Housekeeper’s attorney responds to Hulu series on Alex Murdaugh: ‘Gloria was so much more’
“Murdaugh: Death in the Family,” a scripted, eight-episode series on Hulu/Disney+ based on the Murdaugh family murders and financial crimes in the South Carolina Lowcountry, premiered Oct. 15 with three opening episodes, dropping a new one each Wednesday until Nov. 19.
The show is centered on the crimes of infamous former lawyer Richard “Alex” Murdaugh, the son of a solicitor and a member of a highly regarded legacy legal family in S.C., who was convicted of killing his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, at the kennels near their rural Colleton County home on June 7, 2021.
But the show also features other real-life, tragic heroes — some living, some dead — that are left to sort out their lives in Hampton County and the surrounding S.C. Lowcountry in the aftermath of Murdaugh’s internationally followed crime spree.
Among those true-life characters are the late Gloria Satterfield, who worked for the Murdaugh family for years, and a young man, Stephen Smith, who may have no connection at all with the Murdaugh family but whose unsolved homicide was brought back into the public spotlight after 10 years because of the Murdaugh cases.
Housekeeper Gloria Satterfield and both of her sons are also portrayed in the series. The primary family attorney, Eric Bland, said he was pleased with the way his clients are depicted in the Hulu series, and shared a Facebook statement:
“My hats off to the writers and the producers for portraying Gloria in such a glorious light. As I have said countless times on TV and in the newspaper, it grinds me to a halt when I hear (Gloria) being described as simply a housekeeper. Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with being a housekeeper; it is virtuous and honest work. But as you can see from the series, Gloria was so much more than that to the entire Murdaugh family. She was someone who was trusted, although not valued as much as she should’ve been, and an absolute rock for Paul.”
Bland added that Gloria filled a void for Paul and was vital to the Murdaugh family in other ways, as she was to her own sons and extended family, whom he describes as “warm and devout Christians” and “salt of the earth people.”
“… I am very grateful for Hulu giving an accurate portrayal of our client Gloria and our other worthy clients, Sandy and Stephen Smith,” Bland added in the statement.
The unsolved, cold-case homicide of Stephen Smith was a focus of the Wednesday, Oct. 29, episode. Bland also represents the late Stephen’s mother, Sandy Smith.
Episode 5 synopsis: The family attends Hampton’s Annual Watermelon Festival, where the consequences of his behavior come to light for Alex. Mandy publishes an article that implicates one of the Murdaugh boys.
Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murder
Alex Murdaugh, who also faced more than 100 criminal charges, plus a slew of lawsuits, in connection with a string of financial crimes he pleaded guilty to, was found guilty and sentenced to consecutive life sentences for the murders, but is currently appealing the ruling.
Who was Gloria Satterfield, and how is she connected to the Murdaugh family?
Murdaugh pleaded guilty to, and is serving prison time for, an accidental death insurance scheme involving Murdaugh’s late household employee, Gloria Satterfield.
Amid more than 100 criminal charges involving millions of dollars stolen from law clients and partners, Murdaugh was indicted in October of 2021 and again the following month on charges that he stole at least $4.3 million in insurance settlements meant for the heirs of Satterfield, who died in February 2018 after a fall at Murdaugh’s Moselle estate.
Following her death, Murdaugh, a member of a legacy lawyer family in Hampton, reportedly teamed up with longtime friend and Beaufort attorney Cory Fleming and approached Satterfield’s two sons with a proposition: Sue my insurance company, and he would get them some money.
Murdaugh’s insurance carriers paid off big, but the two now-disbarred lawyers kept the proceeds, according to court records and indictments, leaving Satterfield’s sons, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott, with nothing.
Gloria’s sons later retained the legal services of Bland Richter LLP, who helped the family recover millions in settlements, money they then used to establish a nonprofit for children at Christmas, the Gloria’s Gift Foundation.
Who is Stephen Smith, and how is he connected?
The unsolved, cold-case homicide of Stephen Smith was a focus of the Wednesday, Oct. 29 episode. Bland also represents the late Stephen’s mother, Sandy Smith.
Stephen Smith’s body was found lying in the middle of Sandy Run Road in rural Hampton County in the early morning hours of July 8, 2015, with fatal blunt force trauma to the head and other secondary injuries. Smith, 19, was studying for a career in the medical profession at the time of his death.
Initially considered a vehicular hit-and-run homicide by the S.C. Highway Patrol in 2015, SLED reopened the case in June 2021, and on March 23, 2023, SLED confirmed to the Smith family that it was officially considering the case a murder investigation. The family has since offered a reward for information in the cold case.
A July 12 “Walking With Stephen” Memorial Walk was organized by the Smith family, friends, and supporters. The event renewed interest in the case and raised money for Stephen’s Scholarship fund.
Although SLED announced that it was reopening the investigation into Smith’s death in the course of investigating the Murdaugh family murders, and the Murdaugh name was mentioned numerous times to police during the initial hit-and-run investigation, there has been no official, confirmed connection between Smith’s death and any member of the Murdaugh family.
While SLED has told Bland and the Smith family that it is making progress in the investigation, no suspects have been publicly announced.
The family and supporters have recently announced a $50,000 reward for anyone who comes forward with information that leads to an arrest and conviction — a reward that remains unclaimed to date.
