Gruesome crime scene photographs from the short-lived 2015 investigation into Stephen Smith’s death show the teenager lying in the middle of the road next to a huge trail of blood, prompting officers to believe he’d been shot.
Smith, a friend of Buster Murdaugh, was found lying in the middle of the road on July 8, 2015.
Despite a severe injury to the head and the fact there was no glass on the road that would signal an accident, police in Hampton County ruled that Smith died as the result of a hit-and-run,.
SLED, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, didn’t pursue the case, and it drifted into obscurity until the Murdaugh family started to unravel in June 2021.
Stephen Smith, 15, was found lying in the middle of the road in July 2015. Police were suspicious that he had been shot, but his death was ruled a hit-and-run
Now, the case has been reopened and is being investigated as a homicide.
The photos, which were shared with HBO Max last year as part of a docuseries about the family, only add to the suspicion surrounding Smith’s death.
At first, police thought he had been shot.
There was so much blood next to his body and his head wounds were so severe, that the first responding officers immediately considered his death a homicide.
Other clues like the fact there were no tire marks or shards of glass in the road suggested that Smith had not been hit.
The photos show him lying lifeless on his back, with his body and knees turned to one side, with a large trail of blood to one side of him.
‘It does not appear to be, in my opinion, struck by a vehicle. There were several red flags from the start in this investigation.
‘Things that were not there should have been there.
‘For example, there’s no glass. With that type of force there would be glass on the ground or possible in the body.
Investigators noted how strange it was that Smith’s shoes were still on his feet when he was found. Normally, hit-and-run victims come out of their shoes once they’ve been hit
Smith’s body was found in the middle of a quiet road (above). Police say it looked like he had been ‘dropped’ there
Stephen Smith was found dead in the middle of the road in 2015. His death remains unsolved, but is now being formally investigated as a murder. Buster Murdaugh, right at his father’s trial, has denied any involvement in his death
‘There’s no tire marks, there was no paint from the vehicle. No oil transfer. The phone didn’t even fall out of his pocket.
‘The phone didn’t shatter. The way the body is laying in the roadway, there’s no tumble to the body. The blood itself, it’s just a pool of blood.
‘When you have a body that is hit by a car traveling at 55mph, they’re going to tumble down the road so why aren’t there spots down different areas in the road?’ Cpl. Duncan said in the documentary.
Other officers have pointed out how strange it is that Smith’s shoes were still on his feet and were loosely tied.
‘Generally if a pedestrian is hit, they don’t keep their shoes on. This guy had his shoes on. He really didn’t have the type of injuries you would see when somebody lands violently in the road.
From the beginning of the investigation, the police involved thought Stephen had been shot because his head wounds were so severe. They immediately considered it a ‘homicide’ – but it wasn’t until this year that the case was formally categorized as such
An investigation log note from August 2015 shows one investigator informing another of a tip questioning whether Stephen and Buster Murdaugh ‘ever had any type of relationship’
Another note shows investigators received an anonymous tip months later stating ‘Dontereo Aiken along with another black male and a white male (Murdaugh) are the ones involved in the death’
Smith’s body was lying in the middle of the road in a position that looked as though he’d been placed there. He was still wearing his shoes – which was unusual for a car collision
‘It essentially looked as though he was dropped there,’ said Lt. Thomas Moore of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
In interviews with Smith’s family and friends immediately after his death, Buster Murdaugh’s name came up.
A friend had asked Smith’s mother whether he had ever had any type of ‘relationship’ with him.
Police later received an anonymous email tip naming Buster as the killer, claiming he and one other person had killed Smith.
It’s unclear if Buster was ever interviewed.
Files from the 2015 investigation stated Smith was found in the middle of Sandy Run Road with some sort of blunt force trauma to the head and that there was ‘no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with someone being struck by a vehicle’
The case files make reference to his grandfather, Randolph, contacting the authorities to claim someone else was responsible for Smith’s death.
Following his father’s conviction for the murders of his brother and mother, Buster Murdaugh issued a full-throated denial of having anything to do with Stephen’s death.
‘These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false. I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family,’ he said in a statement.
SLED – which had previously categorized Smith’s death as being the result of a hit-and-run – changed its findings last week.
DailyMail
