As if all of the foregoing wasn't wild enough, apparently, information gathered from the Murdaugh double murder investigation has prompted law enforcement to reopen a case regarding the 2015 death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith. Investigators bid to solve last weeks double homicide draws fresh scrutiny on 2015 cold case . Smith was found dead on July 8, 2015, on Sandy Run Road near Joe Miley Road in Hampton. 11:29 a.m. SLED: Tallon and Burke attend autopsy at MUSC. SLED opened the investigation based on information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, SLED spokesperson Tommy Crosby told FITSNews. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division spokesman Tommy Crosby said earlier this week that SLED was opening its own investigation into Smiths death not a reopening of another agencys probe but rather bringing a fresh set of eyes onto the case. "While the many questions about my son's death remain, this action gives me hope that we will get justice for my Stephen," she said. Yes. Murdaugh's. Stephen's death is one of several mysterious or accidental deaths that have swirled around the Murdaugh family in recent years. Stephen Smith, 19, was found dead in the middle of the road outside of Hampton with a gaping head wound, his skull partially crushed and his shoulder dislocated. His name is going to be right there with everyone elses name and I dont care who knows it.. They took him from his car; everybody knew his car because he had the ugliest little banana [car] in town. She tells police Stephen was going to school in Orangeburg and hung out at Bobcat Landing a lot recently. At first, they thought it was a hit and run. Sandy told Duncan that she heard rumors about the Murdaugh boys had something to do with Stephens death. SLEDs inquiry into the Smith family does not mean its agents believe they had anything to do with the deaths of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh. Sandy and Todd Proctor, two former South Carolina Highway Patrol detectives who investigated Stephen's death, could not find proof to back up claims about the Murdaughs' connection to the case. 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. Rowell did not make a note of the Murdaugh tip in his written notes. SCHP: Moore calls Mitch Altman and tells him to go to the scene and see if he can find any debris. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? A source close to the family also told FITSNews that the Beaches have not been questioned again since providing their statements and DNA. We have an open microphone policy here at FITSNews! The Hampton community is hoping a suspect can be identified, after 19-year-old Stephen Smith was found dead on Sandy Run Road in an apparent hit and run. Tallon notes the weather was cloudy and 92 degrees. Paul Murdaugh, 22, and his mother Maggie, 52, were found slain at their family's hunting lodge in Islandton on June 7 just after 10 p.m., according to reports. He tells them to meet him at the funeral home. According to law enforcement at the time, his death was the consequence of a hit-and-run. In their search, investigators from SCHP, the Hampton County sheriffs office, and SLED found virtually no evidence no bullets, no gunshot residue, no tire marks, no debris from a vehicle. 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.. Ready to watch a new true crime docuseries thatll make your head spin? He doesnt deserve people to think that.. July 8, 2015: Stephen Smith, 19, is found dead on Sandy Run Road in Hampton County.No arrest is made in the case. Alex Murdaugh, Paul's father and . She said they were adamant it was a gunshot wound, so they mapped the scene and began to gather evidence as they would normally do.. The gas tank door was open and the gas cap was hanging on the side of the vehicle. 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. 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. He would have seen headlights coming and got off the road. (Is Outer Banks a real place?). In a report (below) by Todd Proctor, a MAIT detective for SCHP, it was clear that investigators didnt agree with the pathologists conclusion to rule the death a hit and run. 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. The final autopsy report said that Stephens cause of death was blunt head trauma, motor vehicle crash, pedestrian vs. vehicle. 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.. 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. At the time of his death, Paul was awaiting trial after being charged with several felonies in connection to the deadly crash, including boating under the influence. Murdaugh Murders: What happened to Gloria Satterfield? Michael E. Duncan of the incident. A mother knows her child, and my son would not do that," Sandy said. State police said information they gathered in the Murdaugh investigations also led them to review what was initially reported as the hit-and-run death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith in Hampton . And now a retired South Carolina state trooper, who led the investigation into Smiths death, told Fox News he had long suspected the case to have been a murder. He was taken to a . Sandy Smith told FITSNews that SLED is investigating her sons death as a homicide which is something she wishes they did six years ago. Frantic Families Trapped in Their Homes and Running Out of Food After Massive Snowstorm Cripples California, 3 Female Bodybuilders Say League Owner's Son Sexually Exploited Them While Their Careers Hung in the Balance, Innocent Michigan Man, 71, Walks Free After 2 Decades in Prison Thanks to True Crime Coverage of His Case, Lindsay Clancy: Timeline of Events in the Case of Massachusetts Mom Accused of Killing Her 3 Children, Abby Choi Case: Police Scour Landfill Searching for Dismembered Model's Missing Torso, Hands and Arms, 2 Missing Women Found Alive by Maine Game Wardens After Being Stuck in Their Car in Freezing Temperatures. Sandy Smith was told that if she wanted her sons case to be looked at by SLED, she would have to write a letter. No arrests have been made in Smith's death. Here is a look at the events surrounding his indictments:June 7, 2021: Murdaugh calls police to report his wife Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22, have been fatally shot near a dog kennel on their property.June 23, 2021: An investigation into the hit-and-run death of Stephen Smith, 19, unsolved for six years, is reopened based on information . An official autopsy had ruled the death as a possible hit-and-run, yet some authorities refuted that report after making their own observations at the scene. Shes an investigative journalist from Kansas who has worked for newspapers in Missouri, Illinois, and South Carolina before making the switch to FITS. SLED's reopened investigation was first reported by FITSNews Tuesday evening. Officially, Smiths death was classified as a hit and run. Then he was beat up, so the story just kept changing over and over," said Sandra Smith, Stephen's mother, this week. Stephen Smith's body was found on Sandy Run Road in Hampton County on July 8, 2015. Multi-Action Disciplinary Team case notes obtained by Inside Edition Digital through a Freedom of Information Act request offer insight from the night Stephen Smith was killed. Allen, of the SCHP, telling him about a possible hit and run on Sandy Run Road. 9:20 a.m. SLED: Agents then responded approximately 3 miles to the victims vehicle on the side of Bamberg Highway. In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, Sandy Smith said she was grateful that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), handing the Murdaugh investigation, and the Attorney General's Office have provided "some closure" in the deaths. 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. South Carolina state investigators have opened an investigation into a fatal 2015 hit-and-run case based on information gleaned from the investigation into the murders of two members of a prominent South Carolina family. Is Mother and Son Murder Connected to Death of Woman in Drunken Boat Crash. Investigators theorized that the mirror of a semi-truck hit Stephens head. 12:30 p.m. MUSC autopsy report: Dr. Erin Presnell begins the autopsy on Stephen. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Smalls said hell call right back but doesnt. SCHP: Moore calls Peeples-Rhoden Funeral Home and speaks with a funeral home director. The rumor thats going around Hampton that everybody keeps coming up to me and saying it was Murdaugh boys, she says. SCHP: Duncan talks to Stephens family and they reject the ruling that Stephen would have been hit by a car. The three-part series chronicles the string of deaths that the family is connected to, including a teenager named Mallory Beach who tragically died in a boating accident. Singleton tells Moore he wasnt at his desk and would call him back in 30 minutes. His wallet was inside the car. She has been searching for answers ever since. 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. Allen tells Duncan that the only injuries to the victim were around the head area.. After interviewing several sources who knew the Murdaugh brothers, SCHP detective Proctormade some significant assessments of the family. Years before Maggie and Paul were killed, there was another murder in South Carolina that also might have ties to the Murdaugh family. She also says shes received a book deal offer and even a Netflix movie opportunity about the case, but shes turned it all down. Alex Murdaugh called 911 Saturday and said he had been shot as he stood at the side of a road in Hampton County, South Carolina, according to a statement from the state police. And while South Carolina investigators havent said what evidence prompted them to open the investigation into Smiths death, Proctor told Fox that the Murdaugh name came up during the investigation and that the family was not particularly cooperative. Moore tells him to go to the scene and sit there between 3 and 5 a.m. to document what type of traffic was moving at that time in the morning. Perry Singleton and Chief Billy Jarrell, the SLED report said. There's a bright light being shined on that county. They believed he was walking home when the incident occurred, the report said. Despite the lack of tire marks or automobile debris, investigators ruled his death a hit-and-run accident. Im telling you man to man I didnt kill him.. We have got to keep the light on his story and to keep the fire underneath other people's behinds to get it solved. 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