(NewsNation) — Buster Murdaugh, the eldest son of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who last year was found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie and youngest son, Paul, filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, among other companies.
Filed last week in Hampton County, South Carolina, the lawsuit says the issue lies with connections made between Buster Murdaugh and the death of Stephen Smith in documentaries released by these companies.
One example given was Warner Bros. Discovery’s series “Murdaugh Murders: Deadly Dynasty.”
“During a ten-minute segment of the “Murdaugh Murders: Deadly Dynasty” series, the Plaintiff is alluded to a number of times as the murderer of Stephen Smith,” the lawsuit said. “These statements about the Plaintiff are defamatory and falsely accuse the Plaintiff of committing a crime of moral turpitude.”
In another show called “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty,” distributed by Warner Bros. Discovery and Warner Media Entertainment Pages through what was then called HBO Max, Buster Murdaugh is accused of killing Smith because of his sexual identity, and “insinuates” he did so because of a romantic relationship they had.
“These statements are untrue in their entirety,” the lawsuit said.
Another series, streamed by Netflix, depicted a young man with red hair, which Buster Murdaugh has, carrying a baseball bat, which the lawsuit argued meant creators were depicting him as Smith’s “murderer.” Statements made on “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal” such as “Stephen’s death is intertwined with the Murdaughs” were also defamatory, Buster Murdaugh’s lawyer wrote.
“All of the above-described statements were defamatory and falsely accused the Plaintiff of being involved in the murder of Stephen Smith,” the lawsuit said. “As a result of the specific false and defamatory statements made by Defendants and republished by Defendants, the Plaintiff’s reputation has been irreparably damaged, and he has suffered mental anguish.”
Stephen Smith’s Death
Stephen Smith had been a nursing student at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, with dreams of eventually becoming a doctor, at the time of his death.
He had been on his way home from school on July 8, 2015, when he ran out of gas. His car was found on a rural road in Hampton County with the gas cap off.
Smith’s body was found three miles away, in the middle of the road. Police initially determined the death was a hit and run, but there were no skid marks, or any other physical evidence, of a car hitting him. Investigators later reopened Smith’s case in 2021, and ruled it a homicide in March 2023.
Sandy Smith, Stephen’s mother, has been searching for answers for years, calling on the FBI, the governor and others to keep looking into her son’s case. Amid the weekslong trial for Alex Murdaugh, Smith’s death got renewed attention.
Buster Murdaugh had been the same age as Stephen Smith, with NewsNation local affiliate WCBD writing that the two had once been classmates.
Rumors swirled in South Carolina’s Lowcountry about the two, though there is no known evidence linking any Murdaugh family members to Smith’s death.
“These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false,” Buster Murdaugh said in a statement last year. “I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family. I am requesting that the media immediately stop publishing these defamatory comments and rumors about me.”
Eric Bland, a lawyer for Smith’s family, said on X that the lawsuit will “backfire in a big way against Buster Murdaugh.”
Defendants, he said, will fight “tooth and nail” against the allegations from the lawsuit, and may even use it for more documentary content.
“Buster will have to answer questions in a multi-day deposition from every single defendant for instance about when he met Stephen Smith,” Bland wrote. “There will be discovery into the Murdaugh family. All of Buster‘s friends will be deposed.”
