Stephen Smith’s mom feels ‘peace’ from new murder probe

The grieving mom of Stephen Smith said she finally feels “some peace” after investigators reopened the case into the mysterious death of her son – whom she believes was beaten to death in a “hate crime” because he was gay.

“This is what I’ve been fighting for, and I’m finally getting it,” Sandy Smith told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Wednesday night of her nearly eight-year battle to reexamine her son’s death.

Smith said she has always questioned the circumstances surrounding the July 8, 2015 death of her son, whose body was found on a road not far from the 1,700-acre Moselle estate where disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh later gunned down his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

While authorities initially ruled the nursing student’s death a hit-and-run accident, Sandy believed that foul play was involved – and that the powerful Murdaugh family played a role.

“The only dispute I had was that it was not a hit-and-run. And that’s what I have been saying from the beginning. And I felt my son was murdered, he was beaten to death, and I think it was a hate crime [because Stephen was openly gay],” Sandy told Cooper.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) reopened the investigation into Stephens’ death on June 23, 2021 based on information gleaned during the initial probe into the murders of Maggie and Paul earlier that month.

On Tuesday, SLED said the death was officially being looked at as a homicide.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” Sandy said of the update.

“And I don’t know how to explain it, but I have a little bit of peace in my heart.”

Sandy also shared reminiscences of her “mischievous” son.

“He was my life. He was my world,” she told Cooper.

Sandy Smith previously wrote in a 2016 letter to the FBI that other teens approached Stephen’s twin Stephanie within days of her brother’s death to say they believed Paul Murdaugh and his older brother, Buster, were involved.

Another classmate also reportedly told Stephen’s brother, Christopher, that Buster, now 26, killed the teen with a baseball bat.

“He claimed it was because Stephen was gay,” Sandy wrote in the emotional letter.

Sandy also alleged that Buster, who was Stephen’s classmate, was involved in a secret relationship with her son, which may have motivated the alleged attack.

Stephen had hinted at dating “someone from a prominent family in the county who was hiding his sexuality,” but never revealed their name, Sandy said.

In another bizarre twist, Alex Murdaugh’s brother, Randolph, allegedly contacted the Smiths within hours of Stephen’s death and offered to investigate the incident pro bono.

But Randy, who was present at Alex’s murder trial earlier this year, never followed through on his pledge.

On Monday, Buster Murdaugh issued a statement denying the “vicious rumors” about his involvement with Stephen.

“These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false,” he said.

“I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family,” he added.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences earlier this month for killing Maggie and Paul. Buster testified in his father’s defense during the six-week trial.

“They seen through the lies and a Murdaugh is finally brought down,” Sandy Smith told The Post of the verdict.

“Now that this case is back over, they can get on Stephen’s case full-time.”

As of Thursday, the Smith family’s GoFundMe had raised almost $100,000 – nearly 7 times its original goal – to exhume Stephen’s body for an independent autopsy.

“From the beginning, I have always said that the pathologist is a voice for the dead. And the one who finalized his death certificate, I do not believe that she gave justice to my son. She did not speak his voice – for his voice,” Sandy told Cooper of the original examination.