Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / A Little Less Mess: [South Carolina] Murdaugh Murders - Stephen and Gloria

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A Little Less Mess: [South Carolina] Murdaugh Murders - Stephen and Gloria · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

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Hey, everyone, welcome to Bless This Mess of the True Crum podcast.
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I'm Kara, Jess Kara. Welcome to a little Less Mess. This is
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our regular podcast episodes, all the information without all of the banter, and
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it's just me reading it. It's a little shorter episode if you would like
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to check out our regular episodes. Those are numbered every week and it's me
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and my husband Stewart and we talk about the case and give our opinions and
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make inappropriate jokes and all that stuff. So with all that said, follow
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slash slash Bless This Mess Podcast. You'll get the episod so the regular
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episodes AD free and early and ragar views. Subscribe on iTunes and I think
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that is it. So without further ado, let's get into tonight's case of
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the Murdoch Murder. Stephen and Gloria Stephen Nicholas Smith was born January twenty ninth,
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nineteen ninety six, to Fred and Sandy Smith. Stephen was born and
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raised in South Carolina. He had five siblings, two sisters and three brothers.
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One of those siblings was his twin sister, Stephanie. His older sibling,
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Joseph, passed away at just over two months old. Now, Stephen
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was described by friends and family as fun and outgoing. He would attend Wade
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Hampton High School in Hampton, South Carolina, graduating in twenty fourteen. His
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favorite quote in the yearbook was from Homer Simpson. He had a good sense
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of humor, was witty, and had a good heart. Stephen was also
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openly gay, which could not have been easy in a small town like Hampden.
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After graduation, he began attending Setech of Orangeburg to become a registered nurse.
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He was living with his twin sister at the time. Stephen had big
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plans for his life. He dreamed of becoming a doctor. One day after
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finished nursing school, on July eighth, twenty fifteen, at three fifty seven
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am, nine one one received a call from a man on the way to
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work on Sandy Run Road. He called saying he saw someone laying out in
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the middle of the road. He tells the operator that someone had hit him.
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Paramedics and police arrive at the scene, but Stephen had already passed.
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They see a large laceration across his face. Other items were around him and
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no signs of him having been hit. His clothes were not tattered and his
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phone was still in his pocket. Everything on Stephen is in place, except
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for this giant laceration across his head. They find his vehicle three miles from
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where his body is found. The gas cap is off and the car is
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locked. The vehicle had run out of fuel, it appears now. When
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searching the vehicle, they find his wallet down by the seat. This does
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not make sense to police at all. Why would he leave to get gas
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but leave his wallet in the car. He had his phone, therefore,
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he could have stayed in the car and called someone for help, as opposed
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to walking three miles down the road. Now. In the official report,
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the highway patrol officer Michael Duncan that reported to the scene states that Stephen died
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from what from some sort of blunt forced trauma to the head. He states
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that he saw no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with someone
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being struck by a vehicle. The victim's shoes were loosely tied and both were
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still on. We see no evidence to suggest the victim was struck by a
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vehicle. The medical examiner initially determined this was a homicide after observing a large
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laceration that started from the right top side of his head to the bridge of
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his nose. Meanwhile, the family is wondering where Stephen even is. They
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do get a call from the sheriff's department, who asked them to come in.
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Stephen's father go to the Hampton County Sheriff's department, where he is told
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that Stephen is dead, but from a gunshot wound to the head. The
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family is completely in shock. How could Stephen have died from a gunshot wound
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to the head. This is not something that they would even could even fathom.
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Now. Somehow, by the afternoon of July eighth, they had reversed
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the manner of death to a hit and run. This is the corner they
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tell the family later the afternoon how Stephen actually passed So they reverse saying he
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didn't have a gunshot wound. They say he actually was involved in a hit
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and run and it was an accident. Now, this does not sound right
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to the family. They do not believe Stephen would walk down the road like
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that. They believe that he would have cut through the woods or hid when
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a vehicle passed. This is based on previous behavior. His sister recalls how
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when they have walked down the road before, Stephen always hids so no one
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could quotes get his sexys in a sarcastic manager like we said. He's a
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funny guy, very witty, always sarcastic in making jokes. The family has
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left to deal with this tragedy, not understanding how this is even possible.
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Patrolman Duncan with the State Police found out about this and was shocked. He
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knew this was no accident. Stephen was not killed by a vehicle. He
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goes to the mortuary to examine Stephen's body. He describes the state of Stephen's
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body and says there are no other injuries to the body besides the trauma to
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the head. Now, when speaking to the medical examiner, he asked for
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an explanation of the laceration. The medical examiner tells him it could have been
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a truck mirror that hit him, but Duncan is not an agreement at all.
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He has seen numerous struck by vehicles and the amount of damage done to
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Stephen would have knocked the mirror off of the vehicle it was on Duncan went
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back to the crime scene and scoured for hours, walking a mile each way,
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looking for any type of carterburry that you would typically find from a hit
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and run accident. After this further investigation, he was still convinced this was
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a homicide, so at this point he decides to track down Stephen's boyfriend for
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more formation. When speaking to the boyfriend, he finds out that he was
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the last one to talk to Stephen that night. He says that Stephen called
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him about being out of fuel. The boyfriend asked him if he was walking
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because he heard cars going by, and Stephen says no. Stephen mentioned to
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his boyfriend that he felt like he was being followed and harassed by some guys
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in a pickup. The call drops, but Stephen is able to send out
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a text around three thirty seven am, just twenty minutes before he was found
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by the man headed to work. After speaking to the boyfriend, Duncan did
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not believe he had anything to do with the murder. He was not in
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the area at the time. After his inquiries about Stephen's death, every time
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Duncan entered Hampton County, he would get a phone call from the Sheriff's office,
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asking what he was up to, like they were watching him. Shortly
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after Stephen's death, Stephen's father received a phone call from a big time personal
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injury lawyer by the name of Randy Murdoch. The family did not understand why,
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out of the blue they would get a phone call from him offering to
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represent the family. He wanted to do this free of charge rige as well,
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so money was no motive. It would be a month or so down
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the road before they realized why a Murdoch wanted to be close to this case.
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Duncan continues to investigate what he believes is a murder. He and his
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colleague start asking around town and interviewing people that went to school with Stephen.
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A theme began to emerge. Multiple people said they heard that a few guys
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two or three were messing around with Stephen and killed him. And the name
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around these rumors that keeps coming up is Buster Murdoch and Paul Murdoch. The
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story around town is that Stephen called Buster when he ran out of gas and
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Buster came to pick him up. He was coming from a soft bogging.
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He had one or two friends, potentially Paul with him. They began harassing
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Stephen and things got out of hand. At some point, Stephen is hit
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on the head with a baseball bat. When trying to dive into the reason
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as to why they would do this to Stephen, they found several rumors around
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Buster being secretly gay, and the Murdoch boys attacked Stephen to try to prove
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that Buster did not hear about him, and this resulted in Stephen's death.
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The leads began to run cold. Multiple people in town knew nothing would come
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of Stephen's death if the Murdochs were involved. Stephen's family decided to hire a
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private investigator. The private investigator uncovered all of the mentions of the Murdochs,
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but found that no one in law enforcement had actually interviewed anyone from that family.
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Buster and Paul were the sons of Alex and Maggie Murdoch. They came
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from a long line of solicitors and now had a powerful law office in town.
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They were working both sides of the law with family in both private and
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public practice. At this point, they knew they would have to proceed with
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caution. It was obvious already that this family had some pull in the Sheriff's
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office. Stephen's mother was not giving up. She worked with the local newspaper
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to print a story on Thanksgiving twenty fifteen, pleading with the public. They
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did not mention the Murdocks by name, but they did state a prominent member
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of society's son might have been involved. Everyone knew it was the Murdochs,
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but no one came forward. The case went cold, and it would take
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several years two murders in a national scandal to reopen the case. Gloria Saderfield
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Nay Harriet was born February eighteenth, nineteen sixty one to Eric and Elizabeth Harriot.
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She was one of seven children in the family, with three brothers and
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three sisters. Gloria was born and raised in Hampton, South Carolina, and
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she would go on to marry David Saderfield. They would have two children,
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both boys named Brian and Michael. Gloria was widowed and would raise her two
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boys as a single mother. Gloria was a very hard worker and loved her
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sons very much. Around the year two thousand, Gloria would begin working for
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the prestigious Murdoch family, which consisted of Alex and Maggie and their two sons,
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Buster and Paul. At first she worked as a housekeeper, but would
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eventually become a nanny to Paul when he was just an infant. Paul would
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become very attached to Gloria, more so than even to his own mother.
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Now, Gloria was very dead kated to the Murdochs. If they needed anything,
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she would be there for the two boys. She would go on vacations
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with them to care for the boys. She was also around for all of
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the holidays, even bringing her own children to the Murdoch Christmas parties. During
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this time, she also worked at other people's homes as a housekeeper. Gloria
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would tell stories of the Murdoch home to friends and family. According to Gloria,
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Maggie Murdoch, which is Paul and Buster's mother, let the children run
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wild. She had no control over them and seemed to have no desire to
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have control over them. Paul was at terror. He enjoyed cutting up small
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animals and reptiles with kitchen knives. Both Buster and Paul were said to have
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been very rude, entitled, and disrespectful, but Gloria still cared for the
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boys, especially Paul. On February second, twenty eighteen, Gloria was headed
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out to the Mozelle property, which is a vast hunting estate of the Murdochs,
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consisting of about one thousand and seven hundred and seventy two acres. It's
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a lot split between Colleton County and Hampton County. It had about two point
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five miles of riverfront property, freshwater fishing, kayaking, and deer, turkey
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and waterfowl populations to hunt. It was a paradise for anyone who loved hunting
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and the outdoors. It was a favorite place for the Murdoch children to party
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on. That Friday morning, she was going to pick up a check from
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Maggie Murdoch. Around nine am, a nine on one calls received from Maggie.
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She tells the operator that her housekeeper had fallen, was bleeding and that
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she could not get her up. She says she doesn't know, she is
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breathing and she is unconscious. Paul is there as well, and he speaks
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to the operator, telling her if she can talk, and she cracked her
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head. There's blood on the concrete and she's bleeding out of her ear.
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Paramedics arrive on scene and take Glory A by ambulance to the hospital where she
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is in and out of consciousness. When examining her, they found that she
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had a subdural hematoma pulling, which is pulling a blood under the skull.
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She also had multiple rib fractures and a pulmonary contusion. Gloria is life flighted
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to a Charleston hospital where she is operated on for her broken ribs. The
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hema toma was inoperable, but she did start showing improvement. However, she
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would suffer a steep decline. She was placed on a ventilator and then contracted
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pneumonia. She eventually had a heart attack and had to be revived. After
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her pause came back, she was in a coma. In twenty four days
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after she fell, her family chose to take her off of life support.
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Her cause of death was listed as natural. Now during the time that Gloria
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was in the hospital, they questioned the family and they say they found Gloria
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after four dogs that were roaming the property had tripped her as she walked up
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the steps. It was noted that in the NAIMA one call there were no
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dogs barking or anything about dogs mentioned. A Paul seemed very upset about Gloria.
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During this time, friends would call him crying about Glory. In the
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days after her death. At the funeral, Alex offered to help Gloria's sons.
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He told them he was going to sue his own property to make it
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right and get them some The boys agree, trusting this man to help them.
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He sets them up with an attorney who proceeded with suing the Murdoch estate.
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They wait for word on the case, but hear nothing. Alex Murdoch
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continued to tell them that they were still waiting on the money. Now.
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Over time, the rumor mill in Hampton was turning about what might have happened
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to Gloria. There were different versions of the story going around. One was
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that Paul pushed her down the stairs after she found drugs and threatened to tell
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his parents. There is another rumor that Maggie pushed her down the stairs due
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to the fact that Gloria knew too much about Alex's pill addiction. She had
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allegedly found a bag of pills taped to the underside of his bed. She
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wanted to confront Maggie about it, but was afraid Alex Murdoch had been suffering
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from an oxycon on addiction for several years. Some and his family were aware
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of this, but it was a family secret. Now, if this got
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out, it would taint the murdoch reputation around Hampton County. Now, when
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he would detox, he would frequently do it at the secluded Mosella estate,
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with Paul assisting his father. The private investigator who was looking into Stephen Smith's
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death spoke to the caretaker at Moselle property. He wanted to know if he'd
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heard anything about Stephen while working for the Murdochs. He tells the investigator no,
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but he begins talking about Gloria. The investigator asked him to tell his
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story. He says that about fifteen minutes after he saw Gloria arrived that morning,
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he received a call from a hysterical Maggie saying that Gloria had fallen.
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Ronnie, the caretaker, rushes over to help. They reposition her body so
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her feet are not above her head. He says, paramedics arrive and take
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her away. The investigator asked if Alex was there, and Ronnie is adamant
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that he was not there at all. Well, this contradicts what Alex told
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police and the insurance company who was investigating the fall. He told him that
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he spoke to Gloria after she fell and that she told him the dogs tripped
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her up. With this revelation, it appears that someone is lying. No
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one witnessed the fall, and without any solid evidence, the case was not
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reopened. It would take three years for anyone to look further into Gloria's death
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and for her sons to get some answers on the lawsuit they had filed against
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the Murdoch estate. When looking at the insurance policy, it was noted that
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a month before Gloria's death, an insurance policy was taken out on the Mozell
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property worth millions of dollars. And that concludes our case for a little less
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mess again. If you'd like something with a little more banter our opinions on
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this, then check out our regular episodes. But until then, I guess
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we will see you next time. By one, don't you know it's to
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be supersticious? Dre