Oct. 1, 2024

“Murdaugh" Episode Five | The Boy in the Road

“Murdaugh" Episode Five | The Boy in the Road

In this fifth episode of the “Murdaugh” series, Jim Chapman discusses the tragic case of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old whose suspicious death in 2015 raised significant questions about foul play and ties to the Murdaugh family. 
Jim explores Steven's...

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Season 1

In this fifth episode of the “Murdaugh” series, Jim Chapman discusses the tragic case of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old whose suspicious death in 2015 raised significant questions about foul play and ties to the Murdaugh family.
Jim explores Steven's severe injuries and his mother Sandy's relentless pursuit of justice following concerns over the case's handling. As public interest in the double murder at moselle reignites the investigation, the search for answers leads to Steven’s body being exhumed and a private autopsy performed.



The “Stephen Smith case details” may be disturbing for some listeners. Exposed: Scandalous Files of the Elite provides the “latest update on the Stephen Smith case” throughout its ”Murdaugh” series podcast. Discover “the impact of the Murdaugh trial on the Stephen Smith case” by subscribing wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Timestamps
04:58 Buster Murdaugh in the Spotlight
13:01 Murdaugh Family Connections
16:20 Autopsy Discrepancies
21:13 Rumors and Investigations
28:53 Anonymous Tips and Leads
37:35 Sandy Smith's Plea for Help
41:48 Renewed Interest in the Case
43:40 Buster Murdaugh's Statement
46:28 Conclusion and Call for Answers
47:32 Next Case: Gloria Satterfield

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WEBVTT

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As police investigate the double murder at Moselle, National News

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picks up the story and rumors starts swirling regarding an

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unsolved murder years prior. On July eighth of twenty fifteen,

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the body of Stephen Smith was found in the middle

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of the road in Hampton County. The case had gone cold,

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but rose from the ashes after another murdaw's name was

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revealed as continuing to come up in the initial investigation.

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As police chase down leads and they apply their focus

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on Alex Murdall, his son, Buster is suddenly through a

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center stage into the newly resurfaced investigation into Steven Smith's death.

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Welcome to Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite. The Boy

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in the Road. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed

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Scandalous Files of the Elite. I am your host, Jim Chapman,

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and before we get into today's episode, I have a

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couple of things that I want to mention. First, I

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am dedicating this episode to a total badass. Her name

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is Casey fring Cosky and Casey sadly left this earth

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long before her time, but she was a total hero.

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I received a message from her aunt I believe it is.

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And her name is Lisa, and Lisa said, Hi, I

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want to thank you for filling in for Kelly, and

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she's referencing Kelly Jennings of Unspeakable, a true crime podcast

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by Kelly Jennings. I produced that podcast and she is

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a rock star, so go check that out. Great podcast.

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But she said, I have been binging ever since. I

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also want to thank you. Ironically, I listened to the

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foreclosure of Graceland and heard you talk about Memorial Day.

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Today is the six month anniversary of losing my triple threat,

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Casey Frankoski brains, beauty, and one hell of a badass.

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And y'all, she sent me a couple of peas pictures

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of Casey in a military helicopter and she certainly was beautiful.

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I'm sure she was very smart and definitely looked like

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one hell of a badass to me. Sadly, she died

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in a helicopter crash Army National Guard protecting Texas slash Mexico.

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Life Immemorial Day will never be the same. Three died

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and one survived, And y'all, I have a very very

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special place in my heart for the men and women

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of our Armed forces and that just really spoke to me.

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I can't tell you how touched I was that she

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would share that with me, and I put a post

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on Facebook, just trying my best to honor her niece.

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And I want to just dedicate this episode to Casey

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gone way too soon. And secondly, I want to extend

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my thoughts and prayers to those who are impacted by

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the most recent hurricane, and that is Hurricane Halene, which

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right now, as I record this is about three hundred

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miles off of the coast of Florida, and it is

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not looking good for the people of the Panhandle of

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Florida and in and around that area. Forecasted to be

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one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the coast in

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recent memory, for sure, And as of the time you're

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going to be listening to this, it would have came

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and gone from Florida, and I'm sure there's going to

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be a lot of destruction in its path. And my

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prayers and thoughts are with everybody impacted. So let's get

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on to the episode, and this, as I said, is

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episode five. Then when I Wan left you last, Sled

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had completed their initial interview with Paul's best friend Rogan Gibson,

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and there was some suspicion on Alex Murdall. The story

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at this point went national. Everybody was reporting on this,

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and a name in rumors started surfacing about a nineteen

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year old who was found dead on July eighth of

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twenty fifteen, and his name was Stephen Smith. So Stephen

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Smith was nineteen years old, and he was found dead

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in the middle of the road in Hampton County, and

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he had a seven in a quarter inch gaping gash

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on the right side of his forehead when he was found.

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No other injuries were present at that time. At three

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point fifty seven am that morning, a man called nine

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to one one to report seeing a white male lying

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in the middle of what was Sandy Run Road. Michael

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Bridges with the Hampton County Sheriff's Office. He responds to

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that scene and shortly thereafter other investigators arrived. Initially, the

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Sheriff's office and even the corner referred to this as

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a homicide. Several officers, according to reports, referred to the

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injury as appearing to be a gunshot wound, and there

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was a massive amount of blood pulled up next to

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Steven's lifeless body. So to give you a little background

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on Stephen, he was an openly gay individual, and he

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was described as a super nice guy, kind of shy,

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a little skittish, but quite frankly. He was living in

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a town in the low country of Kentucky where it

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was a little bit scary to be openly gay, and

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initially the police and the resident of Hampton County thought

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this has to be some sort of a hate crumb. Now,

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as police were investigating the scene, one of the things

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that they made note of was the fact that his

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body was laying in the middle of the road, and

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it appeared like it may have been staged there. It

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was just laid out at kind of an odd angle.

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Not only that, but there was no damage of the scene.

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If it were a hit and run, for example, you

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would assume you would find a broken headlight or debris

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of some sort in the middle of the road. None

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of that was present. Also, his clothes were not tattered

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like you would imagine if you were hit by a car.

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There was slight evidence of roadbrash, but nothing major, and

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his shoes were still on even though they were loosely tied. Now, typically,

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and I would go as far as to say, in

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almost all of hit and run, the person who got

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hit by the vehicle, they are almost always knocked out

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of their shoes. Yet Stephen's shoes were still on him,

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and again they were loosely tied. Investigators found that very strange.

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His vehicle was found three miles from where his body

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was found on the side of the road, and again

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some things appeared kind of staged with the vehicle. For example,

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his gas door on the side of his vehicle was

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open and his gas cap was hanging out of the

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gas door. It honestly appeared when I looked at the

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pictures as if someone were intentionally trying to say, hey,

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this vehicle is here because I ran out of gas.

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Just some really strange circumstances in this case. So an

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autopsy is performed by doctor Aaron Pressnell and hear the

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highlights from that list the cause of death as Blunt

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had trauma due to the motor vehicle crash. She noted

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that seven and a quarter inch laceration on the right

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side of Stephen's forehead, along with bruises on both sides

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of his forehead. She noted that the right side of

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his skull had multiple fractures bruising and contusions. She noted

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his right eyebrow was cut, his right elbow was cut,

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his right shoulder was dislocated, and he had small cuts

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on the inside of his left arm. He also had

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cuts and bruises on his right hand. He had cuts

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on his right arm, including a six inch irregular cut

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on the inside of his right arm. He had some

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cuts on his right fingers, and he had twelve three

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inch abrasions on his right arm that were deemed to

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be road rash. She also noted he had blood in

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his airways, which to me means that he was alive

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for some sort of time after the incident and was

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trying to breathe and was basically drowning in his own blood.

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And the autopsy report wraps up with it is the

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opinion of the pathologists that the victim died as the

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result of blunt had trauma sustained in a motor vehicle

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crash in which the victim was a pedestrian struck by

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a vehicle. So police they are investigating this and although

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they don't feel like this is the result of someone

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shooting Stephen, if it's a hit and run, somebody fled

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the scene and somebody's responsible for his death, and they're

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trying to find this person or persons. Now. One of

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the things that they noted in the report was when

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they spoke to the mother of Stephen, and she found

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it very strange that he was in the middle of

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the road because, according to her, he would never be

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walking in the middle of the road had he run

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out of gas. She described him as very skittish. But y'all,

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there is absolutely no evidence the police could find at

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this time that pointed to any sort of intentional murder.

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Let's say that he was definitely hit and somebody definitely

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needs to pay for that, but they couldn't find a

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situation where somebody intentionally killed him on that scene. No

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evidence of that, not a piece of debris anywhere, which,

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if you get outside the box, maybe that is a

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lot of evidence because maybe someone cleaned up the scene

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after they hit him, not saying they necessarily hit him

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on purpose, but if they stopped their vehicle and he

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was dead on the side of the road and they

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cleaned up after themselves, Wow, that's you need to find

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that asshole. And I found this interesting looking through all

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the documents, that is that Stephen's wake was held on

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July eleventh of twenty fifteen, and it was held at

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People's Roadent Funeral Home in Hampton County, and the family

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specifically requested an open casket so that people could see

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what they did to him, quote unquote, his family is pissed, y'all,

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and rightfully so. Now. During this investigation, police interviewed a

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man who described himself as Stephen's boyfriend, although the family

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disputed that, and this man said that Stephen was harassed

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in his town and that people screwed with Stephen's car

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battery just prior to his death. He even offered to

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give officers his phone and take a light detector test.

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And he went on to say that the night that

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Stephen was killed, he was harassed by rednecks in a

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big truck with big mud tires. What does this all

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have to do with the Murdalls. Well, I'm glad you asked,

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because in the police reports, the first mentioned of the

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murdalls took place. On July seventeenth of twenty fifteen. Officer

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Duncan of the South Carolina Highway Patrol traveled to Hampton

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County and he interviewed a member of Stephen Smith's family

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at a police substation. The family member stated that Stephen

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was recently acting secretive and started coming home late. Stephen's

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relative didn't believe the person who said they were dating

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Stephen and said the family was very skeptical of him

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when the officer brought that up. So the police ask

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if they have contacted or had been contacted by any lawyers.

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The family member tells officer Duncan that Randy Murdall, who

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incidentally y'all is Alex Murdall's brother, was the second person

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to call Stephen's father after the corner on the day

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of Stephen's death. He said he would take Stephen's case

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free of charge. The family members said they were skeptical

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of Randy Murdall's offer and thought it was weird, but

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they accepted it. Now. It's important to note here before

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I go any further, that Randy Murdall was already working

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on a civil case with the father of Stephen Smith.

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His father was suing somebody and Randy Murdall was his lawyer,

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so they knew each other. And Randy Murdall was already

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representing his father in another case, so I didn't really

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find this out of pocket. If you will. It kind

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of made sense. They already had a relationship. And I

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actually have Officer Duncan's notes here, and I'll read a

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paragraph referencing what I told you above. It says Stephen

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became very secretive about two weeks prior to the incident.

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She did not know anyone who had a problem with Stephen,

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and she stated Stephen had class on the seventh of July.

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Also says he didn't talk about his boyfriend a lot.

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And then he has a note scribbled returned computer. So

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they must have taken Stephen's computer and downloaded information and

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he returned it to that family member, which I believe

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is his mother, if I'm not mistaken. Steven's relative also

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stated that she just officially left the house for the

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first time the day before the officers interviewing her, and

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she said that some people came up to her and said,

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did you know the murd All boys are behind it?

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And they specifically named Buster Murdall. And he told the officer,

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I'm just sitting here like why, it makes no sense.

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He's never said anything bad about Stephen. He's never even

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been around Stephen to her knowledge. Now I'm going to

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read a case note by an investigator on the case

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with the name of Proctor. And this case note is

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from July twenty second of twenty fifteen, and in is

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in regard to the meeting he had with the pathologist

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regarding the autopsy results. And I think you'll find it interesting.

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So it reads like this, and it's dated July twenty second,

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twenty fifteen. He says, I went down to meet with

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doctor Aaron Presnell. She is the pathologist that performed the

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autopsy on the victim in this case. The reason I

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went and spoke with her was due to a preliminary

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report in which she stated the victim was possibly struck

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00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:01.960
by a motor vehicle, which is the cause of death.

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00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:06.920
Sergeant Moore had already had, for my understanding, a heated

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00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:10.960
conversation with her about this issue. The investigative team has

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00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:16.119
always had a good working relationship with the pathologist, so

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I wanted to see if I could go down there

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00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:20.880
and get some sort of clarification. As soon as I

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met with doctor press Now, she came in the room

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and started in with a negative tone, stating that I

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did not have a meeting scheduled and she was very busy.

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She stated she could not even begin speaking with me

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about this case without the corner's consent. I advised her

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00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:41.440
that I had spoken with Corner Washington the day before,

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and she basically called me a liar and said she

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would call him right then. When I asked if she

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00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:50.200
wanted me to call him from my cell phone, she

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00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:53.279
backed off. I asked her why she stated that in

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00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:56.559
the report, and her answer was because he was found

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on the road. She had no evidence other than that

246
00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:03.319
for the statement being put in the report. She asked

247
00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:05.640
why we did not think it was a vehicle strike,

248
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and I explained to her that we had no evidence

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00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:12.200
of this individual being struck by a vehicle. I asked

250
00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:14.920
her if someone with a baseball back could do that,

251
00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:19.920
and she stated no. When I proved further by saying,

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00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:23.799
what about someone in a moving car with a bat,

253
00:18:24.279 --> 00:18:28.519
she stated, well, I guess that's possible. She then asked

254
00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:32.440
if we found a bat at the scene as evidence.

255
00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.359
I could see this conversation was not going to yield

256
00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:40.079
any positive results. As I was leaving, she stated that

257
00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:43.440
the report was preliminary and it was my job to

258
00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:48.119
figure out what it was that struck him, not hers.

259
00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:52.279
You can see by reading that report that there was

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00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:57.119
some disagreement here on what was going on with Steven

261
00:18:57.240 --> 00:19:01.319
Smith and his death. So then on August eighteenth of

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00:19:01.400 --> 00:19:06.839
twenty fifteen, Investigator Proctor he meets with the Corner and

263
00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:11.160
here is that report from Investigator Proctor when he spoke

264
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:16.000
to the Corner, and it reads, I spoke to Corner

265
00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:20.680
Washington today in reference to the final autopsy report issued

266
00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:24.240
from the Corner's office. He facts me a copy of

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00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:26.640
the report and told me he does not agree with

268
00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:29.680
the pathologist stating that the victim was struck by a

269
00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:33.519
motor vehicle. We discussed the fact that the report states

270
00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:37.359
the cause of death as blundhead trauma motor vehicle crash

271
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:42.200
pedestrian versus vehicle. Then the manner of death was undetermined.

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00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.240
I would think the blunt force trauma would be the

273
00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.200
cause of death and the motor vehicle crash would be

274
00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:53.279
the manner the trauma that delivered the cause of death.

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00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:57.400
The pathologists also stated in the report that in light

276
00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:01.319
of historical information along with the all tai, the conclusions

277
00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:07.240
were made to what historical information she possessed, I am unaware.

278
00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.599
I attempted to speak with doctor Presnell at an earlier

279
00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.519
date to go over that information that had been discovered

280
00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:19.559
throughout the investigation, and that it was ill received. The

281
00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:22.839
corner did tell me that the deputy Corner had gone

282
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:27.599
down to the pathologist's office the morning of the autopsy

283
00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:31.880
and spoke with the pathologist. She has since been fired

284
00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:36.599
from his office. I spoke with Deputy Corner Green and

285
00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:40.680
Agent Burke was sled and both of them were present

286
00:20:40.759 --> 00:20:44.079
at the time of the autopsy. Both stated they made

287
00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:47.480
no reference to the pathologists about the victim being struck

288
00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:50.160
by a vehicle, only that he was found dead in

289
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:54.119
the road. The corner stated that he had made contact

290
00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:57.640
with the pathologist, doctor Presnell, and she stated she would

291
00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:01.240
be willing to change her report to read it however

292
00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:05.720
he wanted it to read. Shout out to this investigator Proctor,

293
00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:09.559
who he's not letting it go. He thinks something don't

294
00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:13.480
smell right, and he's trying to get to the bottom

295
00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:16.680
of things, all right, So we're going to fast forward

296
00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:22.119
until August seventh of twenty fifteen, and Detective Duncan from

297
00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:26.839
the South Carolina Highway Patrol. He calls Stephen's friend and

298
00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:30.559
we'll call her Brittany. Now what prompted Duncan's call to

299
00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.480
Brittany was a guy by the name of we'll call

300
00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:39.839
him Jeff, and Jeff told the detective that he saw

301
00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:44.920
Brittany at church and Brittany had information about Steven Smith's death.

302
00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:49.519
So he calls and Brittany said that another friend of

303
00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:54.079
hers had texted her and asked her if Buster and

304
00:21:54.119 --> 00:22:01.480
Stephen were together, and y'all, I mean romantically together. Brittany

305
00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:06.880
tells the friend, no, not that I know of why,

306
00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:12.000
and the friend's response was I just heard that. So

307
00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:15.160
she asked that male friend where he had heard that,

308
00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:19.079
and he refused to tell her. He just said he

309
00:22:19.079 --> 00:22:22.200
heard it and was trying to confirm it. So the

310
00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:26.559
detective responds with okay, so he didn't have anything to

311
00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:30.200
base it on except it was a rumor, correct, and

312
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:35.640
Brittany says yes. The detective then asked if Brittany knew

313
00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:39.160
Stephen was gay, and she says yes that she did,

314
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:44.039
so she tells the detective who the guy was that

315
00:22:44.279 --> 00:22:49.119
texted her, and we'll call him Jack. So eventually Duncan

316
00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:54.079
Investigator Duncan, he calls Jack and he lets Jack know

317
00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:59.279
that he knows Jack sent a text to Brittany about

318
00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:03.920
Steven Smithy. He then asked Jack if he knew anything

319
00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:09.599
about Buster Murdall having a relationship with Stephen, and Jack

320
00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:13.319
responded that he had heard the rumor. So the detective

321
00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:15.759
then asked him, do you know if the rumor is

322
00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:20.519
true or not? And Jack responded with no, sir. Now,

323
00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:24.160
it's interesting to note that at the time that Jack

324
00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:28.240
was saying all this to the detective and to Brittany,

325
00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:34.079
he was facing two different lawsuits from the Myrdall law

326
00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:38.640
firm for two separate car accidents he was involved in.

327
00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:42.680
So I say that to say, there may be a

328
00:23:42.759 --> 00:23:45.720
reason he might have been trying to throw some shade

329
00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:48.519
on the Murdall family and he kind of saw this

330
00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:52.960
as a way of doing that. So on September first

331
00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:56.880
of twenty fifteen, Detective Proctor he interviews a man and

332
00:23:56.920 --> 00:24:01.319
I'm going to call that man Kevin, and Detective Proctor

333
00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:05.960
mentions the rumor that was going around about Boster and Steven,

334
00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:09.079
and he asked if Kevin knew anything about it. So

335
00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:13.039
Kevin tells the detective he had heard that some young

336
00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:18.039
men were writing down Highway six oh one and they

337
00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:21.240
saw that Stephen was broken down on the side of

338
00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:24.519
the road when they passed Stephen, so they turned around

339
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:27.640
and they stuck something out of the window that ended

340
00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:32.559
up hitting Stephen. He then tells the detective that he

341
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:35.559
wanted to help in any way possible. He said he

342
00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:39.240
had heard three names in relation to this hit and run.

343
00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:42.559
He then says, I don't want to say it over

344
00:24:42.599 --> 00:24:45.720
the phone, referring to the names he had been told,

345
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:49.759
and he requested to meet with the detective in person

346
00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:53.400
to discuss it further. He said he's sort of torn

347
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:57.759
because he hates going by the rumor situation, but that

348
00:24:58.039 --> 00:25:00.920
when he thinks about the situation, it makes sense and

349
00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:05.119
it was worth looking into. The next day, September two

350
00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:08.839
of twenty fifteen, Detective Proctor he meets up with Kevin,

351
00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:12.960
and Kevin says he first heard Steven was shot, but

352
00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:15.720
then heard it was a hit and run, and he

353
00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:19.599
said that recently in the past couple of weeks, he

354
00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:22.519
had heard that two or three people were riding around

355
00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:25.480
on Highway six oh one. They saw Stephen on the

356
00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:28.359
side of the road. They were messing around with him,

357
00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:31.960
so they stuck something out of the window, and Kevin

358
00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:35.680
said he heard it was Buster Murdle and that it

359
00:25:35.799 --> 00:25:38.160
shocked him because it was kind of out of character

360
00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:41.799
for Buster. He also said the person who told him

361
00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:45.079
this said that Buster was on drugs at the time.

362
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:49.119
Proctor asked him where he heard this information and he

363
00:25:49.240 --> 00:25:53.960
said it was from Ready for This Jack. Kevin said

364
00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:57.519
that Jack told him it was Buster and a man,

365
00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:01.160
and we'll call that guy Trayvon, tried to sell him

366
00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:04.880
cocaine at a party in Mozelle. He went on to

367
00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:09.480
say that Trayvon just moved to Oklahoma right after the

368
00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:13.000
incident and that Trayvon was on a lot of drugs.

369
00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:16.519
The detective then asked Kevin whether he thinks Trayvon was

370
00:26:16.519 --> 00:26:20.839
in the car, and Kevin stated it fits the mold.

371
00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:25.759
So Detective Proctor he tells Kevin, hey, I heard Buster

372
00:26:25.880 --> 00:26:28.559
and the guys were coming back from a baseball game,

373
00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:33.720
and Kevin corrects the detective and says Buster and whoever

374
00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:37.359
was with him were coming from Murdall's house in Mozelle.

375
00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:41.160
Detective Proctor then asked Kevin whether he knew if Buster

376
00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:44.960
was driving, and Kevin said I would imagine so, adding

377
00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:49.039
that Buster used to drive a big suburban and sometimes

378
00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:53.000
would drive a F one fifty or f two fifty.

379
00:26:53.160 --> 00:26:56.559
Kevin said the only name given to him was the

380
00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:01.079
Murdall name, and said everyone is scared to say anything

381
00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:06.799
because of how powerful the Murdalls are. So Detective Proctor

382
00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:10.920
he ends that interview with Kevin, and he immediately calls Jack.

383
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:16.039
And here's how that conversation went. Detective Proctor let Jack

384
00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:19.240
know that he had just spoken to Kevin and that

385
00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:23.079
he kind of told his side of it, and quote,

386
00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:27.279
I've got to be working this rumor backwards, whether it's

387
00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:30.400
rumor or truth. Tell me the version of the story

388
00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:35.799
you heard. So Jack then said he was with friends

389
00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:39.079
one night and out of the blue, his friend Monica

390
00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:44.119
said that she had heard Buster did it, and everybody

391
00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:46.920
who knows Buster and his family and all that it

392
00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:53.079
was just shocking. So, y'all, as you can see, I mean,

393
00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:56.759
this case is getting worked pretty hard. The problem is

394
00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:02.319
it's all based off of rumor. Now, sometimes rumor can

395
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:05.480
be fact. You just got to prove that it's a

396
00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:09.519
fact right now. Now. It's important to note that on

397
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:14.440
or around October of twenty fifteen, Proctor makes an attempt

398
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:20.480
to call Buster Murdall. However, there's no answer. The voicemail

399
00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:24.119
was full and there's no audio recording of the voicemail.

400
00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:28.480
And it's important to note that this was the only

401
00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:35.279
time the investigators attempted to talk to Buster Murdall. Now,

402
00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:38.920
I submit to you it's because they knew his entire

403
00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:43.119
family was full of lawyers and technically he didn't have

404
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:47.039
to tell him shit. He has the right to remain silent, right,

405
00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:51.079
which is exactly what they knew he would be advised

406
00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:55.440
to do if the police called him, And so they

407
00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:58.839
kind of knew chasing that lead without some really hard

408
00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:04.640
evidence would go nowhere. Now. On December seventh of twenty fifteen,

409
00:29:05.319 --> 00:29:09.640
Detective Duncan, he receives an anonymous tip and he made

410
00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:13.599
a note of that, and the note reads received an

411
00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:18.200
email in reference to an anonymous tip, states that don

412
00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:22.640
Tereo Aiken along with another black mail and a white male,

413
00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:27.000
and then he had in parentheses myrdal are the ones

414
00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:31.160
involved in the death. And then someone else's name pops

415
00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:35.319
up in this investigation and his name was Darrel Williams.

416
00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:40.240
And on December eighteenth of twenty fifteen, Detective Proctor he

417
00:29:40.359 --> 00:29:46.359
receives some information from Detective Duncan about Darrel Williams, and

418
00:29:46.519 --> 00:29:51.240
Darrel Williams has a step son, and that stepson's name

419
00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:56.599
is Patrick Wilson. And Patrick Wilson tells Darrel Williams his

420
00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:01.039
stepdad that a gentleman by the name of On Connolly

421
00:30:02.039 --> 00:30:07.920
struck and killed Stephen Smith. So the detective made some

422
00:30:08.039 --> 00:30:10.519
notes and I'm going to read them to you. It

423
00:30:10.599 --> 00:30:17.000
says Patrick Smith told him, meaning Darrel Williams, his stepdad,

424
00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:22.119
that Sean Connelly struck and killed Stephen Smith. Mister Williams

425
00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:25.640
stated his son told him this in confidence, and that

426
00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:28.359
his son had moved out and he did not know

427
00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:31.720
where he was staying. He can only tell me that

428
00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:36.839
Patrick attended some Christian school in Ridgeland. I drove down

429
00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:41.160
to Rigland and went to step A Faith school. Patrick

430
00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:44.799
Wilson was not a student there. I then found Legacy

431
00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:49.799
Baptist Church School. Patrick Wilson was a student there, but

432
00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:52.720
he was not at school that day. I drove to

433
00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:56.880
Hampton County attempting to locate an address for Patrick. I

434
00:30:56.920 --> 00:31:02.440
cannot get his stepfather to return my Mister Williams stated

435
00:31:02.519 --> 00:31:06.000
the reason he was passing the information on was because

436
00:31:07.160 --> 00:31:11.680
get ready for this. Randy Murdall told him to call,

437
00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:16.920
Holy shit, Randy is really interested in this case, right,

438
00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:21.559
So we'll move on. Detective Duncan then interviews a guy

439
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:24.960
by the name of Nick Gin, and Nick Gin was

440
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.119
an officer with the Hampton Police Department and he is

441
00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:34.119
the one who actually spoke with Darryl Williams, and Sergeant

442
00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:38.799
Nick stated that Darryl told him Sean Connelly was drunk

443
00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:42.359
and hit something. He came back the next day and

444
00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:46.759
said he saw cops and learned through media that somebody

445
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:51.400
had been killed. He said, Sean Connelly called Patrick crying

446
00:31:51.599 --> 00:31:54.119
and stating that he thought he may have hit and

447
00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:59.039
killed Stephen Smith. His stepfather then told Sergeant Gin that

448
00:31:59.079 --> 00:32:06.000
Sean went outside and threw up. Sergeant Gin then asked

449
00:32:06.119 --> 00:32:11.359
if Sean described what happened, and the stepfather said, supposedly,

450
00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:15.880
it was a mirror. At this point, Detective Duncan asked

451
00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:19.799
Sergeant Gin if Patrick had a criminal record, to which

452
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.279
the sergeant responded, I think it was charged with attempted murder,

453
00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:27.319
but I'm not exactly sure of the circumstances, but I

454
00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:29.799
think it was one of those things where they charged

455
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:32.119
him with a higher charge to work their way down

456
00:32:32.359 --> 00:32:35.720
and what he means y'all is the prosecutor's office in

457
00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:38.920
that particular case, they charged him with a higher crime

458
00:32:39.079 --> 00:32:42.039
so they could have room to negotiate on those charges

459
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:47.839
and get them depleted to something. Well. I did some

460
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:54.440
digging on mister Patrick Wilson and he indeed, as a record,

461
00:32:55.160 --> 00:32:57.960
he was charged with first degree assault and battery and

462
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:02.839
attempted murder on April seventeenth of twenty fifteen. And according

463
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:05.960
to the arrest warrant in this case, he had gotten

464
00:33:05.960 --> 00:33:08.880
into an argument with a man and fired a shot

465
00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:13.480
into the man's car and there were two passengers also

466
00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:16.640
in that car, and this was inside of Hampton County.

467
00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:21.200
A grand jury indicts him on attempt to murder in battery,

468
00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:25.480
and this is in August of twenty fifteen. And while

469
00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:29.920
he was out on bond in that case, the family

470
00:33:30.119 --> 00:33:33.960
of the person he attempted to murder they actually had

471
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:38.920
to file several harassment complaints. So this guy, he's a

472
00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:42.960
grade AD dickhead, right in this case, a close friend

473
00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:45.480
of the murder hall's family, a guy by the name

474
00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:52.960
of Corey Fleming. He actually represented Wilson and in February

475
00:33:53.240 --> 00:34:00.000
of twenty eighteen, the indictment went away, meaning the solicitor's office.

476
00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:04.480
They decided not to prosecute and the charges were dropped.

477
00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:10.039
Interestingly enough, at that point in time, Alex Murdau was

478
00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:14.679
working there as a part time solicitor. Let's talk about

479
00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:17.719
the other person that I just mentioned a few minutes ago,

480
00:34:18.760 --> 00:34:24.760
Ontario Aiken. So detectives Hoffman and James. They traveled to

481
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:30.559
what's known as Varnville, South Carolina to interview Ontario Aiken,

482
00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:34.719
and in the notes it says there was a Hondai

483
00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:38.719
Genesis parked in the front yard, and within minutes of

484
00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:42.800
being at the subject's house, his family started arriving. We

485
00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:46.360
had no answer at the residence, and I made contact

486
00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:50.599
with the subject over the telephone. Mister Aiken advised he

487
00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:53.559
was working with a logging company and we met him

488
00:34:53.599 --> 00:34:57.199
by some railroad tracks. Mister Aiken advised he did not

489
00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:01.599
have any knowledge of who killed Stephen Smell. Mister Akin

490
00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:06.239
advised he learned of the death through Facebook. Mister Akin

491
00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:09.559
advised he was working with the logging company as part

492
00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:13.239
of a swamp crew cutting a track of woods during

493
00:35:13.239 --> 00:35:18.239
the week that the victim was murdered. Mister Akin said

494
00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:22.480
the logging company gave all employees their own private room

495
00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:25.599
in a hotel between a waffle house and a speedway.

496
00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:29.199
He added that he came home on weekends and stayed

497
00:35:29.239 --> 00:35:32.719
in the hotel all week. Mister Akin remembered that he

498
00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:37.880
worked changing trailer tires on the Saturday in question and

499
00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:41.599
then went straight home. Mister Akin advised he knew the

500
00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:45.639
victim from wade Hampton High School and said he played

501
00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:49.159
football in the victim Stephen Smith, was a trainer on

502
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:52.679
the football team. I asked mister Akin why someone would

503
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:55.880
kill the victim, and mister Akin replied that he had

504
00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:59.159
no idea. I asked the victim if he ever goes

505
00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:02.239
out partying in the country, and he said it had

506
00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:05.159
been a long time since he had done that. I

507
00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:08.000
asked him if he was friends with anyone with the

508
00:36:08.079 --> 00:36:11.199
last name Myrdall. Mister Akins said that he went to

509
00:36:11.239 --> 00:36:14.840
school with a girl with the last name Myrdall. I

510
00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:17.280
asked him again if he knew anybody with the last

511
00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:21.239
name mrdall, and he said he knew one that graduated

512
00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:25.159
with the victim, and he's referring to Buster y'all. Mister

513
00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:28.480
Akins said he was not friends with any murderall subjects

514
00:36:28.519 --> 00:36:31.199
on Facebook, but later wanted to try and look on

515
00:36:31.239 --> 00:36:35.400
his phone to see because he wasn't sure because there

516
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:39.159
was no cell signal. I checked later, meaning the detective

517
00:36:39.719 --> 00:36:44.079
on Facebook and the subject is friends with Buster mrdall

518
00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:48.039
and y'all, that doesn't mean a ton. I mean all

519
00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:50.119
of us. If we go through our Facebook, we have

520
00:36:50.280 --> 00:36:55.519
friends on there that we're not necessarily friends with. It's

521
00:36:55.599 --> 00:36:59.679
just people we friended on Facebook. Right. Mister Akins said

522
00:36:59.719 --> 00:37:02.519
he never hung out with Buster or ever went to

523
00:37:02.599 --> 00:37:06.960
a party hosted by any murdaals. I asked mister Akin

524
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.639
what rumors he had heard around town about the victim's death,

525
00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:13.039
and he advised he had only heard the victim was

526
00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:16.679
hit by a car. Mister Akin portrayed himself as a

527
00:37:16.679 --> 00:37:21.800
hard worker who when not working, sleeps or visits his girlfriend.

528
00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:28.199
So that was the conversation with mister Akin from police.

529
00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:33.840
So this case is cold, right, A lot of leads,

530
00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:41.280
no rest. And Sandy Smith, his mother, She's obviously frustrated,

531
00:37:41.639 --> 00:37:45.280
as we would all be. She doesn't know where to

532
00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:50.159
turn at this point, so she writes a very heartfelt

533
00:37:50.280 --> 00:37:54.639
letter to the FBI and she says, my family is

534
00:37:54.679 --> 00:37:58.639
in desperate need of your help. My nineteen year old son,

535
00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:03.000
Stephen Nicholas Myth, was murdered on July eighth of twenty

536
00:38:03.079 --> 00:38:06.960
fifteen in Hampton County, South Carolina. It has been apparent

537
00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:10.519
from the first week of the investigation that authorities are

538
00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:14.239
covering up critical evidence, and we no longer know who

539
00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:18.880
to trust, She said, the authority's flip flop between theories

540
00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:21.639
when they told the Smiths the news of Stephen's death

541
00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:26.000
on July eighth of twenty fifteen, Stephen's father, my ex

542
00:38:26.119 --> 00:38:29.199
husband who is now deceased, and I were first told

543
00:38:29.320 --> 00:38:32.360
that our son was shot to death after running out

544
00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:35.400
of gas in the early hours of the morning. After

545
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:39.079
exiting his vehicle. Later that day, we were told it

546
00:38:39.119 --> 00:38:42.559
was a hit and run. Stephen's father incidentally, y'all, he

547
00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:47.239
died on October of twenty fifteen. Now, in the letter,

548
00:38:47.320 --> 00:38:51.320
Stephen described her son's injuries in detail. He was attacked

549
00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:55.199
so violently that the entire side of his face was

550
00:38:55.280 --> 00:38:59.199
rebuilt with putty for his funeral, She said she was

551
00:38:59.239 --> 00:39:03.800
getting mixed messages from authorities, and in the immediate aftermath

552
00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:10.039
of Stephen's death, she said, Hampton investigators asked us at

553
00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:12.760
the time to continue to publicly say it was a

554
00:39:12.840 --> 00:39:15.760
hit and run. They claimed they did not want the

555
00:39:15.880 --> 00:39:19.440
killer to know that they were looking for him, and

556
00:39:19.480 --> 00:39:23.119
they had no name suspects. She said she told the

557
00:39:23.159 --> 00:39:27.960
South Carolina Highway Patrol investigators about potential leads, but nothing

558
00:39:28.039 --> 00:39:33.400
came of it. She said investigators failed to access Stephen's phone,

559
00:39:33.800 --> 00:39:37.039
a piece of evidence she thinks is likely to shed

560
00:39:37.119 --> 00:39:40.920
light on the rumors of the investigation. At the beginning

561
00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:44.199
of the investigation, officers told us they would not have

562
00:39:44.360 --> 00:39:49.039
access to Stephen's text messages for approximately one year after

563
00:39:49.079 --> 00:39:51.599
they claimed they would have to send the phone to

564
00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:55.719
Apple to override the security features. We found out must

565
00:39:55.840 --> 00:39:58.559
later that the phone had never been sent to Apple.

566
00:39:58.840 --> 00:40:01.280
Sandy said that she I knew her son and he

567
00:40:01.320 --> 00:40:04.280
would not be walking down a rural road at a

568
00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:08.360
night like that because he was very skittish and would

569
00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:12.119
never walk down the road in the dark. And it's

570
00:40:12.199 --> 00:40:14.920
not like he would have opened his car door to

571
00:40:15.079 --> 00:40:19.880
accept assistance from someone he did not know, especially alone

572
00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:23.000
in the dark on a country road. She also mentioned

573
00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:27.599
his autopsy results showed his toxology records were negative for

574
00:40:27.719 --> 00:40:31.559
drugs and alcohol, so I have no reason to believe

575
00:40:31.679 --> 00:40:35.039
he would have done something so completely out of character.

576
00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:38.679
In the letter, she also disputed the pathologist theory that

577
00:40:38.800 --> 00:40:42.320
Stephen was hit by a car and concluded with we

578
00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:48.840
desperately need your help. This investigation is being deliberately derailed,

579
00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:52.119
and we need someone to hold the investigators accountable and

580
00:40:52.199 --> 00:40:56.159
access Stephen's phone. Now. I do want to say that

581
00:40:56.320 --> 00:41:00.360
this is a grieving mother, right, and we all get that.

582
00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:07.239
We all totally understand that I'm a parent, and if

583
00:41:07.280 --> 00:41:12.440
this thing had drug on with my family, god forbid,

584
00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:18.719
I'm gonna blame everybody. But I have looked through over honestly,

585
00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:23.360
over a thousand records on Steven Smith's case, and it

586
00:41:23.440 --> 00:41:27.199
was being worked. It was being worked very hard. I

587
00:41:27.239 --> 00:41:30.119
think she's just a grieving mother who wanted some resolution,

588
00:41:30.280 --> 00:41:33.800
and we all get that. But as you can see

589
00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:36.760
from what I've told you so far, these policemen they

590
00:41:36.800 --> 00:41:42.800
were doing everything they could. There was just no evidence none.

591
00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:45.760
They just had, you know, a hunch, right, They just

592
00:41:45.920 --> 00:41:48.880
knew that something didn't seem right with this case. So

593
00:41:48.960 --> 00:41:56.280
I'll move on. When this whole investigation occurred with Alex Murdall, y'all,

594
00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:00.920
it opened up a lot of a t on the

595
00:42:00.920 --> 00:42:06.480
Stephen Smith case, which is a great thing because this case,

596
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:10.360
at this point twenty twenty one, it was as cold

597
00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:15.880
as ice, and police they started investigating it again and

598
00:42:15.960 --> 00:42:21.360
Stephen Smith's body was even exhumed after the public found out.

599
00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:24.400
There was a go fundme account because that's expensive to

600
00:42:24.519 --> 00:42:28.039
examine it and then get a private autopsy, and there

601
00:42:28.119 --> 00:42:32.119
was a GoFundMe account where the public contributed and paid

602
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:36.719
for attorneys to get the body exhumed, et cetera. And

603
00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:41.880
his body was exhumed and a private autopsy was performed

604
00:42:42.280 --> 00:42:45.639
to see if there was any evidence that was missed

605
00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:48.599
on that first autopsy, and also to see if a

606
00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:53.840
different pathologist would agree with what that initial pathologist said.

607
00:42:54.079 --> 00:42:57.079
And they had no relation to each other. This pathologist

608
00:42:57.199 --> 00:43:01.400
was a totally different state. She had no knowledge of

609
00:43:01.480 --> 00:43:07.599
the Murdall's right. It was just another pathologist. So after

610
00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:14.079
that autopsy was completed, the pathologist noted several injuries to

611
00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:17.039
Stephen Smith, the first being that seven in a quarter

612
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:21.199
inch gash on the forehead, in a second being a

613
00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:25.559
large cranial crack on the back of his head. It

614
00:43:25.679 --> 00:43:29.239
was determined by that second pathologist it was because he

615
00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:33.840
hit the pavement so hard after that initial seven in

616
00:43:33.920 --> 00:43:38.239
a quarter inch gash that it just busted the back

617
00:43:38.280 --> 00:43:41.800
of his head wide ass open. Before I give you

618
00:43:41.880 --> 00:43:46.039
the results, I want to review the one and only

619
00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:51.119
statement from Buster Myrdall on this case, on the Stephen

620
00:43:51.199 --> 00:43:56.760
Smith case, and it reads, I have tried my best

621
00:43:56.920 --> 00:44:00.960
to ignore the vicious rumors about my involved in Steven

622
00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:05.000
Smith's tragic death that continue to be published in the media.

623
00:44:05.159 --> 00:44:07.719
As I grieve over the Bruno martyrs of my mother

624
00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:11.960
and brother. I love them so much and miss them terribly.

625
00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:16.159
I haven't spoken up until now because I want to

626
00:44:16.239 --> 00:44:22.440
live in private while I cope with their deaths. Before, during,

627
00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:27.159
and since my father's trial, I have been targeted and

628
00:44:27.239 --> 00:44:31.519
harassed by the media and followers of this story. This

629
00:44:31.559 --> 00:44:36.239
has gone on far too long. These baseless rumors of

630
00:44:36.280 --> 00:44:40.320
my involvement with Stephen and his death are false. I

631
00:44:40.400 --> 00:44:44.480
unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart

632
00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:48.320
goes out to the Smith family. I am requesting that

633
00:44:48.360 --> 00:44:53.880
the media immediately stop publishing these defamatory comments and rumors

634
00:44:54.480 --> 00:45:00.440
about me. And that was from Buster Murdall. Now regards

635
00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:04.719
to that second autopsy, and the results of it. That

636
00:45:05.320 --> 00:45:12.880
private pathologist agrees with the findings of the original pathologists,

637
00:45:13.400 --> 00:45:17.480
as do several private investigators that were hired by the

638
00:45:17.480 --> 00:45:21.960
Smith family to investigate Steven Smith's death, some pretty prominent

639
00:45:21.960 --> 00:45:25.159
ones of that. I've looked over all the evidence, and

640
00:45:25.239 --> 00:45:30.559
I mean all of it, and personally, just an opinion here.

641
00:45:31.079 --> 00:45:35.960
My personal opinion is I feel like someone that I've

642
00:45:36.039 --> 00:45:40.280
already mentioned as a name in this story, and I'll

643
00:45:40.360 --> 00:45:44.719
let you figure out who that is. For legal reasons,

644
00:45:44.760 --> 00:45:47.679
I can't name it, but I'll let you figure out

645
00:45:47.719 --> 00:45:54.239
who that is had something to do with it somehow.

646
00:45:55.519 --> 00:46:00.719
It's just a strong feeling I have looking over all

647
00:46:00.760 --> 00:46:04.519
the evidence. And as for Steven Smith, y'all, he was

648
00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:08.599
definitely killed. He just wasn't pulled out of a vehicle

649
00:46:08.920 --> 00:46:11.480
and killed. He was hit on the side of the

650
00:46:11.559 --> 00:46:19.840
road and killed. And someone somewhere knows something about it.

651
00:46:20.880 --> 00:46:25.840
If you know something about it, reach out to me.

652
00:46:25.840 --> 00:46:29.880
Message me. I'll never share your name, but shoot me

653
00:46:29.920 --> 00:46:34.280
a message and let me know where to look, because

654
00:46:34.639 --> 00:46:42.119
his case is still unsolved in him and his family

655
00:46:43.320 --> 00:46:51.320
deserve answers. Now, for the record, I do not think

656
00:46:51.719 --> 00:46:57.159
Buster Murdall had anything to do with this. This is

657
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:01.320
just my opinion. I just don't see it with the

658
00:47:01.360 --> 00:47:05.840
microscope that he's been under. If he had anything to

659
00:47:05.960 --> 00:47:09.480
do with it, I would think he would have been

660
00:47:09.599 --> 00:47:16.199
charged by now. Someone would have righted him out by

661
00:47:16.239 --> 00:47:19.480
this point. This is my opinion. So that's not the

662
00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:25.320
only case that was swirling around Mardall country at this

663
00:47:25.519 --> 00:47:31.199
time that had a Mardall connection, a death where the

664
00:47:31.280 --> 00:47:37.639
Murderalls were connected somehow. While this case with Stephen Smith

665
00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:41.880
was heating up, there was another one, and this one

666
00:47:42.800 --> 00:47:49.079
was directly related to the Murdalls, and that was the

667
00:47:49.119 --> 00:47:55.679
case of Gloria Sadderfield. And next week we're going to

668
00:47:55.800 --> 00:48:00.000
dive in to that one. If you're liking it so far,

669
00:48:01.400 --> 00:48:05.480
if you're intrigued so far, if I've got your attention

670
00:48:05.960 --> 00:48:10.559
so far, it gets even better from here on out.

671
00:48:16.320 --> 00:48:19.679
I want to thank you everybody for listening, and again

672
00:48:20.320 --> 00:48:25.440
this episode is dedicated to the memory of Casey Frankoski,

673
00:48:25.960 --> 00:48:35.400
a true hero. And until next time for exposed scandalous

674
00:48:35.639 --> 00:48:41.320
files of the Elite, I'm your host, Jim Chapman. Much love,