Alex Murdaugh fallout: Mother of Buster Murdaugh's deceased high school classmate seeks independent autopsy
'This is Stephen's year,' Sandy Smith wrote on her GoFundMe page
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The mother of Buster Murdaugh's high school classmate, Stephen Smith, who died in 2015 just miles from Alex Murdaugh's South Carolina hunting property, is seeking donations for an independent autopsy for her son.
The 19-year-old was killed in what police initially described as a hit-and-run not far from the Murdaughs' Islandton hunting property called Moselle, where Alex fatally shot his wife, Maggie, and his youngest son, Paul, on June 7, 2021.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has reopened an investigation into Smith's death.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We feel it's critical to seek a new goal - an independent exhumation and autopsy - and we're launching Justice for Stephen N. Smith with that immediate goal in mind," Smith's mother, Sandy Smith, wrote on a GoFundMe page titled "Independent Exhumation and Autopsy."
Buster Murdaugh, left, and Stephen Smith, right, a high school classmate that was killed in 2015. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital/ Facebook)
She continued, "While the state can elect and fund an exhumation and new autopsy, it is our understanding that it would be carried out at MUSC, where his death was initially classified as hit-and-run despite no evidence to support it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The GoFundMe has since garnered nearly $30,000 in donations.
A cross marks the spot where Stephen Smith, 19, was found dead, Hampton County, South Carolina, Feb. 28, 2023. Smith's body was found here in 2015. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
"This is Stephen's year," Sandy Smith wrote in a Thursday update.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She added that her family is "so very grateful" for those who came together to help them in their "fight for justice for Stephen."
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"Thank you for not allowing Stephen's story to be swept under a rug," she wrote. "We will pursue the exhumation immediately and provide updates along the way. Thank you for the kind words, prayers and donations. You have made this possible, and it means the world to us."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A photo of the Murdaugh family taken days before Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were shot to death. From left to right, Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh. (Defense exhibit)
Attorney Eric Bland, who represented the children of the Murdaughs' late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield — who died at the Murdaugh's Moselle home in an apparent 2018 fall — described the Murdaugh family's "long-rumored involvement" in Smith's death on "Fox & Friends" earlier this month.
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"He was found in the middle of a country road in Hampton County, and … the highway department said he was hit by a car, but there was no broken glass, no car parts," Bland told co-host Pete Hegseth. "His clothes were intact, his shoes were on, and he had… a clear head trauma injury that looked like it was done by something other than a car."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A cross marks the spot where Stephen Smith, 19, was found dead, Hampton County, South Carolina, Feb. 28, 2023. Smith's body was found here in 2015. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
The Murdaughs apparently offered to represent Sandy Smith through their personal injury firm, "and she was very confused as to why she would need representation," Bland continued.
A Colleton County jury on March 2 found Alex Murdaugh guilty in the 2021 murders of his wife and son at Moselle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alex Murdaugh sits during a break in day 25 of Murdaugh’s double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. (Jeff Blake/The State/Pool)
The complex narrative surrounding Alex's crimes — and the Murdaugh family — is far from over, even though the double murder trial ended on March 3. He is now facing trial for his alleged financial crimes.
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Alex is accused of embezzling money from his family's law firm and its clients. He is facing 99 financial crimes stemming from 19 separate indictments and totaling nearly $9 million.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Bailee Hill and Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.