South Carolina law enforcement is monitoring two potential stakeholders in the 2015 murder of gay teen Stephen Smith, who was found dead just a few miles from Alex Murdaugh’s former hunting estate.
Local news site Fits the news He named the two people as Patrick Wilson and Sean Connelly, both 25 years old, citing sources from the South Carolina Department of Law Enforcement.
DailyMail.com has reached out to SLED for comment on the new findings. Steven Smith was found dead in the middle of a two-lane road in Hampton County on July 8, 2015. He was found a short distance from his car with his gas cap removed and his wallet in it.
According to a FitsNews report, Connelly and Wilson, who were both teenagers at the time, were living in Hampton County when Smith was murdered.
Stephen Smith (right) and his mother, Sandy (left). His family has always believed he was murdered – Stephen’s body allegedly had no injuries from the torso down, and no car parts were found at the scene.
The article, penned by the site’s founder Will Forks, claims that five months after Smith’s death, Wilson’s stepfather, Darrell Williams, said he was told by a stepson that Connelly “beat and killed Stephen Smith.”
Williams, in turn, notified law enforcement. Later, Williams told investigators that Wilson had moved out and did not know where he lived.
When efforts to locate him foundered, Williams said he was initially told to contact the police by Alex Murdaugh’s brother, Randy.
There has long been speculation that Buster Mordo, Alex’s eldest son, was somehow involved in Smith’s death, including allegations that the couple had a sexual relationship.
The deceased man was Buster’s teacher at school and the pair played on the same baseball team for a time.
These baseless rumors of my involvement with Steven and his death are false. I categorically deny any involvement in his death, Buster said in a statement earlier this month, and my heart goes out to the Smith family.
The FitsNews report goes on to say that at the time of Darrell Williams’ phone call to police, Wilson was facing attempted murder charges that were dropped by a judge who described him as “serving to please the Murdose family.”
Additionally, within 12 months of Smith’s death, Connelly filed two car accident lawsuits, both of which were dropped by “judges friendly to Murdo,” according to the site.
Online records show that Connelly has a long criminal record in South Carolina.
His charges range from multiple traffic violations, including DUIs, domestic violence, hunting without a license, illegally killing a deer without a horn and purchasing alcohol as a minor.
In honor of Smith, erected at the site where he was found dead in Hampton, South Carolina, in 2015
Police were suspicious of his shooting, but ruled his death a hit-and-run
Wilson has one count since the attempted murder charges were dropped, in 2017 he was charged with the crime of boating.
Attorneys for the mother say there is no current evidence linking Stephen Smith’s death to the Mordeau family.
State detectives, who are also investigating Smith’s death, remained resolute about taking the case at the same time police said Murdaugh had killed his wife and son. He is serving a life sentence for these murders.
But the lack of evidence did not stop the speculation. This interest, in turn, helped Sandy Smith raise more than $87,000 in less than two weeks through Go Fund Me. Her goal was $15,000 – enough money to pay for an exhumation and an autopsy on her son.
“It’s important to me because I love my son and because I can’t protect him, I’m going to fight for him,” Sandy Smith told reporters Monday when her attorneys announced the private investigation.
The soldier who discovered Smith’s body did not believe it was a hit-and-run, but the coroner who performed the autopsy on Smith’s theory was hit in the head by the side mirror of a passing truck that did not stop.
Buster Murdaugh and his girlfriend, Brooklyn White, walked into the Colleton County Courthouse in South Carolina in February for his father’s double murder trial.
Maggie Mordeau with her husband Alex and sons Buster (right) and Paul (left)
In a statement Monday, shared by Alex Murdaugh’s attorney Jim Griffin, Buster called the allegations “baseless.”
Police said he appeared to have run out of gas and was walking for help, but attorney Eric Bland, who is representing Smith’s family, said Smith had not placed any calls on his mobile phone and that his shoes, which were loosely tied, were still worn. introduce it. People who are hit by cars are often found without their shoes on from the force of the wreck.
Smith’s family believes his injuries, including head injuries and a dislocated arm behind him, indicate that he was bludgeoned to death and fell onto the highway.
There were no skid marks on the road or debris such as broken glass or mirror shards located nearby, said Ronnie Richter, another attorney for the Smith family.
State agents took the case in 2021, though they never said why they decided to do so or if it connected to information found during the investigation into the deaths of Alex Mordeau’s wife and son.
Soldiers usually investigate road deaths in South Carolina, where state agents typically investigate other crimes.
The agency’s spokesperson, Renee Wunderlich, said the state’s chief of law enforcement has reached out to Smith’s new attorneys to ask if they would share any new information they find through an autopsy or other investigation.
“We think it was a murder,” Kell said. the state newspaper earlier this month. “We don’t think it was a hit-and-run.”
The Smith family’s attorney, Bland, said investigators believe people may be more willing to talk now that the murder trial is over.
The first step in the private investigation will be to obtain the judge’s permission to exhume Stephen Smith’s body. The support of state agents is likely to help with this request.
Bland also hopes that private investigators can collect and analyze mobile phone data from Smith and the people he was communicating with to reconstruct who he hung out with and what he was doing not only before his body was found but also in the weeks leading up to his death.
Stephen had to lead a secret life. Being young and gay in the Lowcountry was not easy, Bland said.
Buster, the son of Smith and Alex Mordo, went to the same high school, leading to rumors that Mordo’s family was involved in his death.
Richter went out of his way this week to say they had no evidence Buster Mordo was involved in anything with Smith.
