Stephen Smith and his mother, Sandy.Photo: Justice for Stephen N. Smith Family Page/Facebook
Stephen Smith’s body was exhumedthis past weekend in a quest to learn what led to his untimely 2015 death, which wasrecently ruled a homicide. Prior to that, Smith’s attorney spoke to PEOPLE about the night of his killing.
Smith, 19, was found dead in the early morning hours of July 8, 2015 on a dark road in Hampton County, S.C., three miles away from his vehicle and near the estate of theMurdaugh family— a powerful local family known for their longstanding law firm. Before it was ruled a homicide, Smith’s death was declared a hit-and-run accident, andno arrests were ever made.
“He definitely didn’t run out of gas,” Bland said.
“Nobody leaves their wallet in their car, especially if they run out of gas,” Bland continued. “And nobody starts walking miles and miles — three miles from his car — down a country road at 4 in the morning.”
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Bland — who said he believes Smith was killed at another location before he was placed on the road — also confirmed that Smith had no drugs in his system at the time of his death.
Stephen Smith’s headstone.Courtesy Suzanne Andrews
Bland said that Smith’s twin sister said she did not receive any calls from her brother on the night he was killed.
Bland also told PEOPLE that he believes Smith’s death was a hate crime stemming from the fact that he was gay.
“It could be that a bunch of thug kids decide, ‘Hey, we’re going to beat up the gay kid,’ or it was somebody who felt that Stephen was going to out them,” he shared. “Stephen had told his mother that he was dating somebody of prominence. He was very secretive about his lifestyle. He wasn’t secretive about the fact that he was gay, but he respected the boundaries of people who he had relationships with.”
During the investigation after Smith’s death, the Murdaugh name was mentioned dozens of times as possibly being connected,FITSnews reported. Buster Murdaugh — the surviving son of convicted murdererAlex Murdaugh— and Smith were high school classmates.
However, authorities have never accused anyone in the Murdaugh family of being connected to the killing, and last month, Bustervehemently deniedthat he had anything to do with Smith’s death.
On Monday morning, Sandy Smith announced through the family’s attorneys that she is allocating a $35,000 reward from moniesraised from a GoFundMefor information leading to an arrest in connection with Stephen’s death.
source: people.com
