Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #9 - Who Killed Stephen Smith? Part Three

Episode Date: September 12, 2021

While a lot of the recent news has focused on Alex Murdaugh, who is neck-deep in suspicion from his little 'roadside shooting' incident, client theft allegations and murdered family, we want to make this episode 9 about Stephen Smith.  Because his life mattered too.  Join investigative journalist Mandy Matney, as we discuss the Murdaugh name which was brought up more than 40 times during the course of the investigation of Stephen Smith’s death in 2015.   As a result of their investigation into the homicides of Maggie and Paul, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) reopened Smith's 2015 death investigation, now publicly linking it to the Murdaugh name. Smith was found dead with severe head trauma, and rumors documented in the police investigation file implicated a connection to Buster Murdaugh and others. In this episode, we’ll hear SCHP patrol investigator Todd Proctor interviewing several Hampton kids about Stephen ’s death... and we'll pull at those threads wherever they lead.... Let's dive in... 🥽🦈 And a special thank you to: The Bannon Law Group - From sitting by the fires to setting them, the Bannon Law Group has got you covered. Gilstrap Roofing - Leading the way in quality roofing services. Spanning four generations, the Gilstrap family holds the same values today as we did back in 1935. Maven Real Estate: - Maven Realty is a full-service real estate brokerage servicing the Charleston Sc market. No transaction is too large or too small for their talented team. Special shout out to Greg Finch from the full-service Georgia law firm, Bouhan-Faligant. They are diligent, determined and care about the success of their clients. Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Members ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠also get access to ad-free listening, searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lunasharkmedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ all in one place. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out our LUNASHARK Merch 👕⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ What We're Buying... Here's a link to some of our favorite things: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TrueSunlight.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter.com/mandymatney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter.com/elizfarrell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Alec Murdoch. I need police and an ambulance immediately. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark, and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch. Family first. To unravel the story piece by piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, Wednesdays. And stream Murdoch, Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers.

Terms apply. I don't know who killed Stephen Smith, but I know his family has waited 2,258 days to get justice, and I'm determined to expose the truth and get answers for them. My name is Mandy Matney, and I've been investigating the Murdoch family for more than two years now. This is the Murdoch Murdoch podcast. There have been a lot of shocking developments in the strange shooting of Ehrlich Murdoch. From my reporting, it's fair to call the shooting suspicious due to his attorney's strangely inconsistent statements about what happened on September 4, 2021. In the days following, everything got weirder.

Ehrlich issued an apology and admitted to having a drug problem and admitted to having money problems. A few hours after that, his law firm blamed him for misappropriating millions of dollars. and he has apparently entered rehab. I say this because there's no proof he's in rehab, but his lawyer, who has provided lots of false statements recently, claims that he is in rehab. He was also suspended from practicing law. He pretty much admitted to misappropriating millions of dollars.

Also, the knife that was used to puncture Ehrlich's tires before he was shot has been linked back to Ehrlich Murdoch, according to sources. So it's safe to say it's very, been a very bad week for Elyke Murdoch. A lot of people say this is like watching a dynasty fall in real time. But we're going to wait for the 911 call to come out to do a full episode on the Elyke Murdoch shooting. And today we want to talk about Stephen Smith's death in this episode because his story matters too. Previously on the Murdoch murders. On June 22nd, huge news

broke in this case. I was the first to report that the South Carolina law enforcement division, also known as SLED, the same agency investigating the Murdoch murders, opened an investigation into the Stephen Smith death. SLED told me that this was based on information gathered during the course of the double homicide investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdoch. We don't know what information led them to that decision, but it's important to look back on the 2015 case and see what went wrong. So what happened to Stephen Smith? Like the probe of the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach, the 2015 investigation into Smith's death was chaotic from the beginning, derailed by jurisdictional perplexity and suspicions of investigative interference. Smith was found dead

just before 4 a.m. on July 8th, 2015, he was found in the middle of Sandy Run Road in Hampton County, South Carolina. somebody's going to hit him. It's talk. Uh-huh. Somebody's going to hit it. All right. We'll get it off the head out, that we. Whatever time W.D.'s arrived

what they found was horrific. I know this because I've seen crime scene photos. Stephen's face was covered in blood. The bright young nursing student was dead. Stephen had a seven-inch gash on the right side of his forehead. His head was warped by blunt force. The family kept the casket open so that people could see what was done to him. Uh, evidence here.

There is only evidence of where the body was found. There's no car parts, no any type of parts to a car, or truck or any other vehicle. A bunch of people, like, I just left the house the first official time yesterday, and I went into the store, and a bunch of people kept coming up here and I'm like, as you know, the Murdoch boys are behind it. It's kind of weird. No lawyer sits here and says it'll be free.

if you have whatever money you want. This name, people associated with this name, had been going around kind of threatening or putting the heat on people saying, you know, keep your mouth closed if you heard something, whatever. First we heard he was shot, then we heard it was a hit and run, but recently, probably a week ago,

week and a half ago, I'd say something like that. I heard that these two, maybe three young men were in a vehicle, they were riding down 601, saw the car on the side of the road, I guess saw the boy walking, they turned back around, I guess they were attempting to, I don't want to say, you know, mess around with him or something like that, and stuck something out the window and it, you know, hit him in, I don't know if he hit him in the head or the back or where it hit him.

And then that's pretty much all I heard I did hear names, and the name was he goes about Buster Murdick. So that's where we left you. Now we're going to continue into the Stephen Smith investigation. A plucky investigator named Pod Proctor is speaking to a man who we are calling Kevin. The date is September 1st, 2015. I've known Buster pretty much my whole life. Kind of out of character to who I knew.

It also hear from the same source that he could possibly have been on some type of drugs. So whether that's true or not, I don't know. It's just strictly hearsay from all I know. Yeah. And I hate to only be able to give you hearsay, but... Well, I mean, at this point it's kind of, you know, we'll take whatever we can get. That's right, and I hate it because the main thing is whether that is the case or not the case, there is still somebody that lost the child and lost a brother and lost the family member,

and that's just not, that's not right. Did they happen to say where they were coming from? Because the story that I got was they were coming from like a softball tournament and, you know, Baltimore, Orangeburg, or something like that. It's clear here that Proctor has talked to other people about this rumor. But it's really nowhere in the files. So where did Proctor get this information that these kids were headed from a softball game when they saw Steven Smith? What he heard was that they were coming from the Murdox House, which would be in Mozel, which you have to take 601 to get from Mozell to Hampton. which is where there will be any type of food, restaurants, things like that.

Yeah. That's the only inclination or idea I would have as to while they were traveling that road. Yeah. So I... Do you know would it have been Buster driving? I would have imagined, so. I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't know, but to know Buster, usually he drove himself around. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. He was always the one. They were in his behavior. He always had friends with him and his vehicles when he was driving around. That's how it was in school. And it could be a whole gamut of people that, you know, the other two people that could have been in the car. Really, yes, sir. I have no idea.

The only name that was given to me was the murder name. And, of course, everybody's kind of tried to say that out, you know what I mean, because of the, I won't say power, but of the name, you know, it brings a certain standard when you say murdering in Hampton County. Yeah. It was like that all through, you know, school and all. So it's kind of, that's why I feel like it's kind of, I don't want to say hush-hush, but nobody's really. Well, and that's the thing, too, is that I've heard that they have gone to certain people and told them you need to kind of keep your mouth closed. Have you heard anything like that?

I mean... Again, there's no record of Proctor talking to anyone else before Kevin about this rumor. So why wasn't this reported in the file? It wouldn't surprise me just because of, I feel like they wouldn't want anything happened to their reputation or name or anything like that. This interview is over an hour long. As you can tell, we change Kevin's voice here, and his name isn't Kevin, and we cut out a lot of pieces that mentions other names.

However, we included highlights that we felt were the most important parts of this interview. Especially even for a small town, I mean, stuff like, like that. That's not something that happens every day in Hampton, and so it's just it's weird.

Well, you know, I mean, the thing about it is, is that, you know, when you're in a small town like that, everybody there knows.

And like you said, it doesn't happen often, so rumors, the story is going to eventually come up. That's right now. Yes, sir.

And Buster was on our radar long before you were. You were. Yes, sir. The Murdox know that. They know that he's on our radar.

How do the Murdox know that Buster is on their radar? What does that even mean? And why isn't that in the files? There's nothing about Buster being on their radar in the investigation files. It's very strange. He was, he's on our radar, he has been on our radar. They know that he's on our radar. Matter of fact, I mean, I talked to you.

one of their guys yesterday and told them, you know, I'm going to talk to Buster here soon, you know, and they said, okay, that's fine. So they're aware of it. And, you know, it's a situation of, you know, I don't have anything against them, but if it happened, like you said, I mean, if it happened. Kevin and Proctor go back and forth about why this case is different. They talk about how small Hampton is and how small Hampton is and how rumors fly in a town like that, especially when the rumors involve the most prominent family

in the county. And then Kevin starts talking about Moselle, the Murdoch family hunting lodge where Paul and Maggie were found murdered six years later on June 7, 2021. The murders they threw and had big parties at their house too now. Once again, that was something I was never part of. I think I went out there one time, but they threw parties. Every weekend, every other weekend, big parties, kids from Wade Hinton and kids from Barnwall, Banburg, anywhere you could think of them, and that was where the party spot was in Henton. A lot of fights, alcohol. I originally heard this, I was thinking of the younger Murdick Boy, Buster's little brother Paul, because Paul's more of the...

As Proctor and Kevin continue to chit-chat, Kevin tells Proctor about Buster, about Buster little brother Paul. My nice name is Murdick. I can do whatever. You know what I mean? It went to his head a lot more. Yeah, right. He was more of that type of kid.

He's, I don't know how old he is now. I just remember him when he was younger. So when I first heard it, it was Bustrick kind of. She's never been that type of person. But then again, like I say, once with alcohol and drugs, I'm sure things can go way out of control. And you mix all that together. Yeah.

So. Is he like, 15, 16, or is he like... No, I want to say he's either a junior, I think he's a junior, possibly a senior in high school. Okay. All right, so he's not that much younger. No, he's not that much younger now that I think about it,

because when we were younger, but now that I think about it, he goes to a private school and originally Tom Sayward, but actually he's 17, I would say, probably 17 now. Okay. Somewhere along that age. Yeah.

Kevin asked a few questions about the investigation, and Proctor says something interesting. You know, I don't know how much you know about law enforcement and things like that, but typically you don't see the highway patrol working a murder, and that's what this is. There's no doubt we're not classifying this as anything other than a murder, you know, I mean, some people were trying to sell away, might have got hit by a car, and this and that. So why is the Highway Patrol investigating this? The Highway Patrol does not investigate murders. This shows how mucked up this investigation is. There's a reason why Hampton County, Sheriff's Department, is not handling this, you know, and I'll leave it at that.

Yes, sir. But, and... Well, I'm glad. You go back to, you know, like you said, the Murdoch name and, you know, their ties in that community, and that don't matter to me. Yes, sir.

You know? They don't bother me in the slightest. Right. All right. So what we've done is we've taken the investigation out of that, you know, that reach. Right. And. You something bigger than they can't.

That's right. Because they ain't going to. That's right. I don't care what you got. Right. You know, I don't care, you know, what your name is or how much money you got. It doesn't matter to me. So we know why the Hampton County Sheriff's Department isn't handling this investigation.

Typically, a lot of small town law enforcement agencies give their big murder cases to the South Carolina law enforcement division, which is also known as sled, because smaller police departments don't have the resources to investigate murder. So it makes sense as to why the Hampton County Sheriff's Department didn't get this case. But why didn't the Highway Patrol give the case to sled? Like you're saying, I'm saying, I can't help if it's the truth. I mean, it's just got the, your name can't tell you, but so far. I'm not saying that the Murdoch boy did it because I don't know you. Right, right.

But if we're going to start throwing out names, I'm not withholding his name, you know, because of who he, his name's going to be out there just like anybody else's name that is on my radar. And I don't care who knows it. So during Kevin's interview, he listed a group of people who he heard the bus, rumor from. One of those people was Jack, who was previously interviewed by Duncan of the Highway Patrol. Jack is the only person to be interviewed more than once by the Highway Patrol in this investigation. He's also facing two lawsuits from the Murdoch Law firm at this time. The date is September 2nd, 2015. This is Proctor calling Jack, whose real name isn't Jack, as we explained in a previous episode.

Just go ahead and tell me, you know, what you heard, the version of the story that you heard. I mean, we heard, you know, like you heard that you know what did it, but we just heard that all busted in it. So, definitely, I mean, everybody knows that was kind of like the shotgun, so we know we just kept talking about it and it just screened in the room. Proctor then asked Jack where he heard the rumor, and Jack gave him names. Buster Murdoch was on our radar long before we ever got this information that, you know, I'm calling you about now. I'm out of my office is out of Charleston, okay?

I don't work around Hampton, and I know that the Murdox are highfalutting around Hampton, and, you know, some people say have a lot of power or whatever, but that name doesn't mean anything to me, okay? So my job is to find out what happened. After hanging up with Jack, Proctor calls a girl who Jack named as a person who told him about the rumor. We will call her Kayla. Kayla seems nervous to talk to Proctor, and he gives her the same spiel as he gives everybody else. Kayla then says that another guy who we will call Isaac said he heard that Stephen was beat up and thrown out of a truck. This is a different story from what Proctor heard previously.

She then said that she doesn't know Isaac's number, but gave Proctor another contact. as he attempts to run down the railroad mill. And like I said, you're the ninth person that I've talked to so far about this. So hopefully some people are going to start talking. So if you hear anything, this is my number. You know, if you would pass on any information whatsoever. According to the case file, Proctor has only spoken to two other people before Kayla. So where are the notes from the other interviews?

Or was he lying to try to get people to talk? Next, Proctor calls Kayla's friend who will refer to as Mia. Mia also seems nervous to talk, but Proctor gets right to the point. The information that was first given to me was that Buster Murdoch, maybe one or two other people, were out that night and they had saw Stephen's car or whatever, so they went down the road and they actually saw him walking, and they were going to kind of play around with him,

and they held something or swung something out of. of the car and accidentally hit him. Does any of that sound familiar to you? I do remember someone saying something about Buster, but I don't really go into details. Because when we were speaking about, someone told me that it was Buster and I was like it was saying if it's him, nothing was going to be done about it because of who he was. If Buster had something to do with it, then I'd like to be able to prove that. But the information that I'm getting, it's kind of like it started out strong

because I had an individual that really stepped out against the Murdox and was willing to talk. And then it seems like as I keep continuing on trying to get other people, it's getting watered down, you know, a pretty good bit. It seems Proctor is circling the rumor and not getting any closer to the source. So they can play that card of, oh, we care about everybody else, or we never don't. You know, they care about protecting themselves. At the end of the interview, in an attempt to get closer to the source of the rumor,

Proctor asked for Isaac's number and she gives it to him. But there is no record of Proctor ever calling Isaac. In fact, according to the investor, file, the Highway Patrol didn't touch the case between September 2nd, 2015 in October 20th, 2015. So what happened on October 20th, 2015? Proctor calls Buster Murdoch, but the note said he didn't answer, voicemail full. Proctor then emails him.

There's no audio recording of his phone call. And that's it, that's the only time that Highway Patrol attempted to talk to Buster Murdoch. Fast forward to November 17, 2015. Sandy Smith called the Highway Patrol and said she heard a rumor on the local radio station about an arrest being made in Stephen's case. Two days later, Proctor calls the radio station and interviews a host. The host really doesn't remember the rumor and doesn't take it seriously. Have you heard just from rumor being around or being in that business about anybody being involved in this thing? I did.

They said somebody told me a good friend of my son and I don't know if it's true or not. Well, the murder kid down and hit to it, but I mean, that was just a rumor I heard. Oh, okay. And that was yesterday now. But again, you got to remember, that's the street rumor in Allday. I mean, Al-Dahman. I mean, the street committee. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I heard yesterday down.

Like, again, like I say, street talk once, somebody heard it. They asked me, somebody said that they'd confiscated the car and the kids was old housewress. I mean, there are a thousand rumors flying about this. Because, like I say, it's a prominent family in Hamby County. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure some people don't like his family. I mean, they're friends of mine. I'm sure people are like it,

and I'm sure they're going to try to take any shot they can take out. And that's pretty much the interview. It's a dead lead. Which brings us to November 24, 2015. The Hampton County Guardian, the local newspaper, published a story by Matt Popovich about Stephen's death. Sandy Smith told the Guardian that she heard rumors about an older man stalking him, but she heard other rumors that she believes more.

Quoting directly from the article here, She reiterated several times her opinion that her son was killed for being gay by several local Hampton County use from prestigious families, which she believes have sworn to protect their children no matter what heinous crime they committed. Sandy would not give the reporter names, but she said that she believed that Stephen would not have been walking on Sandy Run Road in the middle of the night. She didn't buy the hit and run theory at all. She said boys, some of whom were Stephen's classmates, were coming home from a baseball game that night, and they took him from his car. Quote, I hear the same story but from different people. Everybody knows what happened to my son, but nobody wants to tell me who is responsible, she said.

Two weeks later, on December 7, 2015, the South Carolina Highway Patrol receives an anonymous tip, and I'm quoting directly from the case file here. quote, Donterio Igan, along with another black male and a white male, parentheses, Murdoch, are the ones involved in death, end quote. And I'll just say right here in this whole section, we are not changing any names because these names have already been in the media. According to the case file, Duncan then contacted four other South Carolina troopers and advised them of the situation. One of those troopers is Todd Proctor. According to the case file, they don't do anything about this tip for a long time and nothing happens until December 18th, 2015 when Proctor receives information from Duncan about a man named Daryl Williams who says his stepson, Patrick Wilson, told him that

Sean Connolly struck and killed Stephen Smith. In Proctor's notes, he said that Williams said his stepson told him this in confidence. Proctor then attempts to go to the school where he thinks that Patrick Wilson attends but he's not there. And then Todd Proctor writes something very interesting in the case file. Quote, Mr. Williams stated that the reason that he was passing this information along was because Randy Murdoch told him to call. So that brings us to December 21st, 2015. Corporal Duncan at the Highway Patrol interviews Nick Ginn of the Hampton Police Department

in reference to, quote, a tip that came in from Sergeant Barnes. This is about Patrick Wilson. I will be calling him from my office phone here in Charleston. The number to the Hampton Police Department will be 803. So here, Duncan lists off a number, which he says is the Hampton Police Department's number. But it's not. It's not even close to the Hampton Police Department's phone number. I looked up this number in that number is actually a local law firm's number,

but it's not the Murdox Law firm. This is just really weird. And I only know this because I'm a thorough reporter. I look up each piece of every deal. detail. This takes a lot of time, and it gets very frustrating and often leads me into dark rabbit holes with no results. But sometimes it's worth it, and it gets me closer to the truth. Hey, man, how you doing? Good. I'm calling you in reference to, I believe somebody come to you about the case we have there in Hampton County, in reference to a hit and run or possible hit and run, somebody claiming that information. Is that correct? That's correct. Can you got just a minute and I and talk to you about that? Let me get a piece of paper here.

I'm at somebody else's desk right this second. Okay. That way if I need to write something I can write it. Give me one second. All right, that'd be fine. All right. You there? Yes, I am.

Phones have line one. Some of them don't. All right. I understand. Basically, Darrell called me and he said, look, he said, this is what I was told. He said, Patrick, come over here to the house. He said, he told me that Sean Connolly was he had hit, and he had hit. and he's seen a lot of police out there.

So he talked to one of the cops, and then he had left, and then he learned, I guess, by media, that somebody had been killed in that same area. That's why the police were there. Okay. Well, you think Patrick has, does he have a criminal background as far as that goes as well? I mean, all the reason why I'm asking. He was charged with attempted murder,

but I'm not exactly sure what the circumstances behind. that was. I want to say that that was one of them times that they may have charged him a higher charge to work their way down. Yes, sir. I understand. Oh, I understand. Yeah, but if I ever have any dealings with him, I mean, he's very respectful and stuff like that, but I, he's a little, little shady. To recap, a few weeks after a newspaper story mentioned the possibility of a prominent Hampton County family being involved with Stephen's death. Randy Murdoch, supposedly told this man to call the Highway Patrol and tell them a story that suspiciously fits into the police narrative that is supported by no evidence, and that is that Stephen was hit by a car. Now, the Highway Patrol finds out that one of the kids who was supposedly involved in killing Stephen was recently charged with attempted murder.

There's a lot more to the Patrick Wilson case and this interview, but we're going to save it for the next episode. Check out my story in the description for more information. There's so much to unpack in this case, and Mandy works tirelessly to expose the truth. But the truth is she works hard and she does get tired. If you believe, like I do, that Mandy is the best in the business, and I'm a little biased, visit Murdochmurterspodcast.com and click the support the show link to learn how you can help. Leave a five-star review to offset the haters. Refer an advertiser and get a finder's fee.

Or advertise your company, product, or service. We can geotarget across the globe and find the right audience to suit your needs. And absolutely subscribe and your subscriptions are invaluable to that mission. Plus, you get awesome content every day. Huge thank you to Madison for connecting us to awesome people who are going to help us tell this story. And a big thanks goes out to Neil for helping to take the pressure off. Special thanks to Lauren Taylor, Jim and Meredith Bannon, Rick, the Gilstrap team, and Maven Real Estate. Thank you to Susanna, Todd, Ronald, Danielle, Elizabeth, and Jamie for supporting the show.

And a special thanks to Jill and Jennifer and others for the Mimosas. It's going to be a great Sunday. Yeah, it is. Thank you guys so much for the Mimosas. So for the latest developments on this case, follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com slash Mandy M-A-N-D-Y-M-A-T-N-E-Y. And don't forget to leave a five-star review, unless you're guys. going to be nasty and talk about my vocal fry.

The Murdoch Murder's podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiance, David Moses. Our executive editor is Liz Ferrell. Produced by Luna Shark Productions.