Skip to main content
Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Murdaugh trial gives unsolved death investigation a boost

Members of the media and general public gathered outside the Colleton County Courthouse Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C. As the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh wraps, the heaps of public attention poured on the case's many twists and turns. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Members of the media and general public gathered outside the Colleton County Courthouse Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C. As the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh wraps, the heaps of public attention poured on the case's many twists and turns. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) Members of the media and general public gathered outside the Colleton County Courthouse Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C. As the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh wraps, the heaps of public attention poured on the case's many twists and turns. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

By JEFFREY COLLINS / Associated Press 4 min read


COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A mother whose son was found dead in the middle of a South Carolina road eight years ago is opening a private investigation into his death after raising almost $90,000 amid the publicity surrounding the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh.

There is no current evidence linking Stephen Smith’s death to the Murdaugh family, the lawyers for the mother say. State investigators, who are also looking into Smith’s death, have remained tight-lipped about taking over the case around the same time police said Murdaugh killed his wife and son. He is serving a life sentence for those killings.

But the lack of evidence hasn’t stopped speculation. And that attention in turn helped Sandy Smith raise in less than two weeks more than $87,000 through Go Fund Me. Her goal was $15,000 — enough to pay to exhume her son’s body and have a private autopsy.

“It’s important to me because I love my son and since I couldn’t protect him, I’m going to fight for him,” Sandy Smith told reporters Monday as her lawyers announced the private investigation.