According to a bombshell report, South Carolina authorities have zeroed in on two suspects in the murder of Murdaugh-affiliated teen Stephen Smith, including one man who allegedly admitted to killing the nursing student.
According to a case file obtained by Fitsnews on Thursday, police are investigating 25-year-olds Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly, both of whom were initially implicated in Smith’s death in July 2015.
Six years later, Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul on their 1,700-acre Moselle estate. At the time, the pair were teenagers and lived within a few miles of where the 19-year-battered old’s body was found on a road near the estate.
Five months after the discovery of Smith’s body, Wilson’s stepfather, at the urging of Alex Murdaugh’s older brother, alerted authorities to the boys’ involvement in the murder.
Wilson allegedly told his stepfather that Connelly, who has a lengthy history of traffic violations and DUIs, was behind the wheel of the vehicle that “struck and killed Stephen Smith.”
The stepfather “stated that he was passing along this information because Randy Murdaugh instructed him to,” according to the MAIT report obtained by FitsNews.
Wilson was facing attempted murder charges for an incident that was unclear at the time of his confession. These charges were dropped shortly thereafter by a lawyer who “served at the Murdaughs’ pleasure,” according to a historian from Hampton.
Within a year of Smith’s death, Randy Murdaugh filed two motor vehicle accident lawsuits on behalf of clients against Connelly, both of which were dismissed by Murdaugh-friendly judges.
According to documents obtained by DailyMail, Connelly’s criminal history includes DUIs and domestic violence, as well as hunting without a license and unlawfully killing a deer without antlers.
Buster Murdaugh has refuted rumors that he was involved in Smith’s death following rumors that he and Smith had an affair as adolescents.
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Despite the confession, neither man was thoroughly investigated by the original team of investigators. The police initially determined that Smith’s death “appeared to be a homicide,” but ultimately determined that he was the victim of a hit-and-run.
After nearly eight years, it has been determined that Smith’s death was a homicide.
Police have not publicly excluded the Murdaughs from their investigation, despite a law enforcement source telling FitsNews that they have evidence proving the Murdaughs’ innocence.
“SLED has evidence that the Murdaughs were not present when Stephen Smith was murdered,” a source told the publication.
Police stated last week that they “quickly” placed Buster Murdaugh on their radar as part of the reopened investigation in response to rumors that he murdered Smith to conceal a secret relationship between the two baseball teammates.
One classmate allegedly told Smith’s sibling that he witnessed Buster murder Smith “with a baseball bat” due to Smith’s sexual orientation.
Smith’s mother, Sandy, also linked Buster to her son’s death in a letter sent to federal investigators where she accused local law enforcement of butchering her son’s death investigation.
Buster said he “unequivocally” denied “vicious rumors” that he was involved in the murder as he continues to grieve the loss of his mother and brother and deals with the imprisonment of his killer father.