The family of a South Carolina man who was reportedly found dead near the Murdaugh’s property in 2015 said they plan to exhume his body.
Stephen Smith, 19 — who reportedly attended high school with Buster Murdaugh — was found dead on a road in Hampton County in a suspected hit-and-run. No arrests have been made, and his family said they have sought an independent autopsy following the investigation into the 2021 murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, WYFF reported.
On GoFundMe, Smith’s family has raised more than $40,000 of their $15,000 goal to have the teen exhumed and examined.
Smith’s mother told WYFF, “They said he was shot in the head. And then it turned out it was a hit-and-run and then he was beat up, so the story just kept changing,” Smith told the outlet. “…When they told me hit-and-run, I said, ‘That’s impossible,’ because Stephen wouldn’t have been walking down the road. … He would’ve cut through the woods.”
Eric Bland, the attorney for the family of Murdaugh’s late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, told Fox that Alex Murdaugh had reached out to Smith’s mother about representing her.
Satterfield died in 2018 after falling on the Murdaugh’s property, and Alex allegedly stole insurance payouts that were intended for her family. Authorities plan to exhume her body amid an ongoing investigation regarding her death.
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“[Alex Murdaugh] supposedly showed up on the accident scene, and according to [Smith’s mother], she received a telephone call from him where he offered to represent her, and she was very confused as to why she would need representation,” Bland alleged.
SLED Director of Public Information Renée Wunderlich told WYFF that an investigation into Smith’s death is still open. Authorities have not named any suspects.
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[Featured image: Stephen Smith/Facebook]
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