Madison Meeks – Opinion Editor

mvm7037@psu.edu

The body of a teenager who was found near the Murdaugh estate is said to be being exhumed. The mother of the South Carolina teenager who was found on a rural road near the Murdaugh estate in 2015 has stated that the body of her son will be exhumed. 

The family plans to have the body exhumed for an independent autopsy. The plans for the exhumed body comes after the conviction of a life sentence for South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh. Murdaugh has recently been convicted for the murder of his wife and son. 

The case of the teenager has found interest after the conviction of Murdaugh. According to NBCNews, a GoFundMe has raised more than 43,000 dollars for the exhumation of the teenager’s body. The teenager Stephen Smith’s mother has thanked supporters for raising money to help her son get justice. 

According to NBCNews, “[T]he family’s attempt for answers was energized in June 2021, in the weeks after the murders of Margaret Murdaugh, 52, and her son, Paul, 22, at their estate in Colleton County.” 

When the investigators announced their investigation into the murders of Margaret and Paul, they were already reviewing other mysterious deaths in the area that had a possible connection to the family. but stopped to focus specifically on Margret and Paul. NBCNews has stated that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division ,or SLED, has now opened an inquiry into Smith’s death based on information that was gathered by investigators during the double murder investigation. 

In 2015, Stephen Smith, 19, had appeared to be hit by a vehicle while standing outside his car that had run out of gas, investigators stated. The fatal incident happened about 15 miles from the Murdaugh property. Smith was originally thought to have defensive wounds on his hand, and investigators opened a homicide investigation. However, the case happened to come to a halt after a medical examiner stated that Smith’s cause of death was being hit in the head by a car mirror. No glass or any part of a car was not found at the location or around the area of Smith’s body.

NBCNews has also stated that South Carolina Highway Patrol investigators have indicated that they have received tips that Paul Murdaugh’s older brother, Buster Murdaugh, may be connected to the case. Both Buster and Smith had reportedly graduated from the same high school in 2014, but no members of the Murdaugh family have been directly named by authorities as of this moment. Smith’s case has been brought to the public’s attention through documentaries about the Murdaugh family and their possible connection to the case. 

Smith’s case is not the only case that has caught the attention of the public and investigators in connection with the Murdaugh family. Gloria Satterfield had died in 2018 at the Murdaugh estate which was initially claimed to be an accidental fall. The death of Satterfield was questioned in 2021 by a corner but no autopsy has been done. SLED announced in June 2022 that they would be exhuming Satterfield’s body as part of the investigation into Murdaugh. 

Both the bodies of Satterfield and Smith will hopefully be exhumed soon to rule out foul play, and to possibly even get justice for the tragic deaths of two innocent people