SC - Stephen Smith, 19, homicide, Hampton Co, 9 Jul 2015 *new death investigation 2023*

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I assume the rape kit is in the same place the fingernail scrapings are. At least no wealthy benefactors generously had the body cremated.

Actually now that I think about it, I wouldn't put it past them. We might dig up that grave and find it empty. Wouldn't that be something?
 
evilwise said:
I assume the rape kit is in the same place the fingernail scrapings are. At least no wealthy benefactors generously had the body cremated.

Actually now that I think about it, I wouldn't put it past them. We might dig up that grave and find it empty. Wouldn't that be something?
Click to expand...
One thing I've learned through the Murdaugh Mayhem is that absolutely anything is possible.
 
Rumors have swirled that the Murdaughs were somehow involved in the 19-year-old's July 8 slaying, and the name of the once-powerful legal dynasty is referenced dozens of times in the original highway patrol report.

But the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has identified Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly as persons of interest – neither of whom are Murdaughs, according to the local news site.

www.foxnews.com

Stephen Smith probe: Bombshell report names persons of interest in his killing

South Carolina authorities are focusing on two persons of interest in the 2015 homicide of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the road miles from Alex Murdaugh's former hunting estate estate, a new report reveals.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com
 
Long, detailed... Sounds like SLED is making progress

www.foxnews.com

Stephen Smith probe: Bombshell report names persons of interest in his killing

South Carolina authorities are focusing on two persons of interest in the 2015 homicide of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the road miles from Alex Murdaugh's former hunting estate estate, a new report reveals.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com
....

But the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has identified Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly as persons of interest – neither of whom are Murdaughs, according to the local news site.
...
"Both Wilson and Connelly lived in the area near where Stephen Smith's body was found, and there is information obtained by SLED investigators which has reportedly drawn a sharper focus on them as potential suspects," FitsNews founder Will Folks wrote.

About five months after Smith's death, Wilson's stepfather, Darrell Williams, allegedly called investigators with a tip. His stepson, he said, told him that Connelly was driving a vehicle when it "struck and killed Stephen Smith." Wilson and Connelly were teenagers at the time.
...
Investigators interviewed a divorced father of one who said he came across an ad Smith had posted on Craigslist, and the two had a one-night stand about a week before the killing. No money was exchanged, the man said.
...
Bickhardt had exchanged text messages with Stephen Smith as late as 3:37 a.m. – less than a half hour before his body was found.
 
Now that they've been named Persons of Interest by law enforcement here is a 2021 FITSnews article explaining more about who Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly are. Note that Wilson's stepfather called in this info at the behest of Randolph Murdaugh

www.fitsnews.com

Stephen Smith Investigation: Murdaugh Rumors Fly in 2015 Case

Stephen Smith was killed in Hampton County SC in 2015. See the interviews and evidence photos mentioned in the Murdaugh Murders podcast.
www.fitsnews.com www.fitsnews.com
 
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evilwise said:
Now that they've been named Persins of Interest by law enforcement here is a 2021 FITSnews article explaining more about who Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly are. Note that Wilson's father called in this info at the behest of Randolph Murdaugh

www.fitsnews.com

Stephen Smith Investigation: Murdaugh Rumors Fly in 2015 Case

Stephen Smith was killed in Hampton County SC in 2015. See the interviews and evidence photos mentioned in the Murdaugh Murders podcast.
www.fitsnews.com www.fitsnews.com
Click to expand...
I recently read, I immediately wondered why they were not fully investigated. MOO..investigators were to focused on rumors and didn't apply objective skills.
 
www.greenvilleonline.com

SLED 'cracks' Stephen Smith's cell phone. Rape kit missing in possible hate crime murder

SC investigators still consider Stephen Smith's murder a "hate crime" based on his openly gay sexuality, and not a random act. What to know.
www.greenvilleonline.com
....
"SLED has his cell phone and they have cracked it," Bland told The Hampton County Guardian Thursday," and they have the tablet and are working on cracking it."

Meanwhile, other, possibly key pieces of evidence, including a rape kit, remain unaccounted for.
...
Attorneys and investigators hope that complete forensic downloads of Smith's devices will tell them who he was talking to, who he was dating, and who he was generally associating with both prior to and during the time of his murder.

"I think the case will be solved by phone evidence or computer evidence, both before and after the killing," said Bland. "We plan on putting a fresh set of eyes on this case, as if we were just walking up to the crime scene for the first time."
 
Well, well, well, what have we here? People involved in the investigation including law enforcement at the scene stated that there was no evidence of a hit and run and that this was a homicide.
Now, a Murdaugh encouraged a man to turn in a tip saying that two persons are the suspects and hit him with a truck. My, my, isn't this convenient.

Total surprise isn't it that a Murdaugh is trying to put the suspicion off of Buster and onto two other people and that now, guess what? It's now a hit and run again.

Smells a lot like the strategy used in the boat death.

I don't believe any of the "bombshell" news on this but not surprised that it surfaced.
 
If they’ve unlocked SS’s phone that is huge.
The stuff about those other two guys as persons of interests, not so much in my opinion.
The stepfather initially contacted LE, in SS’s case file, saying his stepson had hit SS with his car which SLED said last week they had determined SS had been murdered and it was not a hit and run. So maybe they beat him to death and tried to make it look like a hit and run. I guess that’s possible, but I think Fit’s news is getting ahead of themselves here.

There’s really very little in the Fits News article really pointing at these two guts other than “our sources say they are investigating them kinda hard”.

www.fitsnews.com

Stephen Smith Case Files: The Initial Interviews - FITSNews

Promising leads coming full circle? Or a cold case getting colder ...
www.fitsnews.com www.fitsnews.com
 
CityKid said:
This is the most disturbing case I've followed in a long time. The amount of corruption in this town is shocking. Who got to Presnell? Why would she both postulate that it was a hit and run and also say "the manner of death is best left undetermined"? How many other mysterious deaths have occurred during the reign of the House of Murdoch?
Click to expand...
It may have been a matter of just keeping her job or not
 
evilwise said:
Now that they've been named Persons of Interest by law enforcement here is a 2021 FITSnews article explaining more about who Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly are. Note that Wilson's stepfather called in this info at the behest of Randolph Murdaugh

www.fitsnews.com

Stephen Smith Investigation: Murdaugh Rumors Fly in 2015 Case

Stephen Smith was killed in Hampton County SC in 2015. See the interviews and evidence photos mentioned in the Murdaugh Murders podcast.
www.fitsnews.com www.fitsnews.com
Click to expand...
And shockingly, Cory Fleming represented PW in another case (attempted murder) that AM got dismissed. Geez, this web ran deep with AM and his cronies. IMO

<snipped & BBM>
Cory Fleming — a close friend of the Murdaugh family — represented PW in the case. In 2018, Fleming represented Gloria Satterfield‘s family in a wrongful death settlement against Alex Murdaugh. In 2019, Fleming temporarily represented Connor Cook in the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach.

In February 2018, Wilson’s indictment was nolle prossed — which means the 14th circuit solicitor’s office (where Alex Murdaugh worked as a part-time solicitor) decided to not prosecute and the charges were dropped.

Stephen Smith Investigation: Murdaugh Rumors Fly in 2015 Case
 
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Wasn't AM and assistant solicitor for the county? If so, he, like an assistant DA would be notified about a crime scene. So9, this may be the reason he showed up.

Now, Randy, offering to be a liaison between the family and LE is curious. They didn't need a liaison to talk to LE.

Other than rumors, there seems to be nothing to connect any of the Murdaughs to Steven's murder. Unless there is a confession, corroborated by other evidence, this will not get solved.

Steven was a beautiful young man. The world is less without him. May his murderers meet the same fate.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1639471285771337731

Where did the theories linking Buster Murdaugh and Stephen Smith come from?
@Angenette5 has been following this story from the beginning and joins Dan to break it down.


https://twitter.com/x/status/1639416806338097153

I'll be on @danabramslive tonight at 9 ET talking about Buster #Murdaugh issuing a statement this week stating he's being defamed when it comes to people accusing him of #StephenSmith's murder and rumors that have been reported about the two of them @LawCrimeNetwork
 
StarryStarryNight said:
If they’ve unlocked SS’s phone that is huge.
The stuff about those other two guys as persons of interests, not so much in my opinion.
The stepfather initially contacted LE, in SS’s case file, saying his stepson had hit SS with his car which SLED said last week they had determined SS had been murdered and it was not a hit and run. So maybe they beat him to death and tried to make it look like a hit and run. I guess that’s possible, but I think Fit’s news is getting ahead of themselves here.

There’s really very little in the Fits News article really pointing at these two guts other than “our sources say they are investigating them kinda hard”.

www.fitsnews.com

Stephen Smith Case Files: The Initial Interviews - FITSNews

Promising leads coming full circle? Or a cold case getting colder ...
www.fitsnews.com www.fitsnews.com
Click to expand...
Simply amazing to me that these two "suspects" were coming home from a baseball game. It's going to take a video to convince me that he wasn't hit with a baseball bat and that a blue baseball bat was the item of interest found in the Murdaugh investigation. This is just my opinion but I think there were three people in that truck. JMO
 
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