Stephen Smith’s mom claims cell phone data may be key to solving cold case murder of South Carolina teen linked to Murdaugh family

July 8, 2015: Teenager Stephen Smith dies

Smith was found on the side of the road.

Police officially ruled his death a collision, but he suffered blunt force trauma to the head.

His mother has since shared her belief that she thinks he was killed in a hate crime because he was gay.

Notes obtained by DailyMail.com revealed that Paul’s older brother Buster was mentioned several times in the investigation.

The police wanted to know more about his relationship with Stephen.

Stephen’s mother said he had had an ‘affair’.

Years later, one of Paul’s friends said in a statement that the family had “covered up” other murders.

He mentioned Smith’s death.

February 2, 2018: Murdaugh family housekeeper Gloria Satterfield passes away

Gloria died after ‘fell’ down the stairs in her parents’ home

The family gave her family $500,000 in a wrongful death settlement, but it is unclear why her death was considered their fault.

Alex Murdaugh was listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Satterfield was only 57 when she died.

She left behind a husband and children.

Her death was also mentioned in the statement from Paul Murdaugh’s boyfriend.

February 23, 2019: Mallory Beach dies while being thrown from a boat piloted by Paul Murdaugh

Paul was subsequently charged for drinking and behaving ‘belligerently’ that evening.

He was released on bail.

One of the six teenagers on board testified that they were afraid to talk about the Murdaugh family because they knew how to “cover things up.”

The boy’s name was Stephen Smith and the housekeeper and claimed Paul had pushed Beach off the boat.

June 7, 2021: Paul and Maggie are murdered

The mother and son were found shot to death in the family home in Islandton, South Carolina.

Alex Murdaugh says he found them at the house.

The medical examiner said the pair had been dead for no more than an hour when he discovered them.

It was later revealed that Alex had waited an hour before calling 911 about their deaths.

June 10, 2021: Alex’s 81-year-old father Randolph Murdaugh III dies ‘naturally’ and ‘peacefully’ at home

Alex Murdaugh’s alibi for the night of his wife and son’s murders was that he was visiting his sick father in the hospital.

The father died just three days later, after a battle with cancer.

September 3, 2021: Alex resigns from his law firm amid claims he misused funds

The company has hired a forensic investigator to search the accounts.

September 4, 2021: Alex calls 911 and claims he was shot in the head during a drive-by

He only had ‘superficial’ wounds and was also able to call his brother.

September 6, 2021: Alex resigns from a law firm

In a statement, he said: “I am resigning from my law firm and entering rehab after a long battle that has exacerbated these murders.”

September 14, 2021: Police arrest the alleged hitman in Alex’s shooting

Police say Alex Murdaugh orchestrated his own shooting in a failed assisted suicide scheme intended to allow his surviving son to collect a $10 million life insurance payout.

Curtis Edward Smith, 61, was arrested on charges of assisted suicide, assault and battery, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Smith, of Walterboro, South Carolina, is a former client of Murdaugh, who represented him in minor traffic cases and in a 2015 lawsuit Smith filed against a forest management company.

Police say Murdaugh paid him to shoot him in the head and kill him, making it look like a random drive-by attack.

September 15, 2021: Police open a criminal investigation into Satterfield’s 2018 death

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has announced it is investigating the 2018 death of Gloria Satterfield and the subsequent handling of her estate.

Satterfield, 57, had been Murdaugh’s housekeeper and nanny for about 25 years when she suffered a fatal brain injury after a mysterious fall at the Murdaugh family home.

She died several weeks later on February 26, 2018.

SLED said the hit opened a criminal investigation into Satterfield’s death based on a request from the Hampton County coroner, as well as “information gathered during our other ongoing investigations involving Alex Murdaugh.”

September 16, 2021: Alex turns himself in to the police for insurance fraud

Murdaugh turned himself over to police in connection with the insurance fraud scheme, where he arranged his own murder so his surviving son could collect a $10 million payout.

He is charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false report.

November 29, 2021: Murdaugh faces 27 new charges following an indictment alleging $4.8 million in financial crimes

Murdaugh was indicted on 27 additional charges, with prosecutors saying he stole nearly $5 million in settlement money he obtained for his late housekeeper, a wounded state trooper and other people, as well as fees intended for his law firm.

December 6, 2021: Satterfield’s family sues Bank of America for allowing Murdaugh to stash life insurance money meant for them

The bank was added as a defendant in the lawsuit against Murdaugh, who is accused of cheating Gloria Ann Satterfield’s sons out of life insurance money after the housekeeper’s mysterious death.

Statterfield’s sons say the bank looked the other way when Murdaugh was allowed to set up a fake account and transfer the insurance payments to himself and a cousin.

June 28, 2022: Alex Murdaugh and Curtis Smith are charged with drug trafficking

Murdaugh is accused of writing 437 checks worth $2.4 million that Curtis Smith – the man he hired to kill him – cashed over eight years until September 2021.

Smith kept some of the money for himself and used the rest for a variety of illegal activities, according to the indictments unsealed June 28.

That illegal activity, according to prosecutors, included a “distribution network” for the painkiller oxycodone.

Both men were charged with possessing, manufacturing or distributing narcotics.

July 21, 2022: Palmetto State Bank CEO is charged with bank fraud for ‘helping Murdaugh steal money from his customers’

A federal grand jury has indicted Russell Lafitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, for allegedly conspiring with Murdaugh to steal $8.5 million from his client’s settlements.

He is charged with bank fraud, bank fraud and misappropriation of bank funds.

November 8, 2022: Laffitte faces a federal lawsuit

Laffitte’s federal trial on the bank fraud charges began on November 8.

The Associated Press reported that attorneys Bart Daniel and Matt Austin claim Murdaugh manipulated people and lied to Laffitte.

They say he was merely a pawn following Murdaugh’s instructions and did not willfully participate in the alleged fraud.

August 2023: Laffite is sentenced to seven years in prison

Banker Russell Laffitte was sentenced to seven years in prison in early August for helping the disgraced lawyer steal millions from his clients and his law firm.

Prosecutors say he plotted with Murdaugh to cheat two sisters out of money they received after their mother and brother died in a crash in 2005.

Although Laffitte received more than $400,000 for watching over the sister’s money, they attempted to embezzle $990,000 for Murdaugh and $355,000 for Laffitte.

August 15, 2023: Cory Fleming is sentenced to 46 months for helping to defraud the sons of Murdaugh housekeeper Gloria Satterfield

Fleming received nearly four years in prison and was ordered to pay more than $100,000 in restitution for his involvement in defrauding Satterfield’s sons

Murdaugh and Fleming planned to convince the Satterfields to hire Fleming to represent them and file a claim against Murdaugh after her death.

The pair then set up fake accounts and siphoned off the payout, then produced fake distribution sheets to get the payout approved by a judge.