She will be eligible for parole in 2025 when she is 53 years old. Her mother Linda, weeks after her divorce, took up a new relationship. Is Every Duggar Ridiculously Messy? I could never express in words how much you mean to me. ``Again, you will always have my friendship. Thank you for your article. The mom of two made headlines at the time of the news due to her shocking motive and she has since been behaving herself behind bars, which means she could soon be a free woman. "A passing love affair," Halleck called it. Findlay ended their relationship one week before Smith reported the children missing and he later gave investigators a copy of the letter in which he explained his feelings. . You are a true friend. They were from Union County, so the community not only grieved again, but wondered what it had done to deserve so much pain. Sordid and tragic and powerfully real, Susan Smith's story begins with sex and ends with the murder of innocents. Despite the family turmoil, the child was long-awaited and loved. The previous year, Union had the festival two years to the weekend after Smith confessed to the sheriff where he could find her boys. One of the most intriguing parts of this story was Lindas conduct in the face of abuse. A guardrail now barricades the parking lot. Looking forward to reading more true crime articles by you. What more is there to say?". On top of that, Ms. Smith later said that a cause of her depression was her breakup with Conso employee Tom . Who is he to be dishing out advice? Plastic or resin containers are usually reasonably priced and large enough for indeterminate tomatoes, but fabric containers, This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our, LETTER FROM SUSAN SMITH TO TOM FINDLAY - HIS LETTER IN RESPONSE. Thank you for the info. Toms reaction was shock and he reiterated that the two would never have a sexual relationship again. In January 1994, Susan started dating a co-worker from her job at Conso Products Tom Findlay. [2] Smith and her husband, David Smith, filed for divorce in September 1994 and it was finalized in May 1995. Findlay, balding early, is nice-looking if not quite a hunk; he allegedly told investigators that he considered himself "a ladies' man" whose mission in life was "servicing these women." At the time of the murders, Susan and David were separated and David was working at the Winn-Dixie in Union where he met his now wife, Tiffany. Findlay ended their relationship one week before Smith reported the. He went down the list of her sexual partners in an effort to poke holes in the prosecution's theory that Mrs. Smith killed her children, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, so she could rekindle her. If Smith in fact was rational, why risk a police investigation? Susan Smith murdered her young sons in 1994. Findlay said Smith was in a suicidal panic the day before her children disappeared because she feared her estranged husband, David Smith, was "going to make it public" that she had cheated on him with Russell, who was then active in the Christian Coalition and state Republican Party politics. ``It is 11:50 p.m. and I am getting very sleepy. Take an eye for an eye, prosecutor Tommy Pope urged the jury. Chicago Tribune CAPTION: Thomas Findlay, right, Susan Smith's former boyfriend, leaves courthouse. Brackett is grateful for the fellowship that grew from the Smith case. Smith's lawyers said in opening statements there was "no single reason" why Smith killed her children and insisted they would not attempt to portray her as a victim or use the "abuse excuse," a reference to Russell's admitted molestation of Smith when she was 16. Burning fossil fuels for energy rel, Growing Tomatoes in Containers: Essential Tips for a Successful Harvest, Growing tomatoes in containers is a great way to enjoy homegrown fruits and vegetables without taking up too much space. . 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 inside, drowning them. In addition to Findlay, several other Conso Products employees testified. (Cary Findlay has denied any involvement with Smith.) Buildings don't tell the whole story, that Susan Smith did not simply wake up one day and decide to kill her children, that it was a lot more complicated than that. For court records, I would make a request to Union County if you cant find them online. If you want to catch a nice guy like me one day, you have to act like a nice girl. Actually, I am very thankful. As a $17,000-a-year secretary to Cary Findlay, Smith worked for one of Union's wealthiest people. They eventually settled down in a brick starter home in Union. 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. Only a few days before Susan Smith drowned her two young sons, her former boyfriend testified today, he wrote her that the children were one reason their relationship could not continue. Russell and Smith's mother, Linda, are separated. Susan felt indebted to her mother and allowed her to dictate the rules. David felt left out. Killing her sons was a horrifying act that bespeaks a personality crisis: at that moment, she must have been emotionally numb. . ", The urge to kill in the name of justice poses infernally tricky issues-and the outcome in the Smith case may be the clearest evidence yet of America's persistent ambivalence about capital punishment. Smith was separated from her now-ex-husband, and started dating. He told her to keep it: Smith was wearing the shirt when she drove her sons to the lake that evening. Idania Pena sent a letter from Miami: "In loving memory of two beautiful creatures that perished in the hands of the person they most trusted: their own mother. "Really, I think this is an example of how little this situation is on the minds of people who live here. I will always treasure our friendship and all of the many wonderful memories we have made. She lied to police, conned her ex-husband and hood-winked the nation. She seemed exhausted by the situation and desperate for help. The jury found otherwise -- a tacit recognition that the core issue was whether Smith was mentally ill. South Carolina's definition of insanity is one of the most restrictive in the nation: it did not permit Smith to plead not guilty by reason of insanity or, more plausibly, temporary, insanity. Now more than ever, Americans support the death penalty by striking majorities. Her sexual activity in prison was discovered after she contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Susan had been a sad and introspective child. 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. She keeps business cards of reporters she may never see again. He admits molesting Smith before she turned 16-and then continuing a consensual sexual relationship until just weeks before the murders. This is "a difficult letter to write because I know how much you think of me . Recently, someone gave them a toy truck, a tiny plastic horse, two pinwheels (one for each brother), a plaster angel kneeling in prayer, a $2 bouquet of supermarket flowers and miniature wind chimes, left to tinkle softly in the country graveyard. These evil perverts should be castrated (preferably with a blunt knife). Smith's lawyer, David Bruck, answered with Christ's defense of the adulterous wife in the Gospel according to John. In the past nine years, Smith has been disciplined at least five times, including self-mutilation and the use and possession of narcotics or marijuana. The case appeared tailor made for an ambitious young prosecutor like Tommy Pope, who rejected repeated suggestions that he let Smith plead guilty in return for life in prison. During her trial, Susans stepfather, testified that he had sexually molested his stepdaughter when she was a teenager and again in the months leading up to her drowning the boys. At the time David was engaged to another woman and broke it off to be with Susan. He has turned to his part so often the spine is creased. . During the trial's penalty phase, the courtroom became a-battleground for the two competing views of the defendant-the scheming vixen and the emotionally damaged post-adolescent. In this same period, Susan began to have a relationship with David, also a co-worker. Susan and Tom began dating in January 1994, however, Susan and David got back together in the spring. And Susan Smith thought she had him hooked. That poor. Smith's supervisor, Sandra Williams, testified about the day Michael and Alex Smith disappeared. So is Sheriff Howard Wells, whose office wall is crowded with photographs and certificates of gratitude, not only for his integrity, but for coming across on camera as a noble representative of Union and South Carolina. They planned historic-home tours, an art exhibit, a barbecue cookoff, a log-rolling contest and live bands. She seemed to be unhappy with her pregnancy, complaining almost all the time about her condition. Despite the comings and goings of their marriage, they were always present in the upbringing and education of their children. The dramatic high pointcame when he read aloud from a letter he'd sent Susan on Father's Day, 1995, when she was already in prison. TRUE CRIME - CURRENT TRIALS, OLD or COLD CASES, Harvest Delicious Red Tomatoes with Red Rocket in Hot Climates South of Memphis, Tomatoes are a popular and versatile crop that can be grown in many climates, but it is important to choose the right variety for your climate. In the summer of 1988, Susan got a temporary job as a cashier at a local grocery store. Susan, because you got pregnant and married at such an early age, you missed out on much of your youth. I mean Bev was getting around having sex with his wife and dauther for not days or weeks or months, but for years! Shell have to keep behaving herself like she has been as of late, an insider told, Smith was also disciplined in 2000 for having sex four times with prison guard, , who later pleaded guilty and spent three months behind bars for the crime. But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that aren't suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your 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. Either way, before you settle down with anyone again, there is something you need to do. The emerging facts of her chaotic life--her father's suicide, her molestation by her politically prominent stepfather, her failed marriage and the tabloid prurience of her repeated love affairs-seemed to make her a symbol of small-town decadence. 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