At least 10 Conso employees were subpoenaed as possible witnesses, and five have testified in the trial. "Conso is one fine small company," said Kay Norwood, a textile analyst for Interstate/Johnson Lane. But more than the physical pleasure, he said, she loved. 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 is eligible for parole in 2024. A death sentence means a choice of electrocution or injection. Tom was her bosss son, and rather rich. Prosecutor Tommy Pope told reporters he would try in closing arguments to emphasize the character of the crime. Everything came to a head on October 5, 1994, when Smith took her sons out for a ride on a South Carolina night. A former state Republican Party executive committee member and Christian Coalition leader, Russell sobbed while jurors watched a videotape of him playing with Alex. The motive behind Susan Smiths murdering her children was indeed a shocking one. According to aTIME, Smith attempted suicide when she was 13, though her mother and Smith's stepfather "refused" to hospitalize her. . "I've seen Susan do everything. Smith and Findley had been dating for a few months after her separation from her . Susan was working at the local grocery store when she began a relationship with a co-worker and high school friend named David Smith. She claimed it wasnt her lovers demands that prompted the violent acts, writing: The thing that hurts me the most is that people think that I hurt my children in order to be with a man. On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith trapped her 3-year-old son Michael and 14-month old son Alex in her car and rolled them into John D. Long Lake in Union County. "Union is a small town, and Conso employs a lot of people in that small town. Online Exclusive Wife of Former Prison Guard Who Had Affair With Child Killer Susan Smith Speaks Out The wife of a former prison guard is speaking out about his past sexual affair behind bars. Back in the 1990s, Susan Smith claimed a Black man kidnapped her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander. Her mother was worried about potential embarrassment. Smith was cited as having strange reactions for a grieving mother, being overly concerned about her appearance before going on television, and even sometimes asking about Tom Findlay. She began sleeping with her boss's son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. On the third day of the search, there seemed to be a breakthrough. However, after a nine-day . After her mother remarried, Smiths new stepfather began to molest her. Before the couple got a divorce the two still slept with each other on and off. 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. Apparently unconvinced by Smiths defense, the jury deliberated for two and a half hours on July 22, 1995, and quickly found her guilty. My main purpose was to bring her pills. [Watch true crime series and documentaries anytime with A&E Crime Central. On Thursday, November 3rd, Susan told the police that her children were not alright and fell to the floor sobbing. Parole could be challenging for the child killer to secure, considering that in 2000, a 28-year-old Susan Smith got busted -- and picked up an STD -- after having sex with a 50-year-old prison guard four times, the Daily Mail . Susan Smith, born Susan Leigh Vaughan on September 26, 1971, in Union, South Carolina. Findlay testified as a prosecution witness, but his sympathetic testimony may have helped the defense. Gifts processed in this system are not tax deductible, but are predominately used to help meet the local financial requirements needed to receive national matching-grant funds. [2] She thought he tapped her phones and followed her. Her sentence? ``We loved those kids like they were our own, Garner said through tears. Weeks after the birth of the second child, Alexander, the couple called it quits once more. By March of 92, the couple separated. Updated: 8:42 AM EDT July 18, 2003. Era lo . Findlay painted a picture of Susan Smith as a good friend and caring mother who was also suicidal and unstable. Id become her guppy.. 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. The following year, Rowe also pleaded guilty to having sex with Smith and was sentenced to five years probation. Divorced now and selling the brick ranch house where Smith grew up, the 54-year-old mother and grandmother who has been portrayed as cold, controlling and hard-edged is showing her emotional. In addition to Findlay, several other Conso Products employees testified. During her trial, her defense tried to present Susan Smith as a woman with a troubled past. 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. Susan Smith murdered her young sons in 1994. Chances are you or someone you love has experienced what its like to be a caregiver while juggling lifes bills and responsibilities. Then, learn about Alice Crimmins, the New York mom accused of killing her kids. . Resides in Findlay, OH. But the rich, handsome 27-years-old broke things off with her in October writing Smith a letter clarifying he wasnt ready for a relationship involving kids. 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. 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. She ran to a nearby house acting frantic. Refine Your Search Results. Findlay painted a picture of Susan Smith as a good friend and caring mother who was also suicidal and unstable. Those children had a right to enjoy life, and she had no right to take life from them! Susan Smith, the mother who drowned her two sons in a lake in 1994 has been sending romantic letters to her boyfriends from the South Carolina prison where she is serving a life sentence. "Conso is an outlet for fantasy," said Mike Stevens, a commercial printer who does work for Conso. On October 17, 1994, just days before Susan and Davids divorce papers were filed, Tom Findlay sent a Dear John letter to Susan. [.] She pleaded for the safe return of her boys, 14-month-old Alexander and. Only time will tell if this will aid in keeping her behind bars for good. ", "Something went very wrong that night. They got married after only about a year of dating. Susan Smith's childhood was disturbing. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. The authorities questioned both Susan and David Smith in hopes of getting some answers. Ive seen her do it all, Christie says. Later, another prison worker, Alfred Rowe, pleaded guilty to an illegal sexual relationship with Smith. When her mother Linda married Beverly C. Russell Jr., it seemed the familys luck was looking up. While the police and FBI continued their search, Susan and David stayed with their families. It drew countless visitors who wanted to take pictures or leave flowers for the boys, and in 1996, its grim reputation darkened even more when seven people (including four kids) drowned there, after stopping to look at the two kids memorials. He said they had sex. 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. Findlay, 28, short and balding with a pleasant face, has been the shadowy figure at the center of the Susan Smith mystery. Putnam was the first FBI agent to be charged in a homicide. Susan and David Smith were separated at the time and have since divorced. UNION, S.C. (AP) _ Years after admitting he molested his stepdaughter Susan Smith when she was 16, Beverly Russell testified that they had consensual sex two months before she drowned her sons. All Rights Reserved. People Magazine. Findley had reportedly ended their romance just days before Smith committed the crimes. Roughly a month before the murder, Susan Smith was dating Tom again and planning their future together in her mind. Susan Smith told the police that the car and the children were at the bottom of John Ds long lake. Keep on scrolling to find out more. Hours later, she called emergency services, frantic, and alleged that an unknown Black man had kidnapped three-year-old Michael and Alex, who had only celebrated his first birthday two months prior. '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. Five weeks after the divorce, Smiths father killed himself. But eventually, her lies came crashing down and the horrible truth about what happened to Susan Smiths children was revealed. Print length 239 pages Language English Publisher Pinnacle Publication date August 1, 1996 Dimensions 4.25 x 0.75 x 7 inches ISBN-10 A car matching the description of Susans Mazda was spotted in North Carolina, but it was not her car. Texas woman Andrea Yates drowning her kids to save them from the Devil, Alice Crimmins, the New York mom accused of killing her kids. 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. 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. What Is Chris Watts Life in Prison Like? Copyright 2023, The Spokesman-Review | Community Guidelines | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy, Ghislaine Maxwell appeals conviction, argues she was unfair proxy for Jeffrey Epstein to satisfy public outrage over financiers jail suicide, Georgia prisons see unprecedented number of suicides , Greece in mourning after dozens die in head-on train collision , Police: UGA football staffer drunk, traveling 104 mph before fatal crash , Brothers who crashed a wedding reception are convicted of beating the groom to death , Spokane rape kit leads to cold case arrest in 1979 Lake Tahoe killing, Stephanie Vigil, longtime KHQ-TV news anchor, announces June departure to travel and start pickleball clothier, Anton Watson produces another all-around effort on Gonzaga's Senior Night, Recap and highlights: Gonzaga's seniors lead the way in 104-65 rout of Chicago State. The Charlotte brokerage underwrote the company's initial public offering of stock in December 1993. Her motive: She was secretly dating a man who didn't want children. Susan Smith (born Susan Vaughan) led a troubled childhood, though nobody at her high school would have noticed. 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. One of the revelers, Susan. However, support would soon turn to . Smith was reprimanded by her mom for making the issue public. When Susan Smith was sixteen years old her stepfather began to treat her differently he was sexually abusing her. He got on the phone and screamed at Findlay: Dont you talk with my wife, you son of a bitch. Each infraction has resulted in the loss of privileges, including loss of visitation, canteen and telephone privileges. 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. For nine days, she made tearful pleas for their safe return. Her father killed himself when she was just six years old, and she tried to follow suit at age 13. "It has very much sent a devastating ripple through Conso and the community," said Jim Cooney, a company attorney. The inconsistencies grew more and more, and on the eighth day, Susan changed her written statement, when police confronted her with a new reason, why her version of the supposed abduction didnt add up. Though the then-teenager reported the ongoing sexual abuse twice to her high school counselor the first of which resulted in a brief separation between her stepfather, Beverly "Bev" Russell, Jr., who was a "prominent" member of the South Carolina Republican party, per TIME, and the state's Christian Coalition organization the charges were dropped. Convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, Susan Smith was sentenced to life in prison. 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." They both came from families tormented by tragedy. 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. What Made a Mother Kill Her Young Son by Dropping Him Off a Bridge? Susan said that there were no cars in the intersection when the black man came and took her car away, but that light would only turn red for the direction she was traveling if there was cross traffic.. After graduating from high school, she then met David Smith, the man who would become the father of her two children. Christie Smith claims that while at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood County, South Carolina, she witnessed Susans drug habit first hand. 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. The catch? After getting to the location, divers found the car 122 feet from the shore upside down under 18 feet of water. For nine days a search for her children took place. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Javed Iqbal, a Pakistani serial killer who killed exactly 100 young boys, ranging from age 6 to 16. From the moment Susan reported her kids missing, a nationwide search began for her car. This is what prompted Susan Smith to drown her own children. 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. In January 1994, Susan and Tom began dating casually, but soon Susan was back with her husband David, and that again led to the couple wanting a divorce. They married on March 15th in 1991 due to Smith being pregnant. Susan navigated that grief by keeping his coin collection and an audio recording of her fathers voice, but tried to kill herself at 13. 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. In the letter she claimed that she intended to kill herself with her children, but she changed her plan in the final moment. 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. 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. Later, she got out of the car, released the brake, and let it roll down the ramp into the lake. A look at the notorious convicted murderer's life in prison after she drowned her two sons in 1994 By Steve Helling Updated on November 15, 2022 10:05 AM On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith told. (AP/Wide World Photos) Findlay admitted seeing Smith three times on that fateful day, and that she had been overwrought. Susan se enamor -perdidamente sera la palabra que mejor describe lo que sinti- de Tom Findlay, un diseador de 27 aos que, adems de trabajar con ella, era el hijo de su jefe. Christiewho says she looked up to Susan as a mother figurealso claims she witnessed Susans sexual escapades first hand. For. She would ultimately find a partner in David Smith, a fellow Winn-Dixie supermarket worker who was raised a Jehovahs Witness by strict parents. It drew countless visitors who wanted to take . In 2000, Smith was disciplined for having sex four times with 50-year-old prison guard Houston Cagle. Ms. Smiths lawyers contend she snapped under unbearable personal pressures and a history of mental illness. As Susan Smith and Findlay talked on the phone, David Smith jumped out of the closet. Fast forward to October 25, 1994. Though Smith was considered an intelligent and popular student among her peers, officials at her high school knew otherwise. The prosecution claimed that since she killed her children it was easy for her to gain the sympathy of her former boyfriend Tom Findly. Shes very pleasant, very nonconfrontational, very upbeat, always trying to look on the bright side of things. Tom Findlay, Susan Smith's ex-lover, started a new life in Birmingham, Ala. Cary Findlay, who is Tom Findlay's father and Susan Smith's former employer, let his mansion become a. Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens. Ms. Smith remained stoic during Russells half-hour on the witness stand, but he was choked with emotion. Although the high-pressure jobs have contributed to the breakup of some marriages, they are considered among the best in Union. 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. A lot of people knew Susan.". The greeters at Walmart didnt remember seeing her on the night of October 25th. Life in prison would make her eligible for parole in 30 years. David Smith describes his marriage with convicted murderer Susan, his coming to terms with the tragedy that cost him his two young sons, and the painful healing process of putting his life back together. Smith's incarceration has been marred by disciplinary infractions involving drug use and sex with prison employees. And Smith already had two sons. 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. On that occasion, Mr. Findlay said, Mr. Smith threatened to hurt him if he ever called again. According to a prison source who talked to People last year, Smith is currently on a better path at Leath in anticipation of her possible 2024 parole. There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. As a $17,000-a-year secretary to Cary Findlay, Smith worked for one of Union's wealthiest people. The parents loved their son very much, but their personality differences were putting a strain on the marriage. Williams testified about a conversation with Susan Smith on Oct. 17, eight days before the murders: "I have a problem," Smith said. After breaking up with David, Susan started working as a bookkeeper at the largest employer in the area, Conso Products. But in 1994, she destroyed her own family when she murdered her children. Related To . 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. Print length 304 pages Language English Publisher Authors Book Nook Publication date January 1, 2000 Dimensions 28 year old Tom Findlay had no idea when he began a relationship with Susan Smith, who worked within his father's company, that his name would be irrevocably linked with a tragedy that horrified the state, the nation, and many around the world. In an attempt to get a quick confession, police confronted Smith and accused her of being involved in the disappearance of Michael and Alex. Born on September 26, 1971, in Union, South Carolina, Susan Leigh Vaughan was the youngest of three children and the only girl. While following other leads about the supposed black carjacker. While the crime itself was unspeakable as is, the aftermath of the murders of Smith's children, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, created an almost unprecedented media frenzy at the time, a good part of it perpetrated by Smith herself. ], On July 22, 1995, Smith was convicted of both boys murders and sentenced to life in prison. Snort, booty bump, swallow, shoot. Smith was not one to quietly let it happen though, instead, she outed him. Tom Findleythe son of the owner of the company where Smith worked as a secretarywho didn't want children. Im gonna get you.. The couple were very co-dependent on one another, the early days of their marriage being filled with comforting one another over their losses. Per NBC, their marriage was marred by periods of separation, which ended in a final, though unofficial, split and laid the groundwork for what was to come. Later that day, Susan met the police behind the local church and finally broke down. Susan Knick Smith, 67. She then reported her car stolen and her children missing, even pretending that a Black man had carjacked her and abducted her sons. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. She is now working as a ward keeper assistant and interacts sparingly with other guards and inmates. I was not in my right mind. She also noted, in something of a contradiction, that she had planned to kill myself first and leave a note behind telling what had happened., In the same letter, Smith also wrote that shed concocted the false story about the kids abductions because she didnt know how to tell the people who loved Michael & Alex that they would never see them again.. She says, You never know what someone is going through. However, she had a change of heart during filming when she received more details about Smiths crimes. 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." But the defense may have also profited from his testimony. The story became international news, even landing on the cover of PEOPLE. Shes behaving herself these days, the source said. According to jail records reviewed by People magazine, Smith has committed a number of infractions while behind bars, ranging from drug-use issues to self-harm, and has lost a variety of privileges for these infractions (such as loss of phone, canteen and visitation privileges). And for that she was sentenced to life in prison -- with the chance of parole. A divorced father of three, Russell was a thriving stockbroker, and a member of both South Carolinas Republican community and the Christian Coalition. If youre fascinated by the world of true crime, sign up for our newsletter. Unless all 12 jurors vote for a death sentence, Ms. Smith, 23, will receive life in prison. Susan Smith (ne Daniels 1961 [3] - June 8, 1989) was an American FBI informant.

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