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Soon after the death of her father, her mother married Beverly Russell. It was later revealed that he had molested Susan when she was a teenager. The inconsistencies grew more and more, and on the eighth day, Susan changed her written statement, when police confronted her with a new reason, why her version of the supposed abduction didnt add up. In her final year of high school, she received the Friendliest Female award and was known for her cheerful disposition. At thirteen Smith attempted suicide, though nobody knew. Again, Smith tried to get Tom on her side by going to his office, and declaring what she had told him was a lie. Later, she got out of the car, released the brake, and let it roll down the ramp into the lake. Well send you all the relevant quizzes, articles, polls, and news you could want to your inbox. And David Smith threatened to reveal her sexual relationship with her stepfather, Beverly Russell, she told Findlay two days before the children were killed. Her father killed himself when she was just six years old, and she tried to follow suit at age 13. As NYT summarized, Smith eventually confessed to taking her children to a nearby lake and intentionally "rolling her car down a boat ramp and into the "body of water. He also said he didnt anticipate the woman being freed anytime soon. On October 25, 1994, a mother would commit an unspeakable act. Susan Smith: 20 Years Later. Excerpts from a letter Susan Smith wrote to Tom Findlay on Oct. 17, and his reply, written the same day and given to her Oct. 18. While the authorities searched for her two young sons, Susan Smith watched herself lie to the nation on a taped television newscast, and even smiled at the television screen, a counselor who. "Union is a small town, and Conso employs a lot of people in that small town. The greeters at Walmart didnt remember seeing her on the night of October 25th. Yet, like many institutions in this close-knit town, Conso is deeply intertwined with the people of the community, who cross paths at work, at church and at their children's Saturday morning baseball games. Smith was accused of being racist for blaming an invented Black man for her crimes. 28 year old Tom Findlay had no idea when he began a relationship with Susan Smith, who worked within his father's company, that his name would be irrevocably linked with a tragedy that horrified the state, the nation, and many around the world. Her mother was worried about potential embarrassment. (The racial undertones of Smith's story, which was later proven to be wholly fabricated, were also covered by newspapers like The New York Times.) After getting to the location, divers found the car 122 feet from the shore upside down under 18 feet of water. And for that she was sentenced to life in prison -- with the chance of parole. Everything came to a head on October 5, 1994, when Smith took her sons out for a ride on a South Carolina night. Susan Smith, 43, was convicted in 1995 of murdering 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex by strapping them into their car seats in her burgundy Mazda and then letting her car roll into a lake . He swore to never do it again and agreed to family therapy, but then kept abusing Susan who revealed as much in February 1988. 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. As deeply depressed as she was that Tom had ended their relationship, she was still sexually involved with David - and with her step-father, Bev Russell. Susan Smith, now 50, is keeping herself down now and following the rules in jail. 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. Susan Smith, a mother from South Carolina, was convicted of murdering her two sons by drowning them in South Carolina Lake. Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma/Getty ImagesSusan Smith was convicted of murdering her children on July 22, 1995. Susan Sarandon has seemed like a mature star for decades, but when she first got her start, back in 1970, her first role called for her to lie naked in a bathtub in "Joe." She said that she was planning to kill herself and take her children with her, but after driving around Union for an hour, she pulled into the access road at John D. Long Lake. "It has very much sent a devastating ripple through Conso and the community," said Jim Cooney, a company attorney. Hulsen also says Smith would get a lot of money from random men and her family. After her mother remarried, Smiths new stepfather began to molest her. She and David finally filed for divorce in September of 1994, and Smith put all her attention on Tom. Life in prison would make her eligible for parole in 30 years. Susan told her high school guidance counselor and her mother about the abuse in 1987 when she was 16. Susan Smith, a mother from South Carolina, was convicted of murdering her two sons by drowning them in South Carolina Lake. All Filters. "The company did not do anything.". I was not in my right mind. She also noted, in something of a contradiction, that she had planned to kill myself first and leave a note behind telling what had happened., In the same letter, Smith also wrote that shed concocted the false story about the kids abductions because she didnt know how to tell the people who loved Michael & Alex that they would never see them again.. Buy White Printed Paisley Print Dress X29087 at LASCANA. 4,617 17 Nov 01, 2008 #1 SUSAN SMITH'S LETTER TO TOM FINDLAY Dear Tom, Just a note to say thank you for everything. Chances are you or someone you love has experienced what its like to be a caregiver while juggling lifes bills and responsibilities. [.] Twice in 2010 and once in 2015, she was disciplined on drug charges, losing privileges for more than a year. A death sentence means a choice of electrocution or injection. Ive seen her do it all, Christie says. Susan Smith (born Susan Vaughan) led a troubled childhood, though nobody at her high school would have noticed. Her estranged husband, David Smith, appeared on The Oprah Show five years later in an emotional interview. Once Susan Smith recovered she began a new relationship with high school friend and fellow co-worker David Smith. On Thursday, November 3rd, Susan told the police that her children were not alright and fell to the floor sobbing. She is eligible for parole in 2024. Susan Smith Trial: 1995 . Ostensibly, one for the remainder of her life. She was a leader in her schools Civitan Club, which was for volunteering to help around the community, and in her senior yearbook she was titled friendliest female. 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. However, after a nine-day . One day in October 1994, Susan Smiths kids, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, joined her for a drive. She was born on September 26th in 1971, the youngest of three kids. ``If I had known at the time what the results of my sins would be, I would have mustered the strength to behave according to my responsibility, he wrote. "I am not the monster society thinks I am," she wrote. They assisted police by printing out thousands of missing posters and distributing photos of the kids; tying yellow ribbons around mailboxes and telephones; and scouting wooded areas on horseback. Russell was one of several relatives and friends to testify on behalf of Ms. Smith, who was convicted Saturday of rolling her car into a lake Oct. 25 with 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex strapped in their car seats. That 28-year-old witness, Tom Findlay, also wrote that he was afraid that their backgrounds -- he was a child of privilege, she a child of a mill worker who committed suicide when his wife left. Her stepfatherbegan sexually abusing her during her high school years, per the outlet. 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). But in 1994, she destroyed her own family when she murdered her children. 'He told me, 'Watch your back,'' Findlay said. The prosecution described Smith as calculating and wanting her children dead so Tom Findlay would reconsider dating her. In addition to Findlay, several other Conso Products employees testified. Shes very pleasant, very nonconfrontational, very upbeat, always trying to look on the bright side of things. Eventually, Susan Smith was arrested. Online Exclusive Wife of Former Prison Guard Who Had Affair With Child Killer Susan Smith Speaks Out The wife of a former prison guard is speaking out about his past sexual affair behind bars. Ms. Smith's letter (handwritten, not dated): ``Dear Tom, ``Just a note to say thank you for everything. That disclosure concerned Mrs. Smith's estranged husband, David Smith, who, because of his grief over the loss of his sons, is expected to be one of the state's most compelling witnesses. She then reported her car stolen and her children missing, even pretending that a Black man had carjacked her and abducted her sons. Per NBC, their marriage was marred by periods of separation, which ended in a final, though unofficial, split and laid the groundwork for what was to come. 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. Susan will have a chance of parole in November 2024, and at that point shell have been behind the bars for 30 years. You can also find more information, resources, and support at www.thehotline.org. But their own family would prove to be an unhappy one as well. Smith took the breakup badly and attempted a second suicide taking both Tylenol and aspirin together. Thomas S. England/Getty ImagesDavid Smith Sr. mourning his grandsons at John D. Long Lake. The sketch described half of the African American men who lived in the community. Apparently unconvinced by Smiths defense, the jury deliberated for two and a half hours on July 22, 1995, and quickly found her guilty. I was not myself," she continued. Susan and David married on March 15, 1991, and the couple moved into Davids great-grandmothers house. She would ultimately find a partner in David Smith, a fellow Winn-Dixie supermarket worker who was raised a Jehovahs Witness by strict parents. It comes with the possibility of parole one that she'll be eligible for in 2024, per the New York Post. And despite reports that Smith hasn't had the most sterling reputation as an inmate during her incarceration atthe Leath Correctional Institution in South Carolina, it seems that Smith has her eyes set on her future meeting with the prison parole board. . And we know in her right mind she would never have hurt those kids., Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. In fact, Smith had drowned her two sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, by launching her car into the local John D. Long Lake. Susan was secretly dating a man who didnt want children, so she decided to kill her children. Hulsen had a more sympathetic attitude toward Smith, saying she wasnt one to judge. Shop today But on November 3, with police suspicious of her flimsy story, Smith finally relented and confessed about what shed done. 2. Her sentence? Resides in Findlay, OH. UNION, S.C. UNION, S.C. -- Visibility was only about a foot when Steve Morrow, a diver searching for a missing car, floated to the Burgundy Mazda that lay upside down in the cold water of John D. Long Lake last autumn. The couple decided to marry when Susan discovered that she was pregnant. Susan Leigh Vaughan was born on September 26, 1971 in Union, South . When Susan Smith's story was first broadcast to the public she appeared to be a distraught mother desperate for the return of her two children. Smith . She is not God!! Refine Your Search Results. Findlays testimony also provided another view of Susan Smiths ex-husband, David Smith. On that occasion, Mr. Findlay said, Mr. Smith threatened to hurt him if he ever called again. Her behavior behind bars has only made her more infamous, as shes been caught smoking marijuana and sleeping with a correctional officer. The motive behind Susan Smiths murdering her children was indeed a shocking one. This book is a quest for understanding -- for those close to Susan and for others. Findlay, 28, short and balding with a pleasant face, has been the shadowy figure at the center of the Susan Smith mystery. Closing arguments in the trials penalty phase were to begin today, with jury deliberations possibly starting this afternoon. On Oct. 25, they had a particularly upsetting conversation. Russell asked the jury to spare Smiths life, saying he bore some of the responsibility of the crime. Putnam was the first FBI agent to be charged in a homicide. At trial, Smiths defense lawyers claimed she was severely mentally ill and pointed to her troubled life as cause. The mom of two made headlines at. Obituary. ``To see unfolded before my eyes the principle of reaping and sowing, to lose Michael and . For nine days, she went on television, pleading tearfully for their safe return. He had her removed from the office. What Made a Mother Kill Her Young Son by Dropping Him Off a Bridge? At least 10 Conso employees were subpoenaed as possible witnesses, and five have testified in the trial. Findlay admitted seeing Smith three times on that fateful day, and that she had been overwrought. On October 17, 1994, just days before Susan and Davids divorce papers were filed, Tom Findlay sent a Dear John letter to Susan. She pleaded for the safe return of her boys, 14-month-old Alexander and. 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