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Murders of Michael & Alexander Smith

On October 25th, 1994, 23-year-old Susan Smith contacted law enforcement, saying that a black man had carjacked her.

She claimed the man took off with her 1990 Mazda Protege and her sons, 3-year-old Michael Daniel Smith and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith, who were inside the vehicle in their car seats.

She helped police create a composite sketch, and she went on TV begging for the safe return of the young boys, but police were suspicious about her story.

Authorities started searching John D. Long Lake, which was close to where the alleged carjacking occurred. However, divers only went 30 feet from shore and found nothing.

After nine days of lying, Smith confessed that she drove her car into the Lake. Divers found the vehicle 122 feet from the shore. The boys were recovered and returned to their loved ones for a proper burial.

Smith was arrested and charged with two counts of murder.

Trial

At her 1995 trial, her defense team claimed she was depressed and not in the right state of mind when she killed her sons.

They claimed she planned to be in the car with her sons but got out at the last moment.

Prosecutors argued she was cheating on her estranged husband with a wealthy man, who told her he didn’t want kids, so she got rid of the kids.

She was convicted of two counts of murder. The prosecutor wanted her to get the death penalty, but the jury voted against it.

At that time in South Carolina, life without parole was not an option in death penalty cases, so Smith was sentenced to two concurrent 30-year-to-life sentences.

A year after her conviction, the laws were changed. These days, if someone in South Carolina is prosecuted as part of a death penalty case and an aggravating circumstance is presented during sentencing, the only two options are death or life without parole.

Parole

Smith became eligible for parole in 2024.

Ahead of her parole hearing, she seemed to believe she was getting out.

The 52-year-old communicated with several desperate men on the outside. She told one man, “It’s time for me to get out,” and “I’ve done my time. I’m ready to go.”

At her November 20th, 2024, parole hearing, she cried and apologized, but her parole was denied.

She remains locked up at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Her next parole hearing is inNovember 2026.