Stephen Smith: A Death in Murdaugh Country | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] this has been a Hampton County story this has been a Hampton County Scandal a jury found the disgraced South
Carolina attorney guilty of murdering his wife and his youngest son this has been the downfall of a family Dynasty
today is not the end it's the next step and a long road to justice for every person who has been victimized by Alex
Mur Justice for Steven Smith Alex Steven Smith was another body in this orbit of
the Muro family stepen was a gay young man in the low country of South Carolina that is courageous and and of itself I
can't imagine the terror he was in that night in the early morning hours of July
8th 2015 19-year-old Steven Smith was found dead in the middle of a rural road there was an autopsy that basically said
it's a hit and run there was no vehicle debris no broken headlight paint scrapes
or or anything you never believed it no not at all they never would have been walking
in that road not voluntarily do you believe Steven was murdered I do an investigation of some sort took place
that led nowhere and then it went cold I wanted a second opinion Sandy Smith is unique in this
whole story she doesn't know who killed her son she doesn't know why people in town really believed that it was
connected to the murdocks in some way the name Buster Murdoch kept coming up I never had anything to do with his murder
and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of of any regard the
rumors also suggest uh a cover up we are aware of no evidence today that would suggest that any mdll
played any role in Steven Smith's death or played any role in trying to cover up
the investigation into his death all I want is peace and knowing what happened to my son he's my world and I'm a fight
to the end this is a woman that has fought this battle alone since 2015 screaming as loud as she could with
not a lot of people listening CBS News confirming that the South Carolina law enforcement division
is now investigating Steven Smith's death as a homicide the Murdoch case for all
Steven's Cold Case to life somehow some way in the Mur of murder investigation a
new thread was opened up into Steven Smith our primary function right now is to have that body exhumed have a true
independent set of eyes look at it and tell us once and for all what really happened to Steven Smith the gash was
from part of this eyebrow across here the injuries can tell us so much about what
happened and in this case they did they did set the scene for me on July 8th 2015 here Steven
was somewhat right here in the road how confident are you that you know what happened to Steph Smith that night
I'm as close to a degree of scientific certainty as I've ever felt [Music] [Music]
like his mother Sandy stepen Smith was born a fighter he was a preey he weighed 2 lb 12 oz a twin yeah twin born at 27
weeks with his sister Stephanie Sandy says Steven couldn't breathe on his own after several months she was told he
might not make it and she was finally allowed to hold her baby for the first time how was that moment oh my gosh it
was amazing it was supposed to be my goodbye but he started breathing on his own cuz he felt you yeah that's why he
was my heart Sandy never dreamed she'd one day be fighting for answers in her son's
death how would you describe the journey that you've been been on for justice it's been a hard journey just living day
by day and fighting day by day on July 8th 2015 Steven was found dead on a country road in Hampton County the same
county where three generations of myall men had held the top prosecutor job for nearly a century the myll still loomed
large over small town life Alec MOG coached Steven's baseball team at one point when they were little I think
Steven was like seven or eight Steven and Stephanie were also classmates of Mall's older son Buster before Steven
went to nursing school with dreams of one day becoming a doctor he wanted to be a doctor but it was more expensive so
he just started with nursing school he loved dealing with medicine and he just loved it you just been so proud oh I was
but instead Sandy says those dreams were buried with her son you decided to bury
him and his scrubs scrubs Dr Steven Smith he had everything he needed in his pockets he had his stethoscope and
everything he needed Steven had just completed a semester of school and was taking summer classes shuttling back and
forth between his parents who lived apart he had visited Sandy a week before he was killed a storm started Brewing I
told him that he needed to hurry up and get back to his dad's house so when he made it he texts me and says I made it
safe Mom Mom I love you Sandy says those were Steven's last words to her days later she would hear the news that would
alter the course of her life July 8 I was on my way to work and I was listening to a local radio station and I
heard that they had found a body Sandy called her daughter Stephanie right away she said Mama did Steven stay with you
last night because he didn't come home last night then my stomach dropped and I knew it was
him Sandy says Steven's father Joel went to the Sheriff's Office for confirmation
that it was Steven that's when she says they received a call I was on the phone with Joel the whole time while we were
waiting for the sheriff to come out and that's when Joel asked me to hold on because Randy murall was calling Randy
murall is Alec mural's older brother and had been representing Joel Smith in a worker's comp case but now he was
calling about Steven when Joel got back on the phone he said Randy asked if that
was our Steven and that he wanted to help pro bono did you think it was strange that Randy offered to help pro
bono well I did but [Music] Joel thought it was a nice gesture later that morning Sandy says she was
surprised again as she drove past the scene where Steven's body had reportedly been found there was Alex and Randy
standing on the opposite side of the road Murdoch Murdoch a few minutes later Sandy says Randy
myall called again and asked if that was me that passed by he said I wish You' to
stop so I could have met you Randy myall declined our request for an interview but through his attorney he provided a
written statement to 48 hours in which he said quote I was not aware of Steven's death until Joel told me they
wanted my involvement and I contacted law enforcement on their behalf myall said he went to the scene with a private
investigator after meeting with Joel and Stephanie adding quote claims that I visited the scene of Steven's death with
my brother Alec are false Joel Smith passed away three months after Steven but Stephanie and Sandy told us
they never asked the mdll for help and there were other things about Steven's case that didn't sit well with Sandy
from the moment the sheriff confirmed the body was Steven's at first he told them Steven had been shot what were you
thinking who would shoot him it made no sense I lost it then I left my job and just drove back to Hampton and we just
mourned together we just couldn't understand why or who it was just a biggest shock of our life within
hours Steven's cause of death was suddenly changed to a hit and run towards the evening time we were
contacted by the Sheriff's Office and after his autopsy there was not any type of bullet or bullet fragment found in
his head because his body was in the roadway it was being ruled to hit and run retired South Carolina Highway
Patrol lieutenant Thomas Moore was the onene supervisor I was told that the medical exam made that ruling and I
reached out to her it became a little bit heated give me an answer medically that would lead you to believe he was
hit by a car there was no medical reason did you see any signs of of a hit and run no ma'am none any type of debris any
kind of glass car parts piece of plastic anything that looks like it may be related to a vehicle also unusual for a
hit and run Steven's clothing was intact and his shoes which were Loosely tied were still on generally clothes are torn
or unraveled and shoes have come off and Steven's car keys and cell phone were in
his front pocket unharmed and mo says Steven's body appeared St aged his body was laying like it had been placed in a
certain position not what you would typically see and it looked like somebody had hit him in the head with
some kind of object meanwhile Steven's wallet was still in his car which investigators found three miles away
with the doors locked and the gas cap hanging open in all the years I've worked a car sitting on the side of the
road with a gas cap off is not normal I thought it was staged like his body was staged in the roadway Sandy says she
wondered if Steven might have been the victim of a hate crime did you think that it was possibly because of his
sexuality I did think that I know he was teased a lot at school but he still held
his head high but Sandy says in the days leading up to his death Steven was worried about his safety he' called his
sister Stephanie for help the day before he was killed Stephanie said the battery
cable was loosen on his car so she had met him and then she tightened the battery cable and she asked him to get
out the car and help her and he said no I'm not getting out like he was scared right but he never said
why despite what Lieutenant Moore felt were suspicious circumstances he says once Steven's death was ruled a hit and
run it became the highway Patrol's job to solve the case instead of the Hampton County Sheriff's office or sled the
South Carolina law enforcement Division I felt like the case for a lack of better word was being pwned off on us
matter what we said we were going to be the ones investigating that case as we were getting started certain names
started coming up which names [Music] murd soon after Steven Smith was killed Hampton County Guardian managing editor
Michael dwit says he began hearing persistent rumors all over town what are the rumors r that at least one Murdoch
child was in a vehicle with other boys and allegedly somebody in the vehicle struck the young man with the baseball
bat and killed him Sandy says those same rumors hit her doorstep as soon as Steven's body was
taken for an autopsy it made no sense to me at any point did you think that someone in the murof family was
involved well the longer it went on the more I was ask asking myself questions but I just couldn't find the
connection powerful family and then you got stepen who was just Steven Sandy couldn't help but think back to her last
conversation with Steven a week before he was killed somebody was messaging him a lot he told me that he was going deep
sea fishing and he said hey was and I said well who are you going with he said well I can't tell you that make you
pause yeah he said you'd be surprise just kind of like a prominent person and then all I could say was well I hope you
have fun Sandy says Steven had become more secretive the last couple weeks but it never crossed her mind he might be
talking about a myll the original rumor was that Steven was planning to go away with Buster Murdoch and his family that
they were together romantically Liz Ferell is the writer and co-host of the murd murders podcast there's no evidence
of that that we know of and 48 hours found no evidence to support the rumors retired Highway Patrol lieutenant
Thomas Moore says the mere mention of the myalls made it difficult to get help from local agencies we tried to hand
that case File over to the Sheriff's Office and they physically would not take it from our hand the mot name was
still very powerful very well connected in law enforcement and the Rumor suggested well the local cops aren't
going to dig into it instead the case was hand L solely by the highway Patrol's multidisciplinary accident
investigation team called mate which specializes in complex vehicle crashes the make team was from out of town and
we wanted outside eyes involved in this the mydal name appears dozens of times in mate's 2015 case File which we
obtained through a freedom of information request in his audio notes Corporal Michael Duncan makes it clear
he does doesn't think Steven's death is a hit and run there is no body trauma other than to the Head area does not
appear to be in my opinion struck by a vehicle another investigator Todd Proctor goes further typically you don't
see the highway patrol working a murder and that's what this is he hints at a conflict of interest for the local
sheriff's department there's a reason why Hampton County Sheriff Department is not handling this and I'll leave it at
that in this interview with Proctor local teen Taylor Dobson shares a detailed version of that story about
several young men in a truck I heard that these two maybe three young men were in a vehicle they were riding down
601 saw the car on the side of the road I guess saw the boy walking um they turned back around then stuck something
out the window he offers a name reluctantly he goes by Buster murder Dobson says he grew up with Buster kind
of out of care character to who I knew it was just strictly hear sa from all I know Proctor reassures him the myalls
are already aware authorities want to speak with Buster they know that he's on our radar matter of fact I talked to one
of their guys yesterday and and told him you know I'm I'm going to talk to Buster
here soon you know and they said okay that's fine but according to the case File a call to Buster Mall in October
2015 was never returned and in December following front page story in the Hampton County Guardian mate received a
tip called in at the direction of Randy myall Buster's Uncle a man named darl Williams called a Hampton police officer
to report the tip which involved two teens Shan Connelly and Patrick Wilson in a recorded phone call the officer
relays to Corporal Duncan what Williams told him Daryl called me and he said Patrick come over here to the house he
said he that Sean Connelly was drunk and hit something he went back the next day to see what it was he had hit
and he seen a lot of police out there Patrick was crying telling him and after he got finished telling the story he
walked outside his house and threw up did he go into any detail about how it happened supposedly he had fixed his
mirror one of the mirror is up on the truck the side mirror story matched Steven's original death certificate for
reasons that are unclear there is no record of Duncan or Proctor ever speaking to Connelly or Wilson Wilson
had no comment to 48 Hours messages to the Hampton County Sheriff's Office Williams and Connelly have not been
answered Sandy Smith says she asked Sean Connelly Point Blank if he killed Steven
and he said he said no ma'am I did not I give you my word I promise you I never killed your son do you believe him yeah
if he lied to you if that turns out to be the case it won't be the first time I'm lied to but you know if you did it
you need to pay in September 2016 fed up with what she calls the lack of an investigation
Sandy began a letter writing campaign that included the FBI what did your letter say I was just letting them know
that my son was murdered and there's no progress being done and I think it had something to do with the Murdo family
and please help just please help me Sandy also told the FBI she believed someone was deliberately trying to
derail the investigation did you ever get a response from the FBI I did and I had two agents come to my house she
asked them to unlock Steven's phone and they did do you know if anyone actually was able to read Steven's text messages
or see where he might have been based on cell phone evidence what I heard from the FBI agent there was a a lot of
interesting information in the phone that needed to be looked at but she says that didn't prompt a local or state
authorities to pursue the case further there's something in that phone that nobody wants out
there by late 2016 the investigation into Steven Smith's death went cold what do you think it took for Steven's case
to finally get the attention it deserves that you wanted somebody else had to die what information do you think was
found on Steven's phone chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X the murders of Paul and Maggie mdll in
June of 2021 caused a seismic shift in smalltown Hampton and gave Sandy Smith a lifeline she desperately needed now it
took this to get Steven's name back out there so somebody would start paying attention in a strange twist of fate
while investigating the murders of Paula Maggie murall sled announced it had stumbled on a new lead in Steven's death
and would be taking over the case they did not say what that evidence was it seems like all roads lead to the murof
family around here yes is that coincidence or is there a reason for that around here it's
natural it would be another two years while authorities focused on getting a conviction against Alec murall but Sandy
now has a high octane legal team in her Corner after 8 years of waiting for your
turn Sandy Smith finally just had enough Ronnie and I are like arsonists we started to fire Ronnie RoR and Eric
Bland are representing Sandy pro bono our sole goal was to wreak Kindle the interest in Steven's
death and they turned up the heat on sled in March of 2023 sled publicly acknowledged it was treating Steven's
case as a homicide the same week Buster murall released a statement through his father's attorney saying quote these
baseless rumors of my involvement with Steven and his death are false I unequivocally deny any involvement in
his death and my heart goes out to the Smith family those words are now in cement I take him in his word that he
had nothing at all to do with Steven's death rather than old rumors Bland and RoR say they're focusing on a new
investigation made possible by $130,000 in GoFundMe donations from Sandy supporters the resources were made
available for us to do some private investigative work that's going to start with hiring a pathology
team they were also able to have Steven body exuded something Sandy had wanted for years our primary function right now
is to have a true independent set of eyes look at it and tell us once and for all what really happened to Steven Smith
in April of 2023 Dr Michelle Dupri a former investigator and forensic pathologist who's performed more than
3,000 autopsies oversaw the examination of Steven's body the injuries can tell us so much about what happened and in
this case they did they did Dupri says the aut y confirmed Steven died from a single blow to his forehead severely
fracturing his skull that's a big gash that's 7 and 1 12 Ines almost there would be another
gash in this posterior area from hitting the pavement so hard literally split his
skull and split his skull they were also able to put to rest some rumors including the one that
Steven had been beaten with a baseball bat it wasn't a baseball bat those type of injuries would cause
something that we call pattern injuries and we don't see that here this is a linear fracture um as well as this is
here just as important as what they found upri says is what they didn't find we didn't find fractures of any part of
the body except for the head there was a little road rash which you would expect
any signs of a struggle no any signs of a beating no any injuries below his head
other than the road rash none whatsoever she says that eliminates the possibility Steven was hit by a car
headon Dupri says the findings also refute early theories that Steven's body might have been staged were you able to
determine whether Steven was struck and fell or he might have been struck and then placed there we don't believe that
he was placed there we believe that whatever happened happened right there Dr Kenny Kinsey agrees you think he was
killed right here right there a crime scene expert and star prosecution witness in the myall murder trial Kinsey
worked with Dupri to analyze Steven's case he says the evidence at the scene is clear that's a massive amount of
blood and if he had that kind of injury somewhere else it wouldn't be that uniform due to their sensitive nature we
created versions of the crime scene photos in which the blood and body are shown as Graphics the quantity of blood
the direction of the flow in the road and then the direction of all the the blood on his person led me to the only
conclusion kiny is convinced an object attached to a vehicle traveling at high speed caused the single fatal blow to
Steven's head but whatever hit him was fast and it was large so a hit and run but an atypical hit and run yeah very
atypical a hit and run with no vehicle debris at the scene it's a conclusion no one was expecting how come confident are
you that you know what happened to Steven Smith that night I'm as close to a degree of scientific certainty as I've
ever felt what no one can say with certainty is whether Steven's death was accidental
or not but still RoR points out he was left there to die someone left him in that condition in the roadway and that
is a very serious felony Steven's body was found about 3 miles from his car kiny tried to retrace
his steps I wanted to walk every possible path that Mr Smith may have taken Steven's family has always
insisted if Steven had car trouble he would have felt safer walking through the woods so where was Steven's car
Steven's car was located if you look at this gate here it was not grown up then you could access that gate but in this
area really close to the woods but to cut through the woods Steven would have had to scale a fence that was 8 ft tall
and from what I understand from interviewing neighbors it's been there for well over a decade Kinsey theorizes
Steven was walking along the road trying to flag someone down for help he is walking this
direction in the in the lane facing traffic whatever was attached to the vehicle or hanging off of the vehicle
whenever it struck Steven he went down in in this area somewhat on this line here the vehicle
that struck Steven was coming toward him just like that vehicle in the photograph
like this yes going that direction Kinsey says the evidence suggests the driver saw something in the road and
change lanes and sometime before it struck Steven I believe it changed into the oncoming
Lane that's when he says an object from the passenger side struck stepen EV what
kind of object could it be it could be anything it could be a ladder hanging off the back of a work truck it could be
a extended side mirror the metal type that you see on some Farm vehicles or some larger vehicles that scenario
matches up with the tip from 2015 involving Patrick Wilson and Shan Connelly which Kinsey calls plausible
that certainly would be possible that would be one of the places I would start sled has kept its investigation close to
the vest but bland and rter say a grand jury was impanel and is issuing subpoenas they're honing in on specific
individuals and I think there's about five or less that sled believes has information regarding Steven's
death we don't know who those individuals are in an interview on Fox Nation in August of 2023 Buster murall
again denied the rumors of his involvement never had anything to do with his murder and I never had anything
to do with him on a physical level of of any regard he also provided an alibi the
night Steven was killed I was at our Edisto beach house with your family with my mom and my
brother s's team says it's turned over all of its findings to sled but kiny says it's still going to take someone
coming forward somebody knows oh they know yes ma'am do you think Steven's death was an
accident or intentional see a timeline of the case at 48 hours.com as a grand jury zeros in on
potential suspects in Steven Smith's death the legal wrangling hasn't slowed down for Alec murall you've got local
charges you got State charges the legal civil cases are going to go on for years
on November 17th 2023 I am guilty and yes sir Mall agreed to a ple deal encompassing all of the State financial
charges he faced for defrauding and stealing Millions from clients and law partners he had previously pleaded
guilty to 22 Federal conspiracy wire fraud and moneya laundering charges Alex prayed on the vulnerable whom he also
thought would never figure out his schemes correct it's people that are at the worst times of their lives where you
need a lawyer to be the best for you not the worst for you perhaps none more so than Elena and
Hannah pler who are now represented by Blandon RoR who were the plers they were two young girls from uh
Colombia they were just 12 and eight when they survived a deadly crash due to a faulty Tire they killed their mother
and 14-year-old brother in 20 2005 and became the youngest of the financial victims to whom myrdle admitted he lied
and stole from when questioned at his murder trial what loss did they suffer who died uh their mother their mother
did he only mentioned your mom yeah that bothered me because you don't remember that a 14-year-old was
killed in that wreck Alec he got a very good paycheck off of my brother's death both women are now mothers and Ena
is a detective with the Lexington County Sheriff's Office since all of this has come out there's a lot of pain that's
still there Alina was old enough to remember the details of the last road trip she and her sister would ever take
with their mom and brother my brother and I had gotten into an argument I wanted to start sitting in the front
seat we fought about it and fought about it and finally mom was like you know what Justin's going to ride on the way
to Columbia and on the way back home Elena gets to ride up front and I was so happy
Elena and Hannah who were still sitting in the back seat survive the crash so you must think about that all the time I
do actually had a lot of guilt for several years that guilt is something she says
she's learned to let go as she recounts her and her little sister's harrowing survival we hadn't been on the road too
long P was sleeping and I was listening to usher and I remember mom saying Lany you awake and so I remember pulling my
headphones down and said yeah Mom within seconds I heard this loud pop and then I
immediately heard my mom scream I looked out the window and my Usher CD was spinning on a tree
limb their mother Angela and brother Justin died instantly Elena realized she was trapped and couldn't move and had to
send Hannah for help I said I need you to get out of the car car and I need you to go to the top of the hill to the
interstate and you're only 12 I'm 12 right so many things could have went worse 8-year-old Hannah climbed up to
the interstate there was an 18wheeler and I was able to flag him down and I think by
that point an ambulance had came in and they had taken me to the hospital Elena waited alone until a fire
rescue team arrived and cut her out of the wreckage she watched as they removed her mother and brother and so I watched
them put them in a black body bag she was then airlifted to a hospital and would need numerous surgeries what was
the moment like when you were able to see each other again after that I remember it I remember hugging
her and thanking her for not dying for not leaving me and then from there I was just in the hospital bed with you you
you couldn't keep this apart the sisters say they were passed around to live with
family members we didn't have a bedroom just had each other just each other yeah
we lived at a little plastic Bend when a family friend referred the pilers to Alec myall he promised to
change all of that do you remember the first time you met Alec murdle yeah I remember when he walked in he seemed
really arrogant like a bulldog just tall almost intimidating in a sense he told us they took your family from you and
we're going to make this right they're going to pay to two young girls who had lost everything murall seemed Larger
than Life I always felt at peace when I got to talk to Al people listen to him you could tell there was a lot of
control there how did he earn your trust really with his words he was a smooth talker and he made you feel
special but once the case settled the special treatment stopped he pretty much checked out he had explained that the
case had settled we won big money elanus case settled for $4.7 million you know Hannah for right at $3 million uh that
money was then entrusted to Russell leat lefit was the CEO of pal Meadow State Bank in Hampton and a close friend of
myall who'd handpicked lefit to manage the funds as conservator until the girls turned
18 so these two very wealthy prominent men basically helped themselves to these kids piggy bank any money they needed
had to be approved by lefit and a judge even if it was a dollar we had to have a
receipt for it when you and Eric took on their case what did you discover Russell
was making loans to Alex Alex would be overdrawn 50,000 $100,000 $300,000 in his personal account and he needed money
to cover those shorts RoR says that at myrdal's Direction lefit transferred nearly $1.5 million from the pilers
money to Alec murall and himself when it came time for these young ladies to turn 18 the money was
supposed to be there so Alex had to go out and steal new money from different clients and put that money back murall
was never charged for Hannah and Elena's case but lefit was convicted on federal
charges for his role but still there's that toll of how do you trust going forward people
were put in a position of Trust on their behalfs when they were just children and
then to learn as an adult that the entire time they saw you as nothing more than a
checkbook while the pilers can begin to heal Sandy Smith still waits for her Day
of Reckoning all this sweeping drama there's answers and there's closure for everybody else but not for Sandy Smith
it's time to put the spotlight on Steven Smith months after his Blockbuster trial
Alex ver verdict guilty convicted double murderer Alec murall and the crime of the century are still Hampton's biggest
attractions almost every day somebody's coming by taking a picture of the law firm or riding out to Mosel taking
pictures they just can't get enough The myall Craze was on full display at an auction for the family's
personal items from their Moselle property the infamous leather couch set where Alec testified he took a cat nap
while his wife and son were murdered sold for $30,000 and Maggie's dog Bubba who
helped prosecutors prove Alec was actually at the crime scene has become a local folk hero if that rambunctious
yellow lab hadn't have been doing what labs like to do Chase Birds we might not have solved this case and we might not
have gotten a conviction Bubba Alex voice calling Bubba was caught in the background of
phone video Paul took minutes before he was killed Bubba and the other dogs at the
kennels they were witnesses to a very horrific event Bubba now lives a quiet life with the mural's housekeeper
meanwhile Alec murall is serving two life terms in a Maximum Security Prison do you think Alec mdal still thinks he
can try to play the system 100% now M's attorneys are hoping their latest motion
will be a get out of jail free card work focused on getting him a new trial in September 2023 dick harlean and Jim
Griffin announced their motion for a new trial based on allegations of jury tampering by the colon County Clerk of
Court Becky Hill what we had filed today supported by sworn testimony of jurors is that the
clerk of court had improper private Communications with the jurors the state versus Richard Alexander Murdock
defended they argued that Hill violated mural's right to a fair trial when she allegedly told jurors not to be fooled
by his testimony and to watch his body language as Alec was about to take the stand I'm Alec
murck in a signed affidavit Hill denies all of the defense allegations and voluntary statements from a majority of
the jury support Hill's account roran Bland say even a new trial can save Alec myall if the motor convictions
overturned then you have the financial crimes according to the plea deal with prosecutors on the state crimes murall
could be sentenced to nearly 30 years for those charges alone so yes there's a theoretical Universe in which Alex murd
could see the sun again but it's theoretical only is it's like rearranging the the deck chairs on the
Titanic it's F if you would a ride a made for TV Southern legal drama you you couldn't
have done a better job than this dit writes about it in his book The Fall of the House of murall which he ends with
Steven Smith it's kind of interesting and tragic that the oldest story remains unsolved solving his murder I think this
will be the end of this sweeping Saga as sled continues its investigation of the Smith case behind closed doors
what investigators found after the murall murders Remains the subject of intense
speculation do you have any idea what the new evidence that may be presented to the grand jury is no uh I do know
that sled has Steven's phone I know that they have Steven's tablet could Steven's
phone reveal the identity of the prominent person with whom he told Sandy he'd planned to go deep sea
fishing that'll be interesting what sled has found out and what the grand jury is
going to determine whether the person that he was going to go away with deep sea fishing um had anything to do with
his death or as knowledge of his death how has this fight for justice been oh it has been a long road but it's
worth it Sandy is Keeping the Faith and keeping Steven's memory alive she recently established a college
scholarship in his name we are starting this scholarship fund so other children won't have it as hard as stepen did and
she's offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and now as it's your turn that if you know
something that you say something what do you miss most about Stephen just I miss everything about
him what do you think Stephen would think of your fight where we are today in his
case he said oh mama you would do that for me yep yep I would over and over [Music]
a couple's financial hardship becomes a Prelude to murder someone trying to break into my home but only one of them
pays the price the last thing that most burglars want to encounter are people secrets and deadly deception you could
just tell there's information that's missing we're not getting the full story 48 hours Saturday on CBS streaming on
Paramount Plus [Music]

New evidence discovered after Murdaugh murders reignites a cold case. "48 Hours" obtains findings of independent forensic experts. CBS News national correspondent Nikki Battiste reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

Brief Summary

Sandy Smith fights for justice in her son Steven's suspicious death linked to the Murdoch family.

Key points

The Murdoch Scandal Unfolds. A jury finds the disgraced South Carolina attorney guilty of murder, marking a family downfall.
Sandy Smith's Fight for Justice. Sandy Smith battles for answers in her son's death, a journey filled with heartache.
New Evidence in Steven's Case. SLED announces a new lead in Steven Smith's death, reigniting the investigation.
Autopsy Reveals Shocking Truth. Dr. Michelle Dupri confirms Steven died from a single blow, dispelling earlier rumors.
The Mystery of Steven's Death. Investigators analyze the evidence surrounding Steven's death, revealing shocking conclusions.
Alec Murdaugh's Legal Troubles. Alec Murdaugh faces multiple legal challenges as investigations continue into his actions.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This has been the downfall of a family Dynasty.

0:19WatchDec 1, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.