Trooper Who Probed Death Near Murdaugh Estate Shares Shady New Details
Shady details about the death of Stephen Smith, the 19-year-old found dead on a backcountry road near Alex Murdaugh’s family estate in 2015, continued to emerge Wednesday, with a former South Carolina trooper saying investigators ignored his determination that Smith was murdered.
Thomas Moore, a lieutenant in the South Carolina Highway Patrol, was one of the first officers to respond to the discovery of Smith’s body. He said it was clear to him that Smith was murdered, but the probe was quickly closed after a medical examiner concluded Smith died in a hit-and-run—just one of a series of questionable incidents surrounding the death.
“[I] 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 told WJCL this week, referencing the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office. “I definitely think [Smith] was murdered; he was murdered there or murdered elsewhere and dropped there.”