Stephen Smith‘s physique has been exhumed for a second post-mortem.
It’s been nearly a decade for the reason that 19-year-old was discovered useless in South Carolina, close to Alex Murdaugh‘s household property. Stephen was discovered on July 8, 2015 mendacity in the midst of a darkish nation street with gashes on his brow. Authorities first declared the loss of life a hit-and-run, regardless of an absence of proof. However within the midst of the homicide investigation of Murdaugh’s spouse and son, the case has taken on a brand new life. The South Carolina State Legislation Enforcement Division reopened the case in 2021. And final month, police confirmed the loss of life was truly a murder — and now officers are off to the races to search out some actual solutions.
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On Sunday, Sandy Smith‘s lawyer Eric Bland confirmed her son’s physique was exhumed over the weekend, sharing by way of Individuals:
“I now imagine that Stephen can actually relaxation relaxed as a result of SLED and our group are going to do every part doable to search out out simply how he died.”
He additionally thanked the division for lastly answering Sandy’s prayers:
“I can not thank SLED sufficient for making Sandy’s dream of exhuming Stephen and having a second post-mortem be finished change into a actuality and her pleas relating to Stephen for the final eight years to lastly be heard. The state of South Carolina spent a big amount of cash this previous weekend, making certain a clean and orderly exhumation.”
My accomplice, Ronnie Richter, and I, as attorneys for Sandy Smith, and on behalf of Steven Smith, want to thank everybody who contributed within the Exhumation, Transporting Stephen, defending and guarding Stephen whereas he was being re-examined, and the second post-mortem being finished,…
— Eric Bland (@TheEricBland) April 2, 2023
As we’ve been following, Sandy has been very outspoken about combating for justice for her son. In a letter she as soon as wrote to the FBI to get them to take over the case, she accused Alex’s surviving son Buster Murdaugh of killing her son by beating him to loss of life. She even claimed her household heard from a number of eyewitnesses who noticed Buster commit this violent crime, although he has denied the allegations.
The grieving mom additionally stated she believed the Murdaugh household could have interfered with the preliminary investigation, however nobody from the distinguished household has been charged within the case to this point. That stated, their identify did reportedly come up within the investigation a number of instances. There was even some unidentified proof found throughout Alex’s double homicide investigation that allowed the case to be reopened in 2021 after it went chilly in 2016. Very sus…
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Additionally, it has now emerged {that a} rape equipment was performed on Smith shortly after he was discovered on Hampton County street to collect any related bodily proof left on the scene. Sadly, it was by no means examined…
Cpl. Michael Duncan, the previous supervisor of the South Carolina Freeway Patrol who was first in control of the investigation, informed NewsNation final week:
“I didn’t have an understanding of why it was being ordered. We weren’t notified till later that it had been ordered. So no, I’ve no solutions for you as to why they might have ordered a rape equipment for what can be suspected as a hit-and-run, which it wasn’t, however I’ll by no means perceive that.”
Chatting with Individuals final week, Eric Bland confirmed the rape equipment was carried out however not examined. He now believes police will uncover Stephen’s loss of life was a hate crime, saying:
“It might be {that a} bunch of thug youngsters resolve, ‘Hey, we’re going to beat up the homosexual child,’ or it was any person who felt that Stephen was going to out them. Stephen had informed his mom that he was courting any person of prominence. He was very secretive about his way of life. He wasn’t secretive about the truth that he was homosexual, however he revered the boundaries of people that he had relationships with.”
It has been alleged by a number of classmates Stephen and Buster had been romantically linked, FWIW…
On Monday morning, Sandy introduced (by way of her attorneys) that she has allotted $35,000 from the funds raised on GoFundMe for use as a reward to these with info resulting in an arrest in connection to Stephen’s loss of life. Hopefully, this renewed investigation lastly brings this household the solutions they deserve.
The paramount difficulty right here is to search out solutions for the Smith household. We gained’t cease till we do. EB #JusticeForStephenSmith #BlandRichter https://t.co/BXe1R0WOBb
— Eric Bland (@TheEricBland) April 3, 2023
Ideas? Tell us (beneath).
[Image via Law&Crime Network/YouTube & GoFundMe]
