COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother convicted of killing her two sons by dumping her car in a lake in 1994 with the boys strapped into their seats, will ask the parole board for freedom on Wednesday.
Smith, 53, is serving a life sentence after a jury convicted him of murder but chose not to sentence him to death. Under state law at the time, he was eligible for parole every two years since he had served 30 years in prison.
Smith will make his case for parole to the seven-member parole board via video link from prison. Then she goes abroad and her ex-husband and father of the children, as well as the prosecutor at her murder trial, will argue that she remains incarcerated.
Smith killed three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex because a man she was dating said the boys were the reason they had no future together, prosecutors said.
A decision to grant parole requires a two-thirds vote of the board members present in the court, according to the state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. Parole in South Carolina is granted only about 8% of the time and it is rare for an inmate to appear in court, in high-profile cases or when prosecutors and victims’ families are at odds.
Smith made international headlines in October 1994 when he claimed that a car had been stolen in the middle of the night near Union City and that a man had driven off with his sons inside. Smith, who is white, then said that the car thief was Black.
For nine days, Smith made numerous and sometimes tearful pleas for Michael and Alex to be returned safely. All the while, the boys were in Smith’s car at the bottom of nearby John D. Long Lake, authorities said.
Investigators said Smith’s case did not escalate. Car thieves often just want cars, so investigators questioned why they would let Smith out but not his children. The robot that Smith stopped when his car was taken would only turn red if another car was waiting to cross, Smith said there were no other cars nearby. Some parts of the story don’t make sense.
Smith later confessed to letting his car slide down the boat ramp into the lake. A reconstruction by investigators showed that it took six minutes for the Mazda to submerge under the roof, while cameras inside the car showed water pouring through the vents and slowly rising. The boys’ bodies were found hanging from the car seats, a hand pressed against the window.
The prosecutor said Smith was having an affair with the son of the owner of the business where he worked. He rejected it because he had two sons.
Smith’s lawyers said he was remorseful, mentally challenged and wanted to die with his children but left the car at the last minute.
The 1995 case of the young mother became a national scandal and a true crime landmark even though it was not televised by a judge who was worried about the cameras being used at the OJ Simpson murder trial happening at the same time. His lawyers worked to save his life, noting that Smith’s father had committed suicide and that his stepfather was sleeping with him as well as the owner of the business he worked for.
From prison, Smith can make phone calls and respond to messages, many of which come from journalists and men of interest. The messages and phone calls were released under South Carolina’s open records act, something Smith didn’t initially realize was possible. She said that the invasion of her privacy upset her as well as the public revelation that she was discussing the future with several men.
Some men know why he is famous. Others laugh more. Someone told him that he would use his birthdays and those of his dead sons when he played the Powerball lottery. Others discussed their lives and sports. Many promised him a home abroad and a happy life.
Smith says in some messages she is still crying for her children.
“Today I’m sad and I just want to relax in bed. Today is my son’s youngest birthday, he would have turned 30 today. Hard to believe,” Smith wrote in August 2023.
Smith also had sex with the guards. And she broke prison rules by giving contact information to friends, family members and her ex-husband to a documentary producer who discussed paying her to help him, according to former prosecutor Tommy Pope.
“The jury believed he was given a life sentence and that’s what he should serve,” Pope said last month shortly after the pardon was announced.