Smith, 19, was found dead in the early hours of July 8, 2015, on Sandy Run Road in Hampton County - not far from the 1,700-acre Moselle estate where lawyer Alex Murdaugh later gunned down his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul.Īlthough the nursing student’s death was initially attributed to a hit-and-run accident, the case was reopened in 2021 after police discovered new information while investigating Maggie and Paul’s killings. “Substantial progress is being made in the homicide investigation of Stephen Smith,” attorney Eric Bland told local news service WIS. The homicide investigation into the mysterious death of a South Carolina teen with possible ties to the infamous Murdaugh family includes a wealth of new evidence, lawyers for the alleged victim’s loved ones said this week. Murdaugh-linked Stephen Smith’s body exhumed for autopsy: report Stephen Smith’s body exhumed in Murdaugh-linked homicide investigation

This is about Stephen Smith, about trying to get answer to questions that his mother desperately needs answers for.Murdaugh-linked teen died from ‘single blow to forehead’ and wasn’t dumped at the scene: pathologist “I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family.”Īsked about Buster’s statement during the news conference, Richter said, “We’ve not mentioned Buster’s name one time. “These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false,” Buster Murdaugh said. I love them so much and miss them terribly.” “I have tried my best,” he said, “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. The incident was initially deemed a hit-and-run, but the case has since been reopened as a homicide investigation, per CNN. Authorities have not publicly linked Buster Murdaugh to the case. In 2015, Stephen Smith, Busters high school classmate, was found dead on the side of the road about 15 miles from one of the Murdaugh familys properties in South Carolina, TODAY reported. Shortly before Monday’s news conference, Buster Murdaugh issued his own statement denying any involvement in Smith’s death. Anything learned, Bland said, would be shared with law enforcement. The investigation will also involve looking at Smith’s life, Bland added, and what kind of communication the teen had and who he was associating with in the days before his death. And people that have to be cautious have to be secretive.” It’s not easy today, certainly wasn’t easy in 2015,” Bland said. “Being young and gay in the Lowcountry was not an easy thing to do. These are the deaths and investigations connected to the Murdaugh familyīland raised the idea Smith was targeted because he was gay, telling reporters the young man “had to live a secret life.” Pictures of Alex Murdaugh and his family. SLED confirmed it continued to proceed with the investigation in a statement Sunday, telling CNN, “SLED has made progress in the death investigation of Stephen Smith, however this investigation remains active and ongoing.” Bland said Monday the attorneys for Smith’s family would not “indulge in rumor and speculation.”

Monday’s news conference came the same day Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, issued a statement rejecting “vicious rumors” and denying any involvement in Smith’s death.

The disgraced former attorney was found guilty in their murders earlier this month and sentenced to life in prison.Īuthorities have not disclosed any connection between Smith’s death and the Murdaugh family. Smith’s death was initially deemed a hit-and-run, but the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announced in June 2021 they were reopening a probe into his death based on information learned while investigating the killings of Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son. Now, the family of Stephen Smith is pushing for a new autopsy after Alex Murdaugh was found guilty. “That’s not what we do, we’re not law enforcement, we’re not doing a criminal case … What we’re really trying to do is give a mother answers.” The murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh have sparked new developments in spinoff investigations. “Our job is not to find out who did it,” he added. South Carolina authorities have zeroed in on two persons of interest in the mysterious murder of Murdaugh-linked teenager Stephen Smith including one man who allegedly admitted to. “We think that there was other reasons and other causes that caused his death.” “We think that he did not die on that road that fateful night,” Eric Bland said Monday. Whitaker/The Post And Courier/APĪlex Murdaugh will appeal his convictions in the killings of his wife and son, court filing says Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison last week in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

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