The mother of a 19-year-old who was found dead on a South Carolina road in 2015 says she intends to have his body exhumed after state law enforcement officials announced they are opening an investigation in the wake of the Alex Murdaugh murders.

Stephen Smiths mother announced her intent to exhume her sons body for further examination in a GoFundMe account created earlier this month.

We need a new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on facts. There was no debris in the road, and his injuries were not consistent with a hit-and-run, states the fundraising page, which as of Monday has raised more than $57,000 over its initial goal of $15,000.

The decision follows the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announcing in 2021 that it would open an investigation into Smiths death due to new information it had gathered while investigating the double murder of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh that same year. Prior media reports have misstated that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was reopening its investigation, but the division didnt open a case until that year, a representative told HuffPost.

The mother and son were found fatally shot in June of 2021 on their Colleton County hunting property, not far from where Smiths body was found six years earlier in Hampton County. The familys prominent patriarch, Alex Murdaugh, was convicted in the murders last month.

SLED has made progress in the death investigation of Stephen Smith, the agency said in a statement Sunday. However this investigation remains active and ongoing.

Smith was found lying in a road on July 8, 2015, with blunt force trauma to his head. He was approximately three miles from his car, which was found abandoned with its gas tank open, authorities said at the time.

First responders at the scene thought his head injury could be from a possible gunshot wound, but the coroners office ultimately ruled his death a hit-and-run, despite multiple investigators dismissing this theory, according to copies of their testimony obtained by Spartanburg station WSPA .

I saw no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with someone being struck by a vehicle, wrote one investigator, according to the station. After consulting with the [Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team], we see no evidence to suggest the victim was struck by a vehicle.

For years after his death, tips also came in that linked Smith to the Murdaugh family, the Greenville News reported .

Smiths mother, Sandy Smith, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.