Alex Murdaugh’s son Buster issued a observation Monday denying any involvement within the dying of a 19-year-old guy whose frame used to be discovered close to the circle of relatives’s South Carolina searching house in 2015.
The 26-year-old, in a observation launched through a circle of relatives lawyer, mentioned he has been pressured and focused over claims that he’s tied to Stephen Smith’s dying following his mom and brother’s capturing deaths in 2021. He requested for peace as he copes together with his father’s contemporary existence sentence for his or her murders, and known as the claims “baseless” and “vicious.”
“I’ve attempted my very best to forget about the vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen Smith’s tragic dying that proceed to be revealed within the media as I grieve over the brutal murders of my mom and brother. I like them such a lot and pass over them extraordinarily,” he mentioned.
“I haven’t spoken up till now as a result of I wish to are living in personal whilst I take care of their deaths and my father’s incarceration,” he persisted. “I unequivocally deny any involvement in his dying, and my center is going out to the Smith circle of relatives.”
In a while after Smith’s dying, rumors circulated that the Murdaugh circle of relatives used to be by hook or by crook related, the Augusta Chronicle and different native information shops reported. TV documentaries that emerged after the Murdaugh killings additionally steered Buster Murdaugh used to be all for Smith’s dying, despite the fact that government have now not named any suspects within the incident.
In June of 2021, in a while after the capturing deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, the South Carolina Legislation Enforcement Department mentioned it used to be opening its personal investigation into Smith’s dying because of new knowledge it had accumulated whilst investigating the Murdaugh deaths. Prior media reviews have misstated that the department used to be reopening its investigation however the department didn’t open a case till that yr, a consultant instructed HuffPost.
A South Carolina Legislation Enforcement Department spokesperson mentioned Sunday that the department has made growth investigating Smith’s dying. They didn’t supply any more information, alternatively, mentioning “this investigation stays energetic and ongoing.”
Smith’s mom introduced previous this month her intent to exhume her son’s frame for an impartial post-mortem. The teenager have been categorized as a hit-and-run sufferer however his circle of relatives disputes this.
“We want a brand new, independent have a look at his frame and a correct choice of his explanation for dying in line with information. There used to be no particles within the highway, and his accidents weren’t in keeping with a hit-and-run,” reads a fundraiser not too long ago arrange through Smith’s mom to assist pay for the post-mortem.