Law&Crime Sidebar - Inside Stephen Smith’s Autopsy: Homicide Probe Takes Shocking Turn After Alex Murdaugh Conviction

Episode Date: April 4, 2023

The death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith received renewed attention during the Alex Murdaugh family murders trial. After the disgraced lawyer was convicted, investigators reopened Smith’s death investigation, labeling it a homicide and even noting two people of interest in the case. The South Carolina man was found dead in the middle of the road in Hampton County in 2015 and later laid to rest by his family. His mother, Sandy Smith, successfully raised funds to exhume his body for a second autopsy, which was quietly performed over the weekend. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy discusses the autopsy and investigation with Dr. D’Michelle DuPre, one of the pathologists who conducted the autopsy, and Dr. Kenneth Kinsey, who helped convict Alex Murdaugh.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. This is a crime investigation and sled. Our state police agency is handling that and we are working with them to provide them any information and support. A second autopsy complete. A second investigation is underway and a reward is being offered for information about the death of Stephen Smith. No matter how small, somebody knows something. Thanks for joining us for Law and Crimes Sidebar podcast. I'm Ann Janette Levy. Sandy Smith has been demanding answers in the death of her son, Stephen, since 2015. She and many of the law enforcement officers who worked on

his case, never believed that he died as the result of a hit and run. Over the weekend, experts hired by Smith's lawyers performed a second autopsy on Stephen and examined the road where his body was found. Dr. Michelle Dupree oversaw the exhumation of Stephen Smith's body and the second autopsy. We actually went to the graveside on Friday. We exhumed the body and then transported it to Tampa, Florida, under police escort the entire time. The autopsy. Second autopsy, was done on Saturday morning. I was present. We had a forensic anthropologist on board, as well as the forensic pathologist who actually performed the autopsy. All of this was viewed and photographed by our law enforcement that accompanied us in the body there. It was then transported back to South Carolina on Saturday and then reburied on Sunday. you said by police escort was the casket driven or was it flown or how did this occur well it was in a vault and so it was removed the casket was removed from the vault in south carolina and the casket along with the body was not opened it was transported in a van by vehicle to tampa and then opened at the second lab how difficult is it to exume a body after almost eight years obviously depending on the conditions in the grave and what happened in the embalming process i I would assume sometimes these bodies can be well preserved and the work can be done efficiently

and effectively. But is there a challenge that this passage of time poses? Well, yes, there is always a challenge because this is the second autopsy. So you are relooking at everything that has been done. And then as you mentioned, the condition of the body may also play a role. We were very fortunate in this case. We actually completed an entire second forensic autopsy. and we were able to get everything that we needed to move forward.

Dr. Dupree won't discuss the results of the second autopsy at this time because the final reports are not complete. But she said she and the forensic anthropologist who examines bones, Dr. Heather Walsh Haney and the pathologist who performed the autopsy, Dr. Dan Schultz, were able to come to a conclusion about Stephen's death. Not knowing what condition we might find the body in, we wanted to make sure that we had all of our bases covered. And as you said, because this is determining partly on the bone fragments or the skull, we wanted to make sure we had someone

there that could look at that. How difficult is that when you're dealing with injuries to bone? Obviously, you want to look at something as early as you can in the process. But is that, is that a difficult field? Or is that, I mean, can you come to different conclusions based on one person looking at it versus another. Well, you know, you can always have different opinions. However, again, we're very fortunate that bones, bones last pretty much forever. And we can often tell, especially, it's been eight years. And that is not that long in relative terms for us to reexamine a body.

And so, again, the bones were in very good condition. And the body was as well. I mean, we were able to see things that we needed to see. And so because we had the forensic anthropologist there, I think that was just an added level of confidence that we had. Interesting. So do you think we're getting closer to some concrete answers about Stephen's passing following the second autopsy? I think so. I think that, again, any investigation, we look at that totality of circumstances, which just surrounding the entire death, not just the

autopsy, not just the scene, but all the factors taken into consideration. And I think the second autopsy that was done, along with some of the information from the first autopsy, which, by the way, I think this should be said. The original autopsy was very professional. It was a very professional and well done autopsy. So when we take a look at everything, then the investigation can put that together. And that's where law enforcement comes in. And they will be doing, you know, the lead on that investigation. We'll be supporting them any way we can. I think it's interesting. You brought that up. The first autopsy conducted by Dr. Aaron Presnell. I read the report. Obviously, she did her due diligence. You read everything that she went through. And it's, it's, it's, It's thorough. It is thorough. She just believed for whatever reason, because Stephen's body was in the middle of the road, that this was a death caused by a hit and run by a vehicle. And despite there being no debris from a vehicle present. And she listed it as undetermined. So I find that a little bit strange just because of the circumstances surrounding it. But you're saying this was a professional autopsy. And when I asked you a prior question, you said experts can come to

different conclusions and disagree. Well, there's two things and you make an excellent point. An autopsy is an opinion of that person, the pathologist, doing the exam. So it is an opinion. I do say it was a professional autopsy and thorough. And unfortunately, the other thing that you said is that because the body was in the road. And that was just an unfortunate statement, really. If we find a body in a swimming pool, we don't say they drown because they were in the pool. We say they drown because of the evidence. And again, that I think it was a misstatement. I think she probably regrets it. And then it just got sort of misconstrued from there. But it was a very professional autopsy. There was been so much hay made about the fact that Stephen, his genital area, was swabbed for potential DNA. It's my

understanding with the circumstances surrounding this case. You have a young man whose body was found in the middle of a road. And this could very well be, we don't know what happened. Is that uncommon? because I would think that you would, that would be part of something, if you're looking at something as a potential homicide, that would be talk to people who tell me that that was not unusual that that was done. You're right. Anytime that we have a sort of unusual circumstances, it's not uncommon to do a sexual assault kit on males or females. And the other point that you brought up earlier is that this was signed out as undetermined. And as you know, there's really only five manners of death, accident, homicide, suicide, natural, or undetermined. And undetermined leaves that case open for new information to be found and been continued. So essentially, it was never really a closed case. And in this case, the sexual assault kit was done on Stephen for, I think, a variety of reasons.

And I think that was a good thing. As that second autopsy was being conducted, other investigation was underway at the scene on Sandy Run Road, where Stephen's body was found in the early morning hours of July 8th, 2015. Remember Dr. Kenney Kinsey from the Alec Murdoch trial? He was the state's reconstruction expert for the crime scene at Moselle. Well, he is now leading the investigation into Stephen Smith's death. Where do you start on a case like this where this is an almost eight-year-old case? So where do you start when you look at, when you look at Stephen Smith's murder, where do you start in reevaluating that?

Well, you start at the beginning. And, Jeanette, I got the case filed. and looked at the original scene, went to both locations, spent a day this weekend, doing my own measurements, finding the location, seeing what has remained constant, and seeing what has changed. What have you found so far in reviewing this case? Well, as I just said, a lot of it is verifying, seeing what's constant, what has changed. If I'm ever put in a position where I have to testify, I wanted to have my own data as much as I can depend on the part that hasn't changed. So it was important for me to visit both

things and try to figure out the possible, I guess the possible past that Stephen might have traveled that night, every possibility if he wasn't picked up. I got to look at it from all sides. And I'm trying to keep an open mind. So I did a lot of walk in and in the woods, out of the woods, on the pavement, a lot of measurement. I'd start over and get back in the vehicle and clock it again and use some Google Earth and some satellite imagery, that kind of thing. And I even met some folks and spoke to some people along the way. And it was interesting and it was a pretty full day. When you look at the case file and you look at the notes from the Highway Patrol troopers who were investigating this,

they didn't think from the very beginning that this was a hit and run. They thought this was, I guess, a homicide and that Stephen Smith died in some other ones. other than being struck by a vehicle. Do you share that opinion? It is really too early for me to even have an opinion at this point. Like I said, I want to look at every different scenario, every possibility. And then if I uncover something, you know, I've been retained by Eric Blan and Ronnie Richter, their firm. If I obtain something that's useful, it's passed on immediately because we don't want to contradict any criminal investigation that's going on. I am a law enforcement officer, but I have no jurisdiction in Hampton. So we're kind of running a parallel

investigation and hopefully we may find something that helped SLED or the local authorities, whichever. Hopefully we'll locate something. You mentioned SLED and that this is a parallel investigation. As a law enforcement officer, sometimes I feel like when I've observed criminal investigations unfold, you know, a lot of times police, they don't want people involved in their investigation. They don't want a parallel investigation, but it appears that SLED is open to this, that they've reached out and said to Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter that they would partner with them or collaborate in some fashion as much as they could or were willing to. So do you find that unusual that SLED is willing to work on this with them? Well, I think SLED is like the rest of our team

members. They want to get answers for the Smith family. And there are certainly things that they can't include us in. There are certain things that Mr. Blan and Mr. Richter have a privy to that I'm not privy to. And I understand that. There's certain things they shouldn't tell us or I shouldn't know because I don't want to compromise the way I come into this, my integrity, and sometimes you can form biases about what happened subconsciously. So I'm just trying to go into it with an open mind and let them do their part and stay out of their way and when they need me to be a part of something that they're doing, I'm certainly here and available. Do you find this to be an unusual case?

Well, yes and no. There are things that really disturb me about this case, the position of Mr. Smith, and it's all out there. I'm not putting anything out there. It's not already there, but just the unknown. The unknown answers to common questions, I can't say that any of it's unique, but I'm saying especially, like, and it's in the FOIAs and in the Highway Patrol reports, the lack of car parts or artifacts from a vehicle there, the lack of extremity injuries on Mr. Smith, but I'm not closing my mind to that because sometimes it does happen this way. So for me to do my part with integrity, it's really, it's like I told you, I believe with the Murdoch case, I'm letting the evidence take me where it takes me. And then hopefully if I discover something or if another team member discovers something, hopefully we've got to put it together in the end and we'll be able to help the men and women at Sled and get some answers. We're going to consider everything and we're going to look into as much as we can look in.

to. So no matter how small, somebody knows something. And you look at every possibility of Mr. Smith's death. There are four or five distinct possibilities. And we're not ruling any of those out. So if somebody heard something or knows something, we're asking them to please come forward because we can include it or exclude it and then we can get back where we need to be. If it takes us in the right direction, it's helpful. If not, we can exclude it, then we don't go down that avenue anymore. But I don't, I'm not discounting anything at this point in time. And as far as I know, my clients, Blan and Richter and all the other team members, they're not discounting anything either. When you said there are four to five distinct

possibilities here, I mean, I think of at least two. The Fappy, maybe it's possible that he was hit and that he was hit by a passing vehicle. I don't know that. Maybe something was sticking out of a vehicle. He was, he could have been hit in the head and then placed there by somebody. Are there some possibilities I haven't thought of? Well, no, you just named, you think you named two, but you really named four. Oh, I thought I did three. Okay. Okay. Well, I mean, you've got somebody hitting him with a vehicle, knowing or unknowing. That's sure. Somebody hitting him with something hanging out of a vehicle, knowing or unknowing. That's two more. Or the worst case scenario, what you said, someone picked Mr. Smith up or did him some harm somewhere else and then dropped him at that

location. So we've got to consider all different angles because this, as mentioned, the Smith family deserves answers, but they deserve the best answers than the most correct answers. So far, more than $120,000 has been raised by Sandy Smith through a GoFundMe page. She raised that money to pay for the exhumation, the second autopsy, and for experts to to be hired to conduct that second independent investigation. $35,000 of that money is now being offered as a reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Stephen Smith's killer or killers. Tips can be emailed to SLED at tips at sled.sled.sc.gov or they can be called in by dialing

803-7379,000. That's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar Podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast, and of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Anjanette Leady, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus.

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