A rape kit was ordered for Stephen Smith just hours after the 19-year-old was found dead near Alex Murdaugh’s family estate in 2015, according to a former South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper who investigated Smith’s death. Michael Duncan, the former trooper, told NewsNation on Wednesday that ordering a rape kit was rare in a traffic accident investigation. The local medical examiner and sheriff’s office initially wrote Smith’s death off as a hit-and-run despite several highway patrol officers insisting that it appeared to be a murder. State authorities re-opened the case after obtaining unspecific new information in the course of their investigation into the 2021 murders of Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son. Earlier this week, attorneys for Smith’s family said authorities have since deemed Smith’s death to be “intentional,” and the State Law Enforcement Division is investigating the case as a homicide.
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