There’s a new wrinkle in the ongoing Murdaugh family saga. It appears as if the crimes of the family’s past are now coming to light.
Nineteen-year-old Stephen Smith was found dead in the summer of 2015. At the time, authorities stated his cause of death was "highway vehicular manslaughter.” In a press conference on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, Eric Bland from the Bland Richter Law Firm, who is now representing Smith’s family, announced that his death is being reclassified as a homicide.
"We have a chance to right eight years of wrongs, and we intend to do just that," stated Bland. Smith’s case is being reopened because of new evidence that was brought to light during Alex Murdaugh’s trial. Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his son Paul and wife Maggie and given two life sentences in March of this year.
Smith’s family never believed his death was because of a hit-and-run. "State police first said that Stephen Smith had car trouble, was walking for help, and got hit by a car. Smith's family believes he was murdered, and wants an unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on facts,” the law firm stated.
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Smith’s mother, Sandy Smith, started a GoFundMe to raise money for an independent autopsy to prove her beliefs about her son’s alleged murder. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) says this is not necessary, but “they will be present and participate in any exhumation of Stephen's body to gather more evidence.” SLED wanted to wait until after Alex’s trial to publicly announce the new classification of Smith's death "out of concern that witnesses would not be as forthcoming under the Murdaugh sphere of influence." Now that Murdaugh is behind bars, more resources can be allocated to discover what really happened to Smith.
