Buster Murdaugh BREAKS silence on classmate’s death

OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.

Buster Murdaugh, the son of convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh, is speaking out after widespread speculation about his possible involvement in the 2015 death of his high school classmate, Stephen Smith.

Buster said, “These baseless rumors of my involvement in Stephen’s death are false.”

Smith was killed during a hit-and-run accident at age 19 just miles from the Murdaughs’ hunting property in South Carolina.

This is the same located where Buster’s father Alex fatally shot his wife, Maggie, and his youngest son, Paul.

Buster says he is trying to “ignore the vicious rumors” about his “involvement in Stephen’s Smith’s tragic death.”

“I haven’t spoken up until now because I want to live in private while I cope with their deaths and my father’s incarceration,” he wrote.

Buster says he’s been “targeted and harassed” by members of the media and the public.

“I unequivocally deny any involvement in [Stephen’s] death and my heart goes out to the Smith family.”

More from Fox News:

Attorney Eric Bland, who represents the children of the Murdaughs’ late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield — who died at the Murdaugh’s Moselle home in an apparent 2018 fall — is now representing the Smith family.

“He was found in the middle of a country road in Hampton County, and… the highway department said he was hit by a car, but there was no broken glass, no car parts,” Bland told “Fox & Friends” co-host Pete Hegseth earlier this month. “His clothes were intact, his shoes were on, and he had… a clear head trauma injury that looked like it was done by something other than a car.”

On March 2, a Colleton County jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty in the 2021 murders of his wife and son at Moselle, prompting suspicion about Smith’s mysterious death.

Prosecutors say the disgraced lawyer killed his wife and son in an effort to divert attention away from his mounting alleged financial crimes.