New lawyers representing the family of Stephen Smith, Buster Murdaugh's high school classmate who died in 2015 just miles from the Murdaugh family's South Carolina hunting estate, say they "don't accept" the 19-year-old's original cause of death.
The South Carolina State Highway Patrol initially said Smith died in a hit-and-run, but his family is skeptical and believes that there may be more to the story.
"It's going to be hard to open an investigation up after eight years, but it has to start with an exhumation of his body and an independent determination of the true cause of death, which we don't accept to be vehicular manslaughter," Ronnie Richter, partner at Bland Richter LLP, said in a Monday press conference.
Richter announced Sunday evening that the South Carolina firm would be representing Smith's family in their effort to get new answers in the 19-year-old's death.
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Partner Eric Bland said Monday that he thinks "forensic experts will be able to determine if [Smith] indeed…was struck by an automobile."
The attorneys plan to petition the court for an exhumation and a new autopsy.
"Stephen has a right not to have his grave disturbed, as do other people who are buried," Bland explained. "So, we're going to have to petition the court, show facts that would indicate that a fresh set of eyes — a new autopsy — may yield a different conclusion that Stephen was not killed on Sandy Run Road in Bamberg County. That maybe he was killed somewhere else."
Officials initially said Smith's car broke down before the hit-and-run, but Smith said her son would have "walked through the woods" on his way home if his car wasn't working instead of walking along the side of the road. She also said her son would not have left his wallet in the broken-down vehicle, as investigators determined in 2015.
"It's important to me because I just love my son, and since I couldn't protect him, I'm going to fight for him," Sandy Smith said during the Monday press conference, adding that she hopes to find the "real reason for Stephen's death."
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Questions about Smith's death arose after a Colleton County jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty in the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.
Buster Murdaugh said in a Monday statement shared by his family's attorney, Jim Griffin, that he "unequivocally" denies any involvement in Smith's death.
"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 wrote, adding that he has been "targeted and harassed" by members of the media and the public.
"This is not about Buster Murdaugh," Richter noted Monday. "This is about Stephen Smith. It's about trying to get answers to questions that his mother desperately needs answers for. So there's no reason to discuss Buster at all, and there's no comment to make back to Buster at all. We're going to find out, God willing or willing, what was Stephen Smith's true cause of death?"
Prosecutors say Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son in an effort to divert attention away from his mounting alleged financial crimes.
Bland also represents the family of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh family's former housekeeper, who died at the Murdaugs' home on their hunting property in an apparent 2018 fall.
Prosecutors also say Murdaugh secured $4.3 million in insurance settlements for Satterfield's family after her death, but the former attorney kept the money for himself, never alerting the family that he had secured a payout.
