Susan Smith Drowned Her Children In A Lake To Be With Her New Lover

Susan Leigh Smith was born in the United States on September 26, 1971. In 1994, she drowned her two sons, Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months, in a lake in South Carolina.

On October 25, 1994, Smith told police that a black man stole her car and drove away while her sons were still in it. The investigation showed that the police never believed Smith's story and thought she killed her sons. By the second day of their search, the police thought she knew where they were and hoped they were still alive.

She made dramatic pleas on national TV for their safe return for nine days.

But after a long investigation and a search across the country, she admitted on November 3, 1994, that she had let her car roll into nearby John D. Long Lake and drowned them in it.

It was said that her goal was to help her get together with a wealthy local man named Tom Findlay. Before the murders, he sent Smith a letter breaking up with her and saying he didn't want kids. She said that there was no reason for the killings and that she did not plan them. She also said that she was not in her right mind.

Investigators started looking for the bodies in nearby lakes and ponds, including John D. Long Lake, where they were eventually found.

Susan's Early Life

Beginning at a very young age, Susan Smith endured unimaginable suffering. Her father committed suicide when she was barely six years old, and at age 13, she attempted to do the same. Once Smith's mother remarried, her new stepfather began to sexually abuse her. She married David Smith at the age of 19 in order to have her own family, despite being plagued by trauma her entire life.

The relationship between David and Susan Smith was marred by mutual adultery.

Trial and Sentencing

The defense said that Smith drove to the lake's edge to kill herself and her two sons, but her body rolled out of the car on its own.

On the other hand, the prosecution thought she killed her sons so she could start a new life with an ex-lover. The jury didn't need more than two and a half hours to convict her of murdering her children. During the sentencing phase of the Smith case, the main prosecutor fought hard for Smith to be put to death. In the end, the jury decided not to give her the death penalty. Smith was given a life sentence with a 30-year parole eligibility period.

Smith was initially locked up at the Administrative Segregation Unit of the Camille Griffin Graham Prison in Columbia, South Carolina.

Two correctional officers, Lieutenant Houston Cagle and Captain Alfred R. Rowe Jr., were charged with having sex with Smith while she was in the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution. She was sent to the Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood because of this.

In November 2024, she will be eligible for parole.

Smith's ex-husband and the boys' father told PEOPLE in 2010 that the pain has never gone away. David Smith said, "There's always this nagging and gnawing heartache." "It's always there, even if I am not conscious of  it."

People got a hold of letters Smith had written to a long-distance boyfriend, in which she said she wanted to marry him if she got out of jail.

A family member of Smith told PEOPLE, "She's imagining what a normal married life would be like." "She wants everything she thinks she missed out on in life."

Parts of two letters she sent to the man. In one letter, Smith said, "I can't wait to build a life with you." "Leave the past behind, just you and me, and start over."

References and Further Reading:

Susan Smith, in Prison for Killing Her 2 Kids, Is 'No Longer Corresponding' with Long-Distance Boyfriend

Susan Smith, Serving Life Term for Killing Her 2 Kids in 1994, Sends 'Romantic' Letters to New Boyfriend