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Stephen Smith‘s physique has been exhumed for a second post-mortem.
It’s been virtually a decade for the reason that 19-year-old was discovered lifeless in South Carolina, close to Alex Murdaugh‘s family property. Stephen was found on July 8, 2015 lying in the middle of a dark country road with gashes on his forehead. Authorities first declared the death a hit-and-run, despite a lack of evidence. But in the midst of the murder investigation of Murdaugh’s spouse and son, the case has taken on a brand new life. The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division reopened the case in 2021. And final month, police confirmed the demise was really a murder — and now officers are off to the races to search out some actual solutions.
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On Sunday, Sandy Smith‘s lawyer Eric Bland confirmed her son’s physique was exhumed over the weekend, sharing through People:
“I now believe that Stephen can really rest at ease because SLED and our team are going to do everything possible to find out just how he died.”
He additionally thanked the division for lastly answering Sandy’s prayers:
“I cannot thank SLED enough for making Sandy’s dream of exhuming Stephen and having a second autopsy be done become a reality and her pleas regarding Stephen for the last eight years to finally be heard. The state of South Carolina spent a significant amount of money this past weekend, ensuring a smooth and orderly exhumation.”
My companion, Ronnie Richter, and I, as attorneys for Sandy Smith, and on behalf of Steven Smith, want to thank everybody who contributed within the Exhumation, Transporting Stephen, defending and guarding Stephen whereas he was being re-examined, and the second post-mortem being performed,…
— Eric Bland (@TheEricBland) April 2, 2023
As we’ve been following, Sandy has been very outspoken about combating for justice for her son. In a letter she as soon as wrote to the FBI to get them to take over the case, she accused Alex’s surviving son Buster Murdaugh of killing her son by beating him to demise. She even claimed her household heard from a number of eyewitnesses who noticed Buster commit this violent crime, although he has denied the allegations.
The grieving mom additionally mentioned she believed the Murdaugh household might have interfered with the preliminary investigation, however nobody from the distinguished household has been charged within the case to date. That mentioned, their title did reportedly come up within the investigation a number of occasions. There was even some unidentified proof found throughout Alex’s double homicide investigation that allowed the case to be reopened in 2021 after it went chilly in 2016. Very sus…
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Also, it has now emerged {that a} rape equipment was performed on Smith shortly after he was discovered on Hampton County street to collect any related bodily proof left on the scene. Unfortunately, it was by no means examined…
Cpl. Michael Duncan, the previous supervisor of the South Carolina Highway Patrol who was first in command of the investigation, instructed NewsNation final week:
“I did not have an understanding of why it was being ordered. We were not notified until later that it had been ordered. So no, I have no answers for you as to why they would have ordered a rape kit for what would be suspected as a hit-and-run, which it wasn’t, but I will never understand that.”
Speaking to People final week, Eric Bland confirmed the rape equipment was carried out however not examined. He now believes police will uncover Stephen’s demise was a hate crime, saying:
“It could be that a bunch of thug kids decide, ‘Hey, we’re going to beat up the gay kid,’ or it was somebody who felt that Stephen was going to out them. Stephen had told his mother that he was dating somebody of prominence. He was very secretive about his lifestyle. He wasn’t secretive about the fact that he was gay, but he respected the boundaries of people who he had relationships with.”
It has been alleged by a number of classmates Stephen and Buster had been romantically linked, FWIW…
On Monday morning, Sandy introduced (through her attorneys) that she has allotted $35,000 from the funds raised on GoFundMe for use as a reward to these with info resulting in an arrest in connection to Stephen’s demise. Hopefully, this renewed investigation lastly brings this household the solutions they deserve.
The paramount subject right here is to search out solutions for the Smith household. We gained’t cease till we do. EB #JusticeForStephenSmith #BlandRichter https://t.co/BXe1R0WOBb
— Eric Bland (@TheEricBland) April 3, 2023
Thoughts? Let us know (under).
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