SLED investigating Stephen Smith’s death as a murder, says teen did not die by hit-and-run
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel confirmed Tuesday night that his agency is now investigating the 2015 death of Hampton County teen Stephen Smith as a murder.
“We do believe it was a murder,” Keel told The State. “We don’t believe it was a hit-and-run.”
How Smith, 19, died has been the subject of increasing speculation for years, as one of a number of suspicious Lowcountry deaths.
In recent months questions about his death — his body was found on a rural road at night in — have been raised by state and national media. For years, officials have said Smith, who was openly gay, was the victim of a hit-and-run.
Keel said that he spoke earlier Tuesday with Columbia lawyer Eric Bland, who represents Sandy Smith, Stephen’s mother, and told Bland that SLED was now investigating her son’s death as a murder.
Bland and his law partner, Ronnie Richter, then released Keel’s statement to the media.
SLED’s investigation into Stephen Smith’s death has been ongoing since 2021, according to a SLED spokesperson.
Smith, a nursing student at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, was found dead on Sandy Run Road in Hampton County around 4 a.m. on July 4, 2015.
His car was reported to be 3 miles away, with its gas cap unscrewed.
On July 8, an autopsy concluded that Smith died due to blunt force trauma to his head.
An initial investigation by the South Carolina Highway Patrol’s Multi-disciplinary Accident Investigation Team concluded that it was a manslaughter due to a vehicular hit-and-run. However, the lead MAIT investigator, Todd Proctor, has repeatedly and publicly expressed doubts about this conclusion.
“Nothing about this case from the very beginning pointed towards it being a hit-and-run,” Proctor told Fox News in a June 2021 interview.
SLED has asked anybody with information to call 803-737-9000.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
