South Carolina teenager Stephen Smith was killed by a single blow to the forehead and died where he was discovered, a pathologist has claimed.
The 19-year-old was found dead on July 8, 2015, on a rural road in Hampton, near the Buster Murdaugh family home.
His death was initially ruled a hit and run, but was reclassified as a homicide earlier this year after investigators discovered new evidence while investigating the murders of Murdaugh’s mother and brother by his father, Alex Murdaugh.
Rumors swirled about the gay teen’s death and a possible connection to the Murdaughs, with theories including his death was a hate crime or that the killer dumped his body and staged it at the scene.
But now a forensic pathologist has refuted the claims, saying the team ‘does not believe he was placed there’.
“We believe that whatever happened happened right there,” Dr. Michelle Dupre told CBS’ 48 Hours.
Pathologist Michelle DuPre said Stephen Smith, who was initially believed to have been killed in a collision in South Carolina, actually died from a single blow to the head
The 19-year-old had a linear fracture caused by a 7-inch gash, which DuPre said proves he was not struck head-on by a vehicle.
Smith, pictured with his mother Sandy, was openly gay and rumors swirled that his death may have been a hate crime, with some suggesting he had been beaten with a baseball bat. However, this was also refuted by DuPre
The pathologist said Smith’s injuries “can tell us so much” about what happened, and also rule out the possibility that he was hit head-on by a car.
She pointed to a 7-inch gash on the front of his head and another where he fell backwards onto the sidewalk as evidence he was killed by “a single blow to the forehead” that “split his skull.”
DuPre also quashed the claim that Smith was beaten to death with a baseball bat.
‘Those types of injuries result in something called pattern injuries. We don’t see that here. This is a linear fraction,” she explained.
Smith’s body also conspicuously showed no other injuries, aside from some road rash that DuPre said was “to be expected” and indicated no signs of a struggle.
The findings provide some answers to a case that has been the subject of much speculation since Smith’s body was discovered on the street more than eight years ago.
His family has long claimed he was murdered because his body had no injuries to the torso and no car parts were found at the scene.
Graphic images from the scene showed Smith’s body in a pool of blood, with his shoes still on his feet, something investigators said would be highly unusual in a collision.
Buster Murdaugh has denied any involvement in Smith’s death, or ever having a relationship with him, after rumors spread in the wake of two documentaries about his death.
Highway patrol officers later claimed that they did not believe the scene was consistent with a traffic accident due to the lack of debris or skid marks.
Stephen Smith’s car was found in 2015 along Sandy Run Road in Hampton, South Carolina, not far from the Murdaugh home
Highway police officers also later said the location bore no similarities to a traffic accident.
In June 2021, Ny Breaking.com revealed that police investigating the teen’s suspicious death had interviewed witnesses about any relationship the dead boy had with the heir to South Carolina’s powerful Murdaugh legal dynasty.
Since then, two documentaries from HBO and Netflix have aired rumors claiming Buster Murdaugh was romantically involved with Smith.
Buster has refuted any involvement with his former classmate, either romantically or in his death.
“I never had anything to do with his murder,” he told Fox Nation. “I never had anything to do with him physically.”
Buster is the only surviving son of Alex Murdaugh who received two consecutive life sentences for murdering his wife Maggie and other son Paul in a failed attempt to make it appear that they were being targeted by a gang.
The murders occurred as Paul was about to be indicted for his role in a fatal boating accident and as Murdaugh struggled to control a slew of financial crimes and a spiraling opioid addiction.
DuPre refuted claims that Smith’s body may have been dumped in the road, citing his injury pattern as evidence that whatever happened to him happened where he was found.
Smith’s grave was exhumed after his mother raised $188,000 for a private autopsy
Prosecutors have not yet formally linked Buster and Smith’s deaths.
However, they decided to re-investigate Smith’s cold case following clues uncovered during the Alex Murdaugh investigation.
Several people from the documentaries claimed that the two had a secret relationship.
Earlier this year, it emerged that a rape kit had been ordered for Smith just hours after he was discovered, despite authorities initially ruling the death a hit and run.
“All I want is peace and to know what happened to my son,” said Smith’s mother, Sandy Smith. “He is my world and I will fight until the end.”
The grieving mother previously raised $188,000 to exhume her son’s body to obtain a private autopsy.