Hear 911 call reporting Stephen Smith's death
On July 8, 2015, a man driving in Hampton County, South Carolina, called 911 to report a body on the side of a rural road just miles from the Murdaugh family's hunting estate, where Alex Murdaugh shot his wife and son six years later.
Buster Murdaugh's high school classmate, Stephen Smith, died in a 2015 hit-and-run, according to the pathologist who oversaw his second autopsy. Certain details of the autopsy have only recently become known to the public.
Smith, who was 19 at the time of his death July 8, 2015, was found dead on a rural, South Carolina road, not far from the Murdaugh estate in Hampton County, with a 7½-inch skull fracture.
"Scientifically, medically and forensically, we know what happened, but we don't know who did it," pathologist and former investigator Dr. Michelle DuPre told Fox News Digital. "And that's the investigation. That's where law enforcement comes in. And they are working on the case."
Speculation from the public and Smith's loved ones has surrounded Smith's death which was ruled a homicide in 2021 after South Carolina police began investigating the shooting deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. A Colleton County jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty of both murders earlier this year.
Stephen Smith poses with his mother, Sandy Smith, at his high school graduation. He was killed July 8, 2015, in what South Carolina authorities initially called a hit-and-run. A second autopsy was performed over the weekend. (Findagrave.com)
Earlier this year, Smith's family raised enough money to exhume his body and conduct a second autopsy. The new findings, according to DuPre, were mostly the same as the first autopsy results.
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"We found that the only injury that Stephen had, really, was the skull fracture. There was … what we call road rash on his forearms, which you would expect. But there were no other injuries at all on his body. None," DuPre said.
The shape of the skull fracture on the right side of his head and a secondary fracture on the back of his skull indicated that some kind of object attached to a car or truck traveling at a high speed struck Smith, who was walking in the middle of Sandy Run Road after his car broke down.
A graphic showing where investigators found Stephen Smith's body in Hampton County, S.C. (SCDPS)
He was also walking toward a curve in the road that may have made it difficult for vehicles to see him in the dark, DuPre said.
"We believe that a vehicle came around the curve, going fast probably, and may have seen something in the road. I'm not even sure that they knew it was a person. We don't know," the pathologist said.
South Carolina news outlet FITSNews reported in March, citing a report on Smith's death, that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) had identified Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly as persons of interest in Smith's death. SLED has not confirmed Wilson and Connelly as persons of interest.
A cross marks the spot Feb. 28, 2023 where Stephen Smith was found dead in Hampton County, S.C., in 2015. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
The medical examiners who conducted the second autopsy believe "something on that vehicle," such as a ladder or an extended mirror "about 65-or-so inches off the ground and at least a foot to 18 inches, laterally" struck Smith as he was walking.
Experts also studied the crime scene to determine what evidence was and was not left behind. For example, if a car struck Smith directly, there might have been glass or other debris from the car at the scene, but there was no vehicle debris. There were no tire marks. And there were no dropped weapons.
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There had been speculation that someone driving past Smith, who was openly gay, might have struck him with a baseball bat while driving past him, but DuPre dismissed that rumor based on two pieces of evidence.
First, his injuries were not consistent with someone who had been struck by a weapon like a bat, which creates a depressed fracture. Second, the person who would have been wielding the bat likely would have dropped it, and there was no such weapon found at the scene.
Stephen Smith's body was exhumed, and a second autopsy was performed as part of the investigation into his homicide. (Findagrave.com/Courtesy of FitsNews)
DuPre said her findings make "a lot of sense," but it is "very hard to convince" the public that Smith was struck with some kind of object attached to a car.
"People have been thinking for almost nine years that this was something nefarious, and … I just, I don't think it's impossible to maneuver a vehicle or something in such a way to do this intentionally. I just don't think that would be possible," she said.
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Sandy Smith, Stephen's mother, recently told "48 Hours" that the day she found out her son had died, Alex Murdaugh's brother, Randy Murdaugh, contacted Stephen's father, Joel Smith, and offered to help their family pro bono. Later that same morning, Sandy said, she saw Randy and Alex standing near the crime scene, a claim that Randy denied in a statement to "48 Hours" shared through his attorney.
"I was not aware of Stephen's death until Joel told me. … They wanted my involvement, and I contacted law enforcement on their behalf," Randy said in the statement, adding that he went to the scene with a private investigator, not his brother. "Claims that I visited the scene of Stephen's death with my brother, Alex, are false."
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Sandy also recalled her son being "scared" for his safety in the days leading up to his death.
Earlier this year, Smith's family raised enough money to exhume his body and conduct a second autopsy. (Findagrave.com)
"Well, the longer it went on, the more I was asking myself questions," Sandy told "48 Hours" of the years-long investigation into her son's death, which eventually went cold. "But I just couldn't find the connection … a powerful family, and then you got Stephen, who was just Stephen."
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Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty earlier this year to 22 counts — including breach of trust, money laundering, forgery and tax evasion — out of about 100 total counts totaling as much as $10 million in exchange for a 27-year prison sentence.
Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh arrives in court in Beaufort, S.C., Sept. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
The disgraced personal injury lawyer schemed to defraud his clients and friends out of hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.
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"There were so many individuals that were trusting of Alex Murdaugh, and that is how this decade-long scheme was able to take place," South Carolina prosecutor Creighton Waters said during the sentencing Tuesday.
"And, ultimately, we had people who came to Mr. Murdaugh for help — people that he told he was going to help — and, in many instances, there was significant funds that Mr. Murdaugh paid to those individuals, but that was how the scheme usually worked. It was a sleight of hand,"
Fox News' Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.
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