Hampton County 911, what is your emergency?
Hello, I was just goin' down along Crocketville Road.
I see somebody layin' out.
And is it in the road or on the side of the road?
In the road.
- In the road? - Somebody's gonna hit him.
We'll get an officer headed out that way.
- Okay. - All right.
Trooper Rowell, this incident that occurred on July the 8th of 2015,
just kind of go through it with me.
From what we've gathered so far, a nice, you know, young man
had mechanical problems with his vehicle on the way home.
Run outta fuel or had some kinda problem, and started walkin'.
Um, I came out about 4:30 that mornin'.
When I got up to the scene, I noticed a young, white male
lyin' in the roadway with severe head trauma.
Nothing at the scene appeared that it was a vehicular accident.
No torn clothes. His shoes were still on his feet.
Cell phone still in his pocket.
Injuries that I noticed to this young man was to his head.
Like I said, we don't know for sure.
We haven't had anybody to tell us anything different.
Case number on this will be CL-062.
Kinda wanted to touch base with you.
It's in... Obviously it's in reference to the Stephen Smith murder investigation.
- Do you know what I'm talkin' about? - Oh yes, sir. I do.
Just go ahead and tell me, you know, what you heard.
From what I was originally told was he was struck by a car.
This, that, and the other.
I heard he got hit by a car.
They say it was like a hit-and-run.
I haven't really gotten all, like, one clear story.
I can tell you this. He didn't get hit by no car.
Well, recently I heard that these
two, maybe three young men were in a vehicle.
I guess they were attemptin' to mess around with him or somethin' like that.
I need to try to find somebody who's willin',
you know, to give me some solid information.
And I understand... I understand your reservation.
Because I've heard that people associated with his name
have been goin' around, kinda...
Not... Well...
Kinda threatenin' or puttin' the heat on people, sayin', you know,
"Keep your mouth closed if you heard somethin'."
She was like, "You'd never believe who I heard did it."
And then she said his name and I was, like, really shocked.
Y'all have heard I did hear names, and I'm... Um...
Or heard a name.
And that name was... He goes by Buster Murdaugh.
-Buster Murdaugh. - Buster Murdaugh.
Everybody keeps comin' up to me and sayin' it was Murdaugh boys.
And when I originally heard this,
I was thinking of the younger Murdaugh boy,
Buster's little brother, Paul,
because Paul's more the "my last name is Murdaugh and I can do whatever."
- Know what I mean? - Yeah.
Everybody's kinda
shy to say that out, you know what I mean?
Because of...
of the... I don't wanna say power, but of the...
The name, you know, it brings a certain standard
when you say "Murdaugh" in Hampton County.
So the only rumor you heard is possibly Buster havin'
some type of relationship with Stephen?
Yes, sir.
I've known the Murdaugh family, like I said,
pretty much my whole life.
Hampton's not a... Not a very big town.
I feel like they wouldn't want anything happening to their reputation,
or name, or anything like that.
Can you tell me what you heard about the Stephen Smith incident?
I don't know. It's strictly hearsay from all I know.
Well, I mean, at this point it's kinda, you know,
we'll take whatever we can get.
I just know that he said it was
Buster and maybe one or two other people.
They were ridin' down 601.
Saw the car on the side of the road.
I guess saw the boy walkin'.
They were attemptin' to,
I don't wanna say, you know, mess around with him,
or somethin' like that.
Someone told me that it was Buster, and I was like,
nothing was gonna be done about it because of who he was.
The day that Stephen passed away
Randy Murdaugh was the second person to call my dad, after the coroner.
And he said he wanted to take the case
and it would be free of charge and everything.
It's kinda weird.
The Murdaughs know that. They know that he's...
That he's on our radar.
I'm gonna talk to Buster here soon and say, "Look, man, you know,
you need to come clean about this."
"If it was an accident, you just need to come clean about it."
You know? "Let's get this process out and let's get this family some closure."
Tell me about Morgan.
Because she was hearing that rumor
and she just had started dating Paul.
911, where's your emergency?
My housekeeper has fallen and her head is bleeding.
- I cannot get her up. - Where'd she fall from?
The... She fell going up the steps. The brick steps.
Okay, so is she outside or inside?
Outside.
Okay, is she able to talk to you guys at all
or is she unconscious now?
She's not unconscious. She's just mumblin'.
The other lady said she had tried to stand up
and fell down again?
No, I was holdin' her up.
She told me to turn her loose and was trying to use her arm,
but then she fell back over.
Okay, do you guys know who she is?
She works for us.
How old is she?
I'm not sure. Like, 58 maybe.
Do you know what her name is?
Gloria Satterfield.
Do you know if she's ever had a stroke or anything before?
Ma'am, can you stop asking--
I already have them on the way.
You think Gloria knew too much
and that's why Gloria is not here?
Been gettin' to work at that time at 7:30,
so Gloria probably come through at about 8:30.
Walkin' up to the house,
she got a McDonald's cup in one hand, her purse on her shoulder,
like she does every morning.
And then Maggie calls me within 15 minutes later.
I asked her what the hell happened, and she was hysterical.
"You gotta get here. Gloria fell. There's blood everywhere."
Her feet were above her head.
We needed to at least get her body horizontal.
So Paul, you know, grabs her legs.
I grab both of her shoulders to get her horizontal.
So then EMS arrives. And it's you, Paul, and Maggie.
Investigative reports say Alex talked to Gloria,
and she said that the dog tripped her.
That's not true. He wasn't there.
So then, you're saying that Alex is still not there when EMS leaves?
Correct.
I'm meeting with Alexander Murdaugh.
Mr. Murdaugh, you understand I'm recording this statement?
- Yes. - With your permission?
- Yes. - Your full name?
Richard Alexander Murdaugh.
And, um...
Do you go by Alexander?
I go by Alex.
Okay.
How long would you estimate that Gloria had been doin' work
for you and/or your family?
She's been workin' for our family for,
hoo,
close to 20 years, I would estimate.
And no, she babysat my children when they were...
When my youngest was an infant. So...
And were you able to speak with Gloria
before she was taken away in the ambulance?
- I was. - Okay.
Did you ask her what happened?
She indicated that the dogs had caused her to fall.
Okay. So there was no witness to the chain of events.
- The fall itself? - Right.
No, sir. Not that I'm aware of.
Okay.
Hampton County 911. What is your emergency?
I stopped. I got a flat tire, and I stopped,
and somebody stopped to help me.
And they tried to shoot me.
Were you shot?
Yes.
But, I mean, I'm okay.
I can't drive.
Okay.
And I'm bleedin' a lot.
Where? What part of your body?
I'm not sure. Somewhere on my head.
What's your name?
Alex Murdaugh.
Alex Murdaugh?
Yes, ma'am.
Oh, okay.
Yes, we're on
Salkehatchie Road.
There is a man on the side of the road with blood all over him.
And he's wavin' his hands.
He's just layin' there wavin' his hands around?
He looks fine, but it kind of looks like a setup.
So we didn't stop.
I don't blame you.
And to make then Eddie the suspect in the murder?
I am going for a denial of bond at this time.
Did you get to gamble any?
Yeah. Yeah, so I did go gambling, and then,
the next day, there was an article created about how I'm misusing funds.
By gamblin'?
Yeah. Someone took a picture of me and John Marvin in the casino.
You're kiddin' me.
Uh-uh.
What a fuckin'... Are you kiddin' me?
No.
How'd they recognize you?
Apparently, I'm a national figure, I think.
Hey, I hit nine out of 11 games on...
Sunday. Nine out of 11, that's pretty damn hard.
Yeah.
I won, like, six soups,
four beef sticks...
Well, that's good.
Your party has answered.
- With a prepaid collect call from... - Alex.
All phone calls are subject to monitoring and recording.
- Hello? - Hey, bud.
Jim and them told me they, the grand jury, indicted a bunch more things
on the last Friday.
But you know that's just overkill, right?
Yeah, I mean...
I mean, they're just trying to pile it on me now, you know that.
Yeah, I'm aware.
But I can take it.
Stephen Smith and Gloria and all that bullshit.
Are they still tryin' to say out there, there are some mysteries
surrounding Gloria's death?
About how she died?
Sayin' what now?
About how she died. Are they still tryin' to make some innuendo there?
I don't know. I, um...
They still sayin' anything about Stephen Smith?
- I don't think-- - They still connecting to us?
Yeah, I don't think anybody
took to heart any of that.
SLED say there's no connection?
No. SLED has not released anything.
They wouldn't even... They didn't even release a statement about...
What was this most recent thing? Um...
Something came out not long ago, talkin' about how there's been, like,
a breakthrough in evidence...
to do with, like,
the homicides.
Your party has answered.
All phone calls are subject to monitoring and recording.
- Hey. - Hey.
What you doin'?
Nothin'. What's up?
Hey, Bus, I meant to ask you,
did Netflix put somethin' out about all this?