Buster Murdaugh denies any involvement with death of high school friend Stephen Smith

Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster, said Monday that he “unequivocally” denies “vicious rumors” that he was involved in the death of a former classmate who law enforcement officials originally said was a victim of a hit-and-run accident.

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Murdaugh, 26, said in a statement released Monday that he tried to ignore rumors of a romantic relationship with Stephen Smith and that he had nothing to do with his former classmate’s death, WTOC reported.

“I have tried my best to ignore the vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen Smith’s tragic death that continue to be published in the media as I grieve over the brutal murders of my mother and brother,” Murdaugh said in the statement.

“I love them so much and miss them terribly. I haven’t spoken up until now because I want to live in private while I cope with their deaths and my father’s incarceration,” he continued, complaining about being “harassed” over his family’s ever-deepening scandals.

Alex Murdaugh, Buster’s father, was convicted of the murders of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son Paul in June 2021 at a family hunting property.

Stephen Smith, who was 19 when he died, was killed in 2015 in what police originally called a hit-and-run near the Murdaughs’ Islandton, South Carolina, hunting property, called Moselle.

Smith’s family launched a GoFundMe account to get the money they need to exhume Smith’s body for an independent autopsy. They have raised about $66,000 to put toward the exhumation and a private autopsy in what his mother Sandy Smith described as a “fight for justice.”

Attorney Eric Bland is representing the Smith family and said earlier this month that the evidence found at the scene where Smith’s body was discovered did not point to Smith being hit by a car.

“He was found in the middle of a country road in Hampton County, and… the highway department said he was hit by a car, but there was no broken glass, no car parts,” Bland told Fox News.

“His clothes were intact, his shoes were on, and he had… a clear head trauma injury that looked like it was done by something other than a car.”

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has reopened an investigation into Smith’s death.

Sandy Smith, told the “Today” show Monday that she hopes an independent autopsy will show just how her son died.

“As a mother, there’s questions that I need to ask. And there’s questions I need answers to,” she said.