- The family of the teen killed in an unsolved 2015 hit-and-run near the Murdaugh estate raises money for the autopsy.
- Stephen Smith was 19 when he was found dead on a road near Murdaugh’s residence.
- No one has been arrested in connection with the case, but an investigation is ongoing.
The family of Stephen Smith, a teenager who was killed in a hit-and-run near the Murdaugh family property in South Carolina in 2015, is raising money for an exhumation and independent autopsy.
He GoFundMe has far exceeded its initial goal of $15,000, raising over $50,000 so far. Interest in Smith’s case was renewed after a judge sentenced Alex Murdaugh, the prominent South Carolina attorney, to life in prison for the murder of 2021 of his wife and son.
“Our family is so grateful to all of you who came together to help us in our fight for justice for Stephen. I couldn’t have imagined when we started this fundraiser that it would take off the way it did,” Sandy Smith, mother of Stephen wrote in an updated post on the fundraising site on Thursday. “Thank you for not allowing Stephen’s story to be swept under the rug.”
According to the fundraiser, the family is seeking an “unbiased look” at Smith’s body and “an accurate determination of his cause of death based on the facts.” The family has long questioned the circumstances of Smith’s death.
smith was found dead in the middle of the road in the summer of 2015. He was only 19 years old. Law enforcement said at the time that they believed it was a hit and run. his body was located about 15 miles away from the Murdaugh residence, however, prompting speculation that there was a link between the teen’s death and the controversial Murdaugh family. Smith’s family lawyer later I doubted such a connection, since the investigation focused on other suspects. But authorities never charged anyone in the case.
South Carolina Law Enforcement reopened the case in 2021, citing new information that emerged during the Murdaugh investigation. Officials recently said WYFFa local news outlet in Greensville, South Carolina, that the investigation is ongoing and that they had “advanced”.
Earlier this month, the son of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh family’s former servant, who died in an alleged “trip and fall” at the family home in 2018, also asked for the exhumation of his mother’s body to “see if there is any foul play”.
