Forensic anthropology could pry open mystery of Stephen Smith death, renowned doctor says

A nationally known forensic pathologist who specializes in cold case homicides said the best way to get to the truth about what happened to Stephen Smith is to hire an anthropologist.

Erin Kimmerle, an associate professor at the University of South Florida and podcaster, said anthropologists have increasingly been involved in complicated cases when a body has been exhumed for further testing.

Smith’s mother, Sandy, has raised $104,545 during the past two weeks to have her son’s body exhumed to prove he was not a victim of hit and run, as a medical examiner ruled shortly after his body was found in 2015 in the middle of the rural Sandy Run Road in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.

Sandy Smith and South Carolina Highway Patrol investigators have said they believed from the start Stephen was murdered and a victim of a hate crime. Stephen, who was gay, was found in the middle of the night by a passerby driving a wrecker.

One of the most obvious signs he was not hit by a car was his tennis shoes were still on his body. Usually when hit by a car, people are knocked out of their shoes. In addition, there were no tire tracks, no car parts and Stephen’s car was out of gas several miles away with his wallet inside.

Kimmerle is not involved with the Smith case but agreed to speak generally about her field of study.

She studied the exhumed bodies of 120 unidentified people and, in the process of figuring out who they were, discovered the cause of death was wrong in 20% of the cases. They, in fact, had been murdered.

Kimmerle said the forensic anthropological process involves more than the full-body x-rays and comprehensive examination of the body that a forensic anthropologist would do. In the area known to have trauma, the bones are cleaned and put back together to better see where they are broken and most importantly how they were broken.

Every type of trauma can be differentiated to tell whether the person was hit by a car, beaten, or otherwise killed, she said. And with a head wound, such as Smith sustained, the skull will reveal what the person was hit with and how many times.

It is also possible to see bone fragments and hairline fractures, she said.

The original autopsy, performed by Dr. Erin Presnell at the Medical University of South Carolina, found Stephen had a large wound on the right side of his forehead, a dislocated shoulder and cuts to his left hand.

The finding was that he had been hit by a side mirror of a truck.

Eric Bland, Sandy Smith’s attorney, could not be reached for comment on whether a forensic anthropologist had been consulted on the case or if they intend to hire one.

He has told numerous media outlets they are in the process of hiring experts and will soon file a petition with a judge to get permission for the exhumation.

Kimmerle said chances are some of the material that could provide important clues has likely deteriorated in the seven years since Stephen died.

But if fingernail scrapings were done, that material can be analyzed again as could any foreign DNA material found on his body and retained in evidence. The new investigators would also want to see the clothing he was wearing and to know whether there was evidence of sexual assault, she said.

Various news outlets have reported recently that a rape kit was ordered hours after Stephen’s body was found, but no information on whether it yielded any information has been released, Highway Patrol Col. Michael Duncan, now retired, told News Nation.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has the test, he said.

SLED announced this week that they had been called to process the scene where Smith was found on July 8, 2015, which they did.

Agents also attended Smith’s autopsy.

“Due to the medical examiner’s determination, the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office requested the South Carolina Highway Patrol to investigate Mr. Smith’s death,” the SLED news release said.

SLED did open an investigation on June 23, 2021 after receiving some sort of information while investigating the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh and reviewing the Highway Patrol investigative file. Alex Murdaugh, husband of Maggie and father of Paul, was convicted of shooting them to death and sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.

Recently, SLED added more investigators to the case, which they consider a homicide.

The Murdaugh name was raised many times during the initial investigation into Smith’s death but no evidence has been revealed that ties them to the death.

Sole surviving son Buster Murdaugh, 26, a high school classmate of Smith this week released a statement saying he had no involvement in Smith’s death.

“I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family,” he said in a statement released through his father’s criminal defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin.