Actually, he is online. I would hate for people to perceive you as an unreputable [sic] person. My heart breaks for what I've done to you, for your pain and for your loss. ", Findlay went on to write: "Susan, I could really fall for you. Her father committed suicide when she was 7 years old. However, a letter sent by Tom Findlay took Susan by surprise. Russell has not attended the trial but may be called as a witness. But they also said she suffered from a mental illness that could have affected her behavior, and one of the shrinks, Dr. Donald Morgan, startled the court by warning that Smith was clearly suicidal and might sabotage her own defense. ", June Miller, the clerk of court, says, "It's over and done with and we go on with our lives.". 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. Susan can't get over Tom Findlay It was October 25, 1994, Susan was at work. By October 1994, Susan had already signed divorce papers with David. I know I did when we were messing around earlier this year. Smith was separated from her now-ex-husband, and started dating. Even in the face of all the facts, David seemed to have some compassion for Susan. 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When she went on to say she had been riding around in the car singing with her sons, Caldwell said he interrupted and reminded her she earlier had described the boys as fussy that day. These feelings may change one day, but I doubt it. Both Smith and Findlay worked at Conso. This didnt seem to work, so she told him about the supposed affair with her boss, also Toms father, and warned him that the details of the relationship might come to light during the next few days. In his Dear John letter, he was honest with the girl and told her they would never be together although I did think he sounds like a total D-bag (re: ..maybe somebay youll meet a nice guy like me. Whatever!). Findlay ended their relationship one week before Smith reported the. "We agreed the intimate part of our relationship should be postponed till she was divorced," Findlay testified. From extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and wildfires to the melting of polar ice caps and rising sea levels, it's clear that our planet is in trouble. Sordid and tragic and powerfully real, Susan Smith's story begins with sex and ends with the murder of innocents. Susan herself is now in prison after being found guilty of the murders of her children in July 1995. I dont blame him for declining interviews and book deals and disappearing. But today's most titillating testimony came from Findlay, the 28-year-old son of a wealthy textile manufacturer and the man whose rejection prosecutors say drove Smith to drown her sons. I want you to know that I will always love and care for you for the rest of my life. Looking forward to reading more true crime articles by you. But seeing you kiss another man put things back into perspective. As you can imagine, the sexual abuse continued and this time with more frequency. If you want to catch a nice guy like me one day, you have to act like a nice girl. Susan told her mother and Social Services what had happened. Which is the lie? Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh if he is convicted of the bombing in Oklahoma City? Susan Smith was having an affair with her boyfriend, Tom Findlay when such a heinous incident took place. This irritated David. Although prosecutors sought the death penalty, Susan was sentenced to life in prison. He also reiterated that at no point, he suggested that her children were the only obstacle in any potential relationship with her., Something went very wrong that night. Her attitude toward the kidnapping of her children was extremely exaggerated. "I had a bad day," he said Smith replied. The contempt for Susan was overwhelming, not only because of the racial tension triggered by the false accusation of a black man, but because her motive was extremely futile and selfish: to get rid of her children in order to maintain a relationship with a rich man. To be the perfect woman for a rich man. Smith's supervisor, Sandra Williams, testified about the day Michael and Alex Smith disappeared. I could never express in words how much you mean to me. Susan Smith Trial: 1995 Defendant: Susan SmithCrime Charged: MurderChief Defense Lawyers: David Bruck and Judy ClarkeChief Prosecutor: Tommy PopeJudge: . Smith had stood by his estranged wife during her nine-day charade, and he said he first heard about her confession on television. Maybe he wasnt ready for children at the time at such a young age. Prosecutor Tommy Pope went into private practice in 2006 and is now a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Susan Smith's most intense extramarital affair was with a newfound employee at Conso Products in 1993. I could never express in words how much you mean to me. http://www.abcnews4.com/story/26887424/a-look-back-the-susan-smith-case. I was a good mother, and I loved my boys. He relocated to another city and runs an art business using his first and middle name. In July 1995, Smith was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years, which is around the corner in November 2024. Find the editorial stock photo of Findlay Tom Findlay Center Former Boyfriend, and more photos in the Shutterstock collection of editorial photography. But then Laura came along. Smith and her husband, David Smith, filed for divorce in September 1994 and it was finalized in May 1995. Current Mayor Harold Thompson said while it is something the people of Union try to forget, its a part of history now., ABC News What was only supposed to last a few months, resulted in a promotion to accountant at the store. For those who've been before, the changes will show. Susan, I value our friendship very much. State police investigator David Caldwell testified that Smith was first accused of killing her sons just a day after they disappeared. . There was even an episode at the end of high school where Susan sought help from a school counselor. Tom Findlay, get over yourself..youre really not all that attractive anyway. While being treated in the hospital, she admitted that she had already attempted suicide when she was thirteen. The bottom line is: Im glad we are friends and if that is all we can be, then we will just have to do a hell of a job of being that. If a mother who deliberately drowns her children in a pique over a failed romance doesn't deserve to die, who does? premieres Friday, June 4, at 10 p.m. on Lifetime. Susan was already familiar with such a situation and she was able to comfort David in the following months. FOR THIS NEWSWEEK POLL, PRINCETON SURVEY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES TELEPHONED 752 ADULTS JULY 27-28. Susan gave the police the exact distance the car floated before sinking. Russell, 48, was then active in South Carolina Republican politics and in Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition--but he is no longer, and the shattering disclosures triggered by his stepdaughter's prosecution are the reason. So, where are all of the key players now, including the woman at the center of it all? Then she drove out to John D. Long Lake and let her maroon Mazda Protege roll into the reddish-brown water. The children were hastily put in their car seats, nor were their shoes on. Linda Russell told a social worker that Susan told her "Bev was sitting in the chair watching TV and Susan got in his lap and went to sleep." 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. Bev was influential in the community, had good lawyers who would know how to successfully suppress situations like this. Crime.About.com She seemed very nervous and asked to leave work early. The letter is a classic of its caddish kind; Findlay read it aloud in court. The steady drip of revelation, each more damning than the last, seemed almost certain to lead to her execution. She is currently based at the Leath Correctional Institution near Greenwood, South Carolina. Susan Smith called the police saying that she had her car stolen by a black man who kidnapped her two young children. Brown (reportedly friend Benjy Brown), of course you have to make your own decisions in life, but remember you have to live with the consequences also. . Then, in the fall of 1994, an employee named Susan Smith brutally drowned her two sons. THE BOYFRIEND'S STORY. During the marriage, Smith had several affairs, and in August, 1993, after the birth of her second son, she hooked up with her wealthy boss, Tom Findlay. David never questioned the paternity of the child despite their separation. Smith was separated from her now-ex-husband, and started dating Tom Findlay, whose father owned the mill she worked at. The relationship deteriorated more and more. Findlay, a slight, balding graphic designer, appeared to exchange a quick half-smile with Smith from the stand during a break in his testimony about their brief fling, which he said began around Christmastime of 1993 and ended the following March when David Smith angrily warned him to stay away from his wife. Susans ex, Tom Findlay, ironically went on to find happiness with a girlfriend and HER TWO KIDS! "If they'd asked me, I'd have said drain the lake, shut the place down," says Cathy Allen, a Union teacher. Russell published a book in 2000 titled My Daughter Susan Smith where she detailed her daughters rocky childhood and background in an attempt to understand and explain why she did what she did. ``Well, I hope I said everything right. Despite its steamy undertones--despite the ripe mixture of family dysfunction and sexual shenanigans-the Smith case is ultimately a story of heartbreaking human loss. Tom and Susan quickly began a casual relationship in January 1994, but in the spring David became part of her life again, and the two resumed their marriage. When a place has been forced to defend itself before the eyes of the world, there is no road map for recovery. Is Every Duggar Ridiculously Messy? I remember this story well and its interesting to know how things have played out over the years. Tom didnt even let Susan start talking. . "Fussy or singing, fussy or happy, which one is it? I really wanted to be with you and hated that I wasnt. Keep scrolling below to find out more about Susan Smiths case, trial and to find out where she is today. Her confession of pushing the car into the lake began to come out. And it brought her David Bruck. Im just going to live one day at a time. You are a true friend. Chicago Tribune Carbon on Estamino was late to mature. But unfortunately, it won't be me. This development led to Smiths arrest and confession that she was behind her childrens tragic deaths. I will always treasure our friendship and all of the many wonderful memories we have made. Fox Carolina Nothing gives away what happened there the clear, cool night of Oct. 25, 1994. Susan seemed to be integrating high society, just like her mother Linda. After the sentence, Bruck refused to gloat. Tom Findlay, 28, is a graphic designer who works in his father's firm. I was not ready to assume the important responsibilities of being a father, Findlay wrote in a statement issued through his lawyers. 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. This happened when David and Susan's marriage was in jeopardy and had already filed for divorce. "Had I been true to you in my responsibilities, you would have been stronger in yourself, not needing to be constantly supported and reassured emotionally. Many people believe her motive was because she was dating a man who didnt want children at the time. According to Findlay, Smith claimed: * that her husband was tapping her phone and having her followed; * that she had had an affair with Findlay's father; * that she made up the story of the affair with the elder Findlay to test his son's feelings for her; * that she was considering having an affair with the husband of a good friend; * that she had had an affair with Beverly Russell and David Smith was going to publicize it. Stunned by Susan's confession, mourners line the seven-mile route between the church and cemetery as David Smith buries his sons in a single casket, because 'they were just so close', At a press conference it was announced that Tommy Pope, an aggressive young prosecutor, would seek the death penalty if Smith was found guilty of the boys' murders, Tom Findlay, known as 'The Catch' in Union, testifies that he ended his affair with Susan clays before the murders because they weren't 'suited'--and he wasn't ready to be a father. They parked on the ramp. During her adolescence Susan became popular at school, she was a very attractive young woman and seemed to take leading positions in school activities. Other key figures in the case have gone on to both fame and failure. Sheriff Howard Wells served time for public corruption in 2010. And your friendship is one that I will always look upon with sincere affection. This year, I am considering a few varieties for graft, Take Action Now: How You Can Fight Climate Change and Protect Our Environment, The Effects of Climate Change on Our Environment FAVOR OPPOSE Severely abused as a child 48% 58% In an emotional state involving a lover or a family member at the time of the crime 49% 39% Temporarily insane at the time of the crime 46% 46%, 28% Only those convicted of the most brutal murders, mass murders and serial killings, 31% All those convicted of murder, especially violent crimes and major drug dealing, 17% Oppose the death penalty in all cases, Just days after receiving a Dear Jane letter from a boyfriend, Susan Smith lets Alex, 14 months, and Michael, 3, drown in John D. Long Lake. When Susan Smith's ex-boyfriend Tom Findlay climbed onto the witness stand Wednesday afternoon, he glanced quickly at her and smiled kindly. "I didn't know what to do," he said. Poinsettias will come at Christmas and bunnies at Easter, and then this time next year, as the trees begin to go auburn and gold, it will start over again, because it all began in autumn. We are just two totally different people, and eventually, those differences would cause us to break up. Smith ended her young boys lives by letting her 1990 Mazda roll into a South Carolina lake with both 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander strapped into their car seats. After she made emotional pleas on television for the safe return of her children, the incident gained worldwide media attention. The following year, prison captain. . Nine days later, she confessed and, eventually, it was revealed her motive was to pursue a relationship with a wealthy local man who did not want children. You are one of the few people on this earth that I feel I can tell anything. These feelings may change one day, but I doubt it. Findlay said his relationship with Smith then took confusing turns in the days before Smith killed her children. He admits molesting Smith before she turned 16-and then continuing a consensual sexual relationship until just weeks before the murders. They were buckled into their car seats when their mother stepped out, lowered the emergency brake and let the car roll down the steep ramp, into the deep water. Her ex, Tom Findlay, had broken up with her after having stated that he was not interested in having or raising children. 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. Many sent her flowers after the trial. She is currently serving his sentence at Leath Correctional Institution in South Carolina. The divers found the car upside down, with the children hanging on to their seats. The RST series, Estamino, and Fortamino are all good choices for shorter growing seasons. He is known to some local young women as "The Catch." Tom Findlay testified as a prosecution witness at the trial-for. Before the murders, he wrote her a Dear John letter to Susan explaining why they could neverbe together, stating that he did not want children. "Susan, I am not mad at you about what happened" at the hot-tub party, Findlay wrote. But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that arent suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your children. Smith's relationship with Findlay, the son of a wealthy mill owner, has provided the prosecution with its motive for the murders of her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex. This resulted in one of the most barbaric crimes that a human being can commit: killing her own children. Jurors in Susan Smith's murder trial heard the words written by an ex-boyfriend that prosecutors say drove the young mother to kill her two sons: ``I just don't want children.'' In a letter to Smith written a week before 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex were drowned in a lake, Tom Findlay described her as ``intelligent, beautiful, For nine days, she pleaded for the safe return of her babies while making appearances on television, only to have the true story later be revealed. Tom Findlay, who was 27 at the time of the boys' deaths and who had an affair with her while she was separated from her husband, said in . SC State House Anyhow, my advice to you is to wait and be very choosy about your next relationship. Caso Criminal 2023 - All rights reserved. "I think you're involved in this thing," Caldwell told Smith in an interview that day. . But her composure crumbled when the diver who found her two small sons in her car at the bottom of John D. Long Lake took the stand. The idea that she would kill her . Smiling nervously and occasionally stumbling over his words, Findlay described an emotionally volatile Smith days before she sent her car rolling into the lake with her children strapped in their car seats. Susan and Tom began dating in January 1994, however, Susan and David got back together in the spring. The whole family drowned, and the friends, too. At 11 that night, Smith called Williams and said she wouldn't be at work the next day. , whose father owned the mill she worked at. One diver described seeing the little hand of one of the children pressed against a window. And you know, nice girls dont sleep with married men. People.com . During the 1995 trial, Lindasthen husband Beverly Russell, Susans stepfather, admitted to molesting Susan when she was 15 and continuing to have sex with her after she was married with the last time being in August of 1994, two months before the murders. On Oct. 18, Findlay wrote Smith, breaking off the relationship because he did "not want the responsibility of children." Over the next week,. According to a deposition taken in March in connection with Susan and David's divorce (which became final in May), soon after she began working at Conso Products in 1993, Susan took up with. ``Susan, I could really fall for you. 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. On the outside everything looked good, but Susan carried with her a big family secret. The case of Susan Smith, the woman who killed her young sons in 1994, will be explored in the upcoming Lifetime docuseries Cellmate Secrets. Cellmate Secrets premieres Friday, June 4, at 10 p.m. on Lifetime. I can see this may be a bit difficult for you because you are a bit boy crazy, but as the proverb states `good things come to those who wait. I am not saying you shouldnt go out and have a good time. TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 1994 _ Susan Smith's boyfriend, Tom Findlay, breaks off their relationship saying he doesn't want the responsibility of children. . A team of state psychiatrists certified that Smith was competent to stand trial. Name: Susan Vaughan Smith D.O.B: September 26, 1971 Place of Birth: Union, South Carolina Parents: Linda & Harry Vaughan Conviction Date: July 22, 1995 Sentence: LIFE . "She was crying--she was very upset," Findlay said. Beverly Bev Russell, a successful local businessman. She asks the sheriff to pray with her, then confesses to the murders and tells police where to find the boys. Nearly 30 years after her conviction, Smith's cellmate is speaking out and . It was only last week that the true, terrible scope of Smith's dismal world came clear. Throughout the nine-day investigation, Susan received several polygraphs and was questioned about the inconsistencies in her carjacking story. If you want to catch a nice guy like me one day, you have to act like a nice girl. Tom, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how he would end his relationship with Susan. Even before Susans confession, investigators already suspected her. Despite the family turmoil, the child was long-awaited and loved. The report says Linda later asked Beverly about Susan's story "and he didn't deny that it had happened. The psychiatric view was that Smith is a uniquely fragile person who had concealed her emotional conflicts for years. There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. "Everything I had planned on, my life with my kids, was gone. The car apparently took almost six minutes to disappear-and Michael and Alex, trusting and helpless, can only have died screaming for their mother. Since she said there were no other cars on the road, there was no reason for her to see the red light. I was struck by something at the end of the piece in which you wrote, Whether Smith is granted parole remains to be seen as she has not exactly been a model prisoner after being found guilty of sexual misconduct in 2000 with two prison guards. I can find no other mentions of this conviction online and was curious where that information came from and if there are other details about that case, particularly court records/transcripts. The judge took into consideration the abuse suffered by the defendant. Now more than ever, Americans support the death penalty by striking majorities. However, the case of Susan Smith highlights two distinct points of view. 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. At this point she seemed to get everything she wanted, especially about relationships with men. Susan and David Smith were married on March 15, 1991 and moved into Davids great-grandmothers home; the two could not afford to buy a house. Russell signed a statement admitting his conduct and the family sought counseling-but Susan and her mother said they didn't want to prosecute. The divorce apparently led her millworker father, Harry Vaughan, to commit suicide one month later, an event that may have helped create the emotional vacuum that has haunted her ever since. Actually, I am very thankful. Susan graduated from Union High School in 1989 and went to work in the local Winn-Dixie supermarket as a checkout girl. Susanslover Tom Findlaydoes not appear to have an online presence now. It was as if Bev had acquired the right to do whatever he wanted. ", This smarmy rejection threw Smith into panic. Susan Smith chose to do the worst thing a mother can do and covered it up, Pope argued, pushing for the death penalty. A woman named Shirley Crask left a pot of mums. Initially, Smith told authorities a black man had carjacked her and kidnapped the boys. 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. Such a position also gave her the chance to get close to her boss son, one of Unions most desired bachelors, Tom Findlay. . I do want us to be friends forever and Ill never let anything happen that would change that. 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On Oct. 17, according to Findlay, Smith gave him a greeting card and a handwritten letter accepting their breakup with equanimity and pledging her eternal friendship, saying, "I will always love and care for you the rest of my life. She seemed exhausted by the situation and desperate for help. Susan Smith's attorney, David Bruck, summed up the case as bad for all, calling it "an awful human tragedy." Join the world's news leader for an in-depth multimedia look at the top news stories of 1995. . Susan may say that she wouldnt care (copy unintelligible) husband had an affair, but you and I know, that is not true. When it all came apart, she committed an act of savagery that defies understanding. And sometimes when her 5-year-old grandson says his prayers, he still says God bless Michael and Alex. In May 1991, the stress of losing a child was too much for Davids parents. He told her to keep it: Smith was wearing the shirt when she drove her sons to the lake that evening. ``Susan, I am not mad at you about what happened this weekend. He even admitted to having sexual encounters with Susan as recently as August 1994, less than three months before she killed her sons. Are Janelle, Christine and Meri Suing Kody Over Money From Coyote Pass? On the weekend of Oct. 15, Tom invited Susan to his father's estate for a hot-tub party. ``For my first two years in Union, I dated very little. We have been raised in two totally different environments, and therefore, think totally different. During his ex-wifes trial, he visited her once in jail to get answers as to why she did what she did but got nothing. 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. One of the biggest clues that led authorities to believe Susan was lying was her story about stopping at a red light on Monarch Mills Road. 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. He encouraged Susan to act with more self-respect and referred to an episode where Susan and a friends husband were kissing in a hot tub during a party at Toms fathers house. Citizens support the death penalty in general, but frequently refuse to apply it when, as in the Smith case, they are confronted with a face, a name and human frailties that, however lurid, bear at least some resemblance to their own. Everyone is held accountable for their actions, and I would hate for people to perceive you as an unreputable person. She keeps business cards of reporters she may never see again. . The letter about the reasons for the breakup, written by Tom, was also inside the car. They still credit him for containing a potentially volatile racial divide by refusing to detain the many black men who might have fit Smith's description of her hijacker. 1000s of new photos added daily. They planned historic-home tours, an art exhibit, a barbecue cookoff, a log-rolling contest and live bands. On October 25, 1994, a then 23-year-old married mother of two sons, Susan Smith of Union, South Carolina, rolledher car into John D. Long Lake with herboys strapped inside, drowningthem both. A married man older than her who was an employee at the same store; another younger co-worker; and Bev, her stepfather. Union - isn't that where that woman drowned her babies? They contacted two of the nation's largest newspapers, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, to suggest a news item. " CAPTION: Thomas Findlay, right, Susan Smith's former boyfriend, leaves courthouse. Who is he to be dishing out advice? ``I do hope that we will be able to date some and be together again someday, but if we never made love again, my feelings for you would not change because having you as my friend is worth more than sex could ever be worth.
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