Susan Smith fights for prison release 30 years after drowning her children in fake carjacking

Smith has frequently written to reporters, true crime aficionados and potential suitors from prison

Susan and David Smith address reporters Nov. 2, 1994 during a news conference in Union (AP1994)

A woman who rolled her car into a lake, killing her two sons, will be up for parole next month.

Susan Smith is serving life in prison after a jury decided not to sentence her to death in her 1995 murder trial. Under the law at the time, she is eligible to ask to be released after serving 30 years in prison.

Smith, 53, will be up for parole next month, nearly 30 years after she was convicted of rolling her car into a South Carolina lake and drowning her two children who were strapped in their car seats.

Her hearing is scheduled for Nov. 20, the state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services said Monday. Parole hearings are done virtually in South Carolina with the inmate joining by a video call from prison.

Smith made international headlines in October 1994 when she said she was carjacked late at night near the city of Union and that a man drove away with her sons inside. Smith, who is white, said the carjacker was Black.

For nine days, Smith made numerous and sometimes tearful pleas asking that three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex be returned safely.

But the whole time, the boys and Smith's car were at the bottom of nearby John D. Long Lake, authorities said.

This May 24, 2021 mage provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows Susan Smith (South Carolina Department of Corrections)

Investigators said Smith's story didn't add up. Carjackers usually just want a vehicle, so investigators asked why would they let Smith out but not her kids. The traffic light where Smith said she had stopped when her car was taken would only be red if another car was waiting to cross and Smith said no other cars were around. And other bits and pieces of the story did not make sense.

Smith confessed to letting her car roll down a boat ramp and into the lake. A re-creation by investigators showed it took six minutes for the Mazda to dip below the water surface, while cameras inside the vehicle showed water pouring in through the vents and steadily rising. The boys' bodies were found dangling upside-down in their car seats, one tiny hand pressed against a window,

Prosecutors said Smith was having an affair with the wealthy son of the owner of the business she worked at. He broke it off because she had the two young sons and Smith decided that was how she would solve that problem.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty and the trial of the young mother became a national sensation and a true crime touchstone even though it wasn't televised by a judge who worried about what cameras were doing to the O.J. Simpson murder trial going on at the same time. A jury convicted Smith but decided she did not deserve the death penalty.

Visitors walk down the ramp where Alex and Michael Smith were drowned in a car in 1994 (AP1995)

Smith's lawyers said she was remorseful, suffering a mental breakdown and intended to die alongside her children but left the car at the last moment.

Parole in South Carolina is only granted about 8% of the time and is less likely on an inmate’s first appearance before the board, in notorious cases or when prosecutors and the families of victims are opposed. Smith falls in all of those categories.

“The jury believed she got a life sentence and that’s what she should serve,” said Tommy Pope, the lead prosecutor in Smith’s trial who is now the Republican Speaker Pro Tem of the South Carolina House.

“Secondarily, I would point to her conduct in prison to show, unfortunately, what a juror hoped would happen, that she would be remorseful and think about those kids. She’s proven she’s only thinking about Susan Smith,” Pope said.

Smith's 30 years in prison have been eventful too. South Carolina prison rules don't allow broadcast interviews, but Smith has frequently written reporters, true crime aficionados and potential suitors who then talk about the letters publicly.

She unsuccessfully tried to appeal her conviction, saying her husband David Smith abused her. He adamantly denied it and authorities said there was no proof.

“During the ensuing 30 years — again, it’s hard to believe it’s come this quick — she’s had sex with guards. She's got attention for her social media opportunities. She has got sugar daddies that can’t wait till she gets out, help support her," Pope said.

Pope said David Smith plans to join him to oppose his ex-wife's parole.

In an interview with Court TV, David Smith said he struggles to remember his sons. He said while he has forgiven Susan Smith, that doesn't take away the fact that she killed their children and deserves to spend more than 30 years in prison for it.

“You have no idea of how much damage you have done to so many people,” David Smith said in the Court TV interview. “In my capabilities I am going to do everything in my power to make sure you stay behind bars."

Pope plans to tell the parole board that when jurors rejected the death penalty, they thought a life sentence meant the rest of her life and did not think she could be released after just 30 years.

Pope expects Susan Smith to make her own argument to the parole board. He thinks she will try to use the same sympathy and difficulty to believe a mother would do something like this to her children to convince the board to grant her parole.

“She’s been rehearsing what she’ll say to the parole board for 30 years," Pope said.