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The death of an openly gay 19-year-old who was found dead near the Murdaugh property in 2015 has been ruled as a homicide, a state law enforcement agency said.
Stephen Smith, a nursing student and a classmate of Buster Murdaugh, was found dead on a road in Hampton County, South Carolina, in the early hours of 8 July 2015. This was just 15 miles from the Murdaugh Moselle estate where disgraced legal scion Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul six years later.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) chief Mark Keel informed the Smith family about the development through a phone call, family attorneys said, calling it a major development in the case.
“SLED is investigating Stephen Smith’s 2015 death as a homicide and been investigating this since 2021,” agency spokesperson Renée Wunderlich said Tuesday.
Smith had blunt force trauma injury to his head and his car was found around three miles down the road.
At the time, his death was ruled a hit and run – a ruling that his mother, investigators on the original case and members of the local community have long disputed.
“We have a chance to right eight years of wrongs, and we intend to do just that,” attorney Eric Bland said in the release.
Stephen Smith was found dead in mysterious circumstances in 2015
(Family handout)
The development comes a day after Buster broke his silence to address the “vicious rumours” around his involvement in his classmate Smith’s death and denied any involvement in it.
Bland Richter Law Firm, which is representing Smith’s family, said law enforcement did not exhume his body to reach the conclusion, as the teens’ family announced plans to exhume the teen’s body.
“SLED officials have revealed that they did not need to exhume Stephen Smith’s body to convince them that his death was a homicide,” Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter of the firm said in a joint statement.
“However, they will be present and participate in any exhumation of Stephen’s body to gather more evidence. We are committed to finding out what really happened, and getting the peace and justice the Smith family deserves.”
The mysterious murder case received renewed attention in 2021 and SLED announced it was opening the investigation during the double murder investigation of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and her son Paul.
Buster Murdaugh, the son of Alex Murdaugh, has been named prime suspect in the murder
(AP)
Alex Murdaugh, an attorney from the prominent South Carolina Murdaugh family, was convicted on 2 March for the murders of his wife and their youngest son and is now behind bars while awaiting trial on a string of financial fraud charges.
Buster, 26, the surviving son of Alex Murdaugh, denied involvement in Smith’s death as the late teenager’s family held a press conference announcing plans to exhume his body and conduct an independent autopsy.
“I have tried my best to ignore the vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen Smith’s tragic death that continue to be published in the media as I grieve over the brutal murders of my mother and brother. I love them so much and miss them terribly,” he said in the statement released by his attorney Jim Griffin.
“This has gone on far too long. These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false.
“I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family. I am requesting that the media immediately stop publishing these defamatory comments and rumours about me.”
On Monday, Smith’s mother Sandy Smith and her attorneys announced plans to pay for an independent investigation – including the exhumation of Smith’s body and a private autopsy – after raising more than $65,000 through a GoFundMe campaign.
