Buster Murdaugh FINALLY breaks his silence – six months after his father Alex was jailed for murdering his mom and brother: Denies any involvement in death of Stephen Smith
- Buster, 26, was previously linked to the death of Stephen Smith, with locals claiming the pair had a relationship
- He has now denied that they were ever ‘physical’ and he had ‘nothing to do with his murder’
- Alex is currently serving two life sentences for the murders of Maggie and Paul, which his eldest son says is ‘not fair’
Buster Murdaugh has broken his silence to say he does not believe his father Alex killed his brother and mother – and denies having a gay relationship with murdered schoolfriend Stephen Smith or any involvement in his death.
The eldest son of the disgraced South Carolina attorney told Fox Nation he doesn’t think it’s possible his dad, 55, killed Maggie and Paul at their hunting estate in 2021.
He said: ‘I think that I hold a very unique perspective that nobody else in that courtroom ever held. And I know the love that I have witnessed.
‘I was there for six weeks studying it, and I think it was a tilted table from the beginning.’
Buster, 26, also had the finger pointed at him over the death of his schoolmate Stephen Smith, 19, in 2015 – as well as claims the pair had a gay relationship.
But in the interview he denied any links to it, adding: ‘I never had anything to do with his murder and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of any regard.’
The eldest son of the disgraced former South Carolina attorney told Fox Nation that he doesn’t think it’s possible that his father, 55, killed Maggie and Paul at their hunting estate Moselle in 2021
Convicted killer Alex is currently serving two life sentences for the murders, despite insisting from the witness stand during his trial that he is not guilty
Murdaugh spoke for the first time on FOX Nation’s The Fall of the House of Murdaugh, hosted by Martha MacCallum, which airs on August 31.
Convicted killer Alex is currently serving two life sentences for the murders, despite insisting from the witness stand during his trial he is not guilty.
The former lawyer is appealing his conviction, with Buster doubling down against the accusations against his father.
He took aim at the police and judge, claiming they had a ‘crappy motive’ and he does not ‘believe it was fair’ that all 12 jurors found him guilty.
‘I was there for six weeks studying it, and I think it was a tilted table from the beginning,’ Buster said.
‘And I think, unfortunately, a lot of the jurors felt that way prior to when they had to deliberate.
‘It was predetermined in their minds prior to when they ever heard any shred of evidence that was given in that room.’
He believes that the jury ultimately found his father guilty of the shootings because of ‘everything they had the ability to read prior to the trial.’
Buster, 26, also had the finger pointed at him over the death of his schoolmate Stephen Smith, 19, in 2015 – as well as claims that the pair had a relationship
Stephen Smith was found dead on July 8, 2015, on a rural road not far from the Murdaugh hunting lodge that would become a bloody murder scene six years later
Buster’s father Murdaugh, 54, was found guilty of the double murder of his wife Maggie and other son Paul
Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh at the Moselle estate in a picture uploaded on Maggie’s Facebook to mark Father’s Day 2020
During the trial, it was revealed that Alex had lied about being at the kennels where Maggie and Paul were shot to death on the hunting estate.
His lie was uncovered after his voice was captured on a Snapchat video on Paul’s phone, which was made just before the murders.
Murdaugh is pictured in a mugshot with his head shaved and wearing a yellow jumpsuit
Buster says it is ‘odd’ that his father lied about being in the area, adding that he was ‘confused’ and would like to know why Alex said what he did.
Buster, who is Murdaugh’s last surviving child, also took aim at Judge Newman for how he spoke to his father at the sentencing.
He said he felt the judge went ‘too far’ with his comment of Alex visiting Paul and Maggie ‘every night’ when he sleeps.
‘I think that’s just another one of his clever little lines to suggest that he agrees with the guilty verdict’, Buster added.
‘I think he was very straightforward about that. And I think it was just a kind of a cruel analogy to be throwing out amongst a – just an overly public trial.’
Buster and his father Alex exchange a look as he walks up to the witness stand Tuesday at Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro
Buster looks on from the witness stand as his father returns to the courtroom following a break in his testimony
During a break in the 26-year-old’s emotional testimony, Alex was seen patting his sole surviving son on the buttock
But Murdaugh’s son said that he felt the police were under an ‘awful lot of pressure’ to come up with a suspect in the double killings.
He added he felt that the police felt they ‘had to do something’, saying: ‘And I think that it was — and that’s the option and the route that they decided to go with.
‘My biggest thing that I want people to realize, that there are always two sides of the story.
‘Now, they can pick which one they want to believe. But I think there’s a heck of a lot that still needs to be answered about what happened on June the 7th.’
Buster also denied being anything like his father, telling the docuseries he is not a ‘thief, liar or manipulator’.
But he admitted he thinks he has some of Alex’s ‘more admirable traits’, which he is ‘quite proud of’.
Murdaugh also took the time to deny having any relationship with Stephen Smith, who was found dead on a road not far from Moselle in 2015.
Following his death, cops were tipped off about an alleged gay relationship between the pair which was being gossiped about at the local high school, Netflix and HBO claim in a special documentary.
Smith was 19 when his bloodied body was found in the middle of the road, with authorities initially ruling it as a hit and run despite a lack of evidence pointing towards that.
Smith’s mother Sandra claims that her son may have been the victim of a hate crime carried out by the Murdaugh clan
Files from the 2015 investigation stated Smith was found in the middle of Sandy Run Road with some sort of blunt force trauma to the head and that there was ‘no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with someone being struck by a vehicle’
The original incident report by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety dated July 8, 2015 found that there was ‘no evidence to suggest the victim was struck by a vehicle’
An investigation log note from August 2015 shows one investigator informing another of a tip questioning whether Stephen and Buster Murdaugh ‘ever had any type of relationship’
Another note shows investigators received an anonymous tip months later stating ‘Dontereo Aiken along with another black male and a white male (Murdaugh) are the ones involved in the death’
His family raised more than $60,000 after Alex’s conviction to have his body exhumed for a private autopsy.
Buster issued a public statement at the time denying the ‘vicious rumors’ which he again referenced in his first interview.
DailyMail.com previously revealed initial investigators found no evidence of any vehicle accident and were convinced the victim had a gunshot wound above his right eye.
The original incident report written by South Carolina Highway Patrol investigators on the scene states: ‘The victim was found in the middle of Sandy Run Road deceased from some sort of blunt force trauma to the head. Responded to the scene. I saw no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with someone being struck by a vehicle.’
The report continues: ‘The shoes were loosely tied, and both were still on. After consulting with MAIT we see no evidence to suggest the victim was struck by a vehicle.’
Lawyers for his family say that from the torso down he had no injuries, with no car parts found at the scene.
Buster, who supported his doomed father every day during his trial last month, said he wanted privacy to ‘grieve over the brutal murders of my mother and brother’
A GoFundMe for Stephen Smith, who died in 2015, has surpassed its target. Buster Murdaugh’s name has long been linked to Smith’s
He also supposedly walked three miles in the dark without using his phone and left his wallet in his car.
Smith’s mother Sandy said he would not have left his wallet behind and would have at least called his sister.
‘Assistant Coroner Kelly Greene then began to show me photographs they took, again pointing to the entry point to the head and also a defensive wound to the hand.’
Written by a James B. Tallon III the notes state: ‘Originally HCSO had notified the South Carolina Highway Patrol in reference to this being a possible hit and run.
‘After further investigation it was believed that the victim had been shot in the head.’
And EMS worker is noted as having, ‘stated that a projectile wound was located on the victim’s head.’
And the notes state: ‘A hole in the skull was located above the victim’s right eye.’
But when the autopsy was conducted at MUSC Health University Medical Center, the manner of death was listed not as homicide but ‘undetermined,’ and it was ruled a hit and run.
A Netflix documentary explored their alleged relationship, though at the time Buster refused to give a comment
In the statement, shared by Alex Murdaugh’s trial lawyer Jim Griffin, Buster called the claims as ‘baseless’ in March
Alex Murdaugh was convicted in March for the murders of his wife and son. He had long claimed that someone else was responsible for the murders
The case was investigated as a hit and run with cops pursuing a variety of lines of investigation and numerous tips.
Among those tips, and reported by FITSNews, was an anonymous one naming Paul and his brother ‘Buster.’
Paul was indicted on three counts of boating under the influence in April 2019. But while awaiting trial, the 22-year-old was gunned down in 2021
In records seen by DailyMail.com it is noted that a tipster raised the question of whether, ‘Stephen and Buster Murdaugh ever had any type of relationship.’
But when investigators followed up with the person who had called in, he said he was just repeating ‘rumors.’
Investigative notes also show that officers quizzed one subject about whom they had received a tip-off.
The tip-off which came via anonymous email stated that, ‘Dontereo Aiken along with another black male and a white male (Murdaugh) are the ones involved in the death.’
Investigators followed up on this and spoke with Aiken about his knowledge of, ‘anyone with the last name Murdaugh.’
Aiken said that ‘he knew one that graduated with the victim.’ But when questioned, he himself denied being friends with any Murdaughs on Facebook and then appeared to indicate he was unsure.
Mallory Beach’s family, the 19-year-old woman killed during a fatal late-night boat ride in 2019, has reached an out-of-court settlement with the grocery store that sold Paul Murdaugh beer
Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge, in Beaufort South Carolina, in 2019. Her body was found five days later
The six youths on board that night, who were under 21, were ejected from the vessel and all but Mallory Beach made it to shore. Her body wasn’t found for a week
Officers subsequently found that Aiken was Facebook friends with Buster Murdaugh.
When pressed, he ‘stated he never hang (sic) out with him or went to any parties hosted by the Murdaugh subjects.’
In another curious inclusion, an officer noted a tip called in on December 18 by a man claiming that his stepson had named a local guy as the one who ‘struck and killed Stephen Smith.’
The tipster then failed to return any calls and when finally reached, ‘stated that the reason that he was passing this information on was because Randy Murdaugh told him to call.’
Randy is Paul and Buster’s uncle, patriarch Alex Murdaugh’s brother. He offered to take Smith’s case pro-bono at the time of his death.
Since then, two documentaries by HBO and Netflix have aired rumors that Buster was involved in a romantic relationship with Smith.
Archers Creek Bridge in Beaufort, South Carolina into which the boat crashed in 2019
The settlement will give the bulk of the money to the Beach family
Smith’s sister Stephanie said that Alex Murdaugh’s brother Randy Murdaugh called the family the day Smith was found dead informing him that he wanted to take the case free of charge.
Buster’s interview also comes a month after the family of Mallory Beach reached a settlement of $15million out of court for her death.
Murtaugh’s youngest son Paul was accused of driving the boat drunk in 2019, before crashing it and launching Beach out of the vehicle – killing her.
Her family made the settlement with the insurance company of the grocery store that sold Paul beer before the deadly crash.
The trial which had been planned for August 14 in Hampton County, South Carolina, will now be scrapped.
It is believed Paul, 19, borrowed Buster’s ID in order for him to buy alcohol before the crash.
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