Buster Murdaugh and Stephen Smith murder investigation consists of these 5 issues to know

The Murdaugh household headlines maintain coming. The newest pertains to the announcement by South Carolina Regulation Enforcement Division (SLED) that it’s reclassifying as a murder the 2015 loss of life of highschool scholar Stephen Smith, whose physique was discovered on a distant nation highway not removed from the Murdaugh household property.

Because the company that arrested lawyer Alex Murdaugh for homicide — resulting in his dramatic televised trial – the announcement has now led to hypothesis that the household’s eldest son Buster could possibly be implicated in Smith’s loss of life.

However is there precise proof of this? And what’s SLED doing to research it?

STEPHEN SMITH DEATH PROBE: SOUTH CAROLINA LAW ENFORCEMENT SAYS ‘PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE’

First, some context: As police investigated household patriarch Alex Murdaugh’s numerous crimes, stunning revelations arose across the influential household – together with a previous physique rely. In 2018, Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh household housemaid, died after a reported fall on the household’s entrance steps.

In 2019, Mallory Seashore, a buddy of 19-year-old Paul Murdaugh, died in a boating accident whereas an apparently intoxicated Paul piloted the boat.

After which there may be the 2015 loss of life of Stephen Smith. After his automobile broke down, Smith was discovered deceased in the midst of the evening on a highway roughly 15 miles from the Murdaugh’s rural house. Smith had suffered a blunt-force trauma wound to his proper brow. As a result of physique’s situation – within the highway’s heart, sneakers nonetheless on, a single localized wound seen – responding officers assessed the loss of life a gunshot murder.

BUSTER MURDAUGH ‘HAS NOTHING TO DO’ WITH INVESTIGATION INTO STEPHEN SMITH’S DEATH: SMITH FAMILY LAWYER

However following an post-mortem, and because of the physique’s location and lack of bullet fragments, the Medical Examiner dominated the case a hit-and-run. Over the obvious objections of officers who had been on the scene, the case went to South Carolina Freeway Patrol (SCHP). 

Which is the place it seems to have gone chilly. Whereas a lot shouldn’t be public – South Carolina regulation closely shields official paperwork – what has been launched exhibits the final investigatory exercise to have been in 2016.

Till 2021. As a result of, whereas investigating Alex Murdaugh for homicide, SLED uncovered one thing that precipitated them to announce that it was opening on the Smith case. And as of final week, not as a hit-and-run, however as a murder.

Concurrent with all this has been the dogged marketing campaign by Stephen’s mom, Sandy, to have her son’s loss of life correctly appeared into. “The one dispute I had was that it was not a hit-and-run…. I felt my son was murdered. He was crushed to loss of life,” she mentioned in a current interview. 

Occasions have clearly borne her out. She has now raised the funds to have her son’s physique exhumed and re-examined by an impartial pathologist.

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So what does SLED must work with on this eight-year-old case? Listed below are 5 issues to know.

Officers on the scene would have taken photographs, filed stories, and recorded impressions in emails. The explanation some officers had been skeptical of the hit-and-run idea is that there have been no skid marks or particles typical of a pedestrian auto collision. Smith’s loosely tied sneakers had been additionally nonetheless on his toes – atypical for a deadly car affect. Moreover, the physique’s place within the highway’s heart appears unlikely for a pedestrian hit whereas strolling alongside a roadside.

Whereas the exhumed physique might present additional insights into the character of Smith’s accidents, unique images, sketches, and stories (together with the unique post-mortem report) seemingly inform extra.

Reviews point out that South Carolina Freeway Patrol obtained Smith’s iPhone and iPad throughout their unique investigation. A search warrant request was additionally despatched to Verizon for Smith’s mobile phone data. Other than offering important context to Smith’s life and ultimate hours by emails, texts, app use, and many others., there may be this intriguing truth: Smith was discovered three miles from his broken-down automobile. Did his cellphone document the steps he would have taken? Or was he, as some theorize, killed elsewhere, and the accident scene staged?

PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR ‘CAN’T TELL’ IF BUSTER MURDAUGH IS BEING SINCERE AFTER REMARKS ON STEPHEN SMITH’S DEATH

The present Smith household lawyer stories that the cellphone has been unlocked, so emails and texts also needs to make clear Smith’s private life. Smith was homosexual and had reportedly had at the very least one current liaison with an older man.

Does the reply as to why a rape take a look at was ordered inside 13 hours of his physique’s discovery lie within the digital document? And who ordered that take a look at, for a supposed hit-and-run?

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If the physique is certainly exhumed and examined, it might not be in a state that tells a lot. Smith’s stays had been despatched to a funeral house, the place tiny blue paint chips had been reportedly discovered on his clothes. Have been these from a automobile, or one thing else? Is the clothes nonetheless accessible? Can or not it’s examined for hair, fiber, or DNA proof? Smith’s pockets was present in his deserted automobile. Can its contents be re-examined? Is the automobile itself accessible?

Through the preliminary investigation, Buster Murdaugh’s identify arose repeatedly. Whereas the document exhibits Freeway Patrol chased this rumor path, Buster himself was by no means interviewed.

Smith had tutored Buster in highschool and so they performed on a baseball workforce collectively, so the 2 knew one another; there have been even rumors of an affair between them. Is there anybody who can put Buster close to the scene that evening? Or simply as essential, exonerate him?

The Freeway Patrol paperwork additionally embody a number of persons-of-interest, developed by suggestions from the general public. All these are seemingly being run down once more. Can sufficient be developed for search warrants on any of those people? Can stress be dropped at bear for recalcitrant witnesses to offer new data? 

Has Buster lastly been interviewed? In the long run, it’s this final class that’s seemingly most essential. With out a witness who can put somebody on the scene, attending to an arrest and indictment shall be robust. However whereas at current there isn’t any direct proof linking Buster Murdaugh to the homicide, SLED has outright acknowledged that the case was reopened because of the investigation of his father, Alex.

Buster Murdaugh continues to disclaim any involvement in Stephen Smith’s loss of life.

Then there may be this. In response to a current Netflix documentary on the Murdaugh household, following the 2019 boat accident involving Paul Murdaugh, his father, Alex Murdaugh, arrived on the hospital. A lawyer, Alex supplied Mallory Seashore’s survivors illustration by the household’s regulation agency – unsolicited. It seemed to be an try and “handle” the story of Paul’s involvement in Seashore’s loss of life based on the survivors and their households. 

One thing comparable occurred in 2015. In response to an article printed within the Every day Beast, Stephen’s mom Sandy Smith mentioned that members of the Murdaugh household inexplicably arrived at her son’s crime scene on that distant rural highway. 

Then, the primary name she acquired after being notified of Stephen’s loss of life was from lawyer Randolph Murdaugh – Alex Murdaugh’s brother. Sandy says he supplied her the providers of the household regulation agency. Without spending a dime. Unsolicited. 

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