Alex Murdo’s guilty verdict in his double-murder trial has shed new light on the 2015 death of Buster Murdo’s 19-year-old classmate, Stephen Smith, just miles from Murdo’s hunting ranch in Islandton, South Carolina.
After jurors on March 3 found the disgraced 54-year-old attorney guilty of the 2021 murders of his wife and son, a predator outside the Colleton County courthouse shouted, “Buster’s next!” as authorities escorted Alex away in a vehicle.
Buster, 26, is Alex’s eldest and only surviving son, who testified in his father’s defense at the double-murder trial, which began on January 25.
After his father’s conviction, Buster is in the public eye Smith’s death.
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The 19-year-old was killed in what police initially described as a hit-and-run, just miles from the Murdo family’s hunting estate called Moselle, where Alex fatally shot his wife Maggie and son Paul on June 7, 2021.
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The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has reopened the investigation into Smith’s death.
Attorney Eric Bland, who represented the children of the Murdoes’ late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died at the Murdoes’ home in Moselle in the fall of 2018, described the Murdoes’ “long-rumored involvement” in Smith’s death in ” Fox & Friends” earlier this month.
“He was found in the middle of a country road in Hampton County and … the highway department said he had been hit by a car, but there was no broken glass, no car parts,” Bland said co-host Pete Hegseth. “His clothes were intact, his shoes were on, and he had … clear head trauma that appeared to be caused by something other than a car.”
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Murdo “supposedly showed up at the scene and according to [Smith’s mother, Sandy]she got a phone call from him where he offered to represent her, and she was very confused as to why she would need representation,” Bland continued.
Sandy Smith shared a statement with journalist Mandy Matney of the Murdaugh Murders Podcast.
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“This verdict gives Maggie and Paul’s loved ones the answers and closure they need to heal from this vicious tragedy. We know firsthand the agony and frustration of being in the dark about how a family member was killed, and I’m grateful that the whole story was killed in front of a jury in a public trial. One day I pray the same will happen to my Steven,” Smith said in the March 2 statement.
Mike Hemlep, an attorney representing the Smith family, said they are “confident” that SLED will “continue to show this level of dedication to the investigation into Steven’s murder, no matter where this investigation may lead.”
Prosecutors said Alex killed his 52-year-old wife and 22-year-old son to divert attention from his alleged financial crimes, which began to come to light in the summer of 2021.
Alex is accused of embezzling money from his family’s law firm and its clients. He faces 99 financial crimes charges stemming from 19 separate indictments and totaling nearly $9 million.
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The complex narrative surrounding Alex’s crimes – and the Murdo family – is far from over, although the double murder trial ended on March 3. He is now on trial for his alleged financial crimes.
“I don’t think he will plead guilty because that would put him in the position of only having two more financial crimes to be convicted of where he would end up with a life sentence without parole, which would be a deterrent measure if the murder conviction was ever overturned or remanded for a new trial,” Bland previously told Fox News Digital. “So, I think they’re going to tie him to a bagel.”
His clients, the Satterfields, recovered a multimillion-dollar settlement from their mother’s death that was rightfully theirs after Murdough stole it when he represented them in a personal injury lawsuit following their mother’s fall on his property. They even received an apology from the disgraced attorney, but still want to “hold Alex accountable” for his other crimes, Bland said.