Stephen Smith-Buster Murdaugh Homicide Investigation: State Trooper Who Responded Says He Knew Immediately It Wasn't ‘Hit And Run’
March 23 2023, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
The state trooper who responded to the death of Stephen Smith outside the Murdaugh family home nearly eight years ago revealed he knew immediately Smith did not die in a hit-and-run accident, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a sudden development to come one day after investigators announced Smith’s death was officially being ruled a homicide, former South Carolina Highway Patrol Lieutenant Thomas Moore revealed he knew from the get-go that Smith was murdered on July 8, 2015.
According to Lt. Moore, it was clear that Smith had not been hit by a car because the 19-year-old’s road rash was minor and his shoes were still on his feet when police responded to the scene.
Moore also suggested the possibility that Smith was murdered somewhere else and then dropped outside the Murdaugh family’s Hampton, South Carolina home in July 2015.
“I definitely think he was murdered; he was murdered there or murdered elsewhere and dropped there,” Moore explained in an interview on Wednesday.
“I felt like the brass, which would be the people running Highway Patrol, should have stood up to [the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division] and said: 'This is not a hit and run, ya’ll are asking us to investigate something that is not a hit and run,’” he continued.
“And line by line explained to them why this was not a hit and run and tried to hand them the file, and they would physically not take it with their hands,” Moore revealed.
“SLED, Sheriff's, Hampton County Coroners' office, if they had done their job that day, I don’t think we would be here today.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, 19-year-old Smith was found dead just outside the Murdaugh family home on July 8, 2015.
The initial investigation into Smith’s death found that he died as a result of a hit-and-run, but the investigation was later reopened in 2021 after new evidence was uncovered in connection to Alex Murdaugh’s murder of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and son, Paul Murdaugh.
On Tuesday, the Smith family’s attorney announced the SLED had officially ruled the 19-year-old’s July 2015 death a homicide and were planning to exhume his body.
“We have a chance to right eight years of wrongs, and we intend to do just that,” said Eric Bland, the attorney representing Smith’s family, this week.
“We are committed to finding out what really happened,” Bland continued, “and getting the peace and justice the Smith family deserves.”
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Buster Murdaugh, convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh's only surviving son, has since been accused of being involved in Smith's July 2015 death - particularly because the two were classmates at the time.
Buster has since denied any involvement in Smith's passing and demanded the "defamatory comments and rumors" about his alleged involvement in Smith's murder immediately stop.
“I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family," Buster said in a statement earlier this week. "I am requesting that the media immediately stop publishing these defamatory comments and rumors about me."
"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.”
