"Conso is an outlet for fantasy," said Mike Stevens, a commercial printer who does work for Conso. "I am not the monster society thinks I am," she wrote. Starting at a very early age, Susan Smith suffered unspeakable tragedy. 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. She let her car roll down the boat ramp but soon stopped it by pulling the emergency brake. But Cooney said the hilltop estate has been on the market for 18 months. The Susan Smith I know is very caring, very loving, a good friend to everyone, not just me, he said. In the decades since her conviction, Smith has said she regrets her crimes. It comes with the possibility of parole one that she'll be eligible for in 2024, per the New York Post. She says she was often a lookout for Susan when she would have sex with other inmates in the bathroom, cafeteria, shower and even in a dumpster. Excerpts from a letter Susan Smith wrote to Tom Findlay on Oct. 17, and his reply, written the same day and given to her Oct. 18. 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." At trial, Smiths defense lawyers claimed she was severely mentally ill and pointed to her troubled life as cause. Her mother Linda, weeks after her divorce, took up a new relationship. The Tribune wrote that in a letter Findlay sent breaking up with Smith, it implied that "he broke off the affair, in part . She does not deserve to walk on the earth in which she denied her children. Williams testified about a conversation with Susan Smith on Oct. 17, eight days before the murders: "I have a problem," Smith said. . 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. She gained the . Susan Sarandon has seemed like a mature star for decades, but when she first got her start, back in 1970, her first role called for her to lie naked in a bathtub in "Joe." David and Susan Smith had a rocky relationship plagued by mutual infidelity. Leaving them strapped into their car seats, she drove her car into John D. Long Lake, where they drowned to death. Ms. Smith remained stoic during Russells half-hour on the witness stand, but he was choked with emotion. 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On the ninth day of the search, Susan and David appeared on all three national network morning news programs, declaring their innocence and pleading for the return of their children, Alex and Michael. Its frustrating to say the least. As the diver's testimony took the jury under the lake and inside the car, people in the courtroom gasped, some bowed their heads, and Mrs. Smith, charged with murder for drowning her sons by allowing her car to roll down a boat ramp and into the lake, chewed her nails and sobbed without making a sound. As the car was pulled from the water, the bodies of Michael and Alex were visible through the side windows. Susan rarely had a stable home life growing up. All the drama surrounding the duo. In her written confession, Susan Smith claimed that she was suicidal on the evening of October 25th. (AP/Wide World Photos) Findlay admitted seeing Smith three times on that fateful day, and that she had been overwrought. Susan and David married on March 15, 1991, and the couple moved into Davids great-grandmothers house. On October 5, 1994, an unassuming 23-year-old woman named Susan Smith seized the national spotlight when she called police to report that her two children had been kidnapped by an anonymous Black man during a carjacking. Almost a decade later, David says he's doing well. And we know in her right mind she would never have hurt those kids., Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Though shes eligible for parole in just a few short years, it remains unclear whether Smith will be able to convince a parole board to release her, given the severity of her crimes and her prior record of infractions in prison. According to aTIME, Smith attempted suicide when she was 13, though her mother and Smith's stepfather "refused" to hospitalize her. 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. One day in October 1994, Susan Smiths kids, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, joined her for a drive. A lot of people knew Susan.". Findlays testimony also provided another view of Susan Smiths ex-husband, David Smith. Susan Smith, now 50, is keeping herself down now and following the rules in jail. During her trial, her defense tried to present Susan Smith as a woman with a troubled past. The story became international news, even landing on the cover of PEOPLE. Findlay told of an encounter with David Smith in March 1994, when David and Susan were separated and she and Findlay were just starting to date. 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.). The parents loved their son very much, but their personality differences were putting a strain on the marriage. But the sympathy she gained quickly faded as the evidence began to show that she was responsible for her sons' deaths. Five weeks after the divorce, Smiths father killed himself. Tom Findlay, her lover and the boss' son in the office where she worked as a secretary and earned $17,000 a year, had written her the now-infamous letter telling her he was not ready to be a father. "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. 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. The jury deliberated for only two and a half hours, at which point they declared Susan Smith guilty of two counts of murder. 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. Resides in Findlay, OH. A letter. The Susan I knew was not a vindictive person.. Tom Findleythe son of the owner of the company where Smith worked as a secretarywho didn't want children. He also didnt know that his wife had been dumped by a wealthy South Carolina man because he didnt want kids. And David Smith threatened to reveal her sexual relationship with her stepfather, Beverly Russell, she told Findlay two days before the children were killed. Susan Smith slept with two corrections officers in 2000 and 2001, both the officers were convicted and Susan was shifted to another prison. During their breakup, Susan dated her former boyfriend, but when she found out that she was pregnant again, which seemed to bring David and her into clearer focus, the two reunited. Smith was reprimanded by her mom for making the issue public. 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. Smith first made headlines on Oct. 25, 1994, when she told police she had been carjacked by a Black man who had taken off with her two young sons still in her car. That was more important to her than the actual act, Findlay told defense attorney David Bruck during cross-examination. 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. Susan Smith - Victim or Murderer tells the story of the crime that has captured the interest of the American people. The newlywed couple moved in with Davids great grandmother. ``I think the real focus is not the nature of the crime, he said, ``but what is the right thing to do.. who has been on the run for 47 years, was convicted of killing 14-year-old Mary Ellen Deener in 1966. Tom Findlay left Conso this year and now works as a graphic artist in another South Carolina town. Findlay, who The New York Times described at the time of Smith's trial as "the son of a rich industrialist," was indeed connected to the place Smith herself worked. She was sentenced to life in prison and won't be eligible for . He had her removed from the office. In 2000, an imprisoned Smith became embroiled in controversy again after allegedly having sex with a prison guard named Houston Cagle. And Smith already had two sons. 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. Newly resurfaced . "It has very much sent a devastating ripple through Conso and the community," said Jim Cooney, a company attorney. In her final year of high school, she received the Friendliest Female award and was known for her cheerful disposition. Findlay recalled Smith being upset because David knew, or so she thought, some information that he was going to make public that upset her. Its unclear just what this was, while it would later be revealed that Smith had continued having sexual relations with her former stepfather. Each infraction has resulted in the loss of privileges, including loss of visitation, canteen and telephone privileges. 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. Whats more, she told police that a Black man had carjacked her with the children inside. 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 Findlay. Her trial began soon after. Doctors diagnosed her with an adjustment disorder and blamed her behavior on stress. The reason? Susan Leigh Smith (ne Vaughan; born September 26, 1971) is an American woman who was convicted of murdering her two sons, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, in 1994 by drowning them in a South Carolina lake. 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(The racial undertones of Smith's story, which was later proven to be wholly fabricated, were also covered by newspapers like The New York Times.) It is a story that will not go away. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Related To . And for that she was sentenced to life in prison -- with the chance of parole. The idea that she would kill her . But testimony in Smith's murder trial has thrust Union County's biggest employer into the national spotlight. ``My remorse goes way beyond sorrow, getting caught or anything else.. In the latest quarter, the company reported a record net income of $1.4-million on sales of $15.9-million. By November Smith announced she was pregnant again and the marriage had new life in it both literally and figuratively. 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. She is serving a life sentence in Leath Correctional institute in North Carolina after she eventually confessed to the murder of her children. But one of the problems complicating the search was the description Susan Smith had provided. Smith was accused of being racist for blaming an invented Black man for her crimes. Judge William Howard passed a box of tissues to a juror who wept during testimony from Walter Garner, who often cared for the boys with his wife, Barbara, and daughter, Donna Garner. Only time will tell if this will aid in keeping her behind bars for good. Susan Leigh Smith (nee' Vaughan) was an American killer who was responsible for the murders of her two children, Michael Daniel, and Alexander Tyler Smith, on October 24, 1994. [Watch Cellmate Secrets: Susan Smith on Lifetimes site and apps.]. I will always treasure our friendship and all of the many wonderful memories we have made. They portray the drownings as a failed suicide. Back in the 1990s, Susan Smith claimed a Black man kidnapped her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander. Later that year, she attempted suicide yet again. Before Susan Smith had taken more than a few steps up a boat ramp after rolling her car into the lake with her two children strapped inside, she was already wondering what people would think of. "I had to put my light against the window, and peered in," Mr. Morrow testified yesterday in the murder trial of Susan Smith. Tom Findlay is the son of Cary Findlay, president of the company. 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. 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. Born on September 26, 1971, in Union, South Carolina, Susan Leigh Vaughan was the youngest of three children and the only girl. Almost as soon as they were wed, the Smiths would begin relentlessly arguing and cheating on each other. That is so far from the truth. Her mother was worried about potential embarrassment. Well send you all the relevant quizzes, articles, polls, and news you could want to your inbox. Her estranged husband, David Smith, appeared on The Oprah Show five years later in an emotional interview. Soon after the death of her father, her mother married Beverly Russell. All Filters. Soon, doubts about Susan Smiths sincerity grew rapidly. She began sleeping with her boss's son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. 'The Susan Smith Story: A Mother's Confession' is an 'American Justice' episode that chronicles the 1994 tale of a young mother claiming that she had been a victim of a carjacking and the perpetrator had taken off with her two toddler sons still in the car. And is there a possibility that she could set foot into the world again one day as a free woman? "It's been a very long, tough roadsome severe depression," he says . 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. She then reported her car stolen and her children missing, even pretending that a Black man had carjacked her and abducted her sons. (Mrs. Smith later told him that she had fabricated that story, an apparent effort to return some of the pain that he had instilled in her, "as a joke," Mr. Findlay testified.). She told the homeowners her car had been hijacked by a man with her sons inside. He, Joel Guy Jr., 28, murdered and dismembered his parents and attempted to dissolve their bodies in chemicals, after they told, Rachel Barber, 15, was drugged and strangled to death with a telephone cord in an attempt to steal her identity., Jan Broberg was kidnapped by her own neighbor and a good family friend, Robert Berchtold, a churchgoer and a frequent, According to local reports, Shane Goldsby, 26, was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison on Tuesday for the, Mitchell Quy stood and watched as the police searched for his missing wife, and he even joined the search himself., Arne Johnson's trial was the first known court case in the United States in which the defense attempted to prove. But as police soon began to realize, the story didn't add up. I was not myself," she continued. As for Susan Smith, whatever we learn and eventually come to understand about the motivations behind her horrible crime, she will always remain . Her behavior behind bars has only made her more infamous, as shes been caught smoking marijuana and sleeping with a correctional officer. Social Services did very little, and after some family counseling, Bev was welcomed back into the home. "This is an incredibly sad tale," Norwood said. 2. This is what prompted Susan Smith to drown her own children. She told me David knew about a relationship she had had and was going to make it public, Findlay said. After graduating from high school, she then met David Smith, the man who would become the father of her two children. Any mother that takes lives of her own children should rot in hell! 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. ``And yet we love Susan, too. Due to a tumultuous marriage between her parents, full of aggression, they divorced when she was seven years old, and soon after, her father Harry, at the age of 37, committed suicide. Buy White Printed Paisley Print Dress X29087 at LASCANA. Smith believed that getting rid of her children was the only way to please her new lover, Tom Findleythe son of the owner of the company where Smith worked as a secretarywho didnt want children. 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. Susan hadnt been a model prisoner, as she has been disciplined five times for offenses, including for drug uses. However, Susan Smith didnt leave it there. "Union is a small town, and Conso employs a lot of people in that small town. 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. Smith took the breakup badly and attempted a second suicide taking both Tylenol and aspirin together. Later she stated she wanted to kill her sons and herself. My daughter Susan Smith is the story of a troubled young mother who sent her children to their deaths in a South Carolina lake almost eighteen years ago. When her mother Linda married Beverly C. Russell Jr., it seemed the familys luck was looking up. Warning: The following contains disturbing descriptions of violence. ``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. 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. 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. 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. It has been hard to listen to lie after lie and not be able to defend myself, the letter read. Per People, this included "self-mutilation and the use and possession of narcotics or marijuana," and as a result, each infraction cost her "loss of privileges, including loss of visitation, canteen and telephone privileges." Susan D Smith, 44. That 28-year-old witness, Tom Findlay, also wrote that he was afraid that their backgrounds -- he was a child of privilege, she a child of a mill worker who committed suicide when his wife left. Her father died by suicide when Susan was just 6 years old, and Susan herself tried to commit suicide at age 13. Donna Garner is Ms. Smiths closest friend. Not that it justifies a single thing, but her life wasn't easy. She began sleeping with her bosss son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. One of the revelers, Susan. Before the couple got a divorce the two still slept with each other on and off. Plagued by lifelong trauma, she married David Smith at 19 to start a family of her own. [Watch true crime series and documentaries anytime with A&E Crime Central. I was not in my right mind.. As a $17,000-a-year secretary to Cary Findlay, Smith worked for one of Union's wealthiest people. She knows that her parole date is four years away and she cant get parole if she isnt being good., In 2020, Melissa Moore, a crime correspondent for The Dr. Oz Show, said that while communicating with Smith in prison, she realized Smith was a joy to talk to, saying, If she did not commit those crimes, she would be your best friend.. Smith hid it well. Eventually, she sent her car driving into a lake, she watched as the car with her two sons inside sank. Smith and Findley had been dating for a few months after her separation from her . It was later revealed that he had molested Susan when she was a teenager. After her mother remarried, Smiths new stepfather began to molest her. Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. She was a leader in her school's Civitan Club, which was for volunteering to help around the community, and in her senior yearbook she was titled "friendliest female". For seven months they attempted to fix what they had, but during off spells, Smith had an affair with an old boyfriend. Findlay, a slight, balding graphic designer, appeared to exchange a quick half-smile with Smith from the stand during a break in his testimony about their brief fling, which he said began. 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 . He said they had sex. She divulged her ongoing relationship with her stepfather, Bev, and even admitted she had an affair with Toms father. 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. Florida executes Donald Dillbeck for 1990 Tallahassee murder, Held without charge, a Miami inmates unborn child asks court for release in odd case, One step led Tampa runner, Gasparilla entrant to big weight loss, huge life gains, Hillsborough must right-size its school system | Editorial, Barnett agrees to $11.4-million in refunds. The police became suspicious of the inconsistencies in Smiths story, and facts that didnt line up. According to aPeople report in 2020, a source inside the prison said that Smith is "behaving herself these days." Apparently unconvinced by Smiths defense, the jury deliberated for two and a half hours on July 22, 1995, and quickly found her guilty. On national TV, she sobbed as she described the false kidnapping, claiming the man seized control of her car as she waited at a stoplight, then forced her out at gunpoint and drove off with her sons. Under South Carolina law, Smith will be eligible for parole in 30 years, although the notorious nature of her crime makes it unlikely she will ever be released. On October 25, 1994, a mother would commit an unspeakable act. I feel no sorrow for her at all! Findlay, 28, short and balding with a pleasant face, has been the shadowy figure at the center of the Susan Smith mystery. He hadnt. On the third day of the search, there seemed to be a breakthrough. In fact, Smith had drowned her two sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, by launching her car into the local John D. Long Lake. ``We loved those kids like they were our own, Garner said through tears. All Filters. The defense also profited from an unexpected disclosure during Mr. Findlay's testimony. He swore to never do it again and agreed to family therapy, but then kept abusing Susan who revealed as much in February 1988. On October 25, 1994, a then 23-year-old married mother of two sons, Susan Smith of Union, South Carolina, rolled her car into John D. Long Lake with her boys strapped . If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 18007997233 or TTY 18007873224. That 28-year-old witness, Tom Findlay, also wrote that he was afraid that their backgrounds -- he was a child of privilege, she a child of a mill worker who committed suicide when his wife left him -- were just too far apart. 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. The Charlotte brokerage underwrote the company's initial public offering of stock in December 1993. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. It is highly unlikely Susan will make paroleat least not the first time, Ozmint noted. TOM FINDLAY'S TESTIMONY: They got married after only about a year of dating. Meanwhile, David had no idea that she suffered from depression and dependent personality disorder. Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma/Getty ImagesThe funeral of Susan Smiths kids, Michael and Alexander. 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.. Susan Smith: 20 Years Later. He urged a jury Thursday to spare her life, saying he bore some of the responsibility for Ms. Smiths crime. The search gained national attention. In October 1994, Susan Smith called South Carolina police claiming her two sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, were kidnapped when a Black man stole her car. Hulsen also says Smith would get a lot of money from random men and her family. There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. Both Smith and Findlay worked at Conso. Again, Smith tried to get Tom on her side by going to his office, and declaring what she had told him was a lie. 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. Murder of Susan Smith. 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. Lived In Pittsburgh PA, Upper . In an attempt to get a quick confession, police confronted Smith and accused her of being involved in the disappearance of Michael and Alex. Shes very pleasant, very nonconfrontational, very upbeat, always trying to look on the bright side of things. On top of that, Ms. Smith later said that a cause of her depression was her breakup with Conso employee Tom . Defense attorney David Bruck declined to preview his presentation. 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. From Zero to Hero: Write Your Short in 30 days, How to stream the upcoming UFC fights for free, Is Madeleine McCann alive? In this (thankfully) small pool, there are still those that stand out in the minds of the public and perhaps one of the most well-known in the U.S. is convicted murderer Susan Smith, who, per A&E, was found guilty in 1995 for intentionally killing both of her sons.