After Murdaugh trial, mom of Stephen Smith quickly raises money to fund new autopsy for son
What started as an effort to raise enough money to exhume the body of Stephen Smith for a new autopsy has grown into an outpouring of support for his family.
By Thursday, the week-long campaign had raised $32,215 from more than 1,000 people. The goal was $15,000.
Smith was 19 when his body was found in July 2015 in the middle of a rural road in Hampton County. The death was ruled a hit and run, but his family, along with a detective who investigated the case, think otherwise.
The mystery deepened and the investigation was renewed after the State Law Enforcement Division obtained new information while looking into the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in 2021 at their hunting estate, not too far from where Smith’s body was found.
SLED has not revealed what that information was, but the Murdaugh name had been raised in Smith’s death in the earlier investigation. Smith was a classmate of Buster Murdaugh, the older son of Maggie and Alex Murdaugh. Alex Murdaugh was convicted in the deaths of his wife and son March 2 and sentenced to two life sentences.
Sandy Smith, Stephen Smith’s mother, said on the gofundme page Thursday, “I could not have imagined when we began this fundraiser that it would take off the way that it did. Thank you for not allowing Stephen’s story to be swept under a rug.”
When the fundraiser was started a week ago, the family said they felt a new, independent autopsy was needed to push forward the investigation.
“While the state can elect and fund an exhumation and new autopsy, it is our understanding that it would be carried out at MUSC, where his death was initially classified as hit-and-run despite no evidence to support it,” the family said. “We need a new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on facts. There was no debris in the road, and his injuries were not consistent with a hit-and-run.”
They said the autopsy would cost about $7,000, plus $750 an hour for a private medical examiner.
“It is a huge expense, but we are hoping that with your support we can make this happen and finally get the answers we need,” the family said.
Columbia accountant Susanne Andrews raised more than $40,000 last year through gofundme to pay for a headstone for Smith at Gooding Cemetery and legal expenses for the family.
The marker was installed in July.
Smith was a student at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College at the time of his death. He was in the nursing program and dreamed of becoming a doctor.
