“This isn’t an Alex Murdaugh 2.0, or any Murdaugh 2.0,” Eric Bland, an lawyer for Smith’s mom, informed reporters in a digital information convention Monday. “That is the Stephen Smith 2.0. It is all about Stephen.”
“We predict that he didn’t die on that highway that fateful evening,” Eric Bland mentioned Monday. “We predict that there was different causes and different causes that induced his demise.”
“Our job is to not discover out who did it,” he added. “That is not what we do, we’re not regulation enforcement, we’re not doing a felony case … What we’re actually making an attempt to do is give a mom solutions.”
Authorities haven’t disclosed any connection between Smith’s demise and the Murdaugh household. Monday’s information convention got here the identical day Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, issued an announcement rejecting “vicious rumors” and denying any involvement in Smith’s demise. Bland mentioned Monday the attorneys for Smith’s household wouldn’t “take pleasure in rumor and hypothesis.”
SLED confirmed it continued to proceed with the investigation in an announcement Sunday, telling CNN, “SLED has made progress within the demise investigation of Stephen Smith, nonetheless this investigation stays energetic and ongoing.”
Attorneys query purported scene of Smith’s demise
Smith’s household has raised greater than $60,000 through GoFundMe to place in direction of the re-examination of his demise, and the attorneys Monday promised full transparency as they rent a group of consultants to reinvestigate the case.
Step one in that course of, they mentioned, is petitioning a courtroom to point out there may be good purpose to exhume the physique of the 19-year-old nursing pupil.
“We’ll should petition the courtroom, present info that might point out {that a} contemporary set of eyes, a brand new post-mortem, might yield a unique conclusion — that Stephen was not killed on Sandy Run Highway in Bamberg County, that possibly he was killed some other place,” Bland mentioned.
Ronnie Richter, one other lawyer, pointed to the info of the case and the scene the place Smith was discovered as causes for his or her doubt.
“There have been no skid marks round his physique. There was no vehicular particles discovered. His loosely tied sneakers have been nonetheless on his ft,” Richter mentioned, noting Smith’s automobile was situated about 3 miles away with its fuel cap eliminated.
“Whereas it will seem that his automobile broke down and he had walked for assist, he by no means referred to as for assist from the mobile phone that was discovered on his physique,” Richter mentioned. “Sandy Smith has by no means accepted the conclusion of the cursory investigation that adopted his demise, that concluded that his demise was a results of a hit-and-run.”
Sandy Smith mentioned her son wouldn’t have walked down the highway to house, however by way of the woods or a close-by cornfield.
“He would have made certain that he was not seen by anybody,” she mentioned, and he additionally wouldn’t have left his pockets in his automobile. “And he would have referred to as his sister at the very least, as a result of she was the closest to the home.”
Bland raised the concept Smith was focused as a result of he was homosexual, telling reporters the younger man “needed to stay a secret life.”
“Being younger and homosexual within the Lowcountry was not a simple factor to do. It is not straightforward at present, definitely wasn’t straightforward in 2015,” Bland mentioned. “He was pleased with being homosexual. Nevertheless, he needed to be cautious. And those that should be cautious should be secretive.”
The investigation may also contain taking a look at Smith’s life, Bland added, and what sort of communication the teenager had and who he was associating with within the days earlier than his demise. Something realized, Bland mentioned, could be shared with regulation enforcement.
Buster Murdaugh points assertion
Shortly earlier than Monday’s information convention, Buster Murdaugh issued his personal assertion denying any involvement in Smith’s demise. Authorities haven’t publicly linked Buster Murdaugh to the case.
“I’ve tried my finest,” he mentioned, “to disregard the vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen Smith’s tragic demise that proceed to be revealed within the media as I grieve over the brutal murders of my mom and brother. I like them a lot and miss them terribly.”
“These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his demise are false,” Buster Murdaugh mentioned. “I unequivocally deny any involvement in his demise, and my coronary heart goes out to the Smith household.”
Requested about Buster’s assertion throughout the information convention, Richter mentioned, “We have not talked about Buster’s title one time. This isn’t about Buster Murdaugh. That is about Stephen Smith, about making an attempt to get reply to questions that his mom desperately wants solutions for.”
