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 . A letter. He also testified that Susan Smith was intimidated by her husband. Susan Smith (born Susan Vaughan) led a troubled childhood, though nobody at her high school would have noticed. Tragedy struck in 1977 when her father, Harry Ray, committed suicide. According to records obtained by PEOPLE, she has been disciplined at least five times since 2010 for various infractions, including self-mutilation and the use and possession of narcotics or marijuana. They got married after only about a year of dating. "I was a good mother and I loved my boys. Tom was her bosss son, and rather rich. The newlyweds soon started to have fights, and as a result they were separated seven months after their marriage. Smith's relationship with Findlay, the son of a wealthy mill owner, has provided the prosecution with its motive for the murders of her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex. In 1994, Smith strapped her two sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, into their car seats and pushed the vehicle into a lake. Eventually, she sent her car driving into a lake, she watched as the car with her two sons inside sank. 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. The mom did it, the question was soon becoming more obvious as the search continued. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. Ostensibly, one for the remainder of her life. Findlay painted a picture of Susan Smith as a good friend and caring mother who was also suicidal and unstable. Findlay received a salary of $214,615 last year, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and he controls 53 percent of Conso's stock, a chunk valued at $24-million. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. The friend she said she was going to visit was not at her home that evening. Christie Smith claims that while at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood County, South Carolina, she witnessed Susans drug habit first hand. Prosecutors said Susan drowned her boys because she wanted to be with a local wealthy bachelor, Tom Findlay. "Like I told you before, there are some things about you that aren't suited for me, and yes, I mean your children," said the letter, written on Oct. 17, just eight days before Mrs. Smith drowned her children. Tom Findlay and Smith were among five people who partied nude in a hot tub at Cary Findlay's estate Oct. 15, 10 days before the boys were drowned in a lake. Mr. Findlay said no. That was more important to her than the actual act, Findlay told defense attorney David Bruck during cross-examination. However, after a nine-day . She let her car roll down the boat ramp but soon stopped it by pulling the emergency brake. Susan Smith: 20 Years Later. I've seen her do it all," Smith says, before adding, "My main purpose was to bring her her pills.". She was heartbroken because Tom Findlay, her ex-boyfriend, had recently broken up with her. The prosecution introduced the letter and Mr. Findlay's testimony to portray Mrs. Smith as selfish and malicious, a woman prepared to trade the lives of her children for a chance to reclaim him. Earlier in the day, the jury heard Mrs. Smith's former lover, the son of a wealthy mill owner, confirm that he had written the letter telling Mrs. Smith that he did not want a relationship that included children. The case attracted international attention because of her false claim that a black man had kidnapped her sons during a carjacking, but instead. 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. The mom of two made headlines at. Smith interacted with young women who had risen through the company's ranks to sales and marketing jobs paying more than $30,000. Susan said she wasnt happy about her mother receiving all the male attention. At home, however, he was molesting his 15-year-old stepdaughter, fondling her breasts and genitals. Under cross-examination by Pope, Russell acknowledged that consensual sexual relations with Ms. Smith resumed after she became a married mother. A divorced father of three, Russell was a thriving stockbroker, and a member of both South Carolinas Republican community and the Christian Coalition. 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. The company recently donated that money to day-care centers in the area. For nine days a search for her children took place. Meanwhile, David had no idea that she suffered from depression and dependent personality disorder. . She told the homeowners her car had been hijacked by a man with her sons inside. 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. Reader discretion is advised. 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 . She divulged her ongoing relationship with her stepfather, Bev, and even admitted she had an affair with Toms father. This is what prompted Susan Smith to drown her own children. [Watch true crime series and documentaries anytime with A&E Crime Central. Susan was secretly dating a man who didnt want children, so she decided to kill her children. 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. It drew countless visitors who wanted to take . Doctors diagnosed her with an adjustment disorder and blamed her behavior on stress. 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. If youre fascinated by the world of true crime, sign up for our newsletter. Forgiving, Smith said, is "something I guess I . When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The funeral of Susan Smiths kids, Michael and Alexander. They married on March 15th in 1991 due to Smith being pregnant. [.] But their own family would prove to be an unhappy one as well. Eventually, Christie realized that Susan was a master manipulator and they grew apart. Susan Smith, now 50, is keeping herself down now and following the rules in jail. In her letter to The State, she wrote, I am not the monster society thinks I am, I am far from it., Something went very wrong that night. Susan took a lie detector test and failed. 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. 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. In a letter to Susan Smith, Tom declared he did not want kids, or to have a part in the life of Smiths kids, nor did he think she was a nice girl. He said they had sex. She was eventually found guilty of the highly-publicized crime. There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. Susan Smith and 6 Other Women Who Have Murdered Their Children. Mayor Jane Castors partner vowed not to lobby the city. And is there a possibility that she could set foot into the world again one day as a free woman? Leaving them strapped into their car seats, she drove her car into John D. Long Lake, where they drowned to death. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. "It has very much sent a devastating ripple through Conso and the community," said Jim Cooney, a company attorney. For. It drew countless visitors who wanted to take pictures or leave flowers for the boys, and in 1996, its grim reputation darkened even more when seven people (including four kids) drowned there, after stopping to look at the two kids memorials. 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. When she was spared the death penalty, her husband stated on the courthouse steps, Ill never forget what Susan has done, and Ill never forget Michael and Alex. He also expressed disappointment with her sentence: Me and my family, of course, are disappointed that the death penalty wasnt the verdict.. 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. He had her removed from the office. Susan Smith falsely accused a black man of carjacking her children in 1994 Andrew Smith, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. She is not God!! Later that year, she attempted suicide yet again. Smith took the breakup badly and attempted a second suicide taking both Tylenol and aspirin together. On October 25, 1994, a mother would commit an unspeakable act. The reason? According to a prison source who talked to People last year, Smith is currently on a better path at Leath in anticipation of her possible 2024 parole. Apparently unconvinced by Smiths defense, the jury deliberated for two and a half hours on July 22, 1995, and quickly found her guilty. But on November 3, with police suspicious of her flimsy story, Smith finally relented and confessed about what shed done. After her mother remarried, Smiths new stepfather began to molest her. While juggling multiple lovers Smith became pregnant and got an abortion. Three hours later, she decided that if Findlay didnt want kids, she was going to get her own children out of the picture. Susan J. According to Alfred Rowe, who pleaded guilty in 2001 to having sex with Smith and was sentenced to five years probation, Smith's drug use escalated when she switched prisons from Camille Graham Correctional Center in Columbia, S.C., to Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood. 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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. 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. 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. Later that day, Susan met the police behind the local church and finally broke down. The case attracted international attention because of her false claim that a black man had kidnapped her sons during a carjacking, but instead Susan Smith and her children, Alex and Michael. Smith was cited as having strange reactions for a grieving mother, being overly concerned about her appearance before going on television, and even sometimes asking about Tom Findlay. Tom Findleythe son of the owner of the company where Smith worked as a secretarywho didn't want children. TOM FINDLAY'S TESTIMONY: The thing that hurts me the most is that people think that I hurt my children in order to be with a man. 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. He also said he didnt anticipate the woman being freed anytime soon. In November 2020, Jon Ozmint, former director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, told the New York Post that Smith will always be a manipulative person, its who she is.. 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. While the crime itself was unspeakable as is, the aftermath of the murders of Smith's children, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, created an almost unprecedented media frenzy at the time, a good part of it perpetrated by Smith herself. Defense attorney David Bruck declined to preview his presentation. Refine Your Search Results. Williams testified about a conversation with Susan Smith on Oct. 17, eight days before the murders: "I have a problem," Smith said. For nine days, she made tearful pleas for their safe return. Susan was born on April 2, 1939 in Mansfield, Ohio to William D. and Helen R. (Robinson) Gibson. 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. Never miss a story by signing up for the newsletter now. The following year, Rowe also pleaded guilty to having sex with Smith and was sentenced to five years probation. Mr. Findlay testified that when he called Mrs. Smith's house on one occasion, Mr. Smith snatched the phone from her. Jurors in Susan Smith's murder trial heard the words written by an ex-boyfriend that prosecutors say drove the young mother to kill her two sons: ``I just don't want children.'' In a letter to Smith written a week before 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex were drowned in a lake, Tom Findlay described her as ``intelligent, beautiful, sensitive, understanding.'' It has been hard to listen to lie after lie and not be able to defend myself, the letter read. Ms. Smith's letter (handwritten, not dated): ``Dear Tom, ``Just a note to say thank you for everything. I feel no sorrow for her at all! She seduced us with a carjacking gone wrong two little boys were missing along with their mom's Mazda. After Susan Smith and her ex-husband David separated for the final time around 1994, the young woman soon entered what in the beginning was a consensual relationship with a man named Tom. Shes behaving herself these days, the source said. ``To see unfolded before my eyes the principle of reaping and sowing, to lose Michael and Alex, to see you and (your mother) Linda crushed. When it comes to true crime, some of the cases that seem to shock people the most are also the most incomprehensible. (Cary Findlay . "The company did not do anything.". "It's been a very long, tough roadsome severe depression," he says . Susan told her high school guidance counselor and her mother about the abuse in 1987 when she was 16. As a teenager, Susan was well-liked and outgoing. Inside the car with the bodies of Mrs. Smith's sons -- Michael, 3 years old, and Alex, 14 months -- was a letter from the man she loved telling her that their relationship would never work, in part because of her children. Tom Findlay, according to the Chicago Tribune. Smith, 23, is charged with two counts of murder in the Oct. 25 killings of Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months. He was subsequently fired from his job and spent three months in jail after pleading guilty to the illicit sexual relationship. Christiewho says she looked up to Susan as a mother figurealso claims she witnessed Susans sexual escapades first hand. The version Susan Smith told was a Southern gothic nightmare come true on the evening news. In regard to Cary Findlay giving up his job titles, he said S. Duane Southerland was hired as chief executive so Cary Findlay could spend more time on strategic planning. Era lo . ", Florida migrant flights lawsuit dismissed in wake of Legislature passing law, Editorial Cartoons for Thursday from Times Wire Services, Bucs new coordinator is confident! In 1994, Susan Smith told a tale of being carjacked by a black man who took off with her two young sons in the back seat. Susan will have a chance of parole in November 2024, and at that point shell have been behind the bars for 30 years. By March of 92, the couple separated. Smith wrote David an apology letter which devolved into laments of everyone elses grief taking from her own feelings. The relationship was by no means, normal and the couple was once again separated three weeks after the birth of their second child. I will always treasure our friendship and all of the many wonderful memories we have made. She was strangled by her handler and lover, FBI agent Mark Putnam. Susan Smith (born Susan Vaughan) led a troubled childhood, though nobody at her high school would have noticed. Eventually, Susan Smith was arrested. Susan and David Smith were separated at the time and have since divorced. Revelations about her activity are made in Friday's episode of Lifetime's Cellmate Secrets, narrated by Angie Harmon, which airs tonight at 10 ET/9 CT. (An exclusive clip is shown below.). A newspaper claimed that the sexual relations between them had continued until six months before the murders. 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. 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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. Thomas S. England/Getty ImagesDavid Smith Sr. mourning his grandsons at John D. Long Lake. Ms. Smiths lawyers contend she snapped under unbearable personal pressures and a history of mental illness. Smith hid it well. In March 1988, Russell admitted sexually assaulting Ms. Smith when she was 16, but she and her mother decided not to press charges. ``To see unfolded before my eyes the principle of reaping and sowing, to lose Michael and . I was not in my right mind.. Before the couple got a divorce the two still slept with each other on and off. Smith was not one to quietly let it happen though, instead, she outed him. Roughly a month before the murder, Susan Smith was dating Tom again and planning their future together in her mind. UNION, S.C., July 25 -- A sobbing Susan Smith apologized Tuesday to her ex-husband for killing their children after he twice broke down in tears while testifying in the sentencing phase of her. https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/susan-smith-now. She was sentenced to life in prison and won't be eligible for . However, Susan Smith didnt leave it there. Following the jury's decision, David Smith, expressed his disappointment with the sentence. A lot of people knew Susan.". The prosecution claimed that since she killed her children it was easy for her to gain the sympathy of her former boyfriend Tom Findly. Life in prison would make her eligible for parole in 30 years. (Guess he hasnt seen the game tapes), US Supreme Court refuses to block Florida execution of Donald Dillbeck, Red-hot USF women close out home schedule with explosive offensive showing. Susan Smith, now 34, was 23 and estranged from David on the day she claimed that a black man had taken her car along with the kids Michael, three, and Alex, 14 months. Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury: Who made the most money from their fight? According to aTIME, Smith attempted suicide when she was 13, though her mother and Smith's stepfather "refused" to hospitalize her. The sketch described half of the African American men who lived in the community. The story became international news, even landing on the cover of PEOPLE. ], On July 22, 1995, Smith was convicted of both boys murders and sentenced to life in prison. In 2000, an imprisoned Smith became embroiled in controversy again after allegedly having sex with a prison guard named Houston Cagle. Only time will tell if this will aid in keeping her behind bars for good. The jury has heard embarrassing testimony about Smith's affair with co-worker Tom Findlay and her claim _ which she later recanted _ that she slept with J. Cary Findlay, Tom Findlay's father and Conso's chairman. . Per the source, it's because Smith "knows that her parole date is [a few] years away and she can't get parole if she isn't being good." As the daily interrogation proceeded, the police discovered inconsistencies in Susans story. As the car was pulled from the water, the bodies of Michael and Alex were visible through the side windows. And because of this, Smith has become one of the more divisive and reviled criminals in the pantheon of American true crime, her name a sort of short-hand for the dark, obsessive lengths anyone will go to get what they think they want. Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma/Getty ImagesSusan Smith was convicted of murdering her children on July 22, 1995. "I am far from it. All the conspiracies about this financier, 'Dateline': The insane story behind the Chris Smith murder. The statement of Tom Findlay, graphic arts manager of Conso Products Company in Union, released Friday by Sharon O'Dell, human resources director for the company: "I am devastated by this tragedy. When Susan Smith was sixteen years old her stepfather began to treat her differently he was sexually abusing her. Susan rarely had a stable home life growing up. Id become her guppy.. "A passing love affair," Halleck called it. The letter included reasons to end their relationship, the reasons being differences in their backgrounds. Even now Susan Smith maintains that it was only a temporary, albeit violent, break from her normal mental state that caused her to harm her children. Not surprisingly, Smiths life in prison has been fairly rocky. It's been almost 30 years since Smith was put away behind bars to serve a life sentence, and she is next eligible for parole in 2024. . Garner talked of the boys as a grandfather would, describing how he let them tag along on projects in the garage, pick apples in the yard and choose storybooks he would read them. Findlay put an end to their relationship in the fall of 1994 but not before he told Smith that, per A&E, that part of their breakup had to do with the fact that he didn't want children. Start your free 7-day trial. Susan Smith had two of her own intimate relationships starting in the summer of 1998. 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. It comes with the possibility of parole one that she'll be eligible for in 2024, per the New York Post. Smith was accused of being racist for blaming an invented Black man for her crimes. Almost as soon as they were wed, the Smiths would begin relentlessly arguing and cheating on each other. Until front-office secretary Susan Smith killed her two sons, Conso Products Co. hummed quietly along, rolling out decorative trimmings for chairs, sofas and drapes. According to aPeople report in 2020, a source inside the prison said that Smith is "behaving herself these days." Some think Smith hoped to land one of them. 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. But as police soon began to realize, the story didn't add up. Related To . 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. ", "Something went very wrong that night. After learning about the murder of Susan Smiths children, read about Texas woman Andrea Yates drowning her kids to save them from the Devil. 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. In her final year of high school, she received the Friendliest Female award and was known for her cheerful disposition. Texas woman Andrea Yates drowning her kids to save them from the Devil, Alice Crimmins, the New York mom accused of killing her kids. Her estranged husband, David Smith, appeared on The Oprah Show five years later in an emotional interview. She began sleeping with her boss's son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. David was already engaged to another woman, but he broke it off to pursue a relationship with Smith. Again, Smith tried to get Tom on her side by going to his office, and declaring what she had told him was a lie. Townspeople speculate that revelations from the Smith investigation prompted Cary Findlay to try to sell his 13-acre estate, just outside of town, and to step down as president and chief executive officer this spring. Each infraction has resulted in the loss of privileges, including loss of visitation, canteen and telephone privileges. Lived In Pittsburgh PA, Upper . One of the revelers, Susan Brown, still works at Conso. . 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. Resides in Danville, VA. "I am not the monster society thinks I am," she wrote. The two boys were strapped into their car seats inside the vehicle at the time. Susan Smith. The greeters at Walmart didnt remember seeing her on the night of October 25th. There was no motive, as it was not even a planned event. 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. ``I think the real focus is not the nature of the crime, he said, ``but what is the right thing to do.. While he was on the stand, jurors heard two intimate letters, one Smith wrote to Findlay and one he wrote in return. Initially, there was an outpouring of support for the young mother whose sons had been kidnapped by a mysterious carjacker. Mr. Findlay, who smiled briefly at Mrs. Smith when he took the stand, characterized her as a sweet, loving person, not the monster that the prosecution hopes to portray. Laments of everyone elses grief taking from her own feelings this site, it store. Watch true crime, sign up for our newsletter the story became international,. Source said an imprisoned Smith became embroiled in controversy again after allegedly sex... 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