The physique of a 19-year-old discovered lifeless in the course of a South Carolina highway in 2015 will likely be exhumed, his household introduced final week.
The household of Stephen Smith has raised about AU$89,032 to place in the direction of the exhumation and a personal post-mortem in what his mom described on a crowdfunding web page as a “fight for justice.”
“I could not have imagined when we began this fundraiser that it would take off the way that it did,” Sandy Smith wrote.
“Thank you for not allowing Stephen’s story to be swept under a rug. We will pursue the exhumation immediately and provide updates along the way.”
About two weeks after Maggie and Paul had been killed, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, introduced it was reopening the Smith investigation resulting from info gleaned from the Murdaugh case.
SLED didn’t element what that info was.
“SLED has made progress in the death investigation of Stephen Smith,” the company stated in an announcement to CNN Sunday, “however this investigation remains active and ongoing.”
The physique of the 19-year-old nursing scholar was found on July 8, 2015.
An incident report from the state freeway patrol indicated he suffered blunt drive trauma to the pinnacle, and his demise was initially deemed successful and run.
However, whereas a pathologist cited in a SLED report states Smith appeared to have been hit by a automobile, the responding officer referenced in a report by the state freeway patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team famous “no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with someone being struck by a vehicle.”
Smith’s sneakers had been additionally each on and loosely tied, the report added, and investigators noticed no proof suggesting he was struck by a automobile.
Smith’s household began the fundraising in an effort to hunt a “new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on facts,” reads the web page, which initially sought $22,258
The post-mortem would value about $10,387, it says, and a personal health worker would additionally must be current all through the method — at a charge of about $1112 per hour.
“It is a huge expense, but we are hoping that with your support we can make this happen and finally get the answers we need,” the web page says, including, “We believe 2023 is Stephen’s year.”
CNN has reached out to Smith’s household for remark.
Source: www.9news.com.au
