder mystery received new life − and Smith's family new hope − in July 2021, when the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division opened a new investigation into Smith's homicide, stating "SLED has opened an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith based upon information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh."

With the spotlight dimming on Alex Murdaugh, the Smith family feels its time to shine some new light on their murder case and a GoFundMe drive has been started to raise money for an exhumation and independent autopsy of Stephen Smith's remains.

While the world knows intricate details of other deaths and criminal charges surrounding the Murdaugh name, the Smith homicide − whether or not it is, in fact, connected to the Murdaugh family − remains the biggest unsolved mystery of the Murdaugh saga and a frustrating case for family and law enforcement alike.

On March 10, Sandy Smith organized the GoFundMe fundraiser page titled "Independent Exhumation and Autopsy." The fundraising goal was $15,000, but in only its first week, that page had raised $41,034. On March 16 alone, one anonymous donor gave $1,500.

By Monday, March 27, the page had raised $110,365 and counting. The page had received 3,300 donations, with the top donation in the amount of $2,000.

According to the GoFundMe page, if Smith's body is exhumed, the Smith family doesn't want the state to conduct an autopsy at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where such studies are normally held in this part of the S.C. Lowcountry.

"We feel it's critical to seek a new goal − an independent exhumation and autopsy − and we're launching Justice for Stephen N. Smith with that immediate goal in mind," states the page. "While the state can elect and fund an exhumation and new autopsy, it is our understanding that it would be carried out at MUSC, where his death was initially classified as hit-and-run despite no evidence to support it.

"We need a new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on facts. There was no debris in the road, and his injuries were not consistent with a hit-and-run."

The site also states that the autopsy alone is expected to cost $7,000. In addition, "a private medical examiner must be present from the start of the exhumation through the examination period at a cost of approximately $750 per hour," but thanks to recent generous donors, this now appears possible.

"The family of Stephen N. Smith is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of love and support we have received from Standing for Stephen and the community as a whole. You have been monumental in shining light on Stephen's story and the lack of justice," states Smith's page.

"Our family is so very grateful to all of you who came together to help us in our fight for justice for Stephen. I could not have imagined when we began this fundraiser that it would take off the way that it did. Thank you for not allowing Stephen's story to be swept under a rug. We will pursue the exhumation immediately and provide updates along the way. Thank you for the kind words, prayers and donations. You have made this possible, and it means the world to us. This is Stephen's year."

Gloria Satterfield's remains waiting exhumation, SLED autopsy

In June 2022, South Carolina's top law enforcement agency announced it would 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 continued.

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

SLED 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.

Investigators now believe that her remains may hold additional clues to the circumstances surrounding her death. In April of 2022, SLED contacted the attorney to Satterfield's estate, Eric Bland, to seek consent to give SLED the authority to exhume her remains.

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 at the time.

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.

No date was set for when the exhumation could happen, Bland said at the time.

However, almost a year later, Satterfield's family members said last Thursday that they are still waiting notification and details from SLED. It is unclear if the Murdaugh murders investigation have delayed the Satterfield investigation or not.

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.

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, other, 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 when Satterfield fell, arriving before EMS, and that Murdaugh later told insurance investigators that the woman briefly regained consciousness and told him 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, but the criminal and civil cases remain pending.

Michael DeWitt, The Greenville News, and the USA TODAY Network will continue to follow the Satterfield and Smith cases, and all cases connected to the Murdaugh crime saga. Support DeWitt's award-winning local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Murdaugh connections: Stephen Smith, Gloria Satterfield to be exhumed