‘Vicious rumors’: Buster Murdaugh gets defensive amid reports of new investigation of teen classmate's death

The 2015 death of a South Carolina teen whose body was found miles from the Murdaugh family’s property may be investigated by local authorities as a homicide, The Daily Beast reports.

Stephen Smith was 19 when his body was found on a backcountry road just miles from the Murdaugh family home in Hampton, South Carolina.

Smith’s death was initially believed to be the result of a hit-and-run collision, but attorneys representing his family said Tuesday that authorities now believe the aspiring nurse was murdered, the report said.

“We have a chance to right eight years of wrongs, and we intend to do just that,” attorneys Eric Bland said in a news release obtained by The Beast.

The announcement follows a statement from convicted murder Alex Murdaugh’s only surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, who on Monday denied involvement in his high school classmate’s death, calling suggestions otherwise “vicious rumors.”

“I have tried my best to ignore the vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen Smith’s tragic death that continue to be published in the media as I grieve over the brutal murders of my mother and brother. I love them so much and I miss them terribly,” Buster Murdaugh’s statement said.

“I haven’t spoken up until now because I want to live in private while I cope with their deaths and my father’s incarceration.”

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has not yet confirmed Bland’s assertion.

“SLED officials have revealed that they did not need to exhume Stephen Smith's body to convince them that his death was a homicide,” Bland and fellow Smith family attorney Ronnie Richter said Tuesday in a joint statement.

“However, they will be present and participate in any exhumation of Stephen's body to gather more evidence. We are committed to finding out what really happened, and getting the peace and justice the Smith family deserves.”

A South Carolina jury earlier this month convicted Alex Murdaugh for murder in connection with the 2021 shooting deaths of his wife Maggie and their son Paul, and Judge Clifton Newman sentenced disgraced South Carolina lawyer to two consecutive life terms.

The Beast reports that SLED in the aftermath of the verdict announced that the agency would take a fresh look at the Smith case based “based upon information gathered during the course of the double-murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.”

The lawyers representing the Smith family said authorities told them they waited until after the conclusion of Alex Murdaugh’s trial before announcing updated information on the Smith case “out of concern that witnesses would not be as forthcoming under the Murdaugh sphere of influence.”

“Since the conclusion of the Murdaugh trial, more resources have been devoted and will be devoted to Stephen Smith's case,” the lawyers said.

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