Alex Murdaugh’s son denies involvement in Stephen Smith’s death

Buster Murdaugh, son of convicted murderer Alex
Murdaugh, has denied any involvement in the death of Stephen Smith, his high school classmate who was
found dead in the middle of a South Carolina road in 2015. According to him, the “baseless rumors” surrounding
his involvement in Smith’s death have continued for too long.

Smith’s family had announced last week that their son’s body would be exhumed. Investigators had reopened
an investigation into his death based on information from the murders of Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son.

In a statement via his attorney Jim Griffin who represented his father, Buster Murdaugh said, “I have 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. I love them so much and
miss them terribly. I haven’t spoken up until now because I want to live in private while I cope with their
deaths and my father’s incarceration.”

He continued, “I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith
family.”

Alex Murdaugh, a formerly prominent South Carolina lawyer, was convicted for the fatal shootings of his
wife and son on March 2, 2023, nearly two years after their deaths in 2021. His trial lasted 28 days.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, reopened Smith’s case two weeks after Alex Murdaugh’s
wife and son were killed in June 2021 based on information learned from the Murdaugh case but did not provide
any details. The body of Smith, 19, was found on the road on July 8, 2015. He suffered blunt force trauma to
the head, and his death was initially ruled a hit-and-run by a pathologist, per CNN. However, the state
highway patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team determined “no vehicle debris, skid marks, or
injuries consistent with someone being struck by a vehicle.”

As of Monday morning, Smith’s family has raised over $65,000 to put towards the exhumation and a private
autopsy after learning he would be exhumed at MUSC, the same place where his death was ruled a hit-and-run.

“We need a new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on
facts. There was no debris in the road, and his injuries were not consistent with a hit-and-run,” Smith’s
mother, Sandy, wrote on a GoFundMe page, adding that the family believes “2023 is Stephen’s year.”

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