What did Sandy Smith write in her letter? Stephen Smith’s mom allegedly accused Buster Murdaugh in a 2016 document

A recent report revealed that in 2016 Stephen Smith’s mother wrote a letter addressed to the FBI headquarters in Pennsylvania stating that Buster Murdaugh was a potential suspect in her son’s suspicious death. The letter also noted Buster Murdaugh and Stephen smith’s alleged secret romantic relationship and said that her son was potentially killed to cover up their entanglement.

In the September 28, 2016, letter, published by Fit News on March 20, 2023, Smith’s mother, Sandy Smith, accused local authorities of deliberately concealing evidence in the case and pleaded with the FBI to assist with the investigations.

The letter also mentioned that they were given multiple reasons behind her son’s death before authorities told them in confidence that Smith was beaten to death. The letter alleged that Hampton investigators asked the family to withhold the information and continue to publicly call the incident a “hit-and-run” so they could secretly entrap the killer.

Stephen Smith, 19, was found dead on July 8, 2015, on a remote South Carolina road near the Murdaugh hunting estate where Alex Murdaugh murdered Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in 2021. Authorities at the time said that the 19-year-old, who had suffered blunt force trauma to the head, was the victim of a hit-and-run despite evidence pointing towards homicide.

However, in 2021, during the investigations into Paul and Maggie Murdaugh’s deaths, authorities reportedly uncovered evidence suggesting foul play, prompting them to reopen the case.

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Stephen Smith's mon alleges that she always suspected Buster Murdaugh was involved in her son's death

In the 2016 letter, Sandy Smith said that she has always suspected the Murdaugh family’s potential involvement in her son’s murder after she received a suspicious call from Buster Murdaugh’s grandfather and Solicitor Randolph Murdaugh. The call reportedly came a day after they were notified of Stephen’s death.

During the call, Randolph reportedly told them he wanted to be involved in the case and represent the family as a pro bono lawyer while investigators explored the incident. The letter further stated that two weeks after receiving the call, Randolph withdrew from the case and stopped responding to their queries.

Smith’s mother wrote in the letter that her suspicions against the Murdaugh family, who wielded significant influence in the community, were amplified after multiple people approached her family members and allegedly implicated Buster Murdaugh in her son’s death.

According to the letter, Smith’s twin sister Stephanie was approached by people who told her that Paul and Buster Murdaugh were responsible for his death. Shortly after, a stranger allegedly told Stephen’s brother, Chris, that he witnessed Buster “beat Stephen to death with a baseball bat” because he was gay.

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Buster Murdaugh was named by multiple witnesses in Stephen Smith's death

It should be noted that while authorities have yet to name a suspect in the case, CNN, citing the case file from the initial South Carolina Highway Patrol investigation into Smith’s death, revealed that Buster Murdaugh’s name was often mentioned by witnesses and investigators when exploring the incident in 2015.

A recent Netflix documentary, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, also claimed that Buster Murdaugh was rumored to have been involved in the death. The documentary also insinuated that Buster was romantically involved with Smith, who was gay.

The assertion was also shared in the 2016 letter, penned by Smith’s mother, who said that the victim had told his twin sister Stephanie that he was romantically involved with “someone from a prominent family in the county who was hiding his s*xuality.” The letter read:

"The Murdaughs are probably the most prominent family in Hampton County. Stephen had on more than one occasion mentioned to friends and his twin sister that he was involved romantically with someone from a prominent family in the county who was hiding his s*xuality. He said that it would shock people to know this person was gay. We suspect this could be the young man Stephen was referring to, though he never named him."

The revelation comes in the wake of Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster vehemently denying any connection to Stephen’s death weeks after being relentlessly hounded by the media, who shifted their focus onto him after his father was convicted of double-murder earlier this month.