Susan Smith Documentary: Trial, Motive, and Parole Denial

The Susan Smith case is the 1994 South Carolina murder in which a 23-year-old mother drowned her two young sons by letting her car roll into a lake with them strapped inside, then spent nine days telling police a Black man had carjacked her and taken the children. Smith confessed on November 3, 1994, was convicted of two counts of murder in July 1995, and is serving a life sentence at the Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood County. In November 2024, the South Carolina parole board unanimously denied her first bid for release.

What Happened at John D. Long Lake

On the evening of October 25, 1994, Smith drove her Mazda sedan to a boat ramp at John D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina. Her sons were in the back seat: three-year-old Michael and fourteen-month-old Alexander, both buckled into their car seats. She released the parking brake and let the car roll down the ramp into the water. Investigators later determined it floated for roughly six minutes before sinking.¹

Smith walked to a nearby house and told police she had been carjacked by a Black man who drove off with her children. For nine days she repeated the story, appearing at tearful press events alongside her estranged husband, David Smith, and pleading for the boys’ return. Union residents held vigils and printed flyers. The FBI joined a nationwide manhunt.²

Investigators quickly found holes in the account. The carjacking could not have occurred at the intersection Smith described, and the friend she claimed to have been visiting had not been home that night. On November 3, 1994, Smith confessed. Divers pulled the Mazda from the lake with both boys still strapped in their seats.²

The False Accusation and Its Racial Weight

Smith’s story worked, for a time, because it drew on a long American pattern. Civil rights attorney Gloria Browne-Marshall described the accusation as part of a “racist phenomenon” in which white women falsely accused Black men of crimes, relying on assumptions about Black criminality to make the story believable.¹ ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire compared the tactic to the dynamics of the Emmett Till case, calling it a weaponization of the “bogeyman” trope.²

Lead prosecutor Tommy Pope later said he was “haunted” by what might have happened if Smith had named a specific person, calling it “terrifying to think if she had really named somebody.” After the confession, Smith’s family issued a public apology to the Black community, with her brother acknowledging it was “really disturbing to think that this would be a racial issue.”¹

The Motive: A Letter From Tom Findlay

Prosecutors built the case around a relationship Smith had been pursuing with Tom Findlay, the son of the owner of the company where she worked. One week before the murders, Findlay wrote to her plainly: “There are some things about you that aren’t suited for me. Yes, I’m talking about your children.”³

Smith had written to Findlay the day before that response, saying she would “always love and care for you for the rest of my life.” The state’s theory was that she killed her sons because she believed they were the obstacle standing between her and a future with him. Testifying at trial, Findlay described Smith as “very caring, very loving” and said he believed she had become suicidal after he ended things.³

The 1995 Trial

Susan and David Smith divorced in May 1995. The murder trial began that July at the Union County Courthouse before Circuit Judge William Howard.⁴

The Prosecution

Prosecutors led by 16th Circuit Solicitor Tommy Pope argued the murders were premeditated and driven by Smith’s desire to keep Findlay. They pointed to his letter as the trigger and to items found in the car’s trunk, including a wedding album and dress, as evidence she was deliberately severing ties with her old life.⁵ The state sought the death penalty.

The Defense

Defense attorneys David Bruck and Judy Clarke argued that Smith was an emotionally broken woman who had attempted suicide and failed to go through with her own death. Clarke told jurors Smith had intended to die alongside her children but “got frightened” and pulled the parking brake at the last moment.⁶

The defense presented Smith as shaped by lifelong trauma. Her father had died by suicide when she was six, and her family had a documented history of depression and suicide attempts. Defense psychiatrist Seymour Halleck of the University of North Carolina diagnosed her with dependent personality disorder and testified that she suffered from severe depression and suicidal thoughts in the months before the killings. He described a cycle in which Smith sought relief from loneliness through sexual relationships, only to have the resulting guilt deepen her depression.⁷

The most striking defense witness was Beverly Russell, Smith’s stepfather and a former member of the South Carolina Republican Party executive committee. Russell admitted he had begun molesting Smith when she was 15. A teacher reported the abuse, and Russell confessed to authorities, but no charges were filed after the family agreed to counseling.⁸ Under cross-examination, Russell acknowledged he had resumed a sexual relationship with Smith in 1993, with their last encounter occurring in August 1994, two months before the murders.⁹ He read a letter in open court telling his stepdaughter: “You don’t have all the guilt in this tragedy. My heart breaks for what I have done to you.” Russell had mortgaged his home to help pay for her defense.¹⁰

The Verdict and Sentence

The jury took 90 minutes to convict Smith of two counts of murder on July 22, 1995.¹¹ During the penalty phase, Judy Clarke asked the jury to see “sadness” rather than “evil,” saying “the only two people who loved her unconditionally are gone.”¹² The jury rejected the death penalty and sentenced her to life. She was booked at the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution that same month.

Three Decades Behind Bars

Smith’s incarceration has been marked by repeated disciplinary problems. In 2000, prison guard Houston Cagle was fired and later pleaded guilty to two counts of intercourse with an inmate, admitting he had sex with Smith on four occasions. He received three months in jail, five years of probation, and 250 hours of community service. The investigation led to a second case: Captain Alfred Rowe, a 13-year veteran of the corrections department, was arrested after confessing to sexual contact with Smith between July and August 2000. He pleaded guilty and received five years of probation.¹³ Under South Carolina law, sexual activity between prisoners and staff is a crime because inmates are considered incapable of consenting to sex with those who hold authority over them.

Smith was transferred to the Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood County and barred from receiving visitors for a year.¹⁴ Other infractions followed: a contraband razor in 1997, multiple 2010 citations for drug use and self-mutilation, unauthorized use of an inmate PIN in 2012, and another drug-use citation in 2015. A judge rejected a handwritten motion from Smith seeking a new trial in 2010.¹¹

In August 2024, corrections officials discovered Smith had been conducting unauthorized phone interviews with a documentary filmmaker about her crimes. She had agreed to provide contact information for friends, family, and victims, including David Smith, and the filmmaker had deposited money into her prison account.¹⁵ She was convicted at an internal hearing on October 3, 2024, and lost telephone, tablet, and canteen privileges for 90 days.¹⁶

Parole Denied in November 2024

Smith became parole-eligible after 30 years, reaching that milestone on November 4, 2024. On November 20, 2024, she appeared by video before the South Carolina Board of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services for her first parole hearing. The board voted unanimously to deny release, citing the violent nature of the crime and her disciplinary record.¹⁷

Opposition was overwhelming. The Office of Victim Services received at least 360 communications about the hearing, and all but six opposed parole.¹ David Smith and 14 other witnesses spoke against release. David told the board he was there “to advocate on Michael and Alex’s behalf, as their father,” and urged: “Do not let her out.” He challenged Smith’s claims of remorse, saying she had never expressed any to him, and told the board her actions had brought him close to ending his own life.¹⁸

Tommy Pope also weighed in, telling reporters: “I think she shouldn’t get out ever.”¹⁹ After the denial, David Smith said the board “made the right decision” and pledged: “I will be here every two years to make sure their death doesn’t go in vain.”¹⁸

Under South Carolina law, Smith is eligible for a parole review every two years. Her next hearing is expected in November 2026.²⁰ As of October 2025, corrections records showed no further disciplinary actions since the filmmaker incident.²¹

The Boys and Their Father

Michael Daniel Smith was three; Alexander Tyler Smith was fourteen months. They are buried side by side at the Bogansville United Methodist Church cemetery near Union. Stone monuments on the road to John D. Long Lake carry an etched picture of the two boys, and visitors still leave toys, shells, and pennies at the site.²²

David Smith has remarried and speaks publicly about helping other parents who have lost children to violence. He has said of his sons: “Don’t be sad for me, I’m doing OK. You never get over it, but you can get through it. Smile when you think of Michael and Alex.”²³

1
CNN. Susan Smith South Carolina Case Parole
2
ABC News. Revisiting Killer Mom Susan Smith’s 1994 Case
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UPI. Boyfriend Says Sons Hurt Relationship
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Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Cameras Barred From Susan Smith Trial
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WLOS. Unthinkable: The Susan Smith Story
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WYFF. Local History: Arrest and Parole of Killer Susan Smith
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The New York Times. Psychiatrist for Susan Smith’s Defense Tells of a Woman Desperate to Be Liked
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Chicago Tribune. Abusive Stepfather Testifies for Smith
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Los Angeles Times. Abusive Stepfather Testifies for Smith
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The Spokesman-Review. Smith’s Stepfather Says He Shares Guilt in Boys’ Deaths
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WBTV. Timeline: A Look at Susan Smith’s Case
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Encyclopedia.com. Susan Smith Trial 1995
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Prison Legal News. South Carolina Guards Plead Guilty in Sex Cases
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GoUpstate. Smith Moved to Another Facility, No Visitors for Year
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FOX Carolina. Susan Smith Caught Talking to, Receiving Money From Documentary Filmmaker
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People. Susan Smith Life in Prison, Denied Parole
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SC Daily Gazette. Parole Denied for SC Mother Susan Smith
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WIS-TV. Convicted Murderer Susan Smith Denied Parole
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FOX Carolina. Former Solicitor: I Think She Shouldn’t Get Out Ever
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People. Susan Smith Now: What to Know
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WLOS. 31 Years Later, Susan Smith Still Behind Bars
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FOX Carolina. 30 Years Later: A Look Back at 9 Days That Changed South Carolina
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WYFF. David Smith, Susan Smith Parole Hearing