Stephen Smith’s mother has vowed to find his killer and said she will “absolutely” have a new autopsy performed to determine the truth nearly eight years after his body was found on a rural South Carolina road near the Murdaugh property find out.
In a 2016 letter to the FBI, which resurfaced earlier this week, Sandy Smith implicated Buster Murdaugh in her son’s death, claiming he “beat Stephen to death with a baseball bat” because “Stephen was gay.”
Sandy Smith told CNN: “I felt like my son was murdered, he was beaten to death and I think it was a hate crime. And I don’t care what your name is. But who – whatever your name is, you must be punished for what you did to my son.’
Smith has accused local authorities of “covering up critical evidence” to protect Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son – who was said to have had a secret romantic relationship with Stephen.
The 19-year-old’s suspicious death is finally being ruled a homicide, SLED officials told Smith’s attorneys on Tuesday.
Buster had forestalled the murder update by vehemently denying “malicious rumors” that he was involved in Smith’s death.
For nearly eight years, Sandy Smith has been fighting for justice for her son Stephen, who was found dead on a rural South Carolina road near the Murdaugh estate
Smith was found dead on July 8, 2015 on a country road not far from Murdaugh Hunting Lodge, which would become a bloody murder scene six years later
Stephen’s death was initially ruled a hit-and-run after his body was found by blunt force injuries on a Hampton County street in July 2015.
But after his former classmate Buster’s mother and brother were murdered by Buster’s father Alex in 2021, Stephen’s death was re-investigated based on information gathered during that investigation.
“I fought. That’s what I fought for,” Smith said on Wednesday night’s Anderson Cooper 360. “And I finally get it. And I don’t know how to explain it, but I have a little bit of peace in my heart.’
Earlier this month, Stephen’s mother, Sandy, started a GoFundMe to exhume his body in order to get a “new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate, fact-based determination of his cause of death,” according to the fundraiser.
He also left his car on the side of the road about three miles away, leaving his phone and wallet in the tailgate. Smith’s mother, Sandy, said he never left his wallet and at least called his sister.
Although there was “no debris on the road” and injuries “inconsistent with a hit and run,” according to Sandy, SLED did not pursue the case.
In their new statement, released March 22, SLED officials at the time said they had no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary in the case.
Speaking to CNN Wednesday night, Sandy said she believed from the start that her son didn’t die as a result of a hit-and-run accident.
When asked if she was planning another autopsy, she replied, “Absolutely.”
“From the beginning I have always said that the pathologist is a voice for the dead. And the one who completed his death certificate, I don’t think she’s doing justice to my son. She didn’t speak his voice – for his voice.”
Sandy said the Murdaughs settled into their lives after Smith’s death and before it was confirmed he was a hit-and-run victim
PICTURED: Stephen Smith’s car was found along Sandy Run Road in Hampton, South Carolina
Buster Murdaugh sits with his girlfriend Brooklynn White during his father’s double murder trial February 23 at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina
The announcement was made by family lawyers Bland Richter on Twitter Tuesday night after a phone call with SLED boss Mark Keel
SLED officials said this week they would work with the Smiths’ legal team if they exhumed Stephen’s body, but said another autopsy was not necessary to determine the boy was murdered.
Speaking on CNN on Wednesday, Sandy spoke about the love she had and still has for her son.
“He was my life,” she said. “He was my world. He was mischievous. And he was everything.”
Sandy also spoke about how she worried about him because of his life choices.
“And I know – a lot of people ask, well, how was it when it came out? And I said he never had to go out. He never had to say, ‘Hey mom, I’m gay.’
He knew he was loved. And his choices in life were his choices. And he didn’t have to answer me or anyone else who he was.’
She added that while she was worried, she knew Stephen was being careful.
“But it’s everywhere in every situation. But he was careful. He was very careful. He was very careful. And when he talked about people, he never mentioned a name, ever.’
Family attorney Eric Bland, also speaking on CNN on Wednesday, said he believes Stephen’s murder was a hate crime.
“I think we had a brave 19-year-old openly gay young man who was a nursing student who wanted to be a doctor who had relationships that I think are going to come out with some very important people, some of whom were married , ‘ he said. “And I believe he was killed because he was gay.”
Bland reminded Cooper and viewers that South Carolina’s Lowcountry is not gay.
“And I just think that maybe a relationship that he was in would be outed, or something happened in one of his friendships, or maybe people just have such dark hearts that they just wanted to kill a gay boy,” Bland said . “And I find it despicable. And I think that will come out.’
Bland was unable to provide a timeline for when Stephen Smith’s exhumation and private autopsy will take place.
Stephen Smith’s family raised $60,000 to have his body exhumed and said they would reinvestigate the teen’s death
“This investigation is being deliberately derailed,” the grieving mother wrote in her letter
This is part one of the letter Sandy Smith sent to the FBI in 2016
In the letter, the mother asks the FBI to investigate her son’s death
Sandy wrote that it was “obvious” that critical evidence was being covered up and that she needed outside investigators to do the job
Maggie Murdaugh is seen with her husband Alex and sons Buster (right) and Paul (left). Paul was shot dead next to her in June 2021
The latest developments come as a 2016 letter from Sandy resurfaced asking the FBI to investigate Smith’s death.
Sandy wrote that it was “obvious” that critical evidence was being covered up and that she needed outside investigators to do the job.
“This investigation is being deliberately derailed,” the grieving mother wrote.
She directly linked Buster to the crime and claimed that the Murdaugh family tried to cover up the crime.
Sandy said the Murdaughs settled into their lives after Smith’s death and before it was confirmed he was a hit-and-run victim.
“The first call my family received after the murder was from authorities notifying us of Stephen’s death,” she wrote at the time.
‘The second came very quickly that same morning from Attorney Randolph Murdaugh. In fact, he called my ex-husband’s cell phone while we were waiting at the police station for clear identification,” the letter continued.
“We also weren’t sure how he found out so quickly — even before it was confirmed that it was our son,” the mother wrote to the FBI.
Following Smith’s death, his twin sister Stephanie was also reportedly approached “several times by peers” who said the Murdaughs were involved.
“We as a family were suspicious because he was so interested in the case and then quickly became unavailable,” wrote the mother at the time.
Investigators have never determined whether there was a connection between Smith’s death and the Murdaugh family, even as witnesses allegedly gave clues linking them.
The mother’s fundraiser to have her son’s body exhumed has raised more than $92,000 so far
Buster, who supported his doomed father every day during his trial last month, said he wanted privacy to “mourn the brutal murders of my mother and brother.”
In the statement released Monday, Buster called the claims “baseless.”
A Netflix documentary explored their alleged relationship, though Buster declined to comment at the time.
More than half of those interviewed during the investigation said they’d heard rumors about Buster’s possible involvement in Smith’s death — but he was never summoned for questioning, the documentation said.
exclusively announced in June 2021 that SLED had reopened the investigation into Smith’s death, with officials citing new evidence uncovered during the investigation into the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
“SLED officers have revealed that they did not have to exhume Stephen Smith’s body to convince them his death was a homicide,” Bland and his legal partner Ronnie Richter said in a joint statement Monday.
According to Bland, officials said they waited until after Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial to make the announcement because they were concerned about witness testimony.
Buster released a statement Monday ahead of SLED’s confirmation of a murder investigation, explaining that speculation about his alleged involvement “has gone on for far too long.”
Buster is said to be currently holed up on his lawyer friend’s property in Hilton Head and was spotted walking dogs on the property several times during the trial.
His father Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences last month after he was found guilty of killing his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, on the night at the family’s extensive hunting estate in Moselle in the Lowcountry of South Carolina dated June 7, 2021.
The disgraced legal scion brutally shot the couple while Buster was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte, North Carolina.