Buster Murdaugh sues media companies over programs

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HAMPTON — Buster Murdaugh, the son of convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh, has sued seven media companies and a newspaper editor, alleging he was defamed by comments included in television programs about his family’s scandals, The Post and Courier newspaper of Charleston has reported.

Filed June 14, the lawsuit names as defendants Netflix, Warner Bros., Blackfin Inc., Discovery Inc., Campfire Studios Inc., Cinemart LLC, Gannett Co. Inc., and Michael DeWitt Jr., editor of The Hampton County Guardian newspaper, which is owned by Gannett. The claim accuses the defendants of knowingly spreading false claims to viewers, specifically about the death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in 2015 on a Hampton County road.

Three television series premiered in 2022-23 about the time that Alex Murdaugh’s double-murder trial began in Walterboro. A jury convicted the elder Murdaugh of murder in the fatal shootings of his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, in 2021 at the family’s hunting lodge in Colleton County.

Reported The Post and Courier: “The case attracted international attention and spawned book deals, movies, podcasts and true-crime documentaries. Several explored the powerful family’s alleged connections to Smith, an openly gay teen from Hampton County.”

Smith was found dead in the middle of a road about 3 miles from his car. A medical examiner initially said he died from a hit-and-run, though S.C. Highway Patrol investigators expressed doubts.

The 2021 killings of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh rekindle rumors about Smith’s death. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division opened an investigation based on the troopers’ doubts, and SLED agents came to describe the case as a homicide investigation, The Post and Courier reported.

Some published and broadcast reports investigated possible ties between Buster Murdaugh and Smith. A March 2023 written statement by Buster Murdaugh criticized “the vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen Smith’s tragic death” and expressed sympathy for Smith’s family.

No evidence has publicly surfaced linking the Murdaughs to Smith, The Post and Courier reported.

SLED did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the status of the investigation. Most of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while DeWitt referred requests for comments to the newspaper chain’s legal office.

Buster Murdaugh is represented by Shaun Kent of the Kent Law Firm in Manning, who did not respond to a request for comment.