Despite the animosity in the marriage both parents were seen as devoted to the children. Meet Gladys Presley, Elvis Presley's Mother And The 'Love Of His Life', The Baffling Mystery Of What Happened To John F. Kennedy's Brain, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. "I've seen Susan do everything. She tried anything she could think of to get him back. Chances are you or someone you love has experienced what its like to be a caregiver while juggling lifes bills and responsibilities. They portray the drownings as a failed suicide. He urged a jury Thursday to spare her life, saying he bore some of the responsibility for Ms. Smiths crime. A letter. Susan Smith Trial: 1995 . "I am not the monster society thinks I am," she wrote. Even one of the more curious moments of their relationship -- her telling him on the day of the drownings that she had once slept with his father -- did not seem to have left him with any ill will toward her. 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. https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/susan-smith-now. In the decades since her conviction, Smith has said she regrets her crimes. All the conspiracies about this financier, 'Dateline': The insane story behind the Chris Smith murder. Warning: The following contains disturbing descriptions of violence. 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. When Susan Smith was sixteen years old her stepfather began to treat her differently he was sexually abusing her. Susan Smith: 20 Years Later. Findlay painted a picture of Susan Smith as a good friend and caring mother who was also suicidal and unstable. Starting at a very early age, Susan Smith suffered unspeakable tragedy. Updated: 8:42 AM EDT July 18, 2003. Start your free 7-day trial. In her free time she writes, cuddles with kitties, makes YouTube videos, and pretends she knows how to paint. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Cellmate Secrets: Susan Smith will air tonight at 10 ET/9 CT on Lifetime following the enhanced edition of the original Lifetime movie Doomsday Mom: The Lori Vallow Story at 8 ET/7 CT. When Susan Smiths ex-boyfriend Tom Findlay climbed onto the witness stand Wednesday afternoon, he glanced quickly at her and smiled kindly. In her written confession, Susan Smith claimed that she was suicidal on the evening of October 25th. Lived In Pittsburgh PA, Upper . Prosecutor Tommy Pope told reporters he would try in closing arguments to emphasize the character of the crime. She attended and graduated from Lexington High School in 1957. On top of that, Ms. Smith later said that a cause of her depression was her breakup with Conso employee Tom . 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. Later that year, she attempted suicide yet again. 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. In her letter to The State, she wrote, I am not the monster society thinks I am, I am far from it., Something went very wrong that night. Smith's incarceration has been marred by disciplinary infractions involving drug use and sex with prison employees. 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.. Murder of Susan Smith. ``We loved those kids like they were our own, Garner said through tears. Tom had caught Smith in a hot tub while making out with someone elses husband at a party. If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit RAINN.org for additional resources. TOM FINDLAY'S TESTIMONY: One of the revelers, Susan Brown, still works at Conso. I feel no sorrow for her at all! Susan was secretly dating a man who didnt want children, so she decided to kill her 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. If youre fascinated by the world of true crime, sign up for our newsletter. In November 2020, Jon Ozmint, former director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, told the New York Post that Smith will always be a manipulative person, its who she is.. In October of 1991, the Smiths welcomed their first son into the world and named him Michael. Russell was one of several relatives and friends to testify on behalf of Ms. Smith, who was convicted Saturday of rolling her car into a lake Oct. 25 with 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex strapped in their car seats. Id become her guppy.. Javed Iqbal, a Pakistani serial killer who killed exactly 100 young boys, ranging from age 6 to 16. At least 10 Conso employees were subpoenaed as possible witnesses, and five have testified in the trial. Unbeknownst to Smith, Tom was also preparing to break up with her. Smith was not one to quietly let it happen though, instead, she outed him. ``And yet we love Susan, too. Fast forward to October 25, 1994. I was not myself, I was a good mother and I loved my boys. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Tom Findlay, according to the Chicago Tribune. America's original most-hated mom Susan Smith was found in a pool of blood in her prison cell after she slashed her wrists during one of her bizarre cutting rituals, according to reports. 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. Though Smith was considered an intelligent and popular student among her peers, officials at her high school knew otherwise. All Rights Reserved. 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. The man she wrote about was a graphic artist named Tom Findlay, who enthralled the court with details of a stormy relationship that came to a head on October 25, 1994. . When it comes to true crime, some of the cases that seem to shock people the most are also the most incomprehensible. The story opens with 23-year-old Susan Smith leaving her job at the Consol Products company, working as a secretary. According to aTIME, Smith attempted suicide when she was 13, though her mother and Smith's stepfather "refused" to hospitalize her. 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. . Later, she got out of the car, released the brake, and let it roll down the ramp into the lake. She seduced us with a carjacking gone wrong two little boys were missing along with their mom's Mazda. This horrified Tom even more. After almost a week of searching, Susan and David Smith appeared before the cameras, and once again Susan Smith pleaded and asked her children to stay strong. Newly resurfaced . Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens. 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. From the moment Susan reported her kids missing, a nationwide search began for her car. The ex-husband of convicted child-killer SusanSmith has remarried and has two new children.David Smith appeared on C-N-N's "Larry King Live," last night. Christie Smith, her former cellmate, says Smith paid her to procure drugs. As the murder trial of Susan Smith begins this week in Union, Judge William L. Howard Jr., who is barring all cameras from the courtroom, has indicated that the proceedings will not come to. Ive seen her do it all, Christie says. The thing that hurts me the most is that people think that I hurt my children in order to be with a man. But in the end, Susan Smith chose murder. She made a tearful plea on national television for their safe return. The residents did their part too. 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. 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. Smith became obsessive about Tom. 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. Any mother that takes lives of her own children should rot in hell! She began sleeping with her bosss son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. A newspaper claimed that the sexual relations between them had continued until six months before the murders. But more than the physical pleasure, he said, she loved feeling close, being held. (Cary Findlay . Her sentence? Susan was born on April 2, 1939 in Mansfield, Ohio to William D. and Helen R. (Robinson) Gibson. One of the revelers, Susan. Ostensibly, one for the remainder of her life. 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. On cross-examination, Mrs. Smith's lawyer, David Bruck, asked Mr. Findlay whether he had ever had reason to believe that Mrs. Smith would harm her children to win him back. Lead prosecutor Thomas Pope painted a very different picture. He also said he didnt anticipate the woman being freed anytime soon. She had a guy she was seeing and he used to fly up [to the prison] to see her. she says. She told the homeowners her car had been hijacked by a man with her sons inside. While juggling multiple lovers Smith became pregnant and got an abortion. That night Susan Smith called a friend who she knew Tom was having dinner with, to ask if he spoke of her. Fox, 82, of Findlay died at 3:39 p.m. on Saturday, January 22, 2022 at the Bridge Hospice Care Center surrounded by her loving family. Almost as soon as they were wed, the Smiths would begin relentlessly arguing and cheating on each other. 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. What Made a Mother Kill Her Young Son by Dropping Him Off a Bridge? Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury: Who made the most money from their fight? 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 . As for Susan Smith, whatever we learn and eventually come to understand about the motivations behind her horrible crime, she will always remain . She was strangled by her handler and lover, FBI agent Mark Putnam. I will always treasure our friendship and all of the many wonderful memories we have made. They married on March 15th in 1991 due to Smith being pregnant. I could never express in words how much you mean to me. Eventually, Christie realized that Susan was a master manipulator and they grew apart. UNION, S.C., July 25 -- A sobbing Susan Smith apologized Tuesday to her ex-husband for killing their children after he twice broke down in tears while testifying in the sentencing phase of her. Weeks after the birth of the second child, Alexander, the couple called it quits once more. During her trial, her defense tried to present Susan Smith as a woman with a troubled past. And is there a possibility that she could set foot into the world again one day as a free woman? She is not God!! 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. Questions and issues about this case can be found in conversation across the United States. Texas woman Andrea Yates drowning her kids to save them from the Devil, Alice Crimmins, the New York mom accused of killing her kids. 'He told me, 'Watch your back,'' Findlay said. Her stepfatherbegan sexually abusing her during her high school years, per the outlet. Inside Susan Smith's Life In Prison Today, were also covered by newspapers like The New York Times. "The company realizes that what happens has to be played out in the courts and that it does not have anything to do with Conso or its business," Cooney said. For nine days, she stuck to the story that a black carjacker abducted the children on a dark, desolate stretch of country road. Initially, there was an outpouring of support for the young mother whose sons had been kidnapped by a mysterious carjacker. Findlay testified as a prosecution witness, but his sympathetic testimony may have helped the defense. Then, learn about Alice Crimmins, the New York mom accused of killing her kids. Smith has spent more than half of her life in prison. Everything to Know About the Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult Leader, The True Story Behind Hulu's 'Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence', Susan Smith, in Jail for Killing Her 2 Kids, Tells New Boyfriend She Wants To 'Start Fresh' if She's Paroled, Texas Woman Accused of Strangling Best Friend, Then Stealing Her Newborn Girl Expected to Plead Guilty, Susan Smith, Serving Life Term for Killing Her 2 Kids in 1994, Sends 'Romantic' Letters to New Boyfriend, Susan Smith, in Jail for Killing Her Kids, 'Is Talking Marriage' with New Boyfriend After Release, Everything to Know About 'Real Housewives' Star Jen Shah's Fraud Case.