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48 Hours got exclusive access to the findings of an independent investigation into the unsolved death of Steph Smith
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the 19-year-old gay man was killed in South Carolina in 2015 and his case went unsolved for years in 2021 the
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high-profile murders of Maggie and Paul murau stirred new interest in Smith's case disgraced lawyer Alex murdaugh was
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found guilty of killing his wife and son now Steven's mother Sandy is working with a team of lawyers and experts to
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find out what happened to her son Nikki bati reports for this week's 48 Hours when Steven Smith was found dead
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on a country road on July 8th 2015 his mother Sandy was convinced it was no accident do you believe Steven was
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murdered I do the medical examiner ruled it a hit and run but retired South Carolina Highway Patrol lieutenant
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Thomas Moore says the scene told a different story did you see any signs of a hit and run no ma'am none any type of
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debris any kind of glass car parts Steven's car was 3 miles away I thought it was staged like his body was staged
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in the roadway it looked like somebody had hit him in the head with some kind of object early on rumors began to swirl
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that the mylls Were Somehow involved the myll name comes up dozens of times in the case File by late 2016 the case went
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cold all I want is peace and no one what happened to my son in June of 2021 the murders of Paul and Maggie murall
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reignited interest in Steven Smith's case somehow someway in the murder murder investigation a new thread was
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opened up into Steph Smith attorneys Ronnie rter and Eric Bland are now helping Sandy Smith find answers we are
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aware of no evidence today that would suggest that any mdll played any role in Steven Smith's death our primary
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function right now is to have that body assumed have a true independent set of eyes look at it and tell us once and for
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all what really happened to Steven Smith they brought on forensic pathologist Dr
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Michelle Dupri who says Steven died from a single blow to his forehead literally
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split his skull and split his skull and oddly there were no injuries to his body
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to indicate he'd been hit headon by a vehicle forensic crime scene expert Dr Kenny Kinsey was also hired Steven was
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somewhat right here both experts believe Steven died on the spot neither thinks the scene was staged there was a
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significant amount of blood at the scene too much for him to have been killed someplace else and then transported
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there after examining all the evidence they reached a surprising conclusion how confident are you that you know what
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happened to Steph Smith that night I'm as close to a degree of scientific certainty as I've ever
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felt Nikki batist joins us now good morning first of all what what was the conclusion of the forensic crime scene
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expert I hate to do this to you but you will have to watch 4 hours to find out the conclusion but I will say sy's team
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of independent experts did turn over its findings to local law enforcement and I
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will say this the scene where Steven's body was found was so odd remember this death was ruled a hit and run his shoes
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were still on and they were Loosely tied that's really really unusual for hit and
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run to still have your shoes on and it's been reported that Steven's cell phone was found on his body but police didn't
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say what was on it can you tell us anything about that that information still has not been made public we do
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know that sled the South Carolina law enforcement division does have his phone and his tablet presumably like we've
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seen in so many cases that those devices have information about where he may have
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been who he may have been with who he may have been communicating with in the moments before his death so that'll be
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critical so uh Stephen's mom has been trying to get to the truth about her son for eight years how is she doing Sandy
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Smith we a lot of time together talking on camera and off is remarkable she really has been the lead investigator in
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her son's case she wanted me to thank everyone for the support and kindness and I will tell you she will not give up
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until she has answers now true mom there you can see she's Inc yes well you can see Nikki's report Stephen Smith a death
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in mura country tomorrow night at 109 Central right here on CBS and on Paramount Plus