TLDR
Forensic expert Kenny Kinsey, a key witness in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial, is independently reviewing the 2015 roadside death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, as South Carolina authorities continue a homicide investigation that has not yet resulted in public charges.
When Kenny Kinsey left the Colleton County courtroom where Alex Murdaugh was convicted of killing his wife and son, his work on the case did not entirely end. It shifted to a much older death on a dark, rural road.
Kinsey, a forensic consultant and former law enforcement officer, is now taking a fresh look at the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old nursing student found dead in the middle of a Hampton County road that was first treated as a hit-and-run crash.
From Hit-and-Run Label to Homicide Inquiry
Stephen Smith was found on July 8th, 2015, lying in the roadway on Sandy Run Road in Hampton County, South Carolina. According to investigative records and later reporting, his car was discovered nearby with an empty gas tank, and he had suffered a severe head injury.
Early on, authorities described the case as a possible hit-and-run, and the South Carolina Highway Patrol was tasked with investigating a suspected vehicle strike. Over time, however, inconsistencies between Smith’s injuries and a typical pedestrian collision led to growing doubts about that conclusion, both inside and outside law enforcement.
Kinsey’s Review and Talk of Missed Opportunities
Kinsey, who testified for prosecutors in the 2023 Murdaugh murder trial, has said he reviewed the original investigative file, studied interviews, examined findings from a later autopsy, and walked the stretch of road where Smith’s body was found. In a recent podcast interview, he said his analysis still points to an encounter involving a vehicle, though he has declined to describe specific wound patterns.
He has also spoken about what he called “missed opportunities” in the early stages of the case, including questions about how quickly the scene was secured and which agencies took the lead. Those kinds of delays and jurisdictional questions, Kinsey noted, can make any eventual prosecution more difficult, even if new evidence emerges years later.
Unresolved Case and Procedural Stakes
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, reopened the Smith investigation in June 2021 after agents said they identified information related to his death while examining the June 7th, 2021, killings of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh at the family estate in Colleton County. In 2023, SLED publicly classified Smith’s death as a homicide, and his body was exhumed for a second autopsy, whose detailed findings have not been released.
Despite intense public scrutiny and renewed forensic attention, no one has been charged in connection with Smith’s death, and investigative files remain largely sealed. The next decisive step, whether a public case closure or criminal charges, will determine whether this roadside death remains an open question in the long Murdaugh legal saga.
