Father Sought in Killings of Four Children Is Found Dead

A millworker suspected of murdering his son and three stepchildren in their beds was found dead in a reservoir Monday after leaving a message for his estranged wife to pick up “four packages” at home.

Johnny Satterwhite, 37, apparently drowned himself after his wife discovered their children’s bodies, along with his note, Sunday afternoon.

“Basically it told her to have a merry Christmas, used some profanity and said she would be alone in ‘97,” Laurens Police Chief Robin Morse said.

Satterwhite also asked his employer Friday to remove Bertha Satterwhite as beneficiary of his life insurance policy, Morse said. The couple, married about 12 years, had been separated at least a week.

Bertha Satterwhite discovered the bodies of her husband’s son, 10-year-old Christopher, and the stepchildren, 13-year-old Johnny Gary, 14-year-old Terrance Gary and 16-year-old Mary Gary, late Sunday.

She had been called by a mutual friend of the couple who told her to go to the family home, saying “there were four packages there for her” that had been left by Johnny Satterwhite, Morse said.

The boys had each been shot twice in the head and the girl was shot three times. All four were lying in their pajamas in bed.

Morse did not know an exact time of death, but said the children could have been killed as early as Thursday since they were not at school Friday.

A search of the small one-story brick and wood house turned up a 22-caliber revolver, which was bought Thursday at a local pawnshop, along with a box of low-noise bullets. Police also found Satterwhite’s note to his wife in the living room.

The friend who relayed Satterwhite’s message apparently was unaware of the killings, Morse said.

Warrants charging Satterwhite with murder were issued before his truck was found near the city reservoir on Monday.