Tag: cold cases

Stephen Smith’s body exhumed in Murdaugh-linked homicide investigation

The body of Stephen Smith, a South Carolina teen whose unsolved 2015 murder has gained new traction thanks to the Alex Murdaugh case, was exhumed over the weekend, the family’s lawyer confirmed.

Smith’s body was removed from his grave, re-examined in a second autopsy and returned to his final resting place, attorney Eric Bland tweeted Sunday.

The 19-year-old was found dead, with head trauma, on the side of a road in Hampton County on July 8, 2015 in what investigators at the time ruled a hit-and-run.


Sandy Smith holds a photo of her late son, 19-year-old Stephen Smith in Hampton, S.C.
AP

Last month — nearly eight years later — the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) reclassified his death as a homicide after investigators found “new evidence” about the teenager’s final moments in the course of their probe into the 2021 murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.

“I now believe that Stephen can really rest at ease because SLED and our team are going to do everything possible to find out just how he died,” Bland said in his tweet.


Stephen Smith's body was exhumed after his death was ruled a homicide.
Stephen Smith’s body was exhumed after his death was ruled a homicide.
Sandy Smith/GoFundMe

He also announced that the late teen’s mother Sandy Smith is offering a $35,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for her son’s death.

The money was raised as part of a GoFundMe for the distraught mother.

Much of the more than $100,000 raised was used to fund the exhumation and private autopsy of Smith’s body.


More than $100,000 raised was used to fund the exhumation and private autopsy of Smith’s body.
Sandy Smith/GoFundMe

Smith’s mysterious death gained renewed attention after the closely watched trial of patriarch Alex Murdaugh for the shooting deaths of his son and wife on the family’s property.

Smith’s body was found laying in the street not far from the 1,700-acre estate and the teen was a high school classmate of Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster.

Sandy Smith linked Buster — who was rumored to have had a romantic relationship with Smith, who was gay — to her son’s murder in a letter she sent to federal investigators in 2016.

She also said local law enforcement botched the investigation.

Buster has denied the “vicious rumors” that he was involved in Smith’s death.

Investigators are reportedly eyeing two other men, who were also teens in 2015, as potential suspects.

“Stephen for many, many years I can only imagine was not so much at peace in his grave,” Bland said in a video posted on Twitter. “He probably was pounding on his coffin to anybody who could hear ‘I was not hit by a car but I was intentionally killed.’ And now we’ve told him we hear his voice.”

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Body of teen found in 1978 ID’d as Kenneth Nevada Williams

A body found in Southern California over four decades ago has finally been identified through DNA technology as a teenage boy from La Puente.

The remains of “John Doe 1978,” which were discovered on a residential street in Long Beach on June 3, 1978, were officially identified as Kenneth Nevada Williams, the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) said in a statement Wednesday.

Williams, 15, ran away from his home in La Puente the same year his body was discovered. He was never reported missing.

At the time of his death, he had the word “paid” stamped on his hand.

“There was no identification, fingerprints were taken, the fingerprints didn’t match any databases and the victim, unfortunately, was only identified as a John Doe,” LBPD detective Shea Robertson told ABC7 of the initial discovery of Williams’ body.

John Doe 1978 was originally linked to convicted serial killer Randy Kraft. Sometimes known as the “Freeway Killer,” Kraft raped, tortured, and murdered 16 young men in Southern California between 1972 and 1983. After an investigation, he was ruled out as a suspect.

The break in the 44-year-old case came in September, when homicide detectives reached out to the Othram lab in Texas to create a DNA sample of John Doe 1978 for investigative genealogy. The sample was subsequently matched to Williams.

Although police did not reveal how Williams died, they vowed to continue the investigation into his death.

“Justice delayed doesn’t have to be justice denied in this case. Kenneth Nevada Williams is now a known victim and identifying his killer is the next step in solving this case,” Donald Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.

Speaking to ABC7 earlier this week, Williams’ sister, Roxanne Jones, said that the family assumed the teen had started a new life elsewhere.

“He wanted to live in the city and go to clubs and have fun and he just … he wasn’t into drugs or anything like that but you know, bright lights, big city,” she told the outlet.

“As soon as [the police] said there was a familial DNA match, I knew who it was who it had to be.”

Williams’ death is one of several cold cases inching closer to a resolution thanks to advanced DNA technology. Last month, police in Marysville, WA made an arrest in the 1998 murder of Jennifer Brinkman after DNA from the murder weapon was linked to a suspect.

“Solving this case has been at the top of the priority list of the Marysville Police Department for the past 24-plus years,” Police Chief Erik Scairpon said at the time.

“We never gave up or put this on a shelf.  It was continuously being investigated, with the belief that we would one day be able to bring some level of closure for the family and justice for Jennifer.”

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JonBenet Ramsey case may have link to unsolved 1997 Boulder rape: dad

A Colorado father claims Boulder cops may have missed an opportunity to catch JonBenet Ramsey’s killer — by ignoring an attack on his own young daughter which happened months after the infamous murder.

The dad claims a masked man dressed in black broke into his home on Sept. 14, 1997, snuck into his then-12-year-old’s daughter’s room, threatened and raped her.

The terrifying incident was foiled only because the girl’s mother heard voices, and came into the room to investigate, prompting the mysterious man to flee.

JonBenet, just 6, had been killed nearly nine months earlier. She lived less than two miles away, and the two girls went to the same dance studio, the father said.

In a chilling interview with The U.S. Sun, the dad recalled how the same type of cigarette butts — Camel Blue — were found outside both homes and said he begged local police to investigate.

But Boulder cops weren’t interested, he charged. Neither case has been solved.

The girl is only identified by The Sun with the pseudonym “Amy.”

The man said an intruder broke into his home and raped his daughter “Amy” nine months after Ramsey was killed in the same city.
Photo by Barry Williams/Getty Images
The man said he hired a private investigator that found links to the Ramsey case — including the same type of cigarette butts outside of both homes.
ZUMA Press

“There are so many similarities between the two cases that I think there’s a very good chance it was the same person,” Amy’s dad told the outlet.

“The only difference is my daughter survived,” he added.

Boulder police were “dismissive” and “disinterested,” the dad alleged.

“They were completely uninterested,” he claimed. “They didn’t care about this at all … they would just lie, telling us they’d look into this or that — but they hadn’t.

The father said that Boulder police were “dismissive” of the potential link between both cases.
AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File
JonBenet’s parents John and Patsy Ramsey at a press conference in 2000.
Getty Images

JonBenet Ramsey, a child beauty queen, was found dead in her family’s home on Dec. 26, 1996. Authorities said earlier this month they would launch a new probe into her killing with cold case investigators.

Amy awoke to see the stranger standing over her bed. He kept calling her name.

“I know who you are,” he repeated, before warning, “I’ll knock you out, shut up.”

He then sexually attacked her, her father recounted.

The dad hired a private investigator, who discovered the cigarette butts and found other possible links between the two cases — including nearly two dozen burglaries or trespassing reports in the area and background checks which showed possible suspects in Amy’s case once worked in JonBenet’s home — but police allegedly took no action.

“They were completely uninterested … they didn’t care about my daughter’s case and they didn’t even really care about the Ramsey case either,” he said.

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Queens man Martin Motta pleads guilty to WWI vet cold-case slaying

A Queens man pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing and dismemberment of a World War I veteran more than 45 years ago.

Martin Motta, 75, entered a guilty plea Tuesday in the gruesome cold-case slaying of George Clarence Seitz, whose partial remains were discovered in the backyard of a Richmond Hill home in March 2019, the Queens District Attorney’s office announced.

Prosecutors said Motta fatally stabbed Seitz in the head after stealing approximately $7,000 to $8,000 from him in 1976.

Seitz’s body had been dismembered at the neck, shoulders and hips, according to the Queens DA’s office.

Investigators spent two years working to identify the skeletal remains — a pelvis and partial torso — that were buried under concrete before they were able to positively identify Seitz as a match through DNA tests with the help of the FBI.

George Clarence Seitz went missing on Dec. 10, 1976.
Queens DA

“This long-cold case marks the first successful application in New York City of forensic genetic genealogy,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “No matter how much time has passed, we will use every tool at our disposal to achieve justice.”

Seitz, who was 81 at the time of his death, had gone missing on the morning of Dec. 10, 1976.

George Clarence Seitz’s remains, consisting of a pelvis and partial torso, are dug up.
Queens DA

He was last seen leaving his home in Jamaica, Queens to go get a haircut. Investigators learned that Seitz was a regular customer of Motta at the barbershop and linked him to the murder through witness interviews and record searches across five states, according to the Queens DA.

Motta, of Jamaica, is expected to be given 20 years in prison at his sentencing on Nov. 7, according to the Queens DA.

“For the gruesome murder of a World War I veteran, the defendant eluded arrest for more than 46 years,” Katz said.  “Now he is headed to prison thanks to the collaboration between the NYPD and our Cold Case Unit.”

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