(NewsNation) — Joshua Carroll, the cousin of deceased South Carolina teen Stephen Smith, says the family “got results” from a second autopsy.
Smith’s death was ruled a hit-and-run after his body was found in the middle of a road in 2015, but the case is now being reinvestigated.
Carroll spoke with NewsNation in an exclusive interview on “Banfield” about the medical examination, which he said “wasn’t for nothing.”
“We do know that it was successful, but as far as what they found to help lead this on, we don’t know,” Carroll said. “I don’t know if they were looking for something particular or if they were just looking to come across something different that wasn’t in a report. But whatever it was, it gave them an answer to a question or questions that they had that they couldn’t get out of report that is now in a report.”
Carroll is a U.S. Marine, having served four overseas tours of duty. His mother and Sandy Smith, Stephen’s mother, are sisters.
Carroll said he and his aunt Sandy communicate just about every day regarding this investigation, keeping close tabs on it.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announced it was reopening Smith’s death investigation following the June 2021 killings of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Alex Murdaugh, the patriarch of the family, was convicted earlier this year of murdering his wife and child on their South Carolina property.
The Murdaugh name popped up frequently during the investigation of Smith’s death, but there has been no evidence linking anybody in the family to the death.
The only thing Carroll is looking for is the truth about what happened to his cousin.
“Whoever did what they did, knows what they did. It’s time for, you know, everybody to get that peace,” he said. “We’re at a point now it’s where it’s time for answers.”
He’s confident those answers are coming.
“I know everybody don’t believe in a higher power,” he said, “but when you have a heart as pure as Stephen’s and you’re the kind of person he was, it is never for nothing.”