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Stephen Smith — The Boy Forgotten Amid the Murdaugh Tragedy
A new homicide investigation opens into a low country teenager’s death mere days after the Alex Murdaugh trial ends.
On the 8th of July 2015, in the morning heat of South Carolina, a young boy was found motionless, surrounded by his own blood, in the center of Sandy Run Road in Hampton County. As paramedics arrived, it was clear that the teenager was deceased. He had such significant head trauma to the right side of his skull that it was first mistaken for a gunshot wound.
The victim was 19-year-old Stephen Nicholas Smith. Stephen had recently graduated from Wade Hampton High School and was studying to be a registered nurse at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.
Initially, first responders believed they were dealing with a hit-and-run, but there was a lack of any evidence at the scene to support this: no vehicle debris or skid marks were present. The body also had injuries to the left arm and hand.
Stephen was still wearing shoes and they were tied. Investigators found this atypical as shoes tend to fall off of a victim that has been struck by a car due to force.
No gunshot wounds were found during the autopsy. Pathologist Dr. Erin Presnell documented that the…
