I am none of these things, but I am fascinated by this case. And I got an actual attorney to opine, so go me!
⚖️ MURDAUGH MURDERS & TRIAL THREAD ⚖️
- Thread starter OldMTPTiger
- Start date
No. The cover up does not flow from the way the scene was handled. The scene just leads me to believe that law enforcement knew from the jump exactly what happened.
The cover up stands alone.
Your response is rather silly
Speeding up or down 95 or on any road would be stupid and attract attention
Why would they leave a note... this ain’t the gulf war
If you believe and trust the local cops and what they say, well I have some swampland for you
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Think it is pretty obvious at this point this case is not gonna be solved, the old men done got away with it and everyone is scared of them (well the one that is left)
I’ve been completely transparent from my very first post in this thread: everything I’ve speculated about has been divined from the tiniest bit of (possibly flawed) information.
I factually know nothing about this case. I have no inside info. I’m not in the business. I have no contacts. Nothing. I know nothing about proper police procedures other than what I have learned in life. I have stayed in a Holiday Inn Express but I’ve never seen one minute of a CSI Episode.
Anyone that repeats anything I say does so at their own risk of eventually looking like an idiot.
I don’t mind - I’ve looked like an idiot plenty of times. Maybe this will be another one. But I know what I think.
I’m also perfectly fine with changing my opinion if I think it is warranted. I don’t dig in at all costs. That’s not how I think.
But I remain intrigued and will continue to speculate. No one should take offense because none is intended.
The hell of it is that this is real. It has happened to real people. That sucks. I wish it was just a TV show.
I don’t know why you’d call my response silly.
All of that was meant to be completely insane.
I happen to agree with everything you just said.
I don't think so. This is the one that sinks them. Too many eyes on this one
Nobody is going to serve time. Here's my theory, and I haven't seen anything that would prove it as impossible. Dad's story is this: Paul killed his mom. Dad comes home. Paul shoots at dad but misses. Dad gets to his truck and grabs the shotgun and shoots Paul. He tells the cops this but now they have to prove that this is how it actually happened.
When is the final season being released on netflix? Season 1 was cray cray.
Looks like they are opening up the case into the Smith kids murder.
www.fitsnews.com
Stephen Smith Case Opened By The Same Agency Investigating Murdaugh Murders
Big development in the unsolved case....
www.fitsnews.com
Insert eerie music followed by commercial break…Looks like they are opening up the case into the Smith kids murder.
Stephen Smith Case Opened By The Same Agency Investigating Murdaugh Murders
Big development in the unsolved case....
C&P.Looks like they are opening up the case into the Smith kids murder.
Stephen Smith Case Opened By The Same Agency Investigating Murdaugh Murders
Big development in the unsolved case....
lmost six years after her son Stephen Smith was killed in Hampton County, South Carolina, Sandy Smith finally got the news she’s been hoping for all these years.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has opened an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith, SLED spokesperson Tommy Crosbytold FITSNews Tuesday.
Sandy Smith told FITSNews that SLED agents visited her home Tuesday to tell her the big news — her son’s case was being looked at with fresh eyes. She said that the SLED Midlands team will be conducting the investigation.
“I’ve been waiting on this day for 2174 days,”Sandy told FITSNews. “Thank you, God!”
Crosby said SLED opened the investigation “based on information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.”
Days after the shocking double homicide of Paul Murdaugh and his mother Maggie Murdaugh on June 7, FITSNews published an exclusive report about three other deaths that have connections to the powerful South Carolina family.
(SPONSORED CONTENT - STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
One of those cases was Stephen Smith — a 19-year-old man from Hampton, S.C. who was found dead in the middle of Sandy Run Road on July 8, 2015. Investigators with the S.C. Highway Patrol (SCHP) received multiple tips in the aftermath of Smith’s death linking his untimely demise to the Murdaugh family.
SLED officials did not say if they were investigating Stephen’s case as a homicide. Officials did not provide any details about what information in the double homicide investigation led them to open Smith’s case.
SLED is the same agency in charge of the high-profile Murdaugh murders investigation.
Officially, Smith’s death was classified as a hit and run, which is why it was being handled by SCHP. Now, law enforcement officials are questioning that decision as SLED takes over the case.
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RELATED | Unanswered Questions About Multiple Suspicious Deaths Connected To Murdaugh Family
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Last week, FITSNews exclusively reported that SLED asked Sandy Smith to be interviewed in the Murdaugh Murders investigation. Sandy told FITSNews she was devastated to hear that she and her family were being viewed as possible persons of interest in the Murdaugh murders June 7.SLED is continuing to cast a wide net as it looks to exclude individuals in connection with the double homicide that took place at the Murdaugh’s 1,700-acre hunting property located near Islandton, S.C. on the evening of June 7, 2021.
SLED’s inquiry into the Smith family does not mean its agents believe they had anything to do with the deaths of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh. SLED is simply looking at anyone who may have had a possible motive in the case.
For years, Sandy has been begging law enforcement officials to open an investigation into her son’s unsolved death.
Now, she’s hopeful that this new investigation will shed light on what really happened to her son.
Unfortunately, today’s news still leaves us with so many questions.
How are the two cases related?
Why did the case go cold?
Why did SCHP have the case for so long?
Who killed Stephen Smith?
What Happened to Stephen Smith?
Like the probe of the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach, the 2015 investigation into Smith’s death was chaotic from the beginning — clouded by jurisdictional confusion and suspicions of investigative interference.Smith was found dead just before 4:00 a.m. EDT on July 8, 2015.
Crime scene photos obtained by FITSNews are horrific — Stephen’s entire face was covered in blood that cascaded from a 7.25-inch gaping hole on the right side of his forehead. His head was misshapen by blunt force.
Someone just left him in the middle of the road to die …
Stephen’s massive head wound — along with the lack of other significant injuries on his body — stumped investigators on scene. His right shoulder was partially dislocated. Cuts and bruises dotted his right hand. His loosely tied shoes were still on and his clothes appeared untouched. His phone and keys were still in his pocket.
Investigators found Smith’s car three miles away on the side of Bamberg Highway. His wallet was inside his car. SCHP detectives noted the car’s gas cap was unscrewed and hanging outside of the gas cap door.
Law enforcement officers believed Smith ran out of gas and started walking home before he was killed.
Officials couldn’t nail down a cause or manner of death. At first, they thought it was a hit and run. Then, the coroner ruled the death a shooting homicide — forcing investigators to search the rural road carved between a tree line and a corn field.
In their search, investigators from SCHP, the Hampton County sheriff’s office, and SLED found virtually no evidence — no bullets, no gunshot residue, no tire marks, no debris from a vehicle.
Nothing …
Hours later, a pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) — Dr. Erin Presnell — ruled that Stephen was killed in a hit-and-run accident, a decision which was met with confusion and skepticism by investigators and those who knew Stephen.
Investigators theorized that the mirror of a semi-truck hit Stephen’s head.
Stephen’s friends and family also disputed the autopsy report. Stephen was sharp and hyper-aware of his surroundings.A toxicology report showed that Stephen was completely sober at the time of his death.
“Stephen was not stupid,” Stephen’s friend told FITSNews. “There is no way that would happen to him. He would not let a car, let alone a truck, get close enough to hit him. That did not happen to my friend. He doesn’t deserve that. He doesn’t deserve people to think that.”
In his hometown of Hampton, Stephen was beloved. He was an openly gay young man a small town, which wasn’t easy, but he made the best of it, his friends told FITSNews. He was bright and determined to make a better life for himself. He was in school for nursing at the time of his death.
According to SCHP documents, detectives were pursuing Paul Murdaugh and his brother Buster Murdaugh as possible persons of interest in the case.
To be fair, police appeared to be pursuing other persons of interest as well and never named anyone as a suspect.
According to the investigation file, Buster was rumored to have been linked to Stephen — intimately — but detectives never proved this connection. It’s also unclear if the MAIT team ever examined Stephen’s phone, which was tossed between agencies before it was finally unlocked by the FBI several years after his death.
The Murdaugh name was mentioned at least 40 times throughout the course of the investigation.
In the file, SCHP detective Todd Proctor was clear in his reports that he didn’t believe Stephen’s death was a hit-and-run.
“We’re not classifying this as anything other than a murder,” Proctor said in an audio recording.
But months after Proctor made that statement in the investigation, Stephen’s case went cold — until now.
SLED did not say what took so long for them to get the case from SCHP.
Sandy Smith is just glad they’re finally doing the right thing.
“I just can’t believe it,” she told FITSNews.
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Dad or a third party.
This actually checks all the boxes.
No urgency at the scene.
No danger to the public.
No need for a reward.
Even the tip line (did anyone see the dad or someone else pulling in on different timeline than claimed).
This would be an actual legitimate investigation on the up and up.
The question I have would remain: is there now a full scale attempt ongoing to cover this up and turn it into an unsolved assassination? Or, at a minimum, self defense when it wasn’t.
Hopefully, as mentioned above, there are too many eyes on this one.
It has not. Shell casings clearly found. Nothing has ever been said about weapons being found at the scene. If they wanted to/could close this up they would have by now. This is still wide open.
Man how shitty will it be that because of the double homicide, SLED opens up a cold case (Smith death) and finds that Paul was guilty. I am sure the mother is happy the case is open but had this not happened that poor lady would still be sitting there with nothing but hope. Seems rather convenient to be honest. Unless there is a cover up that can be proven and some people go down for the crime.
I was thinking the same thing. Only thing that would put a twist on it is if the brother gets taken down on the Smith murder. I truly feel sorry and sorrow for all parties, including the Murdaughs, that are entangled in this situation.
Incorrect. I spend $10 a month for this site. I demand transparency and accountability for all murders that are interesting and discussed on this message board.
Yep. That is correct. SLED is probably not legally obligated to divulge information regarding its investigation at this point. I say probably not because I have no idea what the status of the investigation is.
I will just say that what I am hearing from my sources makes me think the murderer(s) were not related to the family.
There is a big ass difference between
wishing you had more information
wanting more information
hoping for more information
wondering why you don't get more information
and
demanding more information.
Hearing the same recently. Maybe some bad deals and 'payback' related.
Not making light of any loss of life but the sideshow this has kind of turned into ( at least on TI) is like a real life version of the Clue game
This was posted on the main boards thread
I never said it was not. I was simply answering a question someone asked me And never called out or pointed out any poster. I haven’t even read most of this thread, so I really have no idea whats gotten your piaw.
There you go assuming things.
I'm just blabbering. Why you got your guard up?
Oh. Message board. Gotta defend everything. I forgot.
It's all good.
Hey man. I’m good. You, on the other hand, seem to be a little agitated.
You emotional investment in this situation and your conspiracy theories about it are awkward to say the least.
Gotta agree. Every time I see this thread bumped, I'm hoping there is some actual news. And it's generally just this guy telling his opinion for the ___th time. Lol
WOW! I was born and raised in Varnville, stomped around there, Hampton, Estill and the area. Never had this type of case while I was there (60’s-early 80’s). And I have no opinion on what happened other than very tragic. My sympathies to all involved, hope it gets solved quickly!
Oh no...NY Times has article today as well as the STATE and The Island Packet...Also opening up the hit and run case (Stephen Smith)....Just a little calm before the storm....
It appears there's too much public pressure now for this to just go away
I got a case growing cold in my fridge at home. Bout to drink some beers when I get home this PM.
From everything I am reading I think it's one of four things caused their death.
1. Global Warming
2. White supremacists
3. UFO's
4. Covid D.
1. Global Warming
2. White supremacists
3. UFO's
4. Covid D.
Police just released a sketch of a person of interest. He's a suspect in several hate crimes against gingers
