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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Greece Bombshell out of South Carolina.

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Speaker 1: In the last hours, the inquiry into the death of

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Speaker 1: teen boy Stephen Smith has turned into a homicide investigation.

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Speaker 1: That's right. For all these years, the teen found not

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Speaker 1: two too far from Alex Murdoch's Moselle hunting Lodge, has

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Speaker 1: been deemed to be a hit and run. That has

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Speaker 1: changed in the last hour's repeat that inquiry has turned

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Speaker 1: into a homicide investigation. I mean, Nancy Grace, this is

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Speaker 1: Crime Stories. Thanks for being with us here at Fox

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Speaker 1: Nation in Sirius XM one eleven. Joining me right now

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Speaker 1: is Ronnie Richter, partner in Bland Richter, who is spearheading

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Speaker 1: the effort to have Stephen Smith's body exhumed for a

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Speaker 1: private autopsy. Ronnie, thank you for being with us. Ronnie.

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Speaker 1: What happened? My partner Eric Bland and I received a

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Speaker 1: call from Chief Mark Keel, he is the top cop

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Speaker 1: in the state of South Carolina in charge of the

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Speaker 1: South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, to tell us that if

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Speaker 1: we are proceeding with the exhumation of Stephen Smith's body

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Speaker 1: to try to prove the sled that this was not

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Speaker 1: just a hit and run that we did not have

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Speaker 1: to do that, that they don't view it as a

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Speaker 1: hit and run. They view this as a homicide, and

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Speaker 1: they are committed to this investigation and they're dedicating resources

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Speaker 1: to investigate the truth behind the death of Stephen Smith.

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Speaker 1: The body is still going to have to be exhumed

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Speaker 1: for an autopsy to find the truth about his injuries.

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Speaker 1: But this whole thing has taken eight years. It did

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Speaker 1: take eight years, and that is a matter of frustration

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Speaker 1: with Sandy Smith, as you might imagine. But it appears

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Speaker 1: what happened is this investigation got lost between two agencies

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Speaker 1: in South Carolina. Was it a vehicular depth which falls

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Speaker 1: under highway patrol? Was it a murder that falls under

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Speaker 1: sled We think that's where the investigation first got derailed.

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Speaker 1: And what happened after that was that virtually all of

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Speaker 1: our resources in the state were devoted to the Murdo

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Speaker 1: murder investigations for a period of time. So I think

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Speaker 1: that we were run thin for a while. Justice is

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Speaker 1: slow and is frustrating when it's not your turn. But

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Speaker 1: we are reassured that this investigation is real, that its ongoing,

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Speaker 1: and that the resources are being devoted to it. Now

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Speaker 1: take a listen to this. I can't decay now one

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Speaker 1: ways your emergency. I'm just calling that a wrong rule.

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Speaker 1: I see somebody laying up. What road are you looked

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Speaker 1: at him? And how we went up? You're on Cardoville rule?

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Speaker 1: Were getting on the crocket Bill rule? Yeah? Hold on different?

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Speaker 1: And which way you headed? Okay? We had a court

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Speaker 1: are you going to? Uh huh? Yeah, okay, you're on

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Speaker 1: that rule? Just before you get into the crocket Bill

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Speaker 1: Terry Crocotville mat there right, That's where everything starts, right

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Speaker 1: there with the discovery of the body of this young

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Speaker 1: team Steven Smith, not too far from Alex and Murdock's

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Speaker 1: hunting lodge, one of his three homes. The body found

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Speaker 1: out in the road, in the middle of the road,

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Speaker 1: badly injured, Stephen Smith dead. Let's take a listen to

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Speaker 1: more of that nine on one call. And it didn't

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Speaker 1: the road or on the side of the rule. Roul

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Speaker 1: Wood in the room? Yeah, all right? What's the name

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Speaker 1: of comment number? My leader is Ryan Paper? Okay, all right,

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Speaker 1: miss Keeper? Can I get a phone number? Poy you uh,

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Speaker 1: I don't move number of OFFICI form. We can call

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Speaker 1: the number back I'm going to work, okay, but if

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Speaker 1: there's a good number to reach you back at yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: all right, We're getting off the headed out that way

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Speaker 1: to see was going on, okay, leaving the rule right. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I ain't moving another like that, but somebody boy eating it? Huh,

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Speaker 1: all right boy eating all right, We're getting off the

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Speaker 1: headed out that way. A stranger calling nine one one,

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Speaker 1: concerned that another vehicle, a big truck or a car

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Speaker 1: will run over the body of Stephen Smith. Laying out

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Speaker 1: in the road with me and all Star panel to

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Speaker 1: make sense of what we know right now, as Alex

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Speaker 1: and Murdog waits in his jail cell to be assigned

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Speaker 1: to a CI State Correctional Institute of South Carolina, he

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Speaker 1: cannot be happy about news that in the coming days

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Speaker 1: Stephen Smith's body is going to be exhumed and a

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Speaker 1: private autopsy will happen. Let's don't put the cart before

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Speaker 1: the horse. Joining me right now is high profile lawyer

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Speaker 1: out of South Carolina, Eric Bland, first representing the glorious

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Speaker 1: Sadderfield family, another victim that loses her life there at

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Speaker 1: the Mozelle Hunting Lodge. Also representing the Stephen Smith family,

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Speaker 1: and Stephen Smith's Mother's pursuit of justice. Eric Bland, thank

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Speaker 1: you for being with us. He's also co host of

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Speaker 1: Cup of Justice podcasts and you can find him at

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Speaker 1: bland Richter dot com. Eric, you know, just this morning

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Speaker 1: I dropped the children off to school and I was

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Speaker 1: asking them, Okay, who has pe? Now they call it

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Speaker 1: body con Okay, it's not pe anymore yet, body conditioning.

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Speaker 1: They run unlight rabbits and lift weights, body count And

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Speaker 1: I'm saying, who has pe first? And who has trick practicing?

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Speaker 1: Who's going to go to the school tutorial in math

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Speaker 1: at three o'clock? Can you imagine? See that's where my

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Speaker 1: head is, and this mom, Steven Smith's mother, is still

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Speaker 1: trying to find out why is my son dead? Tell

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Speaker 1: me about Steven Smith's mother as she is inching forward

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Speaker 1: to the actual examation digging up the body of her son.

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Speaker 1: Another thing I can't even imagine. What is her frame

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Speaker 1: of mind? Eric? Well, I mean she's an extraordinary woman,

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Speaker 1: that's all. My clients were as articulate as she is

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Speaker 1: and had her sense of kindness, it would make my

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Speaker 1: job a lot easier. You've heard talk on on TV.

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Speaker 1: She's a mother who wants answers. I mean, it's been

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Speaker 1: eight years of like paralysis. She knows that the odds

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Speaker 1: are that Stephen did not die on Sandy Run Road,

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Speaker 1: that he may have died somewhere else. If it was

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Speaker 1: a hit and run, and it turns out to have

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Speaker 1: been a hit and run, there is somebody that has

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Speaker 1: knowledge of that, and there's a criminal who killed somebody

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Speaker 1: and drove away, which is a crime in any state

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Speaker 1: in this country. She just wants some answer so she

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Speaker 1: can get peace. This is not about money. There's no

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Speaker 1: threats of civil suits. The go fund me, which which

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Speaker 1: gave us the money to be able to afford this process,

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Speaker 1: is one of these proceeds are going directly into the

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Speaker 1: investigation in the exhimation. I'm giving my legal time for

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Speaker 1: free in the exhimation process and supervising the investigation objection

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Speaker 1: beyond the scope of the question. Okay with me, high

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Speaker 1: profile lawyer Eric Bland again, let's go put the cart

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Speaker 1: before the horse. I want to get a Blair Sable

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Speaker 1: investigative reporter live five knees, Charleston. He's been on the

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Speaker 1: story from the beginning. Blair, thank you for being with us.

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Speaker 1: You just heard the nine one one calls. Did you

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Speaker 1: describe for our viewers and listeners the stretch of road

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Speaker 1: where Stevens to me as a body was found. It's

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Speaker 1: very nondescript. It's in the middle of Hampton County if

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Speaker 1: you've been out in that area, and I'm sure a

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Speaker 1: lot of folks kind of drove through if they had

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Speaker 1: attended the recent Murdoch trial. It's just a very long highway.

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Speaker 1: It's two lanes, there's fields on either side. There's not

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Speaker 1: a lot going on there. How far is it from Moselle.

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Speaker 1: It's very close. It's just a few miles away. When

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Speaker 1: I was doing coverage pre trial, we were, you know,

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Speaker 1: going around to all of the significant locations, and we

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Speaker 1: actually drove from Moselle to the Stephen Smith or the

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Speaker 1: road where he was found. And it's it's thirty minutes maybe,

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Speaker 1: did you say thirty or three thirty thirty? Eric Bland,

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Speaker 1: what can you tell me about the stretch of road

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Speaker 1: that anything, in addition to what Blair told us, it's

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Speaker 1: country's country can get nance. It's dark, it's there's not

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Speaker 1: a lot of homes in between each of the homes,

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Speaker 1: there's no landmarks. You know, from Alex's place in Mozelle

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Speaker 1: at the nearest convenience stores nine minutes, So if you're

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Speaker 1: stuck out there, if you have to walk out there,

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Speaker 1: it's it's a lonely, scary place. And Stephen, with the

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Speaker 1: lifestyle that he lived, was a very careful young man.

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Speaker 1: You know it. Being gay in the Low Country in

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen was not the most popular thing in the world.

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Speaker 1: That took courage, and so he was very careful where

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Speaker 1: he walked, where he traveled. So that's one of the

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Speaker 1: things that is perplexing to obviously Sandy and us is

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Speaker 1: why would he leave us wallet in his car if

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Speaker 1: it ran out of gas? Why Why wouldn't he have

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Speaker 1: made some phone calls along the way? On the walk?

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Speaker 1: He would have called his twin sis, Stephane, who is

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Speaker 1: extremely extremely close with You have twins, so you know

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Speaker 1: how twins rely on each other. You would have called

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Speaker 1: her and said, look, Sis, to get me. I might

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Speaker 1: have guessed she would have said stay there. He would

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Speaker 1: have walked through the woods. There's a path that he

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Speaker 1: would have taken that Sandy Smith said he would not

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Speaker 1: have taken that route in the road. So there's just

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Speaker 1: more questions and answers than when you have more questions

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Speaker 1: and you're a mother. You can imagine what that does

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Speaker 1: to you. Over eight years, Ary Bland, he did have

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Speaker 1: his cell phone with him if he did. Hi, guys,

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Speaker 1: Nancy Grace here, our friends and partners at Fox Nation

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Speaker 1: com Now to watch Prime Stories with Nancy Grace guys

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Speaker 1: joining me as Chris mcdonna direct from the Cold Case Foundation.

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Speaker 1: Former homicide detective has handled well over three hundred homicides

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Speaker 1: Annie as a host of a YouTube channel, the Interview Room.

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Speaker 1: You can find him at Coldcase Foundation dot org. Chris,

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Speaker 1: you and I have both driven this road and have

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Speaker 1: very carefully gone over the terrain. Now, driving a night

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Speaker 1: in that area where Stephen Smith's body was found, there

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Speaker 1: are no street lights. There, no red lights, no caution lights, nothing.

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Speaker 1: It's pitch black. Think of cutting off all the lights

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Speaker 1: at night in a room and shutting the door, no windows,

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Speaker 1: pitch black. When I was driving back and forth to

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Speaker 1: the trial, I would see thirty or forty deer going by.

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Speaker 1: You could just kind of like images of them because

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Speaker 1: it was so dark. I couldn't make anything out. And

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Speaker 1: that was an issue at trial with Alex Murdog him

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Speaker 1: driving eighty MP eight from his mother's house at Almeda

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Speaker 1: back to Mozille where Maggie and Paul were murdered at

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Speaker 1: eighty miles an hour. Why so, what is your take

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Speaker 1: of where the body was found? This is really important,

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Speaker 1: Chris one hundred percent, Nancy, and you and you have

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Speaker 1: felt that environment, just as you've described. The first thing

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Speaker 1: that's critical in this particular case here is what we

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Speaker 1: would call the p O I right, the point of impact.

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Speaker 1: And you know, if you take into an account of

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Speaker 1: this young man, you know, hypothetically walking down the middle

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Speaker 1: of the street, he's got a cell phone with him.

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Speaker 1: That's one thing, But that cell phone also has a

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Speaker 1: flashlight on it. And that evening it had to have been,

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Speaker 1: you know, four o'clock in the morning as when he's discovered,

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Speaker 1: but they I think the corner shaid time of death

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Speaker 1: as approximately three am. So at three am, this young man,

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Speaker 1: who knows the terrain, as his mom says, you know,

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Speaker 1: would have taken a short cut. The question is why

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Speaker 1: is he in the middle of the road. And then

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Speaker 1: secondarily you're going to see a car coming for miles

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Speaker 1: on that road. Oh yeah, because you know when I

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Speaker 1: was driving it, and I drived it many times at night, Chris,

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Speaker 1: there was hardly anybody on the road. And it was

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Speaker 1: at three am when I was driving, But it was

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Speaker 1: late at night, eleven twelve, one am, because I had

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Speaker 1: a five hour drive to get there, and I wanted

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Speaker 1: to eat supper with twins before I left, so I

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Speaker 1: didn't even leave until eight o'clock at night. And if

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Speaker 1: there was a car coming as rare as that was,

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Speaker 1: you could see it miles away. Yeah. Absolutely, And I

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Speaker 1: and I actually went out there to that spot and

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Speaker 1: a ui, I wanted to get a sense of what

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Speaker 1: that environment was. There's a cornfield on one side, there's

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Speaker 1: a single house right near where the body is, where

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Speaker 1: the body allegedly was, and and the interesting thing about

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Speaker 1: it on that back to the un original point in

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Speaker 1: your question, Nancy, was the point of impact or where

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Speaker 1: this body ended up was right in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the highway. And if it's if it's a motor vehicle accident,

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Speaker 1: and you know there's a high velocity that's going to

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Speaker 1: move the body to one side of the road or

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Speaker 1: the other, not dead center into the middle of the road,

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Speaker 1: that is very, very highly unlikely to occur. I have

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Speaker 1: a question, Nancy, So Chris Um, you are one correct.

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Speaker 1: If the body would not releasing remain in the center

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Speaker 1: of the road, there obviously would be bumper marks or

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Speaker 1: something on Steve. And one thing that does concern me,

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Speaker 1: and I'm going to be a contrarian here because I'm

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Speaker 1: just learning the case. You guys know so much more

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Speaker 1: of it to me. Admittedly, I just got involved. The

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Speaker 1: amount of blood that leaked out of his head onto

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Speaker 1: the road. Doesn't that trouble you if he was killed

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Speaker 1: somewhere else, Yeah, it troubles me. Let's talk to doctor

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Speaker 1: Michelle Dupree, forensic pathologist, medical examiner, former detective, and author

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Speaker 1: of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. She literally has written the book. Okay,

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Speaker 1: doctor Dupree, jump in. So, I understand your concern about

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Speaker 1: the amount of blood on the roadway, and that's a

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Speaker 1: valid concern. But given the set of circumstances, I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure that that is something that we would really need

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Speaker 1: to hang our hats on. Again, you know, we need

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Speaker 1: to look at the total situation that touch how they

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Speaker 1: of the circumstances. If he was killed somewhere else and

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Speaker 1: then moved, that could explain that. But also depending on

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Speaker 1: the actual injury itself, a lot of times head injuries

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Speaker 1: do bleed profusely, but again depending on the injury, it

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Speaker 1: may bleed inside, and so we don't really know what

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Speaker 1: was actually found. At the same here's a question that

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Speaker 1: my producer Jackie has long had if the body. If

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Speaker 1: Steven's body is left in the middle of the road

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Speaker 1: really looking staged, of course that's not enough to go

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Speaker 1: one of the fact that it looks stage wasn't left

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Speaker 1: there with the intent that someone else would hit the body. Guys,

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Speaker 1: take a listen to our friends at wu CSC. Somebody

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Speaker 1: out there knows something. It's July eighth, twenty fifteen. A

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Speaker 1: driver on his way to work calls nine one to

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Speaker 1: report a body lying in the middle of the street

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Speaker 1: on Sandy Run Road. The victim turns out to be

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Speaker 1: nineteen year old Stephen Smith, a shy team, but a

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Speaker 1: funny and outgoing one to his inner circle. Smith was

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Speaker 1: openly gay in the small rule, South Carolina town he

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Speaker 1: grew up in. The blunt force trauma to his head

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Speaker 1: appears as a possible gunshot wound to the first responders

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Speaker 1: on the scene, but the coroner's office later rules his

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Speaker 1: death a hit and run. He also has injuries to

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Speaker 1: his left arm and left hand. So the first responder

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Speaker 1: to you, Blair Sable, joining US investigative reporter for Live

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Speaker 1: five News. The first responders thought, even shot in the head, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they actually did a gunshot residue test to follow up

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Speaker 1: on that turns up wasn't the case. But that's how

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Speaker 1: bad the injury were to his head is They literally

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Speaker 1: thought he had been shot. When you say that's not

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Speaker 1: the case, he mean there was no gunshot residue around

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Speaker 1: the wound. No, he did not test positive fort residue. Okay,

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Speaker 1: let's here more about the circumstances surrounding the discovery of

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Speaker 1: his body from our friends at wc SC. Smith's carr

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Speaker 1: was found about three miles away on Bamberg Highway. It

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Speaker 1: won't start, but investigators find his wall inside the gas

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Speaker 1: cap also unscrewed. His family reports he would have never

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Speaker 1: left the car, calling him skittish, and his twin sister, Stephanie,

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Speaker 1: also tells authorities that her brother had become very secretive

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Speaker 1: about two weeks prior to the incident, and more. Documents

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Speaker 1: show investigators fielding tips about the Murdoch family in the

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Speaker 1: days and months following his death. The first tip comes

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Speaker 1: in early August, suggesting swirling rumors of a relationship between

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Speaker 1: Smith and Buster Murdoch Alec, Murdoch's eldest and now only

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Speaker 1: surviving son. An investigator also feels a tip about another

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Speaker 1: possible suspect, but that tipster tells them he passed along

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Speaker 1: the information at the request of a well known family patriarch,

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Speaker 1: former solicitor Randy Murdoch. Andrew says in the record she has,

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Speaker 1: the Murdoch name is mentioned forty times. Where there's smoke,

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Speaker 1: there's fire, there has to be something to it. Eventually,

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Speaker 1: the leads dried up and the case went cold. Okay,

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Speaker 1: by do you Blair, what do you? What is this about?

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Speaker 1: Former solicitor Randy Murdoch. Now this is Alex Murdoch's brother.

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Speaker 1: Information is passed along by Randy Murdoch. Essentially, in addition

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Speaker 1: to the rumor that gets fielded by authorities about Buster

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Speaker 1: being in a relationship with Stephen, there's also a tip

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Speaker 1: that gets submitted to authorities about Randy Murdoch. I believe

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Speaker 1: or one of the Murdochs telling someone to tell authorities

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Speaker 1: about something, even though seemingly on the surface there's no

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Speaker 1: release in between the Murdochs and the Smith Eric Bland,

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Speaker 1: isn't it true that I believe it was Randy Murdoch

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Speaker 1: coach Stephen Smith on a little league team on which

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Speaker 1: Buster Murdock also played. Is that right? I believe there

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Speaker 1: was some little league or youth baseball connection and they

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Speaker 1: were classmates as well as far as yes, they were

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Speaker 1: as far as Randy murdoch involvement. My understanding from a

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Speaker 1: number of sources, and I know Sandy has said this

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Speaker 1: on TV, so I'm not revealing attorney client privilege. She

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Speaker 1: said that he had called her husband Joel on the

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Speaker 1: phone and offered his services and maybe it had shown

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Speaker 1: up at the accident scene, and then called Sandy later

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Speaker 1: on in the morning the following morning and offered his

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Speaker 1: services to represent You may represent the Stephen Smith family

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Speaker 1: in a wrongful death case? Got it? Yes, I'm not

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Speaker 1: saying he was trolling. I'm not going to use that

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Speaker 1: word no, because that is unethical and disallowed under the

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Speaker 1: attorney barrels. Blair Sable. What do we know about any

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Speaker 1: of the Murdochs showing up at the crime at the

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Speaker 1: scene of Stephen Smith's body being found but not noted

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Speaker 1: in any of the investing unifiled. There's so many rumors

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Speaker 1: swirling around this case, so right now, that's a rumor

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Speaker 1: that we have yet to confirm. Guys, take a listen

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Speaker 1: to more about skid marks about vehicle debris, were there

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Speaker 1: any listen. More than seven years have passed since, and

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Speaker 1: the mysterious details of his final hours have weighed on

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Speaker 1: his mother, Sandy Smith, and the rest of the family.

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Speaker 1: It's draining Susanna Andrews has become a close friend to

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Speaker 1: them in their time of need. The family rejects the

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Speaker 1: hit and run theory. South Carolina Highway Patrols initial investigation

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Speaker 1: finds no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with

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Speaker 1: someone being struck by a vehicle. A heated discussion between

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Speaker 1: Trooper Todd Proctor and pathologist doctor Aaron Presnell reveals that

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Speaker 1: the death was ruled this way because Smith was found

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Speaker 1: in the road. Blue paint chips are found on Smith's clothes,

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Speaker 1: but cannot be traced to a specific make or model. Okay,

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Speaker 1: let me understand, doctor Michelle d pretty joining me from

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Speaker 1: South Carolina. So the cood cause of death, vehicular homicide

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Speaker 1: was because he was found in the road. Nancy, that's

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Speaker 1: unheard of. Actually, we certainly don't base the cause of

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Speaker 1: death on that. We base it on our finding and

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Speaker 1: the autopsy and again the surrounding circumstances. I can't explain

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Speaker 1: that is that true? Ery Bland. In the autopsy report,

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Speaker 1: this cod vehicular homicide because he's found in the road.

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Speaker 1: I mean if I set him up at the dining

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Speaker 1: room table in your house, would they say he died

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Speaker 1: of poisoning at high tea? I mean, that doesn't even

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Speaker 1: make any sense, correct, And that also shaped the investigation,

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Speaker 1: Nancy as doctor dupre Nos. The Highway Patrol investigated the death,

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Speaker 1: and they don't have the resources that their mate department

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Speaker 1: obviously thought it was a fatality of traffic fatality, but

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Speaker 1: they don't have the resources. If it was deemed a

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Speaker 1: homicide that didn't take place on the road, then it

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Speaker 1: would be within Sledge jurisdiction. And we know that the

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Speaker 1: resources that they have there are many FBI and so

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Speaker 1: there was the conflict of who should who should be

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Speaker 1: the investment of agency. And when you're having an that

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Speaker 1: kind of conflict, a lot of things get lost in

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Speaker 1: the shuffle. Okay, I'm trying to understand something. Area Bland,

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Speaker 1: Where did you get your intel that a Murdoch showed

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Speaker 1: up at the scene. Sandy Smith has said that on

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Speaker 1: National TV. Jack, could you confirm that place? Randy Murdoh

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Speaker 1: is not denied that. Ah okay, now let me ask you.

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Speaker 1: Karen Start is joining me. We're now psychologist out of Manhattan,

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Speaker 1: Prime and trauma expert. You can find her at Karenstart

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Speaker 1: dot com. Karen with a C. Karen, I want you

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Speaker 1: to take a Listen to Steven's mother. Listen. Oh my gosh,

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Speaker 1: We've been waiting on this forever. Sandy Smith wakes up

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Speaker 1: every morning thinking about her son Stephen and her years

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Speaker 1: long search for answers. And they said he was shot

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Speaker 1: in the hedge, and then it turned out it was

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Speaker 1: a hit and run, and then he was beat up

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Speaker 1: and showed a story just kept changing. Stephen Smith's body

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Speaker 1: was found along Sandy Run Road in Hampton County in

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Speaker 1: July of twenty fifteen. The official cause of death at

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Speaker 1: the time was that Smith died of a hitting run.

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Speaker 1: I just couldn't believe it, but he when they told

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Speaker 1: me hitting run, I said, that's impossible because Stephen wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have been walking in the road to start with. He

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Speaker 1: would have cut through the woods, he would not have

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Speaker 1: been in the highway. Time stories with Nancy Grace Karen

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Speaker 1: Start psychologists joining us. Karen the other morning I came

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Speaker 1: in the kitchen just before I hopped in the car

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Speaker 1: to take the twins to school, and I went, WHOA,

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Speaker 1: Lucy didn't I made John David's a breakfast. But Lucy

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Speaker 1: likes to make her own organic breakfast, you know, like

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Speaker 1: you might see it on a picture and Instagram. It's

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Speaker 1: beautifully arranged. Me just slinging out so and scrambled egg

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Speaker 1: is not going to work. So I walked in. I went, whooa,

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Speaker 1: did Lucy not have breakfast? Where's the toaster? Because she

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Speaker 1: always takes it out and gets her organic wheatbread and

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Speaker 1: then puts egg whites and pesto on top of it

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Speaker 1: and leaves all the stuff out, all the stuff to

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Speaker 1: clean and put away, which is fine. She's in a hurry.

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Speaker 1: And David said she put it away this morning because

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Speaker 1: I asked her to see. I knew that something was

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Speaker 1: wrong because every morning, God bless my little angel leaves

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Speaker 1: her toaster for me to see. If somebody told me

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Speaker 1: that my son, John David Lynch was out walking up

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Speaker 1: and down I seventy five, I'm like, no, that did

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Speaker 1: not happen. That's what the mother is saying. It's called

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Speaker 1: routine evidence. I don't mean standard typical evidence. I mean

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Speaker 1: evidence of a routine. She says, Stephen Smith, my son

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Speaker 1: would not have been walking down the middle of this

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Speaker 1: dark country road at night. He would have call somebody

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Speaker 1: if he ran out of gas or to take the

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Speaker 1: shortcut through the woods. This did not happen way in.

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Speaker 1: Karen Stark, Well, I know it's not hard evidence, Nancy,

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Speaker 1: but this is a mom, and as you said, moms

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Speaker 1: mothers know their children, and that's pretty clear that if

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Speaker 1: she's saying that her son would not have been walking

427
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: down that road, and if you put that together with

428
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,560
Speaker 1: the fact that there's no glass, there's no he's in

429
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,359
Speaker 1: the middle of the road, and we all know that

430
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:32,960
Speaker 1: you get hit by a car, how do you wind

431
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,359
Speaker 1: up exactly in the middle of the road. And I

432
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,119
Speaker 1: just think it's suspicious that they originally said blonde trum

433
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,880
Speaker 1: of course, and then all of a sudden it gets

434
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 1: changed to a hit and run. And we know that

435
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 1: this family has done a lot to change the rulings too.

436
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:53,440
Speaker 1: They did a lot of nefarious things when it came

437
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 1: to cases. So I think we have to trust the

438
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:01,480
Speaker 1: instincts seriously of this mother who really knows her son Hey,

439
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,680
Speaker 1: you were hearing our friends at WYFF. Take a listen

440
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,480
Speaker 1: to Katie Beck. Sandy Smith has been pushing for answers

441
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 1: in the death of her son, Stephen. The nineteen year

442
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 1: old was found dead in twenty fifteen in what state

443
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:18,160
Speaker 1: investigators originally called a hit and run on a rural

444
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,760
Speaker 1: road in Hampton County, South Carolina. As a mother, there's

445
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:25,560
Speaker 1: questions that I need to ask, and there's questions I

446
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:29,320
Speaker 1: need answers to. Smith believes the initial findings may have

447
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: been wrong and that someone murdered her son and staged

448
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: it to look like an accident. It's a case that's

449
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 1: never been solved, but as authorities looked into the murders

450
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 1: of Maggie and Paul Murdoch, they say information came to light,

451
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 1: prompting them to reopen Smith's investigation. To Blair Sabal joining

452
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,360
Speaker 1: us from Live five News, number one, what are the

453
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:57,880
Speaker 1: belief specs on Stephen Smith's body? And number two, what

454
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 1: do you believe was found in the double murder investigation

455
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 1: of Alex Murdog's wife and son, Maggie Paul that led

456
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 1: to the reopening of Steven Smith's case. Sure, and Nancy,

457
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: that's that's a great question and something I think not

458
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 1: just myself is wondering, but everyone has been asking since

459
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 1: that trial ended. But to your first question, I mean,

460
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 1: it's really what are the police thing? They're not saying

461
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 1: anything at this point. The only word we've gotten from

462
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 1: FLED is active and ongoing, and there have been no

463
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: information about what exactly was that piece of information that

464
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 1: reopened it takes. What about the blue specs on his body?

465
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,680
Speaker 1: Do we know what they were? I believe the investigative

466
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 1: documents alluded to those being paint hips, and there was

467
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: an attempt buy investigators to try and match that to

468
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 1: a specific make and model, but they never conclusively was

469
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 1: able to what that was. Okay, that's total b asked

470
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 1: Chris mcdonnaugh. Yes, and so something to consider here is

471
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:10,320
Speaker 1: if this if there's a secondary crime scene somewhere, talk

472
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: fine English. You're not talking to a bunch of detectives.

473
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,600
Speaker 1: The NYPD got it, got it. So if there's another

474
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: place where these injuries occurred, then the first thing to

475
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: consider is the type of weapon. If a baseball bat

476
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,400
Speaker 1: is utilized, those specs of paint could be coming from

477
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 1: that particular weapon. So that is one consideration. I mean, mcdonna, guys,

478
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,280
Speaker 1: send the chips to Quantico. They can tell you and

479
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,920
Speaker 1: one glance again, I'm looking down like I'm looking through

480
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 1: a microscope. There are there's a fleet of scientists at Quantico.

481
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: They can say, oh, that's off a car, that's off

482
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,200
Speaker 1: a baseball bat. Guys were talking about microscopic specs. These

483
00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 1: are not like big paint chips where you can say, oh, yeah,

484
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 1: that's definitely a paint hip. We don't know what they are.

485
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: And the only way to tell that. I mean, you're

486
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,040
Speaker 1: going to go in a wild goose chase if you're

487
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 1: trying to match up to a car and it's actually

488
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 1: from baseball bat. As Chris mcdonnah has pointed out. So

489
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 1: what's the deal, Eric Bland, Why can't we get the

490
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: paint hips whatever they are? The specs tested? Well, I mean, look,

491
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,240
Speaker 1: you certainly have been on Creton side. So would you

492
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:30,120
Speaker 1: release information on your investigation? Huble l No, And I

493
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,360
Speaker 1: know you're talking about Creton Waters, a lead prosecutor in

494
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: the y case. So you're saying we don't know yet,

495
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,320
Speaker 1: you don't know if it's been sent off for testing.

496
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,959
Speaker 1: What is the fancy? Was it phone evidence that they

497
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,400
Speaker 1: found during the investigation of the Myrtle murders. Was there

498
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 1: something on someone's phone that we don't know that instigating

499
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:54,880
Speaker 1: cause for them to reopen the investigation? And we don't

500
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 1: know what the grand jury has done. We know that

501
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: they are no longer in panel. You don't even know

502
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 1: what they've done over the previous two years. Well, let's

503
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:05,440
Speaker 1: just think this whole thing through. Could have been cell

504
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:09,840
Speaker 1: phone data, right that was uncovered during the investigation because

505
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 1: they probably looked at There was also a laptop recovered

506
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:17,840
Speaker 1: from Paul's room. Is this doctor Dupree? It is there

507
00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 1: was a laptop recover from Paul's room. Are you sure

508
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 1: Paul's room? You may be right about this and speaking

509
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,960
Speaker 1: because it could be cell data, It could be information

510
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 1: from Paul's laptop. It could be as they're speaking to

511
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 1: potential witnesses in the double murder trial that someone mentioned

512
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: something about the Stephen Smith trial. I mean, do you

513
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:45,880
Speaker 1: see how connected the double murder trial was to the

514
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 1: Mallory Beach case. Why do we assume there was no

515
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 1: similar connection to the Stephen Smith case. Now much has

516
00:32:55,120 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 1: been made about a an alleged relationship between the surviving

517
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:06,959
Speaker 1: Murdoch's son, Buster Murdog, and the deceased teen Steven Smith.

518
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our cut Tian. This is Anne McGill,

519
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 1: his mother launching her own private investigation into her son's death.

520
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:17,239
Speaker 1: Smith was found dead in the middle of Sandy Run

521
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:21,160
Speaker 1: Road from a supposed hidden run. His mother, Sandy, doesn't

522
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,680
Speaker 1: believe that's the truth. Stephen was an openly gay teen

523
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 1: in rural Collinin County. In Rule Hampton County lawyers Eric

524
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 1: Bland and Ronnie Richter, the family lawyers, say they've already

525
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 1: raised more than sixty five thousand dollars to exhume Steven's body.

526
00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,600
Speaker 1: They need court permission before that process can begin. And

527
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 1: take a listen to Katie Beck in Our cut seven.

528
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 1: Smith's death has also received renewed attention from a recent

529
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: Netflix docuseriies about the Murdoch murders and other cases with

530
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 1: potential ties to the once prominent family. In multiple interviews,

531
00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 1: locals discussed rumors of an alleged relationship but en Stephen

532
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,080
Speaker 1: and Buster Murdoch. There are so many rumors swirling around

533
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,920
Speaker 1: that Buster and Stephen were intimate together. Being gay in

534
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 1: the Murdoch family would have been looked down upon, and

535
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 1: as in the wake of all of these allegations swirling,

536
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,440
Speaker 1: take a listen to our cutnight. Buster Murdoch has never

537
00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,640
Speaker 1: been charged with any crime in the case, and for

538
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:29,880
Speaker 1: the first time this morning, he's denying any involvement, telling

539
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,919
Speaker 1: NBC News exclusively in a statement, I've tried my best

540
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,520
Speaker 1: to ignore the vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen

541
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,880
Speaker 1: Smith's tragic death that continue to be published in the

542
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,719
Speaker 1: media as I grieve over the brutal murders of my

543
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,000
Speaker 1: mother and brother. I love them so much and miss

544
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,719
Speaker 1: them terribly. Buster Murdoch, who took this stand in his

545
00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:54,040
Speaker 1: father's trial, adding these baseless rumors of my involvement with

546
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 1: Stephen and his death are false. I unequivocally deny any

547
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 1: involvement in his death. My heart goes out to the

548
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,680
Speaker 1: Smith family. Okay, to you Eric Bland, who is helping

549
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 1: Stephen Smith's mother, Sandy in her process. As you just heard,

550
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:13,799
Speaker 1: she's already raised nearly seventy thousand dollars on her own

551
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,440
Speaker 1: on a go fund Me, and Bland is helping her

552
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:20,799
Speaker 1: navigate the legal system. You've got to have a court

553
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,040
Speaker 1: order to exhume a body just can't go down to

554
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,680
Speaker 1: the cemetery and start digging. Doesn't work like that. That

555
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 1: is tampering with the corpse. So she's got to go

556
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,520
Speaker 1: through legal channels to make it happen. Eric Bland, Now

557
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:37,880
Speaker 1: Buster murdog is speaking out denying any connection to Stephen Smith,

558
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 1: or at least a connection that's been alleged in that

559
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,799
Speaker 1: being that they're in a relationship. Did he speak too soon?

560
00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 1: Should he have broken his silence? I can't advise him

561
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,880
Speaker 1: on what he should have done at this point. I

562
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 1: don't know that there's any connection with Buster murdole. And

563
00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 1: so at this point, Buster's trying to grieve the loss

564
00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 1: of his mother and his brother, and I guess come

565
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:01,800
Speaker 1: to grips with the act of as father's a you

566
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 1: know a man, you know, a heinous murderer that's going

567
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 1: to be serving life, double life without parole. I don't

568
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:15,600
Speaker 1: have any knowledge of any connection between Buster and Stephen Smith.

569
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 1: My job is to get this body exhumed, hire people

570
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: that can tell me what happened, and then if there

571
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 1: is that secondary accident instancing as Chris talked about, then

572
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:33,359
Speaker 1: facts will take care of themselves and the matter will

573
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 1: progress and I'll put it in law enforcement hands. I

574
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:39,799
Speaker 1: want to work with law enforcement. I want to give

575
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,440
Speaker 1: them everything we got that we obtained. I don't expect

576
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 1: that they're going to share with what they have, and

577
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,760
Speaker 1: if we have enough information that they should go forward,

578
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 1: the facts are going to go where they go. I'm

579
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,240
Speaker 1: not going to sit here though, and impugne buster myrtle

580
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:57,080
Speaker 1: without any evidence. I just don't. I don't have it well.

581
00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:01,239
Speaker 1: First of all, saying that someone is gay is not

582
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 1: impugning them because being gay, last I checked, is not

583
00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 1: a crime number one, but number two, there's no evidence

584
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:17,120
Speaker 1: that that's true other than you know, rumors and gossip.

585
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 1: I could every time I walked into or around the

586
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 1: Carleton County Courthouse, I would be besieged by different people,

587
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:29,240
Speaker 1: not necessarily court personnel, no, but people that were interested

588
00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 1: in the case. And we're saying this. That doesn't make

589
00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:38,560
Speaker 1: it true. That is not allowed in a courtroom. In fact,

590
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,000
Speaker 1: if you try to bring in some allegation like that,

591
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:46,080
Speaker 1: some claim and it's shown to be false, then you're

592
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,719
Speaker 1: the idiot for trying to bring in false information. And

593
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:51,880
Speaker 1: it goes so far to you know what, take a

594
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:56,040
Speaker 1: listen to our cut twelve our friends at WCSC. The

595
00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:59,200
Speaker 1: son of convicted murderer Alec Murdoch, has made a statement

596
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:02,160
Speaker 1: for the first time regarding the twenty fifteen death of

597
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 1: Stephen Smith. A statement this morning from Buster Murdoch reads,

598
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,920
Speaker 1: I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my

599
00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,759
Speaker 1: heart goes out to the Smith family. This comes after

600
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:16,040
Speaker 1: the death of nineteen year old Stephen Smith, who authorities

601
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:18,799
Speaker 1: say was hidden killed by a vehicle just fifteen miles

602
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,759
Speaker 1: from the Murdoch's home. Murdoch asked that his name they

603
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,480
Speaker 1: removed from media coverage of Smith's death, as he has

604
00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:28,160
Speaker 1: not officially been connected to that case. Now we saw

605
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:34,120
Speaker 1: at trial when Alex Murdoch had told a lie about

606
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:36,719
Speaker 1: being in the kennels at the time or just before

607
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,719
Speaker 1: the time of the murtyrs. That was his undoing. I'm

608
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:41,960
Speaker 1: telling you that line when he took the stand was

609
00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:46,400
Speaker 1: his undoing. Many people would argue that Buster should not

610
00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:50,239
Speaker 1: speak out. Well, he has. He was a classmate of

611
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,600
Speaker 1: Stephen Smith's. I believe they played on a baseball team together,

612
00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,440
Speaker 1: he says. That is the end of his knowledge of

613
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,040
Speaker 1: this case. Nancy, let me get me, let me short

614
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:02,360
Speaker 1: circuit for you. Yes they are. They're itching for a

615
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:07,719
Speaker 1: defamation trial. The Murdochs and Buster are itching for some

616
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,720
Speaker 1: kind of defamation charge to be brought, a complaint against

617
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 1: someone who is going to say something about Buster that

618
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,800
Speaker 1: may impugne his character. Take a listen to this. Smith's

619
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,720
Speaker 1: death has also received renewed attention from a recent Netflix

620
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,360
Speaker 1: docuse series about the Murdoch murders and other cases with

621
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:31,600
Speaker 1: potential ties to the once prominent family. In multiple interviews,

622
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:36,400
Speaker 1: locals discussed rumors of an alleged relationship between Stephen and

623
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,800
Speaker 1: Buster Murdoch. There are so many rumors swirling around that

624
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,600
Speaker 1: Buster and Stephen were intimate together. Being gay in the

625
00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:48,600
Speaker 1: Murdoch family would have been looked down upon and more.

626
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:52,239
Speaker 1: Buster Murdoch has never been charged with any crime in

627
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,399
Speaker 1: the case, and for the first time this morning, he's

628
00:39:55,440 --> 00:40:00,400
Speaker 1: denying any involvement, telling NBC News exclusively in his statement,

629
00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 1: I've tried my best to ignore the vicious rumors about

630
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:08,040
Speaker 1: my involvement in Stephen Smith's tragic death that continue to

631
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,680
Speaker 1: be published in the media as I grieve over the

632
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:13,879
Speaker 1: brutal murders of my mother and brother. I love them

633
00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:17,040
Speaker 1: so much. And miss them terribly. Buster Murdoch, who took

634
00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:20,960
Speaker 1: this stand in his father's trial, adding these baseless rumors

635
00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:24,160
Speaker 1: of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false.

636
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:28,120
Speaker 1: I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my

637
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:30,880
Speaker 1: heart goes out to the Smith family. Well, let's just

638
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:35,120
Speaker 1: fix that right now. There is no evidence that Stephen

639
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:40,720
Speaker 1: Smith was in a relationship with Buster Mardog. And while

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00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,760
Speaker 1: he's grieving the murder of his mother and his brother,

641
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 1: now he feels he's got to defend himself in another case.

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00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,000
Speaker 1: Let's just do one thing at a time. Let's get

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00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,279
Speaker 1: the body exhumed, Let's find the true cause of death,

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00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:58,880
Speaker 1: and then move forward and leave Buster Murdog alone. Ronnie

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00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:05,280
Speaker 1: Rictor just keep thinking about Steven Smith's mother, Sandy Dandy Smith.

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00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:09,680
Speaker 1: You might imagine this is a mother grieving looking for answers.

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00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:12,000
Speaker 1: She was told eight years ago that her son was

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00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:14,320
Speaker 1: killed in a hit and run, and everything inside of

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00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,200
Speaker 1: her told her that was not true. And so after

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00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:19,800
Speaker 1: eight years, finally to get a call from the state's

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00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 1: top cop to say, we believe in you, we believe

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00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,719
Speaker 1: in this case, and we're devoted to getting to the truth.

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00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:29,640
Speaker 1: Of what happened to your son. It was a seminal

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00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:34,279
Speaker 1: moment for Sandy Smith. She is elated, she's reassured, and

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00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 1: she's reinvigorated to see that justice is finally done for Stephen.

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00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:43,840
Speaker 1: Ronnie racked her. Let me understand, what is the what

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00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:49,319
Speaker 1: will the progression of the Stephen Smith case be? Now? Well,

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00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:51,279
Speaker 1: we don't control what FLED is doing, but we do

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00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:53,800
Speaker 1: control what we're doing, and we intend fully to go

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00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:57,200
Speaker 1: forward with the exclamation of Stephen's body, to have that

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00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:00,920
Speaker 1: independent autops he'd done that we've talked about, to answer

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00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:03,360
Speaker 1: the first question, which is the first domino, which is

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00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:07,400
Speaker 1: what what happened to Stephen Smith. It's only after we

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00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:10,359
Speaker 1: get past that first domino that we could start looking

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00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:14,720
Speaker 1: at the other dominoes like who who did this to Stephen?

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00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 1: And then the most important domino of all, why why

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00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:22,920
Speaker 1: would somebody do this to Sandy Smith's beautiful son. So

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00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:27,520
Speaker 1: that's the that's the priority for us. We're devoted to

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00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:31,720
Speaker 1: see those questions to the end. Guys with us Ronnie Richter,

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00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:36,560
Speaker 1: partner in Bland Richter, their law firm, has taken it

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00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:40,840
Speaker 1: upon themselves pro bono to help Stephen Smith's family in

672
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:45,040
Speaker 1: their search for the truth about what happened to Sandy's

673
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,359
Speaker 1: son Stephen. I mean, wouldn't you want to know? Can

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00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,760
Speaker 1: you imagine all these years being tortured with the belief

675
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:55,000
Speaker 1: that the true cause of his death had been covered up?

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00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:58,719
Speaker 1: Back to you, Ronnie Richter, again, thank you for being

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00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:02,359
Speaker 1: with us. How soon do you think the exhimation can

678
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:06,160
Speaker 1: take place? You still have to get court permission. It's

679
00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:08,600
Speaker 1: going to be a process, and that process starts with

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00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:13,480
Speaker 1: coordinating through a local funeral home that petitions the coroner's

681
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:17,279
Speaker 1: office for a permit for the disinterment, the transportation and

682
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 1: the reinterment of a body. Now, the coroner's office is

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00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:23,920
Speaker 1: unwilling to issue that permit. The court is a backstop,

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00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:25,960
Speaker 1: and we'd had the ability to go to court and

685
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:29,759
Speaker 1: get a court order directing it. Now, once we have

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00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:34,600
Speaker 1: that permit in hand, the process is having Steven's body

687
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,080
Speaker 1: transported to the ultimate location where this autopics is going

688
00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:40,480
Speaker 1: to take place. And I can tell you that we've

689
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:43,839
Speaker 1: been We've been blessed to be reached out to by

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00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:47,759
Speaker 1: local and national experts who've done this before. And our

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00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:50,680
Speaker 1: job right now is depict the very best team possible.

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00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,759
Speaker 1: I don't care where in the country we have to

693
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:55,160
Speaker 1: send this body, but we're going to have it done right,

694
00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:57,040
Speaker 1: and we're gonna have it done right the first time

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00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:00,680
Speaker 1: we wait as justice some folt. Goodby,