Law&Crime Sidebar - Stephen Smith’s Mom Speaks on Son’s Death Investigation, Exhuming Body for Autopsy

Episode Date: March 20, 2023

The mother of Stephen Smith, a Hampton County teenager found dead in the middle of a road in July 2015, raised more than $60,000 in a week to fund the exhumation of her son's body and a second autopsy. A pathologist classified Stephen's mysterious death as a “hit-and-run” despite no vehicle debris being found at the scene. The Law&Crime Network's Angenette Levy talks with Sandy Smith about her son, new lawyer, and the work it'll take to build an investigation as Buster Murdaugh denies any involvement in the death of his former high school classmate.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.

I mean, I just love my son, and since I couldn't protect... Wondry Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery 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, Rousseau must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the Grandview's shadows.

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dead in the middle of a Hampton County road, his mother Sandy wants an independent autopsy conducted to find out how her son died. I want to thank everyone who's donated and supported us from the beginning, but I hope to find the real reason for Stephen's death. Sandy Smith, enlisting the help of a new legal team to ask a judge to exhume Stephen's body. We're going to hire experts who are going to come into this case with a fresh set of eyes, with an open mind. This is not an Alex Murdall 2.0 or any Murdole 2.0. This is a Stephen Smith 2.0. It's all about Stephen. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and welcome to Law and Crime's Sidebar podcast. Stephen Smith was just 19 years old when he was found in the middle of Sandy Run Road dead in the early morning hours of July 8, 2015.

His yellow car apparently ran out of gas nearby. The pathologist who conducted the first autopsy on Stephen Smith concluded he died as the result of a hit and run. Stephen had trauma to his head and a dislocated shoulder. But some investigators didn't believe that because of a lack of vehicle debris in the road. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division opened an investigation into Stephen's death following the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdoch, a sled spokesperson. said at the time that information had come to light during that investigation that led them to open an investigation into Stevens' death. Last week, Sandy Smith started a GoFundMe page asking to raise $15,000 for an exhumation and independent autopsy. That page has now raised more than $65,000. Sandy Smith has retained attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter to help her start the investigation into Stevens' death from square one. We think a lot of the pre-death communications can be relevant. We also think that post-death communications on different people could yield some information.

One of the things that we can do is start a civil suit to look at the cause of death, which would give us subpoena power as well as discovery rights under the South Carolina Rules of Civil procedure. And joining me to discuss the latest developments is Sandy Smith. She, of course, is the mother of Stephen Smith and her new attorney, Ronnie Richter, who will now be representing Sandy Smith moving forward along with his partner, Eric Bland. So Ronnie and Sandy, welcome to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having us. Thank you. Sandy, I want to start with you. You know, I've talked to you on the phone. And I can't imagine. I can only imagine as a mom what this has been like. over the last many years, almost eight years now.

Talk to me about your son. I want to hear from you about him. He was a wonderful, amazing son. He was very intelligent, spontaneous. He was like my world. And yep, he loved books. He loved school. And he loved his family.

And at the time of his death, he was studying to be. a nurse and apparently also wanted to be a doctor. Yes. He was going to start at the bottom and work his way up. You know, he was a twin and I know twins are often very special. You know, I'm sure this has been devastating for his sister because twins often have that special connection. Absolutely. But she's, she's maintaining good. She's doing great. You know, you've been represented by a few attorneys now. Obviously, you've moved in a different direction, retaining Eric and Ronnie. So what are you hoping to achieve by retaining them? I'm hoping to achieve the truth about what happened to my son.

And Ronnie, let's talk a little bit about that process. You guys are going to petition the court for an exhumation. How challenging do you think it will be to get that court order? Well, it's not something that happens very often, right? So we have to show that we have good cause for it. And I think that we do in this circumstance. I think when you lay out all the facts around Stephen's death, there are more questions than answers.

And the conclusion that was reached, you know, if you ask us, it just doesn't match with the physical evidence at the scene. If you've got a victim in the middle of a roadway, the conclusion is it was a vehicular hit and run. And yet there's no vehicular debris of any kind whatsoever. His shoes are still on his feet. if his car did in fact break down miles down the road he had a cell phone with him the entire time so it just it makes no sense it appears to us as if he was killed elsewhere and that his body

was deposited in the roadway and i think that's one of the most curious things the fact that he did have a cell phone on him and had he run out of gas he probably would have called sandy do you believe that's what he would have done called someone for help saying hey i i ran out of gas Do you believe he would have just walked toward your home? No, he wouldn't have walked. He would have called his twin sister, who was closer to where his body was found in his car. He would have called her, and she would have come and got him. She had waited up for him all night, waiting on a call, but she never got one.

And why was that? Did she, just because he hadn't come home or? Right, because he left and he didn't say where he was going. and he would have been home early enough to go to bed because he had to get up at 6 a.m. to go to school the next day. Sandy, obviously, you know, Stephen was openly gay. Did he ever feel any animus in the community? Because we've heard that that is something that might be frowned upon in the Hampton County area. Did he ever feel that way? Did he feel like anybody mistreated him because of because of that? no he um he got picked on at school a little bit you know but that's bullying to me but he never lets

stuff all of him you know he said i am who i am ronnie you know sandy launched this go fund me last week and she's already exceeded her goal of now it's more than 60,000 i think the original goal was around 15 you guys said that you would be hiring investigators uh pathologists so so talk to me a little a bit about how that is going to work and how you ensure you get the right people, that, you know, people that are, you know, great A. Yeah. So, you know, there are people to do this, obviously. And thanks to the folks who donated to the GoFundMe page, we're not limited to just the local talent in the state. And so we are going to be looking on a broader scale and find those folks who are involved in cold cases, who have done exhumations before, who are skilled in

examining a body as old as Stevens to see if they can find out new information about the cost of death. So that's going to be a process. Now locally, yes, I mean, the boots on the grounds investigators, there's plenty of those, lots of skilled people in South Carolina. There's folks forensically who can help us examine all the electronic information from his cell phone and other devices. So it's going to be a full team approach. We need electronic forensics. We need boots on the grounds investigators. But most importantly, we need that key component of someone of national reputation who has done exclamations before who could do a pathology on an eight-year-old body now and tell us hopefully new information that we didn't know before. I'm wondering also, Ronnie,

you know, I'm assuming you'll be soliciting information from the public. Any tips? Is there a way that people can submit information to your office? Yeah, so I'm Ronnie at Blan Richard Eric is Eric Bland at Blandrichter.com. You can call the office, 843-573-9,900. We are absolutely enlisting the aid of the public here because we know that folks out there know something about what happened. This couldn't have happened in silence. So even if somebody did strike him with a vehicle and then move on,

somebody left a body behind and didn't render aid. And that in itself is a pretty serious crime. So we just want answers. you know, we met Sandy through the Satterfield case. And so we've come to know her over the years. And our hearts have always just been broken for her to be in her circumstance, a mother who's lost a child this way with all these open questions, she wants, she needs, she deserves these answers.

And, you know, God willing, we're going to get those answers for her. Sandy, I want to go back to that GoFund me. It really exploded. Did you anticipate it taking? off like this, that people would see this and open up their wallets, you know, because people apparently, I don't know about around the world, but across the country for sure, have seen this and contributed. Yes, it's amazing.

And I never thought it would get to where it's at now. And I just want to thank everybody for all the love and the support that they're giving us to get this job done and get it done properly. I read on Twitter that you said, I think you told Mandy Matney that Stephen always complained about how expensive the books were for school and that you may at some point want to start a scholarship fund in his memory. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Yes. If there is any funds left, it will go towards a scholarship fund to help students with their materials or whatever they need help with. And Sandy, what would you say to anybody,

watching this or listening to this out there who may have some information you know and when I say information I mean viable information if you know something say something um you can remain anonymous you know um we just need answers we want any answer if you know something please say something and Ronnie back to you as far as the investigation with SLED goes you know you're saying you want this exhumation. Has SLED ever brought this up, the possibility of exhuming Stephen's body? Well, you know, no, but in defense of SLED, I mean, an investigation was conducted and autopsy was performed. There was a cause of death that was attributed. So I feel like when you read those examination papers, I'm not satisfied that they were fully satisfied with the

answers, but those were the answers that they had. So we're not being critical of SLED. We're hoping to partner with SLED. We're hoping that if we get the exclamation done and we could show them new evidence, new things that they didn't have a chance to consider, that maybe it brings their resources back into play and that they're reinvigorated into this investigation. So this is not us trying to end run SLED. This is not a criticism of SLED. What we really want is a partnership with led. We want them back involved in the investigation. And we hope that the hook that gets in there is an independent autopsy from somewhat of national reputation who's done this before, who can tell us what really happened to Stephen. Ronnie, do you expect to have access to evidence

in this case? In particular, the clothing of Stephen that had some trace evidence on it, possibly some blue paint flecks. Do you expect to be able to get access to things like that? So there can be some independent testing done. Yeah, I'm not sure where that evidence currently resides. If it's still in the possession of SLED, then it's going to be discretionary with them, whether they share that with us. And Eric had mentioned this at the press conference. We'd like a two-way street on this, even if it's just a one-way street.

You can rest assured that we will be sharing with them. We hope in the spirit of partnership that they share back with us. But every question will be asked through this investigation. I can assure you that. And I do want to speak real quick to the money because I know it's a very legitimate question for people to ask. We are donating our time towards this cause.

I can tell you, having met Sandy, and we've known her now for years. I have never heard her one time say she wanted a dollar. I have only heard her say she wants answers. And so that is the sole goal of this investigation is to get her those answers that she deserves. And Sandy, you know, being a mom having to get up every day and go about your life without having those answers, incredibly painful, I'm sure.

It is. Yeah, very painful. But I survive through my grandchildren. They keep me laughing. They remind me of him. So I can just see him and them. Yeah, the grandkids are the best. I hear.

I'm not at that point yet. I can only imagine that they provide you a lot of joy and a lot of comfort. And I just wanted to wrap up, Sandy, by talking about SLED. You know, when I spoke with you by phone, you said that they do keep you up to date, but obviously it's an open investigation and there's not much that they can tell you. Yes. And I mean, they're working. It's just they're limited on what they can share right now, you know,

because it would interfere in their case. And I'm patient. I've been patient and I can wait. Well, let's hope you don't have to wait too much longer. Ronnie Richter of Bland Richter and Sandy Smith. Thank you so much for joining me and giving me your time. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having this. Thank you. Throughout the investigation into Stephen Smith's death, some people reported to investigators rumors that they had heard that Buster Murdoch and his family may have somehow been involved in Stephen Smith's death. That has been featured. That information has been featured in documentaries and rumors have circulated online about Buster Murdoch somehow being involved. On Monday morning,

that prompted Buster Murdoch to issue a statement. He called the rumors that he was somehow involved in Stephen's death vicious. He and Stephen went to high school together. He called these rumors and the claims about his involvement in Stephen's death defamatory and denied unacquivor. And denied unequivocally any involvement in Stephen Smith's death. This is what attorney Eric Bland had to say about Buster Murdoch. You know, as we sit here today, Buster is a victim. He lost a mother or a brother and now his father's in jail. You know, Buster, as we know, has nothing to do with this. And whatever is mentioned in the records, that's what investigators are going to look at. but we have no knowledge at all about Buster or the Murdoz having anything to do with this right

now. We're starting with a fresh set eye. For its part, SLED has said in the past that progress is being made into the investigation into Stephen Smith's death, but they won't say much more. A spokesperson as of the time of this recording has not returned my request for comment on these latest developments about Sandy Smith wanting an independent autopsy. And 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 Ann Janette Levy, 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. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Thank you.