asked to investigate Stephen Smith's 'hit and run' death in 2015 and only learned it was suspicious after Alex Murdaugh's wife and son were killed: Smith's mom wrote to FBI 7 years ago and begged to launch probe

• South Carolina detectives say they weren't asked to investigate Stephen Smith's 2015 'hit and run' death until Alex Murdaugh's wife and son were later killed 
• Authorities have now confirmed they are investigating the death of Smith as a homicide, more than eight years after his body was found on a rural road
• Smith's mother has long pushed for the investigation into his death to be reopened due to his relationship with Murdaugh's son Buster 

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• South Carolina detectives say they were not asked to investigate Stephen Smith's 2015 'hit and run' death until years later when Alex Murdaugh's wife and son were killed. 

  A new statement from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division states the agency did not look into the death of Buster Murdaugh's classmate until 2021, after Margaret and Paul Murdaugh died. 

  'SLED was not requested by the Hampton County Sheriff's Office or the South Carolina Highway Patrol to investigate Mr Smith's death in 2015,' law enforcement officials said in a statement released Wednesday. 

  Smith's body was found alongside a vehicle on a rural road not far from the Murdaughs' home and cops were later tipped off about an alleged gay relationship between him and Buster, Netflix and HBO claim in a special documentary. 

  Earlier this month, his mother Sandy launched a GoFundMe to exhume his body to get a 'new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on facts,' the fundraiser states. 

  This comes as a letter to the FBI written by Sandy in 2016 has also resurfaced in which she implicates Buster Murdaugh in her son's death and claims the investigation was 'deliberately derailed.' 

  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 lateFollowing Smith's death, cops were tipped off about an alleged gay relationship between him and Buster which was being gossiped about at the local high school, Netflix and HBO claim in a special documentary 

  Following Smith's death, cops were tipped off about an alleged gay relationship between him and Buster (far right) which was being gossiped about at the local high school, Netflix and HBO claim in a special documentary

  Despite there being 'no debris in the road' and injuries that were 'not consistent with a hit-and-run,' according to Sandy, SLED did not further pursue the case. 

  In their new statement released on March 22, SLED officials said at the time they had no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary in the case.