"These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false. "I've tried my best to ignore the vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen Smith’s tragic death that continue to be published in the media as I grieve over the brutal murders of my mother and brother," he said. However, the rumor mill continued to run despite their reported desires to cover things up, and CNN noted that initial South Carolina Highway Patrol case files for Stephen's death showed dozens of mentions of the Murdaugh name (including Buster) by both witnesses and investigators.īuster Murdaugh has not been charged with Stephen Smith's death, but he recently made a statement about his rumored involvement. Buster was reportedly in a covert relationship with Stephen, who was openly gay, and the secret nature of their connection was due to the Murdaughs not wanting it attached to their family name. While they did not expand on what that additional information was, we do know that a private investigator hired by Stephen's mother Sandy Smith discovered that he was linked to Buster Murdaugh (the oldest Murdaugh son, who is still alive). In addition, Wunderlich explained that SLED has been looking into the details since 2021 when the case was reopened "based upon information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh" according to NBC. They have expressed their condolences to the Smith family and will continue to work diligently to bring those responsible for Stephen's death to justice."
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According to People, attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter shared in a joint statement that they waited to announce Stephen's death being investigated as a homicide until after Alex Murdaugh's trial "out of concern that witnesses would not be as forthcoming under the Murdaugh sphere of influence." They also noted in their statement that SLED officials will "participate in any exhumation of Stephen's body to gather more evidence" and are backing Sandy Smith in her "efforts to find out what really happened to her son.
They also couldn’t figure out how Smith suffered a severe head injury.In March 2023, SLED ( South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) spokesperson Renée Wunderlich confirmed that the teen's 2015 death would officially be investigated as a homicide. Smith’s death was bizarrely ruled a hit-and-run by the county medical examiner even though investigators from the South Carolina Highway Patrol didn’t see any skid marks or car debris on the roadway.
The police reports do not indicate if officers followed up on the complaint or if the information was passed along to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) which recently labeled Smith’s death a homicide and has re-opened the investigation. “The victim stated that the calls began last week after his friend’s funeral,” the report said. “The calls informed the victim that he would die the same way Smith did, and the victim believes that (Smith’s) death was a homicide,” states the police incident report obtained by.
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And that, I believe, was the last time I talked to him,” Bickhardt told investigators.įive days later, Bickhardt called the Hampton Police Department to report a series of harassing phone calls originating from the Cayman Islands. “They’re like coming toward him or going past because they sounded loud - and they were getting louder.
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