For nine days, she made tearful pleas for their safe return. "This is an incredibly sad tale," Norwood said. On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith trapped her 3-year-old son Michael and 14-month old son Alex in her car and rolled them into John D. Long Lake in Union County. She seduced us with a carjacking gone wrong two little boys were missing along with their mom's Mazda. Susan Smith later confessed that the carjacking story was false and that she had driven her Mazda into John D. Long Lake in order to drown her children. Once Susan Smith recovered she began a new relationship with high school friend and fellow co-worker David Smith. They mentioned that her children had become a major handicap in Susans choice to get what she wants. Those children had a right to enjoy life, and she had no right to take life from them! The case attracted international attention because of her false claim that a black man had kidnapped her sons during a carjacking, but instead. Texas woman Andrea Yates drowning her kids to save them from the Devil, Alice Crimmins, the New York mom accused of killing her kids. The version Susan Smith told was a Southern gothic nightmare come true on the evening news. And for that she was sentenced to life in prison -- with the chance of parole. Susan Smith's former cellmates and a prison guard who had sex with her are speaking out about the infamous woman's checkered time behind bars. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. The Susan Smith I know is very caring, very loving, a good friend to everyone, not just me, he said. On that occasion, Mr. Findlay said, Mr. Smith threatened to hurt him if he ever called again. Browse from a variety of styles, sets, and sizes of women's wear for every fit and occasion. When Susan Smith was sixteen years old her stepfather began to treat her differently he was sexually abusing her. There was no motive, as it was not even a planned event. Print length 304 pages Language English Publisher Authors Book Nook Publication date January 1, 2000 Dimensions Sex, Drugs and Sickness: Susan Smith's Life in Prison, 25 Years After Drowning Her Sons, Susan Smith Keeps a Photo of 2 Sons She Killed in Prison Cell, Says Source: 'Very Tortured Soul', Susan Smith Is 'Behaving Herself' in Prison After Being Disciplined for Drugs, Sex: Source, Cold Cases Heat Up: How Advances in DNA Technology Are Helping to Bring Justice for Victims, Victim of Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult Leader Who Later Became His 'Lieutenant' Gets 54 Months in Prison, Jen Shah Reports to Prison to Start Her 6.5-Year Sentence for Telemarketing Fraud Scheme, Susan Smith, in Prison for Killing Her 2 Kids, Is 'No Longer Corresponding' with Long-Distance Boyfriend, Who Is Larry Ray? Refine Your Search Results. The Charlotte brokerage underwrote the company's initial public offering of stock in December 1993. She thought he tapped her phones and followed her. Tom Findlay, Susan Smith's ex-lover, started a new life in Birmingham, Ala. Cary Findlay, who is Tom Findlay's father and Susan Smith's former employer, let his mansion become a. The mom of two made headlines at. And is there a possibility that she could set foot into the world again one day as a free woman? Susan Smith was sentenced to life in prison. Forgiving, Smith said, is "something I guess I . Her first parole hearing will be in 2025 she will be fifty-three. Despite the animosity in the marriage both parents were seen as devoted to the children. As Susan Smith and Findlay talked on the phone, David Smith jumped out of the closet. Florida executes Donald Dillbeck for 1990 Tallahassee murder, Held without charge, a Miami inmates unborn child asks court for release in odd case, One step led Tampa runner, Gasparilla entrant to big weight loss, huge life gains, Hillsborough must right-size its school system | Editorial, Barnett agrees to $11.4-million in refunds. It comes with the possibility of parole one that she'll be eligible for in 2024, per the New York Post. On Oct. 25, they had a particularly upsetting conversation. The search gained national attention. Again, Smith tried to get Tom on her side by going to his office, and declaring what she had told him was a lie. Though the court of public opinion has largely sided with the prosecution, the state will have to actually consider Smiths pleas in 2024, when shell be eligible for parole. Susan Smith, then 23, claims that a black man hijacked her car and drove away with her children inside. She told the police, the media, and her family a lie, that her vehicle had been carjacked by a black man who drove away with her sons still inside. At that point, says Rowe, "She could not longer get the male attention that she used as a drug.". The catch? She divulged her ongoing relationship with her stepfather, Bev, and even admitted she had an affair with Toms father. As she approached John D. Long Lake, she rolled her car straight into the water, then fled the scene and left her two children to drown. Initially, there was an outpouring of support for the young mother whose sons had been kidnapped by a mysterious carjacker. Tom Findlay is the son of Cary Findlay, president of the company. Her mother was worried about potential embarrassment. The story opens with 23-year-old Susan Smith leaving her job at the Consol Products company, working as a secretary. Susan and David married on March 15, 1991, and the couple moved into Davids great-grandmothers house. She began sleeping with her boss's son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. In her free time she writes, cuddles with kitties, makes YouTube videos, and pretends she knows how to paint. On top of that, Ms. Smith later said that a cause of her depression was her breakup with Conso employee Tom . Hulsen had a more sympathetic attitude toward Smith, saying she wasnt one to judge. Findlay, a slight, balding graphic designer, appeared to exchange a quick half-smile with Smith from the stand during a break in his testimony about their brief fling, which he said began. Soon after the death of her father, her mother married Beverly Russell. The reason? He also said he didnt anticipate the woman being freed anytime soon. Mr. Findlay said no. The authorities questioned both Susan and David Smith in hopes of getting some answers. At thirteen Smith attempted suicide, though nobody knew. Warning: The following contains disturbing descriptions of violence. From the moment Susan reported her kids missing, a nationwide search began for her car. Weeks after the birth of the second child, Alexander, the couple called it quits once more. As the car was removed from the lake, the bodies of two children remained in their car seats, grossly deformed from being underwater too long. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. [Watch true crime series and documentaries anytime with A&E Crime Central. The two boys were strapped into their car seats inside the vehicle at the time. It was later revealed that he had molested Susan when she was a teenager. Gifts processed in this system are not tax deductible, but are predominately used to help meet the local financial requirements needed to receive national matching-grant funds. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. Susan and David Smith were separated at the time and have since divorced. From Zero to Hero: Write Your Short in 30 days, How to stream the upcoming UFC fights for free, Is Madeleine McCann alive? The defense also profited from an unexpected disclosure during Mr. Findlay's testimony. Never miss a story by signing up for the newsletter now. America's original most-hated mom Susan Smith was found in a pool of blood in her prison cell after she slashed her wrists during one of her bizarre cutting rituals, according to reports. The man she wrote about was a graphic artist named Tom Findlay, who enthralled the court with details of a stormy relationship that came to a head on October 25, 1994. In October 1994, Susan Smith called South Carolina police claiming her two sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, were kidnapped when a Black man stole her car. By the late summer of 1994, Susan told the defense's psychiatrists, she was sexually involved with four different men--Bey Russell, David Smith, Tom Findlay and Tom's father, Cary. On October 25, 1994, a mother would commit an unspeakable act. Tom Findlay's letter, as gentle as it tried to be, had brought Susan Smith in direct and brutal contact with her own lies, deceit, narcissism, and lust. Findlay admitted seeing Smith three times on that fateful day, and that she had been overwrought. Mr. Findlay testified that when he called Mrs. Smith's house on one occasion, Mr. Smith snatched the phone from her. With the two in the same house again, Smith was subjected to more of Bevs inappropriate actions. She was a leader in her school's Civitan Club, which was for volunteering to help around the community, and in her senior yearbook she was titled "friendliest female". Christie Smith claims that while at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood County, South Carolina, she witnessed Susans drug habit first hand. Her sentence? This book is a quest for understanding -- for those close to Susan and for others. Susan Leigh Smith (ne Vaughan; born September 26, 1971) is an American woman who was convicted of murdering her two sons, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, in 1994 by drowning them in a South Carolina lake. Refine Your Search Results. "In perspective, that is a glitzy operation for people born in Union who have never traveled beyond the emotional boundaries of Union County. UNION, S.C. Susan Smith's stepfather, who molested her as a teenager and then resumed their sexual encounters after she married, came to court Thursday to claim partial responsibility for the. The lake where Smith killed Michael and Alex went on to become a macabre tourist attraction. She says she was often a lookout for Susan when she would have sex with other inmates in the bathroom, cafeteria, shower and even in a dumpster. Susan Smith, now 50, is keeping herself down now and following the rules in jail. Smith was willingly sleeping with Bev, and also began sleeping with Tom Findlay. The notorious married mom who coldheartedly drowned her two adorable tots in 1994 has used cash from sleazy suitors and demented murder groupies to pay off prison pals to transform her into the cellblock . The story became international news, even landing on the cover of PEOPLE. "The company did not do anything.". Susan Smiths most intense extramarital affair was with a newfound employee at Conso Products in 1993. Smith was not one to quietly let it happen though, instead, she outed him. Williams testified about a conversation with Susan Smith on Oct. 17, eight days before the murders: "I have a problem," Smith said. However, Susan Smith didnt leave it there. Susan D Smith, 44. On the second day of the search, Susan Smith took a lie detector test and failed. Smith was convicted of two counts of murder and is serving a life sentence. David (who had advocated for a death sentence), intends to testify at every parole hearing his ex-wife has to ensure she never gets out. When the murders occurred, Smiththen married to a man named David Smithwas involved in an extramarital relationship with a wealthy man who reportedly didnt want kids. There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. This Friday, the world will hear from David Smith again, 16 years after his ex-wife, Susan Smith, drowned their sons, Michael and Alex, in John D. Long Lake in Union County. Just three hours later, Susan Smith put her kids in her 1990 Mazda Protege and set out for a drive. Susan Smith had two of her own intimate relationships starting in the summer of 1998. According to the . Susan Smith. That is so far from the truth. She claimed it wasnt her lovers demands that prompted the violent acts, writing: The thing that hurts me the most is that people think that I hurt my children in order to be with a man. Susan Smith murdered her young sons in 1994. This is what prompted Susan Smith to drown her own children. Reader discretion is advised. He also admitted sexually assaulting Smith when she was 16, but said that she and her mother never pressed charges. She was eventually found guilty of the highly-publicized crime. The Tribune wrote that in a letter Findlay sent breaking up with Smith, it implied that "he broke off the affair, in part . Her motive: She was secretly dating a man who didn't want children. Ive seen her do it all, Christie says. On the ninth day of the search, Susan and David appeared on all three national network morning news programs, declaring their innocence and pleading for the return of their children, Alex and Michael. Susan Smith - Victim or Murderer tells the story of the crime that has captured the interest of the American people. Even one of the more curious moments of their relationship -- her telling him on the day of the drownings that she had once slept with his father -- did not seem to have left him with any ill will toward her. Susan was born on April 2, 1939 in Mansfield, Ohio to William D. and Helen R. (Robinson) Gibson. Putnam was the first FBI agent to be charged in a homicide. UNION, S.C. (AP) _ Years after admitting he molested his stepdaughter Susan Smith when she was 16, Beverly Russell testified that they had consensual sex two months before she drowned her sons. 2. According to jail records reviewed by People magazine, Smith has committed a number of infractions while behind bars, ranging from drug-use issues to self-harm, and has lost a variety of privileges for these infractions (such as loss of phone, canteen and visitation privileges). Susan Smith's most intense extramarital affair was with a newfound employee at Conso Products in 1993. Meet Gladys Presley, Elvis Presley's Mother And The 'Love Of His Life', The Baffling Mystery Of What Happened To John F. Kennedy's Brain, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Donna Garner is Ms. Smiths closest friend. But more than the physical pleasure, he said, she loved feeling close, being held. Russell asked the jury to spare Smiths life, saying he bore some of the responsibility of the crime. She says, You never know what someone is going through. 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