The South Carolina Police Department is investigating two people interested in Stephen Smith’s murder

Law enforcement in South Carolina are eyeing two potential accomplices in the 2015 murder of gay teenager Stephen Smith, who was found dead just a few miles from Alex Murdaugh’s former hunting estate.

Local news website FitsNews has identified the two people as Patrick Wilson and Shawn Connelly, both 25, citing South Carolina Law Enforcement Division sources.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the SLED for comment on the new revelations. Stephen Smith was found dead on a dual carriageway in Hampton County on July 8, 2015. His car with the gas cap off and his wallet still inside was found not far away.

According to the FitsNews report, Connelly and Wilson, who were both teenagers at the time, were living in Hampton County when Smith was killed.

Stephen Smith (right) and his mother Sandy (left). His family has long believed he was murdered – given that Stephen’s body reportedly showed no injuries from the torso down and no car parts were found at the scene.

The article, written by site founder Will Forks, alleges that five months after Smith’s death, Wilson’s stepfather, Darrell Williams, said he was told by stepson that Connelly had “beaten and killed Stephen Smith.”

Williams, in turn, notified law enforcement. Williams later told investigators that Wilson had moved out and didn’t know where he lived.

As efforts to locate him stalled, Williams said he was initially told to call the police by Alex Murdaugh’s brother, Randy.

There has long been speculation that Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s eldest son, was somehow implicated in Smith’s death, including allegations that the couple had a sexual relationship.

The late man was Buster’s tutor at school and the couple played on the same baseball team for a time.

“These baseless rumors about my involvement in Stephen and his death are false. I clearly deny any involvement in his death and my heart goes out to the Smith family,” Buster said in a statement earlier this month.

The FitsNews report goes on to say that at the time of Darrell Williams’ call to police, Wilson was facing charges of attempted murder that were later dropped by a judge described as “serving for the Murdaughs’ amusement”.

Additionally, within 12 months of Smith’s death, Connelly’s two motor vehicle accident lawsuits, both dropped by “pro-Murdaugh judges,” according to the website.

Online records show Connelly has a long criminal record in South Carolina.

His charges range from multiple traffic offenses, including DUIs, domestic violence, hunting without a license, unlawfully killing an antlered deer, and purchasing alcohol while underage.

A tribute to Smith erected on the spot where he was found dead in Hampton, South Carolina in 2015

Police suspected he had been shot, but his death was ruled a hit-and-run

Wilson has had one charge since his attempted murder charges were dropped. In 2017 he was charged with a boating offence.

There is no current evidence linking Stephen Smith’s death to the Murdaugh family, the mother’s lawyers say.

State investigators, who are also investigating Smith’s death, have remained silent about taking the case around the same time police said Murdaugh killed his wife and son. He is serving a life sentence for these murders.

But the lack of evidence hasn’t stopped the speculation. And that attention, in turn, helped Sandy Smith raise more than $87,000 through Go Fund Me in less than two weeks. Her goal was $15,000 – enough to exhume her son’s body and conduct a private autopsy.

“It’s important to me because I love my son and since I couldn’t protect him, I will fight for him,” Sandy Smith told reporters Monday as her attorneys announced the private investigation.

The police officer who discovered Smith’s body did not believe it was a hit-and-run accident, but the pathologist who performed the autopsy suspected that Smith was hit in the head by the side mirror of a passing truck that didn’t stop.

Buster Murdaugh and his girlfriend, Brooklynn White, enter the Colleton County Courthouse in South Carolina in February for the double murder trial of his father

Maggie Murdaugh is seen with her husband Alex and sons Buster (right) and Paul (left).

In Monday’s statement, shared by Alex Murdaugh’s trial attorney Jim Griffin, Buster called the claims “baseless.”

Police said he appeared to have run out of gas and walked to get help, but attorney Eric Bland, representing the Smith family, said Smith did not make calls on his cell phone and his shoes, which were loosely tied are still on his feet. People hit by cars are often found without their shoes due to the force of the wreck.

Smith’s family believes his injuries, including head injuries and a dislocated arm, indicate he was beaten to death and thrown onto the freeway.

There were no road skid marks or debris such as broken glass or broken mirrors found nearby, said Ronnie Richter, another attorney for the Smiths.

State agents took over the case in 2021, though they never said why they chose it or if it was related to information found during the inquest into the deaths of Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son.

Troopers typically investigate road traffic fatalities in South Carolina, where state agents typically investigate other crimes.

State Law Enforcement Division chief Mark Keel reached out to Smith’s new attorneys to ask if they would share new information they find through the autopsy or other investigation, agency spokeswoman Renée Wunderlich said.

“We believe it was murder,” Keel told The State newspaper earlier this month. “We don’t think it was a hit-and-run.”

Investigators believe people are more willing to talk now that the murder trial is complete, said Smith Bland family attorney.

The first step in the private investigation will be a judge’s permission to exhume Stephen Smith’s body. Government support would likely help this request.

Bland also hopes that private investigators can collect and analyze cell phone data from Smith and the people he communicated with to reconstruct who he was hanging out with and what he was doing not only just before his body was found, but also in the weeks before his death.

“Stephen had to live a secret life. Being young and gay in the Lowcountry wasn’t easy,” Bland said.

Smith and Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster, attended the same high school, leading to rumors that the Murdaugh family was involved in his death.

Judges went out of their way this week to say they have no evidence Buster Murdaugh was involved in anything with Smith.