What do Stephen Smith’s injuries tell about the SC teen’s death? New findings revealed.

Years earlier than disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was convicted for the murders of his spouse and son, there was one other thriller in Murdaugh nation — the dying of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old homosexual man whose physique was discovered in the course of a rural highway on July 8, 2015. The medical expert dominated it successful and run.

For years, his mom Sandy Smith needed a second opinion, satisfied Stephen’s dying was no accident.

“There was no automobile particles, no damaged headlight … paint scrapes or something,” Hampton County Guardian editor Michael DeWitt Jr. tells “48 Hours.”

The case went cold till the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh introduced it again to life.

Pissed off by an absence of solutions, Sandy Smith is working with a workforce of attorneys and consultants to seek out out what occurred to her son. “48 Hours” has obtained unique entry to the findings of an independent investigation into Stephen Smith’s unsolved dying.

“The accidents can inform us a lot about what occurred,” says Dr. Michelle DuPre, a former investigator and forensic pathologist who oversaw the examination of Smith’s physique. DuPre spoke to “48 Hours” contributor and CBS Information nationwide correspondent Nikki Battiste. Simply as necessary as what they discovered, DuPre says, is what they did not discover.

A SON’S LAST WORDS TO HIS MOTHER

Like his mom Sandy, Stephen Smith was born a fighter.

Sandy Smith: He was a preemie. He weighed two kilos, 12 ounces. And —

Nikki Battiste: A twin?

Sandy Smith: Yeah, a twin.

Born at 27 weeks together with his sister Stephanie, Sandy says Stephen could not breathe on his personal. After a number of months, she was instructed he won’t make it, and she or he was lastly allowed to carry her child for the primary time.

Nikki Battiste: How was that second?

Sandy Smith: Oh my gosh, it was amazin’. … it was purported to be my goodbye. However he began breathin’ on his personal.

Nikki Battiste: ‘Trigger he felt you?

Sandy Smith: Yeah. … That is why he was my coronary heart.

Sandy by no means dreamed she’d sooner or later be combating for solutions in her son’s dying.

Nikki Battiste: How would you describe … the journey that you have been on for justice?

Sandy Smith: It has been a tough journey – simply dwelling daily and combating daily.

On July 8, 2015, Stephen was discovered useless on a rustic highway in Hampton County. It is the identical county the place three generations of Murdaugh males had held the highest prosecutor job for practically a century. The Murdaughs nonetheless loomed giant over small-town life.

Nikki Battiste: Alex Murdaugh coached Stephen’s baseball workforce at one level?

Sandy Smith: After they had been little … I believe Stephen was like … 7 or 8.

Stephen and Stephanie had been additionally classmates of Murdaugh’s older son Buster earlier than Stephen went to nursing faculty with goals of sooner or later turning into a health care provider.

Sandy Smith: He needed to be a health care provider … but it surely was dearer … so he simply began with nursing faculty.

Sandy Smith: He beloved dealin’ with drugs … he simply beloved it.

Nikki Batiste: You have to have been so proud.

Sandy Smith: Oh, I used to be.

However as an alternative, Sandy says these goals had been buried along with her son.

Nikki Battiste: You determined to bury him in his scrubs?

Sandy Smith: Scrubs. Dr. Stephen Smith. He had the whole lot he wanted in his pockets. He had his stethoscope and the whole lot he wanted.

Stephen had simply accomplished a semester of college and was taking summer season lessons, shuttling backwards and forwards between his mother and father, who lived aside. He had visited Sandy per week earlier than he was killed.

Sandy Smith: A storm began brewin’. … I instructed him that he wanted to rush up and get again to his dad’s home … So when he made it he texts me and says, “I made it protected, Mother. Mama, I like you.”

Sandy says these had been Stephen’s final phrases to her. Days later she would hear the information that might alter the course of her life.

Sandy Smith: July eighth I used to be on my approach to work, and I used to be listenin’ to a neighborhood radio station … and I heard that that they had discovered a physique.

Sandy referred to as her daughter Stephanie immediately.

Sandy Smith: She stated ‘Mama, did Stephen stick with you final night time? As a result of he did not come residence final night time.” … After which my abdomen dropped, and I knew it was him.

Sandy says Stephen’s father Joel went to the sheriff’s workplace for affirmation that it was Stephen. That is when she says they obtained a name.

Sandy Smith: I used to be on the cellphone with Joel the entire time whereas we had been waitin’ for the sheriff to come back out. And that is when Joel requested me to carry on as a result of Randy Murdaugh was callin’…

Randy Murdaugh is Alex Murdaugh’s older brother and had been representing Joel Smith in a employee’s comp case. However now, he was calling about Stephen.

Sandy Smith: When Joel bought again on the cellphone, he stated Randy … requested if that was our Stephen … and that … he needed to assist professional bono.

Nikki Battiste: Did you suppose it was unusual that Randy provided to assist professional bono?

Sandy Smith: Properly, I did … However Joel thought it was a pleasant gesture.

Later that morning Sandy says she was shocked once more as she drove previous the scene the place Stephen’s physique had reportedly been discovered.

Sandy Smith: There was Alex and Randy standin’ on the other facet of the highway.

Nikki Battiste: Murdaugh?

Sandy Smith: Murdaughs.

A couple of minutes later, Sandy says Randy Murdaugh referred to as once more.

Sandy Smith: And requested if that was me that handed by. … He stated, “I want you’da stopped so I coulda’ met you.”

Randy Murdaugh declined our request for an interview. However by means of his lawyer he offered a written assertion to “48 Hours,” by which he stated:  

“I used to be not conscious of Stephen’s dying till Joel instructed me…They needed my involvement, and I contacted legislation enforcement on their behalf.”  

Randy Murdaugh stated he went to the scene with a personal investigator after assembly with Joel and Stephanie, including: 

“Claims that I visited the scene of Stephen’s dying with my brother, Alex, are false.” 

Joel Smith handed away three months after Stephen. However Stephanie and Sandy instructed “48 Hours” they by no means requested the Murdaughs for assist. And there have been different issues about Stephen’s case that did not sit properly with Sandy from the second the Sheriff confirmed the physique was Stephen’s. At first he instructed them Stephen had been shot.

Nikki Battiste: What had been you considering?

Sandy Smith: Who would shoot him? … It made no sense. … I misplaced it then. … I left my job and simply drove again to Hampton … And we simply mourned collectively. We simply could not perceive why or who…. it was simply the most important shock of our life.

Inside hours, Stephen’s reason behind dying was immediately modified to successful and run.

Thomas Moore: Towards the evenin’ time we had been contacted by the sheriff’s workplace … after his post-mortem there was not any sort of bullet or bullet fragment present in his head … as a result of his physique was discovered within the roadway it was bein’ dominated successful and run.

Retired South Carolina Freeway Patrol Lieutenant Thomas Moore was the on-scene supervisor.

Thomas Moore: I used to be instructed that the medical expert … made that rulin.’ I reached out to her. … It grew to become a little bit bit heated. … “Give me a solution medically … that might lead you to consider he was hit by a automobile.” … there was no medical cause.

Nikki Battiste: Did you see any indicators of a hit-and-run?

Thomas Moore: No, ma’am … none. … any sort of particles — any kinda glass, automobile components … piece of plastic, something that appears like it could be associated to a automobile.

Additionally uncommon for a hit-and-run, Stephen’s clothes was intact and his footwear, which had been loosely tied, had been nonetheless on.

Thomas Moore: Typically garments are torn … or unraveled and footwear have come off.

And Stephen’s automobile keys and cellphone had been in his entrance pocket, unhurt. And, Moore says, Stephen’s physique appeared staged.

Thomas Moore: His physique was layin’ … prefer it had been positioned in a sure place — not what you’ll sometimes see and … it seemed like any individual had hit him within the head with some kinda’ object.

In the meantime, Stephen’s pockets was nonetheless in his automobile, which investigators discovered three miles away with the doorways locked and the fuel cap hanging open.

Thomas Moore: In all of the years I’ve labored – a automobile sittin’ on the facet of the highway with the fuel cap off … will not be regular. … I believed it was staged, like his physique was staged within the roadway.

Sandy says she puzzled if Stephen might need been the sufferer of a hate crime.

Nikki Battiste: Did you suppose it was probably due to his sexuality?

Sandy Smith: I did suppose that … I do know he was teased quite a bit in school, however … he nonetheless held his head excessive.

However Sandy says within the days main as much as his dying Stephen was frightened about his security. He’d referred to as his sister Stephanie for assist the day earlier than he was killed.

Sandy Smith: Stephanie stated … the battery cable was loosened on his automobile. … So she had met him … after which she tightened the battery cable, and she or he requested him to get out of the automobile and assist her. And he stated, “no, I am not getting out.”

Nikki Battiste: Like he was scared?

Sandy Smith: Proper.

However he by no means stated why.

Regardless of what Lieutenant Moore felt had been suspicious circumstances, he says as soon as Stephen’s dying was dominated successful and run, it grew to become the Freeway Patrol’s job to resolve the case, as an alternative of the Hampton County Sheriff’s Workplace or SLED — the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Thomas Moore: I felt just like the case, for lack of a greater phrase, was bein’ pawned off on us. … It doesn’t matter what we stated, we had been gonna be those investigatin’ that case. … As we had been gettin’ began sure names began comin’ up.

Nikki Battiste: Which names?

Thomas Moore: Murdaugh.

RUMORS SWIRL OF MURDAUGH INVOLVEMENT

Quickly after Stephen Smith was killed, Hampton County Guardian managing editor Michael DeWitt says he started listening to persistent rumors throughout city.

Nikki Battiste: What are the rumors?

Michael DeWitt: That at the very least one Murdaugh youngster was in a automobile with different boys and allegedly, any individual within the automobile … struck the younger man with a baseball bat and killed him.

Sandy says those self same rumors hit her doorstep as quickly as Stephen’s physique was taken for an post-mortem.

Sandy Smith: It made no sense to me.

Nikki Battiste: At any level did you suppose that somebody within the Murdaugh family was concerned?

Sandy Smith: Properly, the longer it went on, the extra I used to be asking myself questions. … However I simply could not discover the connection … a strong household, and you then bought Stephen, who was simply Stephen.

Sandy could not assist however suppose again to her final dialog with Stephen per week earlier than he was killed.

Sandy Smith: Anyone was messaging him quite a bit.

Sandy Smith: He instructed me that he was goin’ … deep sea fishin’. … he stated, “Key West.” And I stated, “Properly, who’re you goin’ with?” He stated, “Properly, I can not inform you.”

Nikki Battiste: Did that make you pause?

Sandy Smith: Yeah. … He stated, “You would be shocked. … it is kinda, like, a distinguished individual.” After which all I might say was, “Properly, I hope you’ve gotten enjoyable.”

Sandy says Stephen had change into extra secretive the final couple of weeks. However it by no means crossed her thoughts he could be speaking a few Murdaugh.

Liz Farrell: The unique rumor was that Stephen was planning to go away with Buster Murdaugh and his household … That they had been collectively romantically.

Liz Farrell is the author and co-host of the “Murdaugh Murders” podcast.

Liz Farrell: There is not any proof of that that we all know of.

And “48 Hours” discovered no proof to help the rumors.

Retired Freeway Patrol Lieutenant Thomas Moore says the mere point out of the Murdaughs made it tough to get assist from native companies.

Thomas Moore: We … tried at hand that case file over to the sheriff’s workplace, they usually bodily wouldn’t take it from our hand.

Michael DeWitt: The Murdaugh title was nonetheless very highly effective, very well-connected in legislation enforcement. And the rumors urged, properly, the native cops aren’t going to dig into it.

As an alternative, the case was dealt with solely by the Freeway Patrol’s Multi-disciplinary Accident Investigation Group —  MAIT — which makes a speciality of complicated automobile crashes.

Thomas Moore: The MAIT workforce was from out of city. … And — we needed outdoors eyes concerned on this.

The Murdaugh title seems dozens of instances in MAIT’s 2015 case file, which “48 Hours”  obtained by means of a Freedom of Info request. In his audio notes, Corporal Michael Duncan makes it clear he would not suppose Stephen’s dying is successful and run.

CPL. MICHAEL DUNCAN: There is no such thing as a physique trauma apart from to the top space. … Doesn’t seem like, for my part, struck by automobile.

One other investigator, Todd Proctor, goes additional.

TODD PROCTOR: Usually you do not see the Freeway Patrol working a homicide, and that is what that is.

He hints at a battle of curiosity for the native sheriff’s division.

TODD PROCTOR: There is a cause why Hampton County Sheriff’s Division will not be dealing with this … And I will depart it at that.

On this interview with Proctor, native teen Taylor Dobson shares an in depth model of that story about a number of younger males in a truck.

TAYLOR DOBSON: I heard that these two, possibly three younger males had been in a automobile. They had been using down 601, noticed the automobile on the facet of the highway, I assume noticed the boy strolling. Um, they turned again round. … and caught one thing out the window.

He provides a reputation reluctantly.

TAYLOR DOBSON: He goes by Buster Murdaugh.

Dobson says he grew up with Buster.

TAYLOR DOBSON: Sort of out of character to who I knew. … it is simply strictly rumour from all I do know.

Proctor reassures him the Murdaughs are already conscious authorities wish to communicate with Buster.

TODD PROCTOR: They know that he is on our radar.

TODD PROCTOR: Matter of truth, I talked to one in all their guys yesterday and instructed them, you realize, I’ll speak to Buster right here quickly, you realize? They usually stated, “OK, that is fantastic.”

However in accordance with the case file, a name to Buster Murdaugh in October 2015 was by no means returned, and In December, following a front-page story within the Hampton County Guardian, MAIT obtained a tip referred to as in on the route of Randy Murdaugh, Buster’s uncle.

A person named Darrell Williams referred to as a Hampton Police Officer to report the tip, which concerned two teenagers — Shawn Connelly and Patrick Wilson. In a recorded cellphone name, the officer relays to Corporal Duncan what Williams instructed him.

OFFICER: Darrell referred to as me and he stated … Patrick come over right here to the home. … He stated … that Shawn Connelly was drunk and hit one thing … he went again the subsequent day to see what it was he had hit. And he seen a whole lot of police on the market …

OFFICER: Patrick was crying, telling him. And after he bought completed telling the story, he walked outdoors his home and threw up.

CPL. MICHAEL DUNCAN: … Did he go into any element about the way it occurred? …

OFFICER: Supposedly he had … fastened his mirror … one of many mirrors up on the truck.

The facet mirror story matched Stephen’s unique dying certificates. For causes which might be unclear, there is no such thing as a report of Duncan or Proctor ever chatting with Connelly or Wilson.

Wilson had no remark to “48 Hours.” Messages to the Hampton County Sheriff’s Workplace, Williams and Connelly haven’t been answered. Sandy Smith says she requested Shawn Connelly point-blank if he killed Stephen.

Nikki Battiste: And he stated?

Sandy Smith: He stated, “No, ma’am I didn’t … I provide you with my phrase, I promise you, I by no means killed your son.”

Nikki Battiste: Do you consider him?

Sandy Smith: Yeah.

Nikki Battiste: If he lied to you — if that seems to be the case –

Sandy Smith: It will not be the primary time I am lied to … however you realize. For those who did it, it’s worthwhile to pay.

In September 2016, fed up with what she calls the dearth of an investigation, Sandy started a letter-writing marketing campaign that included the FBI.

Nikki Battiste: What did your letter say?

Sandy Smith: I used to be simply lettin’ ’em know that … my son was murdered and there is no progress bein’ completed. And I believe it had somethin’ to do with the Murdaugh household … And please assist, simply please assist me.

Sandy additionally instructed the FBI she believed somebody was intentionally making an attempt to derail the investigation.

Nikki Battiste: Did you ever get a response from the FBI?

Sandy Smith: I did. … and I had two brokers come to my home.

She requested them to unlock Stephen’s cellphone, they usually did.

Nikki Battiste: Have you learnt if … anybody really was capable of learn Stephen’s textual content messages, or see the place he would possibly’ve been primarily based on cellphone proof?

Sandy Smith: What I heard from the FBI agent … there was— a whole lot of attention-grabbing info within the cellphone that wanted to be checked out.

However she says that did not immediate native or state authorities to pursue the case additional.

Sandy Smith: There’s somethin’ in that cellphone that no one needs on the market.

By late 2016, the investigation into Stephen Smith’s dying went chilly.

Nikki Battiste: What do you suppose it took for Stephen’s case to lastly get the eye it deserves, that you just needed?

Sandy Smith: Anyone else needed to die.

A NEW LOOK A STEPHEN SMITH’S COLD CASE

The murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh in June 2021 triggered a seismic shift in small-town Hampton and gave Sandy Smith a lifeline she desperately wanted.

Sandy Smith: It took this … to get Stephen’s title again on the market so any individual would begin payin’ consideration.

In an odd coincidence, whereas investigating the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, SLED introduced it had came upon a brand new lead in Stephen’s dying and could be taking on the case. They didn’t say what that proof was.

Nikki Battiste: It looks like all roads result in the Murdaugh household round right here.

Sandy Smith: Sure.

Nikki Battiste: Is that coincidence, is there a cause for that?

Sandy Smith: Round right here it is pure.

It will be one other two years whereas authorities centered on getting a conviction against Alex Murdaugh. However Sandy now has a high-octane authorized workforce in her nook.

Ronnie Richter: After eight years of ready on your flip … Sandy Smith lastly simply had sufficient.

Eric Bland: Ronnie and I are like arsonists. We began the fireplace.

Ronnie Richter and Eric Bland are representing Sandy professional bono.

Eric Bland: Our sole aim was … to rekindle the curiosity in Stephen’s dying.

They usually turned up the warmth on SLED. In March 2023, SLED publicly acknowledged it was treating Stephen’s case as a homicide.

The identical week, Buster Murdaugh released a statement by means of his father’s lawyer, saying:

“… These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his dying are false. I unequivocally deny any involvement in his dying, and my coronary heart goes out to the Smith household …”

Eric Bland: These phrases at the moment are in cement. … I take him at his phrase that he had nothing in any respect to do with Stephen’s dying.

Slightly than outdated rumors, Bland and Richter say they’re specializing in a brand new investigation made doable by $130,000 in GoFundMe donations from Sandy’s supporters.

Ronnie Richter: The assets had been made obtainable for us to do some personal investigative work that is gonna begin with … hiring … a pathology workforce.

They had been additionally in a position have Stephen’s body exhumed, one thing Sandy had needed for years. 

Ronnie Richter: Our main perform proper now’s to have a real impartial set of eyes have a look at it and inform us, as soon as and for all, what actually occurred to Stephen Smith.

In April 2023, Dr. Michelle DuPre, a former investigator and forensic pathologist who’s carried out greater than 3,000 autopsies, oversaw the examination of Stephen’s physique.

Dr. Michelle DuPre: The accidents can inform us a lot about what occurred.

Nikki Battiste: And on this case they did?

Dr. Michelle DuPre: They did.

DuPre says the post-mortem confirmed Stephen died from a single blow to his brow, severely fracturing his cranium.

Nikki Battiste: That is a giant gash.

Dr. Michelle Dupre: That is seven-and-a- half inches, virtually. … there could be one other gash on this posterior space from hitting the pavement so onerous.

Nikki Battiste: It actually break up his cranium.

Dr. Michelle Dupre: It break up his cranium.

They had been additionally capable of put to relaxation some rumors, together with the one which Stephen had been crushed with a baseball bat.

Nikki Battiste: It wasn’t a baseball bat?

Dr. Michelle DuPre: No. … these sort of accidents would trigger one thing that we name sample accidents, and we do not see that right here. … It is a linear fracture — in addition to that is right here (factors to a diagram of the top).

Simply as necessary as what they discovered, DuPre says, is what they did not discover.

Dr. Michelle DuPre: We did not discover fractures of any a part of the physique, aside from the top. … There was a little bit highway rash, which you’d count on.

Nikki Batiste: Any indicators of a wrestle?

Dr. Michelle DuPre: No.

Nikki Battiste: Any indicators of a beating?

Dr. Michelle DuPre: No.

Nikki Battiste: Any accidents under his head apart from the highway rash?

Dr. Michelle DuPre: None in any respect.

She says that eliminates the likelihood Stephen was hit by a automobile head-on. DuPre says the findings additionally refute early theories that Stephen’s physique might need been staged.

Nikki Battiste: Had been you capable of decide whether or not Stephen was struck and fell, or he might need been struck, after which positioned there?

Dr. Michelle DuPre: We do not consider that he was positioned there. We consider that … no matter occurred — occurred proper there.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey agrees.

Nikki Battiste: You suppose he was killed proper right here?

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: Proper there.

Against the law scene skilled and star prosecution witness within the Murdaugh homicide trial, Kinsey labored with DuPre to research Stephen’s case. He says the proof on the scene is evident.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: That is a large quantity of blood. And if he had that form of harm some other place, it would not be that uniform.

As a result of their delicate nature, “48 Hours” created variations of the crime scene photographs by which the blood and physique are proven as graphics.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: The amount of blood, the route of the stream within the highway, after which the route of all … the – the blood on his individual — led me to … the one conclusion.

Kinsey’s satisfied an object hooked up to a automobile touring at excessive pace triggered the only deadly blow to Stephen’s head.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: No matter hit him was quick and it was giant.

Nikki Battiste: So successful and run, however an atypical hit and run?

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: Yeah, very atypical. 

A success and run with no automobile particles on the scene. It is a conclusion nobody was anticipating.

Nikki Battiste: How assured are you that you realize what occurred to Stephen Smith that night time?

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: I am as near a level of scientific certainty as I’ve ever felt.

What nobody can say with certainty is whether or not Stephen’s dying was unintended or not. However, nonetheless, Richter factors out, he was left there to die.

Ronnie Richter: Somebody left him in that situation, within the roadway. … And — and that … is a really severe felony.

Stephen’s physique was discovered about three miles from his automobile. Kinsey tried to retrace his steps.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: I needed to stroll each doable path that Mr. Smith might have taken.

Stephen’s household has all the time insisted if Stephen had automobile hassle, he would have felt safer strolling by means of the woods.

Nikki Battiste(strolling alongside the highway with Kinsey holding a flashlight): So, the place was Stephen’s automobile?

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: Stephen’s automobile was positioned — should you have a look at this gate right here, it was not grown up then, you can entry that gate. However on this space … actually near the woods.

However to chop by means of the woods, Stephen would’ve needed to scale a fence that was 8 ft tall.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: And from what I perceive from interviewing neighbors, it has been there for properly over a decade.

Kinsey theorizes Stephen was strolling alongside the highway, making an attempt to flag somebody down for assist.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: He’s strolling this route within the — within the lane dealing with visitors. … no matter was hooked up to the automobile or hanging off of the automobile … every time it struck Stephen … he went down in — on this space considerably on this line (mendacity within the highway as Stephen was discovered).

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: The automobile that struck Stephen was coming towards him similar to that automobile within the — {photograph}.

Nikki Battiste: Like this?

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: Sure, goin’ that route.

Kinsey says the proof suggests the motive force noticed one thing within the highway and adjusted lanes.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: And someday earlier than it struck Stephen, I consider it turned into the oncomin’ lane …

That is when he says an object from the passenger facet struck Stephen.

Nikki Battiste: What sort of object might it’s?

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: It might be something. It might be a ladder … hangin’ off the again of — a piece truck. It might be a prolonged facet mirror … the steel sort that you just see on some farm automobiles or some bigger automobiles.

That state of affairs matches up with the tip from 2015 involving Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly, which Kinsey calls believable.

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: That definitely could be doable … that might be one of many locations I’d begin.

SLED has saved its investigation near the vest, however Bland and Richter say a grand jury was empaneled and issuing subpoenas.

Eric Bland: They’re honing in on particular people. And I believe there’s about 5 or much less that SLED believes has info concerning Stephen’s dying.

We do not know who these people are. In an interview on Fox Nation in August 2023, Buster Murdaugh once more denied the rumors of his involvement.

BUSTER MURDAUGH (on Fox Nation): I by no means had something to do together with his homicide and I by no means had something to do with him on a bodily degree of — of any regard.

He additionally offered an alibi.

BUSTER MURDAUGH (on Fox Nation): The night time Stephen was killed I used to be at our Edisto Seashore home … with my mother and brother.

INTERVIEWER (on Fox Nation): With your loved ones? 

BUSTER MURDAUGH (on Fox Nation): With my mother and brother. 

Sandy’s workforce says it is turned over all of its findings to SLED. However Kinsey says it is nonetheless going to take somebody coming ahead.

Nikki Battiste: Anyone is aware of?

Dr. Kenny Kinsey: Oh, they know. Sure, ma’am.

ALEX MURDAUGH’S FINANCIAL CRIMES

As a grand jury zeroes in on potential suspects in Stephen Smith’s dying, the authorized wrangling hasn’t slowed down for Alex Murdaugh.

Michael DeWitt: You’ve got bought native costs. You’ve got bought state costs. … the authorized civil instances are gonna go on for years.

ALEX MURDAUGH (in court docket Nov. 17, 2023): I’m responsible, sure sir.

On Nov. 17, 2023, Alex Murdaugh agreed to a plea deal that encompasses the entire state monetary costs he confronted for defrauding and stealing thousands and thousands from purchasers and legislation companions. He had already pleaded responsible to 22 federal conspiracy, wire fraud, and cash laundering costs.

Nikki Battiste: Alex preyed on the susceptible whom he additionally thought would by no means work out his schemes.

Eric Bland: Right. … It is folks which might be on the worst instances of their lives. … the place you want a lawyer to be one of the best for you, not the worst for you.

Maybe none extra so than Alania and Hannah Plyler, who at the moment are represented by Bland and Richter.

They had been simply 12 and eight after they survived a lethal crash as a result of a defective tire that killed their mom and 14-year-old brother in 2005,  and have become the youngest of the monetary victims to whom Murdaugh admitted he lied and stole from when questioned at his homicide trial.

CREIGHTON WATERS: Who had been the Plylers?

ALEX MURDAUGH: They had been two younger women from uh, Columbia.

CREIGHTON WATERS: What loss did they undergo? Who died?

ALEX MURDAUGH: Uh, their mom. Their mom did.

Nikki Battiste: He solely talked about your mother.

Alania Spohn: Yeah, that bothered me.

Hannah Plyler: That harm.

Alania Spohn: You do not keep in mind that a 14-year-old was killed in that wreck? … Alex … bought an excellent paycheck off of my brother’s dying.

Each ladies at the moment are moms, and Alania is a detective with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Workplace.

Alania Spohn: Since all of this has come out … there is a lotta ache that is nonetheless there.

Alania was sufficiently old to recollect the small print of the final highway journey she and her sister would ever take with their mother and brother.

Alania Spohn: My brother and I had gotten into an argument … I needed to begin sitting within the entrance seat. … so we fought about it and fought about it. … And eventually, mother was like, ” what? … Justin’s gonna trip on the way in which to Columbia. And on the way in which again residence … Alania will get to trip up entrance.” And I used to be so comfortable.

Alania and Hannah, who had been nonetheless sitting within the backseat, survived the crash.

Nikki Battiste: You have to take into consideration that on a regular basis.

Alania Spohn: I do. … I really had a lotta guilt for a number of years.

That guilt is one thing she says she’s realized let go, as she recounts her and her little sister’s harrowing survival.

Alania Spohn: We hadn’t been on the highway too lengthy. … Hannah was sleeping. … And I used to be listening to Usher. … And I keep in mind mother sayin’ … “Lanie, you awake?” And so I keep in mind pullin’ my headphones down. I stated, “Yeah, mother.” … inside seconds I heard this loud pop. … After which I instantly heard my mother scream … I seemed out the window, and my Usher CD was spinning on a tree limb.

Their mom Angela and brother Justin died immediately. Alania realized she was trapped and could not transfer and needed to ship Hannah for assist.

Alania Spohn: I stated, “I would like you to get outta the automobile and I would like you to go to the highest of the hill to the interstate.”

Nikki Battiste: And also you’re solely 12.

Alania Spohn: I am 12. Proper. … so many issues might’ve went worse.

Hannah, 8 years outdated, climbed as much as the interstate.

Hannah Plyler: There was an 18-wheeler. And I used to be capable of flag him down. …And I believe by that time, an ambulance … got here. … they usually had taken me to the hospital.

Alania waited alone till the fireplace rescue workforce arrived and minimize her out of the wreckage. She watched as they eliminated her mom and brother.

Alania Spohn: And so I watched them put them in a black physique bag.

She was then airlifted to a hospital and would wish quite a few surgical procedures.

Nikki Battiste: What was the second like whenever you had been capable of see one another once more after that?

Alania Spohn:  I keep in mind it. I keep in mind … hugging her and thanking her for not dying, for not leaving me.

Hannah Plyler: After which from there I used to be simply within the hospital mattress with you.

Alania Spohn: You could not preserve us aside.

The sisters say they had been handed round to dwell with relations.

Alania Spohn: We did not have a bed room.

Nikki Battiste: You simply had one another.

Alania Spohn: We simply had one another. Yeah. … We lived outta little plastic bins.

When a household pal referred the Plylers to Alex Murdaugh, he promised to vary all of that.

Nikki Battiste: Do you keep in mind the primary time you met Alex Murdaugh?

Alania Spohn: Yeah … I keep in mind when he walked in. … he appeared actually conceited … like a bulldog.

Hannah Plyler: Tall, virtually intimidating in a way.

Alania Spohn: He instructed us … “They took your loved ones from you. And we’re gonna make this proper. They’re gonna pay.”

To 2 younger women who had misplaced the whole lot, Murdaugh appeared bigger than life.

Alania Spohn: I all the time felt at peace after I bought to speak to Alex … folks listened to him … You possibly can inform there was a lotta management there.

Nikki Battiste: How did he earn your belief?

Alania Spohn: Actually together with his phrases. … he was a easy talker. And … he made you are feeling particular.

However as soon as the case settled, the particular remedy stopped.

Alania Spohn: He just about checked out. … he had defined that the case … had settled. … We received — massive cash.

Ronnie Richter: Alania’s case settled for $4.7 million, you realize … Hannah’s for proper at $3 million. That cash was then entrusted to Russell Laffitte.

Laffitte was the CEO of Palmetto State Financial institution in Hampton and shut pal of Alex Murdaugh, who’d hand-picked Laffitte to handle the funds as conservator till the women turned 18.

Michael DeWitt: So these two very rich, distinguished males … principally assist themselves to those children’ piggy financial institution.

Any cash they wanted needed to be authorised by Laffitte and a decide.

Alania Spohn: Even when it was a greenback, we needed to have a receipt for it.

Nikki Battiste: While you and Eric took on their case, what did you uncover?

Ronnie Richter: Russell was making loans to Alex … Alex could be overdrawn $50,000, $100,000, $300,000 in his private account, and he wanted cash to cowl these shorts.

Richter says that at Murdaugh’s route, Lafitte transferred practically $1.5 million from the Plylers’ cash to Alex Murdaugh and himself.

Michael DeWitt: When it got here time for these younger girls to show 18, the cash was purported to be there. So Alex needed to exit and steal new cash from completely different purchasers and put that cash again.

Murdaugh was by no means charged for Hannah and Alania’s case. However Lafitte was convicted on federal costs for his function.

Eric Bland: However, nonetheless, there may be that toll of how do you belief going ahead … folks had been put ready of belief on their behalf after they had been simply kids. After which, to be taught as an grownup that, your complete time … they noticed you as nothing greater than a checkbook.

Whereas the Plylers can start to heal Sandy Smith nonetheless waits for her day of reckoning.

Michael DeWitt: All this sweeping drama, there’s solutions and there is closure for everyone else, however not for Sandy Smith. … It is time to put the highlight on Stephen Smith.

A MOTHER’S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE

Months after his blockbuster trial, convicted double assassin Alex Murdaugh and the “crime of the century” are nonetheless Hampton’s largest points of interest.

Michael DeWitt: Nearly every single day any individual’s coming by taking an image of the legislation agency or using out to Moselle taking photos. … they only cannot get sufficient.

The Murdaugh craze was on full show at an public sale for the household’s private gadgets from their Moselle property. The notorious leather-based sofa set the place Alex testified he took a catnap whereas his spouse and son had been murdered bought for $30,000.

And Maggie’s canine Bubba, who helped prosecutors show Alex was really on the crime scene, has change into a neighborhood folks hero.

Michael DeWitt: If that … rambunctious yellow lab hadn’t been … doing what … labs love to do, chase birds … we would not have solved this case and we would not have gotten a conviction.

Alex Murdaugh’s voice calling Bubba was caught within the background of cellphone video Paul took minutes earlier than he was killed.

Michael DeWitt: Bubba and the opposite canines on the kennels … they had been witnesses to a really horrific occasion.

Bubba now lives a quiet life with the Murdaugh’s housekeeper. In the meantime, Alex Murdaugh is serving two life phrases in a maximum-security jail.

Nikki Battiste: Do you suppose Alex Murdaugh nonetheless thinks he can attempt to play the system —

Ronnie Richter: 100%.

Now, Murdaugh’s attorneys are hoping their newest movement will likely be a get-out-of-jail-free card.

DICK HARPOOTLIAN (to reporters) We’re centered on getting him a brand new trial.

In September 2023, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin introduced their movement for a brand new trial primarily based on allegations of jury tampering by the Colleton County Clerk of Court docket Becky Hill.

JIM GRIFFIN: What we’ve got filed immediately … supported by sworn testimony of jurors, is that the clerk of court docket had improper personal communications with the jurors.

They argued that Hill violated Murdaugh’s proper to a good trial when she allegedly instructed jurors to not be fooled by his testimony and to look at his physique language, as Alex was about to take the stand.

In a signed affidavit, Hill denies the entire protection allegations. And voluntary statements from a majority of the jury help Hill’s account. Richter and Bland say even a brand new trial cannot save Alex Murdaugh.

Eric Bland: If the homicide conviction’s overturned, then you’ve gotten … the monetary crimes.

In keeping with the plea take care of prosecutors, Murdaugh might be sentenced to just about 30 years for the state costs alone.

Ronnie Richter: So sure, there is a theoretical universe by which Alex Murdaugh might see the solar once more, but it surely’s theoretical solely.

Eric Bland: It is like rearranging … the — the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Ronnie Richter: It is futile.

Michael DeWitt: For those who had been to jot down a made-for-TV Southern authorized drama … you could not have completed a greater job than this.

DeWitt writes about it in his e-book, “The Fall of the Home of Murdaugh,” which he ends with Stephen Smith.

Michael DeWitt: It is form of … attention-grabbing … and tragic that the oldest story … stays unsolved. … Fixing his homicide … I believe would be the finish of … this sweeping saga.

As SLED continues its investigation of the Smith case behind closed doorways, what investigators discovered after the Murdaugh murders stays the topic of intense hypothesis.

Nikki Battiste: Do you’ve gotten any concept what the brand new proof which may be offered to the grand jury is?

Eric Bland: No. Uh, I do know that SLED has Stephen’s cellphone. I do know that they’ve Stephen’s pill.

May Stephen’s cellphone reveal the id of the distinguished individual with whom he instructed Sandy he deliberate to go deep sea fishing?

Eric Bland: That’ll be attention-grabbing … what SLED has came upon and what the grand jury’s going to find out … whether or not the person who he was going to go away with deep sea fishing, um, had something to do together with his dying or his data of his dying.

Nikki Battiste: How has this struggle for justice been?

Sandy Smith: Oh, it has been an extended highway. However it’s value it.

Sandy is retaining the religion and retaining Stephen’s reminiscence alive. She not too long ago established a school scholarship in his title.

SANDY SMITH ANNOUNCEMENT :We’re beginning this scholarship fund, so different kids will not have it as onerous as Stephen did.

And he or she’s providing a $30 thousand reward for info resulting in an arrest.

Sandy Smith Announcement: Now it is your flip that if you realize one thing, that you just say one thing.

Nikki Battiste: What do you miss most about Stephen?

Sandy Smith: (Sighs) I miss the whole lot about him.

Nikki Battiste: What do you suppose Stephen would consider your struggle and the place we’re immediately in his case?

Sandy Smith: He’d say, “Oh Mama, you’ll do this for me?”

Nikki Battiste: Yep.

Sandy Smith: Yep, I’d. Time and again.

In case you have details about the Stephen Smith case, please e mail [email protected]

Alex Murdaugh’s request for a brand new trial for the homicide of his spouse and son was denied earlier this yr. In July, he requested the South Carolina Supreme Court docket to evaluation that call.    

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Produced by Gayane Keshishyan Mendez. Emma Steele and Dena Goldstein are the sphere producers. Ryan Smith is the event producer. Richard Fetzer is a discipline producer.Ken Blum, Gregory Kaplan, Michelle Harris and George Baluzy are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.