South Carolina authorities have confirmed they are investigating the death of Stephen Smith as a homicide, nearly eight years after the 19-year-old was found dead in the middle of a rural road from what was ruled to be a hit-and-run.
MORE: Murdaugh murders and mysteries timeline: Key events in the South Carolina family's scandals and deaths
Lawyers representing his mother announced that the death is now being considered a homicide Tuesday night, citing a phone call with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division .Tribune News Service via Getty Images "Stephen was an amazing kid and he didn't deserve to die this way," she added. "And I know somebody did it, and whoever did it needs to come forward and bring peace to this family."
"A fresh set of eyes and a new autopsy may yield a different conclusion that Stephen was not killed on Sandy Run Road in Bamberg County, that maybe he was killed somewhere else," her attorney, Eric Bland, told reporters this week.
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