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Alex Murdaugh lied about dogs causing housekeeper Gloria Satterfield’s fatal fall: lawyers

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh heard on 911 call about housekeeper death
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Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh made up a tale about his family dogs causing his housekeeper Gloria Satterfield’s February 2018 fatal fall, his lawyers wrote in response to a lawsuit centering on insurance fraud claims over her death.

Murdaugh, in a court document filed Monday, admitted “he invented the critical facts” about the dogs tripping Satterfield and causing her to take a fatal tumble down the stairs of the family’s South Carolina estate — where he shot his wife and son to death three years later.

“No dogs were involved in the fall of Gloria Satterfield on February 2, 2018,” the legal filing obtained by The Post states.

“After Ms. Satterfield’s death, [Murdaugh] invented Ms. Satterfield’s purported statement that dogs caused her to fall to force his insurers to make a settlement payment.”

The convicted murderer secretly pocketed $3.8 million in insurance payments meant for Satterfield’s sons after he told them to sue him over their mother’s death on his property, claiming he had liability.

He told the grieving children that a settlement was never reached when, in reality, he stole the payments without their knowledge.

Nautilus Insurance sued Murdaugh and alleged co-conspirator and ex-attorney Cory Fleming, in May 2022 for the scheme and claimed they had lied about the circumstances surrounding Satterfield’s death in order to prove liability and get a payout.

Murdaugh admitted that he lied about the circumstances of his housekeeper’s death in order to show liability and get insurance payments, his lawyers said. Reuters
Gloria Satterfield died in the hospital after she fell down the front stairs of the Murdaugh family’s home on Feb. 2, 2018. Family photo

In the same filing, Murdaugh’s legal team claimed he acted alone without any co-conspirators including Fleming, and said the Satterfield children had no knowledge of the alleged insurance fraud.

His lawyers also noted that Nautilus should be going after the Satterfield children and estate for recovery of lost money if the insurance claims were fraudulent in the first place.

“If Nautilus never should have made any payment to the Satterfield estate and only attempted to do so because it was the victim of fraud, then the parties in possession of a recovery of the money allegedly stolen from Nautilus are necessary parties to an action by Nautilus…,” the filing states.

Murdaugh was convicted of the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul, the only witnesses to Satterfield’s death. AP

The family was awarded more than $7.5 million over the payments that were stolen by Murdaugh.

The attorney for Satterfield’s estate questioned when the convicted killer became worthy of trust in response to the filing.

“Seems there is buzz because liar Alex now says he allegedly made up the story that Gloria Satterfield didn’t fall down Moselle stairs by his dogs,” attorney Eric Bland tweeted.

The main house at the Murdaugh property in Islandton, SC. AP
Dog kennels at the Moselle property AP

“Since when did Alex become the modicum of honesty and credibility.”

Bland also noted that the $7.5 million his clients were awarded didn’t come from Nautilus’ coffers.

“Additionally, we recovered money for our clients from parties other than Nautilus for breaches of their duties to our clients and other claims,” he said.

Murdaugh advised Satterfield’s sons to sue him over their mother’s death and then pocketed the money won himself. South Carolina Dept of Corrections

“Technically the money that Nautilus paid never came to our clients.”

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating Satterfield’s death.