Stephen Smith: Rape kit exam performed on gay SC teen found dead near Murdaugh house
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion advised
ISLANDTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: In connection to the mysterious death probe of Stephen Smith, 19, a rape kit was performed by authorities. Authorities have not disclosed any information about Smith being sexually assaulted. However, the move was called unusual by now-retired Corporal Mike Duncan who was among the investigation team of the original accident.
The South Carolina teenager's death which is now ruled as a homicide was first investigated as a hit-and-run incident. "When it comes to traffic accidents, never. This was the very first time. I did not have an understanding of why it was being ordered. We were not notified until later that it had been ordered. So no, I have no answers for you for why they would order a rape kit for what would be suspected as a hit and run, which it wasn’t, but I will never understand that," Duncan told News Nation while pointing out it was unusual to see a rape kit being ordered in cases of this nature.
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Why was Smith's death ruled as a homicide?
In July 2015, Smith was found dead in a way that the cause and manner were undetermined at the time. According to investigators, the nursing student was hit by a car and was left dead on a road. His autopsy report revealed that he died suffering blunt force trauma to the head following the crash. However, in connection to an unrelated case, Smith's death has been officially determined as a homicide. The body of the 19-year-old man who was Buster Murdaugh's classmate was discovered near the prominent Murdaugh family's hunting estate, Moselle. It was at the same estate where the disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife Margaret 'Maggie' Murdaugh, 52, and his youngest son Paul Murdaugh, 22, on June 7, 2021, reported Law and Crime.
Smith's mother set up GoFundMe page for exhumation
Seven years after the death of Stephen, his mother Sandy has set up a fundraiser for an independent reinvestigation and autopsy. The recent announcement of Smith's body to be exhumed was made on a GoFundMe page where she wrote, "I could not have imagined when we began this fundraiser that it would take off the way that it did. Thank you for not allowing Stephen’s story to be swept under the rug. We will pursue the exhumation immediately and provide updates along the way." As of Thursday morning, the page has raised more than $101, 565.