On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, an attorney for Sandy Smith, the mother of Stephen Smith whose de@th was initially declared a hit-and-run stated that the chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) did not believe the 19-year-old di*d in a car accident but rather by purposeful homicide.
Smith’s vehicle broke down far from the Murdaugh family’s hunting home in South Carolina. The South Carolina State Highway Patrol concluded that the 19-year-de@th-old was the result of a hit-and-run.
But the victim’s mother, Sandy Smith insisted that her son would have “walked through the woods” to get home if his car had broken down.
She also refuted 2015 police findings that her son left his wallet in the disabled car. Not everyone shared Sandy Smith’s optimism.
On Tuesday, March 21, Sandy Smith’s attorney Eric Bland of the Bland Richter Law Firm revealed that he had spoken with SLED chief Mark Keel and found that the boy’s de@th was now being treated as a homicide, eight years after it occurred.
Bland revealed the news to the producers of the Murdaugh Murd*rs Podcast adding that Keel told him he did not need to exhume Smith’s body to establish to SLED that Smith di*d from homicide and not in a car accident.
Bland said:
“He said, if you want to go out in public and say SLED supports you, that Stephen Smith di*d by homicide that he was k!lled somewhere else or di*d in a way that was intentional and not just hit by a car.
“You have our permission to do so adding that the chief said if they decide to go forward with exhuming the body, SLED wants to partner up and be part of the process to find out what happened to Stephen”.
In a news release issued, Bland reiterated his earlier claims. He said:
“We have a chance to right eight years of wrongs and we intend to do just that”.
Inquiries about Bland’s comments made on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 evening were not met with a prompt response from SLED. There has been debate regarding the decision to classify Smith’s de@th as a hit-and-run which is nonetheless considered a homicide.
When it is asked that there was any evidence that Smith’s de@th was the result of a hit-and-run or even included a vehicle, former South Carolina State Trooper Todd Proctor, who headed the first investigation, said there was none.
He commented that it seemed like it was more staged in 2021 indicating that perhaps the body had been dumped on the street. There were no telltale indicators that Smith slid over the pavement after being struck, and there were no tire tracks or shattered auto parts at the murd*r scene.
As expected, Proctor addressed the news on Tuesday. He said:
“SLED has requested that I not speak about the case, That news is not surprising, though. I’ve said that for years now.”
You can read more about the passing of other people by reading the posts given below:
- Tiffany Valiante’s Body was Recovered on Train Tracks Revealing Bizarre Evidence to her Death
- Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide Holds an Inquest Into the Death of Newborn Bodhi Searle
- Aaron Carter’s Mother Shares Distressing Photos of her Son’s Death and Criticizes Police
Note: The investigation into Stephen Smith’s de@th is ongoing. We will update you as soon as we get anything new about his passing. The comments section is open for you to share any further information you may have concerning his case.
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