Murdaugh Murder Mystery: Death of Stephen Smith, Gay Man Found Near Family's Property, Ruled a Homicide

A startling new twist in the Murdaugh saga.

The mysterious death of Buster Murdaugh's classmates Stephen Smith is now being ruled a homicide. 

The 19-year-old was killed in 2015 in what was said to be a hit-and-run.

South Carolina state police now tell Smith's family that new evidence about his death was uncovered during the investigation into Alex Murdaugh's murder of his wife and son.

Now, Smith's body will be exhumed for further testing to see if an exact cause of death can be determined.

"We have to hire a properly credentialed criminal forensic expert who can exhume a body and determine a cause of death based on somebody being in a coffin for a long period of time," the Smith family's attorney, Eric Bland, tells Inside Edition.

Smith was openly gay, and according to a Netflix documentary on the Murdaugh murders, he was rumored to have had a relationship with Buster.

His body was found on a lonely country road near the Murdaugh estate, with his car three miles away and apparently out of gas.

"He wouldn't be walking on a dark dangerous country road late at night miles and miles to get gas when he had a cellphone that he could have called somebody," Bland tells Inside Edition.

Buster Murdaugh denied any wrongdoing earlier this week, saying in part: "These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false. I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family."

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