48 Hours

Long before Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina attorney later convicted of killing his wife and son, a different enigma haunted the region. The still unexplained death of Stephen Smith added another layer of mystery to Murdaugh country.

Stephen Smith: A Death in Murdaugh Country is a television programme presented as an episode. It's positioned within the genre of a true‑crime narrative set in South Carolina. The title signals that the story centres on the death of Stephen Smith and locates it in the region commonly referred to as Murdaugh country. The episode looks back to a time well before Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina legal heir, was found guilty of killing his wife and son. At that earlier point, another unresolved case haunted the same community – the death of Stephen Smith. The programme frames this earlier incident as a distinct mystery that preceded the later, more widely publicised murders. By placing the Stephen Smith case alongside the later Murdaugh convictions, the show underscores that the area has been the backdrop for more than one unsettling death. It suggests that the community's history includes multiple incidents that have attracted attention, with the Smith case serving as a reminder that the region's criminal narrative extends beyond the well‑known Murdaugh trial. Overall, the episode invites viewers to reconsider the chronology of events in Murdaugh country, reminding them that the Stephen Smith death predates the high‑profile Murdaugh case and remains a lingering question for the region.