Smith was convicted of two counts of murder and is serving a life sentence in Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood, S.C. They made a point of showing jurors the videotaped interviews in which Smith tearfully maintained the kidnapping hoax. I remembered how I hurt Laura, and I wont let that happen again; and therefore, I cant let myself get close to you. Smith was separated from her now-ex-husband, and started dating Tom Findlay, whose father owned the mill she worked at. TIME Findlay said he had begun seeing Smith again last September after she assured him that she was in the process of divorcing her husband, a 24-year-old produce worker at the local Winn-Dixie where Susan Smith worked before becoming a secretary at Conso, the local plant owned by Findlay's father. The psychiatric view was that Smith is a uniquely fragile person who had concealed her emotional conflicts for years. ``This is a difficult letter for me to write because I know how much you think of me. . WISTV 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. And I dont want to be responsible for anyone elses (sic) children, either. Findlay ended their relationship one week before Smith reported the. Brackett is grateful for the fellowship that grew from the Smith case. David Smith worked in the store as a produce clerk. 90 Day Fiance's Hamza's Green Card Status 'Battle' Amid Memphis Divorce, '90 Day Fiance' Star Memphis Smith Alleges Hamza Moknii Was 'Abusive', 90 Day's Hamza Requested Paternity Test for Daughter Amid Memphis Split. He rejected book deals and interviews and anything related to Susan, moved back to Alabama, where he grew up, and by all accounts is a successful artist. He hired Smith as an assistant to his executive assistant in 1994, and she got to know his son while working at the Conso plant. He is known to some local young women as "The Catch.". She began sleeping with her boss's son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. We met at Conso (the company Findlays father operates, where Ms. Smith also worked), and I fell for her like `a ton of bricks. Well, even though I fell enlove (sic) with Laura, I had my doubts about a long and lasting commitment, but I never said anything, and I eventually hurt her very, very deeply. 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. The boat ramp is gone. I wont do that again. UPDATE! I will always treasure our friendship and all of the many wonderful memories we have made. However, although she was sentenced to life in prison, she is up for parole in 2024. However, a letter sent by Tom Findlay took Susan by surprise. People.com But unfortunately, it won't be me. ``Anyhow, as I have already told you, you are a very special person. In the summer of 1988, Susan got a temporary job as a cashier at a local grocery store. Crime.About.com 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 But the marriage slowly un-raveled. Some are proud to belong to a community that refused to wither in the spotlight. "Really, I think this is an example of how little this situation is on the minds of people who live here. There was even an episode at the end of high school where Susan sought help from a school counselor. He even admitted to having sexual encounters with Susan as recently as August 1994, less than three months before she killed her sons. After she made emotional pleas on television for the safe return of her children, the incident gained worldwide media attention. Her experience as an accountant earned her a position at Conso Products. My heart breaks for what I've done to you, for your pain and for your loss. Linda Vaughan married stockbroker Beverly Russell, the son of a leading local family, about a year and a half later. On November 3, 1994, David and Susan appeared on the CBS This Morning program and David expressed his full support for Susan and her story about the kidnapping. Smith's natural father committed suicide when she was 6. "We all felt like Susan was a really disturbed person," said juror Deborah Benvenuti. She will be eligible for parole in 2025 when she is 53 years old. You will without a doubt make some lucky man a great wife. These feelings may change one day, but I doubt it. Who knows what the future holds for our relationship. 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. I could never express in words how much you mean to me. According to previously secret records from a state family court, Russell began molesting Susan when she was 15. Shortly after joining the company she was promoted to the position of executive secretary to Consos president and CEO, Carey Findlay. At this time Susan was having sex with at least three men. David never questioned the paternity of the child despite their separation. I was not in my right mind.. Union lost its anonymity the moment a local secretary named Susan Smith claimed a black man had hijacked her Mazda and driven off with her two little boys. David has stated that he will attend all parole hearings to try to keep Susan Smith in prison for the rest of her life. " Cladwell said Smith then began crying, said she wanted to go home, and stalked out, hollering in the hallway of the sheriff's office: "I just can't believe they think I did it.". However, some feel it will never be forgotten. But unfortunately, it wont be me. These feelings may change one day, but I doubt it. I can't get my head around it either! 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. CAPTION: Thomas Findlay, right, Susan Smith's former boyfriend, leaves courthouse. 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. First were Michael, who was 3, and Alex, 14 months. "A passing love affair," Halleck called it. Her mother was never good at solving her emotional problems, and her fathers suicide seemed to create a wound that never healed. Yet after hearing new and compelling testimony about her tangled life, the same jury that took only 2 1/2 hours to convict Susan Smith on July 22 decided just as quickly to spare her life last week--and voted unanimously. Her saga of suicide attempts and molestation and depression and marital deception is embodied in those closest to the case. When a place has been forced to defend itself before the eyes of the world, there is no road map for recovery. ", That was the bitter end of a tumultuous, too-early marriage. Since that day twenty years ago, the town of Union, S.C. has also moved on. Who is he to be dishing out advice? Although prosecutors sought the death penalty, Susan was sentenced to life in prison. Anyhow, my advice to you is to wait and be very choosy about your next relationship. Well, people can change. You are the best friend anyone could ever have. . Because of her position, she became exposed to affluent people and how the wealthy lived. And you know, nice girls dont sleep with married men. 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. 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. When it all came apart, she committed an act of savagery that defies understanding. Tom Findlay's letter, as gentle as it tried to be, had brought Susan Smith in direct and brutal contact with her own lies, deceit, narcissism, and lust. It was only last week that the true, terrible scope of Smith's dismal world came clear. Im sure that your kids are good kids, but it really wouldnt matter how good they may be the fact is, I just dont want children. "We'll never really be the same. 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. Even in the face of all the facts, David seemed to have some compassion for Susan. ", Findlay went on to write: "Susan, I could really fall for you. "Every time we think it's all behind us, it comes up again," says June Miller, Union County's longtime clerk of court. 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. What more is there to say?". Initially, Smith told authorities a black man had carjacked her and kidnapped the boys. 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. For nine days, she pleaded for the safe return of her babies while making appearances on television, only to have the, Many people believe her motive was because she was dating a man who didnt want children at the time. In Northern California, side grafting wasnt very successful either. Russell and Smith's mother, Linda, are separated. 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. THE BOYFRIEND'S STORY. I do want us to be friends forever and Ill never let anything happen that would change that. Susan Smith's most intense extramarital affair was with a newfound employee at Conso Products in 1993. 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 told her mother and Social Services what had happened. Susan was devastated by the end of her relationship with Tom. Susan, because you got pregnant and married at such an early age, you missed out on much of your youth. While being treated in the hospital, she admitted that she had already attempted suicide when she was thirteen. What the jurors heard was the fullest account yet of why she did it--and in the end, confronted with the pathos of it all, they decided both sides were right. What was only supposed to last a few months, resulted in a promotion to accountant at the store. These evil perverts should be castrated (preferably with a blunt knife). In late October and early November 1994, the town of Union, S.C., ceased to be just another speck on the map. Thank you for your article. Her ex, Tom Findlay, had broken up with her after having stated that he was not interested in having or raising children. 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. Later that evening, she called her friend who she knew was having dinner with Tom and friends. "You don't have all the guilt in this tragedy," he read, sobbing. She seemed very nervous and asked to leave work early. In the years since the murders, Davidhas switchedto a career as a commercial truck driver, moved 25 miles away from Union to the town of Moore, S.C., married Tiffany in 2003 and became the father to a girl and a boy, Savannah and Nicolas. ", Paul Patrick, a florist, says, "It was a real tragedy but I don't think anybody's still dwelling on it three years later. 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. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. The prosecution's main weapon was tear-drenched testimony from a vengeful David Smith, who accepted a box of tissues from Judge William Howard. Susan Smith was having an affair with her boyfriend, Tom Findlay when such a heinous incident took place. On Oct. 18, Findlay wrote Smith, breaking off the relationship because he did "not want the responsibility of children." Over the next week,. . Williams asked again. Williams testified about a conversation with Susan Smith on Oct. 17, eight days before the murders: "I have a problem," Smith said. THE MARGIN OF ERROR IS +/- 4 PERCENTAGE POINTS. "There will always be something to remind each of us that such a thing happened here," she says. Susan seemed to be integrating high society, just like her mother Linda. ``Well, I hope I said everything right. 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. Besides, I want you to feel good about yourself, and I am afraid that if you sleep with B. ", She went to his office later the same day to return an Auburn University sweat shirt that belonged to Findlay. "He was threatening to her. Something went very wrong that night. Tom Findlay, Susan Smith's ex-lover, started a new life in Birmingham, Ala. Cary Findlay, who is Tom Findlay's father and Susan Smith's former employer, let his mansion become a bed-and-breakfast; he now divides his time between England and Union. You will without a doubt make some lucky man a great wife. I am compiling information about sexual misconduct in the US correctional system for a research paper and would like to include the facts of that case, if those facts are available for review. 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. Take an eye for an eye, prosecutor Tommy Pope urged the jury. . Barring an appeal, she will be in prison for at least 80 years- condemned not to die, but to live with her ghastly memories. 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!). Davids parents were grieving the recent loss of another son who died of Crohns disease just 11 days before Susan and Davids wedding. Im just going to live one day at a time. 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. He finally understood that it all resulted from Susans desire to rebuild her relationship with Tom Findlay. 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. Prosecutor Tommy Pope went into private practice in 2006 and is now a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. 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 . Susan may say that she wouldnt care (copy unintelligible) husband had an affair, but you and I know, that is not true. 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