It is hard to understand how a woman could murder her children but that is exactly what Susan Smith did 25 years ago.
On Oct. 25, 1994, she claimed she was carjacked and that a black man took off with her car with her two young sons strapped in their car seats.
Her story fell apart quickly.
Susan and David Smith address reporters Nov. 2, 1994 during a news conference in Union, S.C. They pleaded for the safe return of their sons, 14-month-old Alex, and Michael, 3, who had been missing since an alleged car-jack-kidnapping over a week earlier. (AP photo/Mary Ann Chastain)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nine days later she admitted she let her car roll into John D. Long Lake in Union, S.C., drowning her sons – 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander.
It was another of those tragic cases that had the nation riveted.
“After she made emotional pleas on television for the safe return of her children, the incident gained media attention and sympathy from around the world,” according to biography.com.
A rose is left at Michael and Alex Smith's gravestone Friday, July 28, 1995 at the Bogansville Methodist Church in West Springs, S.C. A jury delivered a sentence of life in prison for Susan Smith for drowning the two boys.(AP Photo/Dave Martin)Associated Press
“Contempt for Smith was overwhelming, not only because of the racial tension ignited for the false accusation of a black man, but because her alleged motive was to get rid of her children in order to carry on a relationship with a wealthy man who wasn’t interested in a woman with sons.”
Investigators at the time had searched the lake but initially only looked about 30 feet from the shore. The car and children’s bodies were found 120 feet from the shore.
Investigators said there were discrepancies and conflicting information in her statements to them.
David and Susan Smith arrive at the Union County Sheriff's office in Union, S.C., Thursday, Oct. 27, 1994. Susan Smith said their children were kidnapped Tuesday night after a carjacker took her car at gun point and told her to get out, but would not release her children. In July 1995, Susan Smith was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found her guilty of drowning her two sons. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Smith and her husband, David, were estranged at the time of the murders. He later divorced her.
During the trial, her stepfather admitted that he had sexually abused her when she was a teenager and again in the months leading up to the death of her sons, according to biography.com.
Susan is serving life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. She is at Leath Correctional Institution in South Carolina. She had previously been held at another prison but was transferred after it was discovered she was having sex with two corrections officers. They were fired.
She will be eligible for parole on Nov. 4, 2024.
This is a view of the graves of Alex and Michael Smith at the Bogansville Methodist Church in West Springs, S.C., on Sunday, July 9, 1995. Their mother Susan Smith goes on trial in nearby Union, S.C. on Monday on charges of drowning the two youths in 1994. (AP Photo/Ruth Fremson)ASSOCIATED PRESS
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