smith family. buster murdaugh was never interviewed by police about the 2015 case. the attorney for stephen smith's mother eric bland says he plans to petition a judge to exhume smith's body and get an independent autopsy conducted. he also said the murdaugh name had high influence in the area and possibly intimidated witnesses. he hopes they'll speak more freely now. back to you. >> c thank you for that. here to discuss, carol lamb, in studio, great to see you in person. i wonder a cold case like this, and the entire tv show dedicated to cold case, and eight years later, what are the challenges for prosecutors? >> as we have all seen on tv, chris, there are obviously challenges both forensic and witness challenges. forensic evidence obviously dissipates over time. it's a little bit harder to find murder weapons, and the body is
are hoping to have the baddy exhumed for a private autopsy. those lawyers an smith's mom are also speaking out today. dianne gallagher was following the details from charlotte, north carolina. there is so much happening today with this case. but i'm wondering, after all of these years, why the push now to exhume smith's body? >> reporter: so, i think that sandy smith, the mother of steven smith, would say that she would have done this years ago if she knew it were possible. and if she had the money to do so. and part of the reason why she's able to try for this right now and, look, her attorneys still have to petition a judge to get permission to exhume his body, is because of roughly $70,000 worth of donations she's been given through a gofundme. much of them coming from the those who followed the murdaugh double murder trial online. millions of people watch that