Susan Smith’s sons Michael, left, and Alex, right. (The Associated Press/Carolina News & Reporter)
Susan Smith killed her two sons in 1994, then lied on national TV about a Black man carjacking them.
She was sentenced to life in prison when her lies unraveled nine days later in front of millions of viewers.
Now, after 30 years, she is up for parole. Her hearing is scheduled for Nov. 20.
Tommy Pope, South Carolina’s lead prosecutor on the case, told the Carolina News & Reporter recently that parole shouldn’t be an option because the jury didn’t know Smith would be eligible for parole.
“The reason they gave her life is they thought, well, she’d have to be remorseful and think about Micheal and Alex and focus on them for the rest of her life,” Pope said. “The fallacy on that was that she is eligible for parole, and the jury wasn’t able to be told that.”
While incarcerated, Smith has had social-media pen pals, sexual relations with guards and men offering to be her “sugar daddy” and take care of her when she gets out.
“She has not focused on what she did and how it affected others …,” Pope said. “Susan is always focused on Susan.”
On Nov. 3, 1994, Smith confessed to drowning her sons. She strapped them into their car seats, jumped out of her car and let it roll into John D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina.
Smith told sheriff’s deputies she had been carjacked by a Black man who took her two children — 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex.
The manhunt became a national news story, with photos of the two boys flashed across newspapers and TV screens.
Many later weren’t surprised to learn a Black man had been blamed.
The search for the boys went on, with Smith and her estranged husband pleading for their return.
The boy were at the bottom of the lake the entire time.
Pope always found it a little weird that a carjacker had taken her kids.
“That’s the reason they call them a carjacker,” Pope said. “They want your car. Then they might want your money. Then they might want to assault somebody sexually. But no carjackers are taking kids normally.”
Fred Delk, the former public information officer for the city of Union who now lives in Columbia, said the community was looking for clues to help find the boys.
“I mean there were search parties that went on for the entire week,” Delk said. “People were desperately looking for these children.”
Delk said in Union “everyone knew everyone,” and that was the case for Smith. People knew her and recognized her.
“I remember her checking me out in the grocery store line, and I remember her with those boys,” Delk said. “And those two little boys were clean and well cared for.”
It was a terrible thing that happened, and it was a shock to the community, he said.
One of her lawyers argued she suffered from depression. But she was ruled competent to stand trial.
Prosecutors said she killed the boys to have more time with her boyfriend.
William Christopher was working at a radio station in Union at the time and was the one who broke the news about the missing boys.
There were a lot of mixed emotions in Union, he said.
“There were people that wanted the death penalty, and there were plenty of people that felt like she should get life, but not be sentenced to death,” he said. “There were people that felt like it was largely due to other factors like her (alleged) mental illness and the involvement with the stepfather when she was a young teenager.”
Pope unsuccessfully sought the death penalty, which he knew would be difficult because “females rarely get the death penalty.”
“But I thought if the African-American carjacker had committed the crime, the death penalty would almost be expected,” Pope said. “If David Smith, the father, had committed the crime, it would almost be expected. … I just thought whatever the most significant punishment was, … that’s what she deserved.”
David Smith has worked hard to not let Michael and Alex be forgotten.
Pope has talked to him many times over the years. Pope thinks he’s just an average guy who got caught up in “extremely strange circumstances.”
If Smith gets out and returns to Union she may face harassment because of the hatred that people felt during the time after the murders, Christopher said.
Pope said she shouldn’t get out.
“I believe in truth in sentencing, and the jury wanted her to have life,” he said.
