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19 year old steven smith was found dead on this south carolina road from blunt force drama to the head in the early
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morning hours of july 8 2015. steven's yellow chevy was found roughly three miles away with his wallet inside
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and the gas cap unscrewed initial reports by the south carolina highway patrol say smith ran into car trouble
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and was likely walking when he was struck and killed by a vehicle but recently released audio interviews
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show some officers on the case did not agree with that hit-and-run theory nothing at the scene appeared that it
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was a vehicular accident trooper david rowell noticed that the evidence just wasn't adding up walk both
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shoulders of the highway east and west looking for any evidence didn't see anything that appeared to be
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vehicular involved there was no vehicle debris no broken headlight or paint scrapes or anything
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when someone is hit by a car they are very frequently knocked out of their shoes steven
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smith's shoes were still on when he was found they were still on and they were loose it certainly raises
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questions as to whether hit and run is the right conclusion steven's mother sandy smith told the
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local cbs affiliate she didn't believe the hit-and-run scenario either the only damage to his body
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was his head from his right eye socket to the back of his head his right shoulder was dislocated
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when someone is struck by a car going at speed and i don't mean 70 miles an hour
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i mean even something like 25 30 35 miles an hour you fly bodies get pushed a long way the body
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rolls and moves and there's there's road burn there's rash marks there's evidence
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often on the road sandy smith told a local newspaper she believed her son who was openly gay was murdered
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she believed it was a hate crime related in some way to his sexuality and in our interviews with her she pleaded
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to the public if anybody knows anything please i want answers [Music] you