South Carolina government introduced Wednesday that “development has been made” withinside the murder probe of Buster Murdaugh`s former classmate Stephen Smith, who became located lifeless on a rural street in Hampton County. Pathologist Erin Presnell decided that Smith died in July 2015 from a hit-and-run simply miles from the Murdaugh own circle of relatives’s searching property called Moselle. Smith became broadly rumored to be the sweetheart of Alex Murdaugh’s son, Buster.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) opened a murder research into Smith’s demise June 23, 2021 — approximately weeks after Alex Murdaugh fatally shot his spouse Maggie, 52, and his son, Paul, 22. “SLED retailers obtained records approximately his demise and in the end reviewed the SCHP [South Carolina Highway Patrol] investigative file,” consistent with a press launch issued Wednesday. “It became obvious that the SCHP did now no longer trust Mr. Smith’s demise became a hit-and-run via way of means of a motor vehicle.”
The probe became by no means closed and “stays a murder research,” consistent with the assertion. “Progress has been made, and SLED’s research is lively and ongoing.” The launch did now no longer divulge the character of the development. SLED Chief Mark Keel has assigned extra retailers to paintings the case withinside the hopes that “people who might also additionally understand what took place to Mr. Smith are extra inclined to talk freely now than they will had been in 2015 or 2021.”
Alex Murdaugh, the scion of a as soon as effective criminal dynasty withinside the Lowcountry, became sentenced to existence in jail in advance this month for the slayings of his spouse and son. The Murdaugh call as soon as held sizable sway withinside the area earlier than the own circle of relatives’s mounting scandals eroded their influence.
The launch from SLED, an corporation which hardly ever makes public statements, comes in the future after new attorneys for Smith’s mother, Sandy Smith, issued their very own press launch.
Attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter introduced what they defined as an “extraordinary” telecellsmartphone name wherein Keel advised them “the demise of Stephen Smith is now taken into consideration a murder.” The launch known as it a “shocking” disclosure after “8 years of being proclaimed a motorway vehicular manslaughter.”
Sandy Smith has tirelessly fought for justice for her son, who she believes became murdered and has blamed the Murdaugh own circle of relatives. Stephen Smith became located lifeless almost a decade in the past on Sandy Run Road 3 miles from his car, which became out of gas.
Former South Carolina State Trooper Todd Proctor, who led the initial research into Smith`s demise, formerly advised Fox News that there has been no proof pointing to a hit-and-run. “It regarded find it irresistible became extra staged,” he said.There have been no tire marks at the street, and Smith did not have abrasions that could suggest he’d slid throughout the asphalt.
In a 2016 letter to the FBI begging for help, Sandy Smith wrote that she suspected her son became having an affair with Buster. A guy who claimed to have witnessed the killing allegedly advised her own circle of relatives that Buster had overwhelmed her son with a baseball bat.
Buster, 26, issued a assertion Monday thru his lawyer denying any position in Stephen Smith’s demise.
“These baseless rumors of my involvement in Stephen’s demise are false,” he said. “My coronary heart is going out to the Smith own circle of relatives.”
