Were not classifying this as anything other than a murder, Proctor said in an audio recording. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. How injury occurred: Subject was apparently hit by a motor vehicle possibly a truck. Sadly, the latest update in the Stephen Smith case came back in 2021, but with Alex Murdaugh on trial and with the release ofMurdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, were crossing our fingers we hear more developments soon. How he died remains a mystery to this day. Well keep you updated if and when we hear anything. SCHP: Moore calls Presnell to try and understand what made her decide Stephen was killed in a hit and run. She tells police Stephen was going to school in Orangeburg and hung out at Bobcat Landing a lot recently. It said the manner of death (which is either homicide, accident, natural, suicide, or undetermined) was still undetermined. One of the guys that supposedly did this, Stephen told his twin sister that he had a fling with the boy, she said. SCHP: Moore writes I turned the clothing over to Duncan and after a discussion by all parties as to why this did not appear to be related to a motor vehicle.. "When they told me hit and run I said that's impossible because Stephen wouldn't have been walking in the road to start with. Crime scene photos obtained by FITSNews are horrific Stephens entire face was covered in blood that cascaded from a 7.25-inch gaping hole on the right side of his forehead. Rowell calls later and tells him he could find no debris at all., Altman goes to the scene and calls him back stating he could find nothing.. While reporters from all over the nation contacted her last week about her sons story, she just wants the official call from law enforcement telling her they reopened the case. SLED is simply looking at anyone who may have had a possible motive in the case including the survivors of a high-profile February 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-oldMallory Beach. She had no evidence other than that for the statement being put in the report., Proctor said that he explained to her that law enforcement officers had no evidence of this individual being struck by a vehicle.. It has been apparent from the first week of the investigation that authorities are covering up critical evidence and we no longer know who to trust, Smith wrote. She also said she believed that the Murdaughs influence extended to all realms of the investigation and was initially tainted when it was ruled a hit-and-run incident (see below for part of Sandy Smiths letter). Sign up forPEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. Editors Note: The timeline below is an outline of an investigation shared for the purpose of full disclosure as the case is getting attention from sleuths across the country. The final autopsy report said that Stephens cause of death was blunt head trauma, motor vehicle crash, pedestrian vs. vehicle. Perry Singleton and Chief Billy Jarrell, the SLED report said. The family of Stephen Smith wants more investigation into his death, which was declared a hit-and-run. SCHP: Moore calls Mitch Altman and tells him to go to the scene and see if he can find any debris. Now, police investigating the shooting deaths of. The case is being reexamined, partly because some Murdaugh family members were among those first on the scene. The man says that hes done a lot of drugs and had brain injuries. Stephens relative tells him that she just officially left the house for the first time since Stephens death the day before and went to the store and a bunch of people kept coming up to her saying Did you know the Murdaugh Boys are behind it, saying Buster Murdaugh the, one we went to school with did it, and some of his friends.. His phone and keys were still in his pocket. Sandy says shes skeptical of the man claiming to be Stephens boyfriend. To be fair, police appeared to be pursuing other persons of interest as well and never named anyone as a suspect. Smith died on a rural road in Hampton County, in 2015 that was ruled a hit-and-run.. Smith's mother, Sandy, told the the Hampton County Guardian, part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2015 that she believed her son's death was the result of foul play and a possible hate crime because her son was gay. The key is turned over to HCSO personnel. The battery was functional, however the vehicle would not start., 9:40 a.m. SLED: Agents leave the scene of the car after doing a walk-through with Singleton and Jarrell. Rowell did not make a note of the Murdaugh tip in his written notes. 11:03 a.m. SCHP: Duncan travels to Hampton County and interviews a member of the Smith family at the DMV office (a substation for SCHP). This decision to rule his death a hit-and-run appeared to skew the investigation by SCHPs Multi-disciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) who typically investigate accidents, not murders. Todd Proctor, S.C. Highway Patrol's lead investigator in the 2015 Stephen Smith case, tells multiple news outlets that he still doesn't believe Smith died as a result of a hit-and-run. 8:22 p.m. SCHP: Moore calls Burke. For more than two decades, she had served as the family housekeeper and nanny. in. Whoever they are, she tells Duncan. "There was no evidence of this being a hit and run. Sandy told Duncan that she heard rumors about the Murdaugh boys had something to do with Stephens death. His death was ruled a hit-and-run, but his mother Sandy Smith, who attended Sunday's unveiling, has long suspected he was murdered. RELATED|Boat Crash Lawsuit: Murdaughs Refuse To Settle, Withhold Financial Records From Victims Family. As SLED begins its probe into Stephens death, its important to look back on the 2015 investigation to see what went awry. She tells him they located Smiths car on US 601 and that the gas cap was off. Not only is it believed he swept crimes committed by his family under the rug and has been involved in fraud, but hes also been accused of murder. Mallory Beach's parents also spoke out in the 20/20 documentary, remembering their daughter who died after an accident involving a Murdaugh family boat. 2. All Rights Reserved. So Moore calls Smalls again and gets voicemail. Someone just left him in the middle of the road to die . part of an apparent hit and run. 11:29 a.m. SLED: Tallon and Burke attend autopsy at MUSC. Stephen Smith, 19, died on a rural road in Hampton County, S.C., in 2015 in a controversial homicide that was officially ruled a hit-and-run. Stephen's mother and his twin sister speak out to Melvin . According to law enforcement at the time, his death was the consequence of a hit-and-run. The mother of the 19-year-old Stephen Smith has told news outlets for the past six years that she thought her son was beaten to death and not hit by a vehicle in Hampton County and she. Proctor wrote that Presnell spoke in a negative tone and basically called (him) a liar when he said that hed already spoken to Hampton County Coroner Ernie Washington. The former S.C. Highway Patrol trooper had recently told several media outlets that Stephen Smith's 2015 death was likely a murder staged to look like a hit-and-run. Stephens massive head wound along with the lack of other significant injuries on his body stumped investigators on scene. The South Carolina Highway Patrol received an anonymous tip connecting the Murdaugh family to the hit-and-run death of Stephen Smith back in 2015, the New York Post reports. Hes never said anything bad about Stephen. No arrests have been made in Smith's death. 6:00 a.m. SCHP: Duncan, on the way to the scene, calls Booker said he was told it appeared to be a homicide and SLED was taking it over. Booker says he was advised there was a possible gunshot wound to the victims head. On July 22, 2015, Proctor visited Presnell at MUSC to get some sort of clarification on the Smith case. (wrongful death lawsuit updates). No they dont they care about protecting themselves.. Like the probe of the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach, the 2015 investigation into Smiths death was chaotic from the beginning clouded by jurisdictional confusion and suspicions of investigative interference. According to the autopsy, Greene was responsible for evidence transfer in the case. Got a tip for a story? Investigators with the S.C. Highway Patrol ( SCHP). Smith died on a rural road in Hampton County in 2015, in what was ruled a hit-and-run. SCHP: Moore calls Peeples-Rhoden Funeral Home and speaks with a funeral home director. Additionally, the episode will reveal new details in the death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in 2015 after an alleged hit and run. She is working writing an official letter to SLED. The rumor thats going around Hampton that everybody keeps coming up to me and saying it was Murdaugh boys, she says. But her dad was "a little iffy on accepting the offer. Washington tells him its been taken to the funeral home per the familys wishes at the time of the death notification.. Or an issue youd like to address proactively? He would not let a car, let alone a truck, get close enough to hit him. Allen informs Moore that it is a homicide, not a hit and run. "He had his cell phone, he was six miles from the house," she insisted. Photo: Facebook. Stephen's death is one of several mysterious or accidental deaths that have swirled around the Murdaugh family in recent years. The Murdaugh familys ties to the legal system sparked questions about whether the investigation into Mallory's death was done properly. Source: YouTube/Law&Crime Network (video still) Buster Murdaugh The vehicle doors were locked. Singleton took the wallet, according to the report. "That no family, no community, no friends, no one had come to help her try to get a headstone. A man driving on the road that evening called police just before 5 a.m.to report a person lying in the roadside,according to police reports. Moore is called by Cpl. Moore calls Croft to ask which agents were at the scene that morning. She just wants to know who was responsible for murdering her child. Moore asks Burke if she can come to the funeral home the next morning., 5:50 a.m. SCHP: Moore calls Rowell and Payne and tells them to go back to the scene to locate and debris or anything out of the ordinary.. He also said SLED has not contacted Proctor to assist in their investigationat the time of the interview. According to our sources, all of the boat crash survivors and Beachs family members voluntarily submitted to questioning and volunteered to provide their DNA as a part of the double homicide investigation. Cr. Stephen's murder was ruled a hit-and-run with no one arrested for the crime, but in 2021, the case was reopened. Additional counties and states will be added to this database as time and funding permit. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? These boys were coming from a baseball game and I think that they were right behind him, so when he had to pull over, they were right there. The vehicle was in park. One of those deaths? Beach died when a 17-foot center console fishing boat allegedly driven by an inebriated Paul Murdaugh slammed into a pylon near theArchers Creek bridge on February 24, 2019 around 2:25 a.m. Murdaugh was charged with three felony counts of boating under the influence (BUI) in the aftermath of that crash. Similar to the homicide case, SLED has revealed little information to the public since confirming it is reopening the case to the family,Inside Edition Digital previously reported. May be bigger ponds, lakes n oceans with bigger fish, but life sure is good when you're top of the food chain, in these swamps. At another point in the investigation, Proctor appeared frustrated that local sources were hesitant and scared to speak of the Murdaughs to police. Murdaugh will face three charges in the shooting, but with several ongoing investigations and. King World Productions Inc. 2023 Inside Edition Inc. and CBS interactive Inc., Paramount companies. The family keeps his casket open so that people could see what they did to him. As any investigator, you go off of the evidence there was no evidence that pointed towards this being a hit and run, or a vehicle even being involved in it. Or "king's ransom" waiting to be found A Slap In the Face: Update In The Stephen Smith Case And Murdaugh Murders, Murdaugh Murders: The Latest On The Boat Crash Lawsuit And Obstruction Of Justice Investigation, Boat Crash Lawsuit: Murdaughs Refuse To Settle, Withhold Financial Records From Victims Family, Apparent Human Trafficking Raid Jolts Coastal South Carolina Neighborhood, Murdaugh Murders: South Carolina Attorney General Must Step In And Remove Rogue Solicitor, Powerful Storms, Tornadoes Sweep Through SC: Photos From The Upstate to Lowcountry, SC State House: Speaker Of The House Livid After Close Friend Loses Primary Fight, Mark Powells Palmetto Past & Present: Lost Confederate Gold, Ron Paul: The Anti-War Movement Roars Back To Life, LIVE FEED Murdaugh Murders Trial: Day Twenty-Six. In a recording that features in the documentary, a South Carolina State Trooper tells an unidentified phone tipster that he received at least "nine phone calls" about a rumor connecting the Murdaugh family to Stephen's mysterious roadside death. Cuts and bruises dotted his right hand. According to the investigation file, Buster was rumored to have been linked to Stephen intimately but detectives never proved this connection. Of course, the fact SLED is interviewing Sandy Smith means it is taking seriously the suggestion that the Murdaugh family may have had something to do with the death of her son. I think its a situation when you grow up and your family is kinda high-profile and you get away withsome things because of your family name, Proctor said in 2015. We have got to keep the light on his story and to keep the fire underneath other people's behinds to get it solved. Stephen Smith's body was found along Sandy Run Road in Hampton County in July 2015. 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