US Marine Opens Up About Cousin Stephen Smith’s Homicide Near Alex Murdaugh Estate: 'It's Time For Answers'

The cousin of the late Stephen Smith, whose body was found near Alex Murdaugh’s estate in South Carolina, said the family “got results" following a second autopsy, NewsNation reported.

Smith’s body was found in the middle of a road in 2015 and his death was initially ruled a hit-and-run, but the case is now being reinvestigated as a homicide, Front Page Detectives previously reported.

Joshua Carroll, Smith’s cousin, talked with NewsNation and said the second autopsy “wasn’t for nothing.”

Carroll, a U.S. Marine that has served four overseas tours of duty, told NewsNation, “We do know that it was successful, but as far as what they found to help lead this on, we don’t know. I don’t know if they were looking for something particular or if they were just looking to come across something different that wasn’t in a report. But whatever it was, it gave them an answer to a question or questions that they had that they couldn’t get out of a report that is now in a report.”

Sandy Smith, Stephen’s mother, is Carroll’s aunt and he said they communicate just about every day regarding the investigation, NewsNation reported.

Smith’s death investigation was reopened by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division after the June 2021 killings of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Alex Murdaugh was convicted in March for murdering his wife and child on their South Carolina property.

While the Murdaugh name keeps popping up during the investigation of Smith’s death, there is no evidence linking anybody in the family to the death, NewsNation stated.

Carroll said they are just looking for the truth, “Whoever did what they did, knows what they did. It’s time for, you know, everybody to get that peace. We’re at a point now where it’s time for answers.”

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And he thinks those answers are coming.

“I know everybody don’t believe in a higher power,” he said, “but when you have a heart as pure as Stephen’s and you’re the kind of person he was, it is never for nothing.”