Police in South Carolina currently view two individuals as persons of interest in connection with the death of teenager Stephen Smith, whose body was found in the middle of a rural road in 2015, according to a report from local outlet FitsNews.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has had two people on their radar for killing Smith – neither of whom will be named by The Daily Wire because they have not been charged with a crime. The persons of interest are not part of the Murdaugh family, which has long been rumored to be connected to Smith’s death.

The stepfather of one of the persons of interest implicated the two, who were teenagers at the time of Smith’s death, according to the report. The stepfather was encouraged to come forward by Randy Murdaugh, whose little brother Alex Murdaugh was convicted last month of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul.

The stepfather allegedly said his stepson told him his friend was driving a vehicle that “struck and killed Stephen Smith.” The stepfather said the reason he passed the information on five months after Smith’s death was “because Randy Murdaugh told him to call,” the report says.

A police officer told investigators that the stepfather told him that his stepson’s friend “was drunk and hit something,” FitsNews reported.

“He said he went back the next day to see what it he had hit and he (saw) a lot of police out there. So he talked to one of the cops, and then he had left and then he learned – I guess by media – that somebody had been killed in that same area. That’s why the police were there,” the police officer said of the stepfather.

This police officer also told investigators that the stepfather told him the friend called his stepson crying about what had happened. The stepson then walked outside to throw up, the stepfather reportedly told the police officer.

Smith was the alleged victim of a hit-and-run in 2015, a death that has since been ruled a homicide.

Investigators initially said in 2015 that Smith apparently was hit by a vehicle and killed while standing near his own car on the side of the road after apparently running out of gas. An investigator’s report obtained by The Island Packet initially said Smith had a “defensive wound” on his hand, but the medical examiner wrote that Smith had been struck in the head by a car mirror during a hit-and-run.

No glass or other car debris was found in the area where Smith was found dead, however, the Packet reported.

The inconsistencies led many to speculate that Smith, who was openly gay, may have been murdered.

Many also suggested that Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s son, was involved in Smith’s death without providing any evidence to support the claim. Buster has denied any involvement.

“These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false. I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family,” Buster said in a statement last month.

The co-director at Boston Children’s Hospital’s Center for Gender Surgery co-wrote an article that declared a need for increasing training efforts for gender-affirming surgeries.

The center performs mastectomies on teenagers as young as 15; the hospital admitted on its website (later deleted) that 17-year-olds could receive vaginoplasties and 18-year-olds could receive phalloplasties or metoidioplasties (surgical creations of a penis for a female).

“Physicians who provide GAC [gender affirming care] will face a greater burden due to constraints in certain states and increasing demands for care,” plastic and reconstructive surgeon Oren Ganor, the co-director of the center, co-wrote in an article published in the March 14 edition of The Journal of the American Medical Association. “Especially as certain states work to criminalize GAC for adolescents, there will be an increased flux of patients traveling to seek care in states with more open legislation.”

“Although the legal landscape may be more favorable in these states, the capacity to treat these patients does not match the demand,” the co-authors continued. “How, then, can these states expand clinician capacity and improve competencies in treating transgender patients? The medical community can take several steps to improve capacity for this patient population. … With certain states restricting gender-affirming surgeries, residency programs in states with more favorable regulations must ensure they increase training efforts to accommodate increased caseloads of gender-affirming surgeries that will likely result.”

The co-authors cited “rampant transphobia in the U.S.,” claiming it “sometimes results in increased violence against transgender people plus intimidation and threats of violence against those who provide their care.”

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“It is important to recognize that for many gender-diverse young people, the decision to engage in gender-affirming care can be lifesaving and life-changing. Without this care, gender-diverse youth can experience severe distress, anxiety, and depression,” the hospital told Fox News Digital.

“[A]ny decisions about gender-affirming care should be made after a rigorous evaluation process that involves a psychologist or social worker, a patient’s doctor and their parents or guardians.”

A hospital spokesperson clarified, “for surgical consultation, you must be 17 years of age and between 18 and 35 years of age at the time of surgery. We have since updated this to reflect the protocols for the practice, which we have always adhered to (no surgery under 18 years of age).”