Buster Murdaugh, whose dad was convicted of killing his mother and brother, says claims he was involved in death of a high school classmate whose body was found near the murder scene six years earlier are "baseless rumors."
Now, the teen's body is being exhumed for an independent autopsy to determine if that's the case.
Two weeks after South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was convicted in the double murder and sentenced to life in prison, an investigation linking another death to the family is underway.
The remains of Stephen Smith, who was 19 at the time of his death in 2015, will undergo a private autopsy after a GoFundMe campaign raised more than $70,000 to pay for exhumation.
Smith's mother Sandy said, "This is Stephen's year" and thanked donors for "not allowing Stephen's story to be swept under a rug."
Smith's death was initially ruled a hit-and-run after his body was found along a rural road in South Carolina, about 15 miles from the Murdaugh estate.
His family has dismissed the official explanation for his death, with Sandy Smith telling NPR she believes her son, who was openly gay, was killed after his car ran out of gas.
"There was no debris in the road, and his injuries were not consistent with a hit-and-run," she wrote on the GoFundMe page.
South Carolina investigators reopened the Smith case in 2021, after Alex Murdaugh was charged in the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul, "based upon information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation," NBC News reported.
While not named directly by authorities, reports indicate the elder Murdaugh brother, Buster, may possibly be connected to Smith's death. Both Buster Murdaugh and Smith reportedly graduated in 2014 from the same high school in Hampton County, per NBC News. Smith's death was closed without any charges or suspects.
"We need a new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on facts," Sandy Smith wrote on her GoFundMe page. "We will pursue the exhumation immediately."
In a statement, Buster Murdaugh denied having anything to do with Smith's death.
"These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false," the statement said. "I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family."
Buster Murdaugh went on to say he has been "targeted and harassed by the media" and followers of his father's trial.
"This has gone on far too long," he said. "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 haven't spoken up until now because I want to live in private while I cope with their deaths and my father's incarceration."
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