S1E5: The Death of Stephen Smith, Part 2 | The Murdaugh Murders, Money & Mystery | Unsolved South Carolina
11/11/21 • 18 min
1 Listener
In part two of our look into the unsolved death of Stephen Smith, we drill into the persistent rumors of the Murdaughs being somehow involved.
Questions we attempt to answer this week include:
- How did the Murdaugh name get brought into Stephen Smith's death investigation?
- How far did law enforcement go down that rumor trail after Stephen's death?
- What brought investigators back to that angle of the case six years after Stephen died?
Investigators with the South Carolina Highway Patrol interviewed at least 18 people as part of their probe in the year that followed Stephen's death. You'll hear more of those interviews, and what the troopers thought about the case in this week's episode.
One thing becomes abundantly clear very quickly: State Troopers do NOT believe Stephen's death was an accidental hit-and-run. It's a murder investigation from the get-go in there eyes.
Meanwhile, Stephen's mother, Sandy, his sister, Stephanie, and their entire family have been left in a lurch just wanting answers and justice as year after agonizing year has passed with no resolution.
Is there hope of finality on the horizon?
More on the Murdaugh saga: https://abcnews4.com/murdaugh
~~~~~~~~~~
Unsolved South Carolina is a production of ABC News 4 in Charleston, South Carolina.
- Anne Emerson - Host, Producer
- Drew Tripp - Executive Producer, Social Media, Graphic Design
- Daniel Michener - Producer, Audio Engineer
- Maxwell Harrison, KJ Morrison - Music
- Douglas Stewart - Graphic Design
Please consider leaving a review and a rating if you enjoy the podcast. It greatly helps spread the show to other listeners.
Follow the show on social media at @UnsolvedSCPod. That's the name to find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In part two of our look into the unsolved death of Stephen Smith, we drill into the persistent rumors of the Murdaughs being somehow involved.
Questions we attempt to answer this week include:
- How did the Murdaugh name get brought into Stephen Smith's death investigation?
- How far did law enforcement go down that rumor trail after Stephen's death?
- What brought investigators back to that angle of the case six years after Stephen died?
Investigators with the South Carolina Highway Patrol interviewed at least 18 people as part of their probe in the year that followed Stephen's death. You'll hear more of those interviews, and what the troopers thought about the case in this week's episode.
One thing becomes abundantly clear very quickly: State Troopers do NOT believe Stephen's death was an accidental hit-and-run. It's a murder investigation from the get-go in there eyes.
Meanwhile, Stephen's mother, Sandy, his sister, Stephanie, and their entire family have been left in a lurch just wanting answers and justice as year after agonizing year has passed with no resolution.
Is there hope of finality on the horizon?
More on the Murdaugh saga: https://abcnews4.com/murdaugh
~~~~~~~~~~
Unsolved South Carolina is a production of ABC News 4 in Charleston, South Carolina.
- Anne Emerson - Host, Producer
- Drew Tripp - Executive Producer, Social Media, Graphic Design
- Daniel Michener - Producer, Audio Engineer
- Maxwell Harrison, KJ Morrison - Music
- Douglas Stewart - Graphic Design
Please consider leaving a review and a rating if you enjoy the podcast. It greatly helps spread the show to other listeners.
Follow the show on social media at @UnsolvedSCPod. That's the name to find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Previous Episode
S1E4: The Death of Stephen Smith, Part 1 | The Murdaugh Murders, Money & Mystery | Unsolved South Carolina
Stephen Smith was found dead along a rural Hampton County road in the pre-dawn hours of July 8, 2015. His death came under mysterious circumstances, and remains unsolved.
Stephen Smith's death ultimately was ruled a hit-and-run by a medical examiner, despite law enforcement saying there was no solid evidence to prove that's what actually happened.
Instead, law enforcement treated Stephen's death as a homicide from the start, saying what physical evidence they found indicated a possibly staged accident scene.
Fiery rumors of who was to blame began to burn as the investigation progressed, but the case ultimately went cold. That's until June 2021, weeks after the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
State police announced they were reopening Stephen's case based on new information found related to the Murdaugh murders, tying yet another death to the beleaguered family.
So how exactly do the Murdaughs fit into Stephen's story? Over the next two episodes we'll examine the possible connections revealed through hours of interviews with Stephen's family and friends, as well as other possible suspects.
More on the Murdaugh saga: https://abcnews4.com/murdaugh
~~~~~~~~~~
Unsolved South Carolina is a production of ABC News 4 in Charleston, South Carolina.
- Anne Emerson - Host, Producer
- Drew Tripp - Executive Producer, Social Media, Graphic Design
- Daniel Michener - Producer, Audio Engineer
- Maxwell Harrison, KJ Morrison - Music
- Douglas Stewart - Graphic Design
- Alex Caban - Voiceover Contributor
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Next Episode
S1E6: Where Things Stand Right Now (Reporters' Roundtable) | The Murdaugh Murders, Money & Mystery | Unsolved South Carolina
Host Anne Emerson and producer Drew Tripp are joined by WCIV reporters Natalie Spala and Tara Jabour to discuss the latest developments in the Murdaugh saga: Where we are, how we got here, and where it's all going.
More on the Murdaugh saga: https://abcnews4.com/murdaugh
~~~~~~~~~~
Unsolved South Carolina is a production of ABC News 4 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Anne Emerson - Host, Producer
Drew Tripp - Executive Producer, Social Media, Graphic Design
Daniel Michener - Producer, Audio Engineer
Maxwell Harrison, KJ Morrison - Music
Douglas Stewart - Graphic Design
Please consider leaving a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoy the podcast. It greatly helps spread the show to other listeners.
Follow the show on social media at @UnsolvedSCPod. That's the name to find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/the-murdaugh-murders-money-and-mystery-unsolved-south-carolina-189699/s1e5-the-death-of-stephen-smith-part-2-the-murdaugh-murders-money-and-17506434"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to s1e5: the death of stephen smith, part 2 | the murdaugh murders, money & mystery | unsolved south carolina on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy