Stephen Smith exhumed examined almost 2 years after Murdaugh case prompts renewed scrutiny

HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. — The body of Stephen Smith, whose 2015 death was thrust back into the spotlight during the investigation of the 2021 killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and her son Paul Murdaugh, was exhumed over the weekend for an independent autopsy, attorneys for Smith’s family said. Smith’s body was exhumed, transported, and a second autopsy was conducted before “transporting him back and then putting him back to his final resting place this past weekend,” attorney Eric Bland said in a tweet Sunday night. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said last month it was investigating Smith’s death as a…