Ep. 130 | The Kidnapping That Turned Into A Double Murder | Susan Smith

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Crime, conspiracy, cult, serial killers, and murder. All things that I love to consume, and I know you do too. You sick, just a beautiful, intellectually minded freak. And today we're getting into a case that a lot of you have recommended, so without further ado, let's unbuckle our seat belts go mock for them highway, slam the brakes and bus to the windshield into this case together. Let's take a quick pause, because I've been thinking about this one saying, okay? And how it might be bogus. Everyone says, "Nothing is ever really free!" But free cash actually makes you money, and costs you nothing. And this is how you get paid. But quick thing first, this is not a "get rich quick app". The rewards are limited, and they're not replacing any salary. But with that said, brands set aside huge budgets to reach people, and almost all of it goes to ads. But an ad is a big ask. It interrupts you, gives you nothing back, and you scroll straight past. 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And cash out starts at the minimum withdrawal threshold. And you can take it in PayPal, crypto, or gift cards. Now my link gives you a $10 bonus after completing your first offer. So if you're on your phone playing games, regardless, might as well get rewarded for it. And the links at the top of the description and pinned in the comments. Thank you to free cash for sponsoring this video and supporting the channel. And let's get back to it. Susan Lee Vaughn was born on September 26, 1971 in Union South Carolina. And she was the only daughter and the youngest of three kids. And her mother, Linda, was a homemaker and her father, Harry Ray, was a firefighter who later went to work in the textile mills. Now her parents, Linda, and Harry Ray Vaughn had a marriage marked by violence. And in time, they would divorce. And on top of that, Harry drank and he had convinced himself that Linda was being unfaithful. And the fighting would frighten the children, naturally. One playmate's mother remembered Susan as "unusual and sad" and would say Susan would stare in space like she wasn't there. But whenever her father was around, though, Susan would light up. Now only two weeks after the divorce was final, Linda remarried. And her new husband was Beverly Russell Jr., a divorced father of three. And three weeks after that, on January 15, 1978, Harry Ray would take his own life. At this point, Susan would only be six years old. And she'd been close to her father and held on to pieces of him, including his coin collection and a recording of his voice. Now Russell was a man of standing in Union. He owned an appliance store downtown and was a wealthy businessman. And he had sat on the executive committee of the State Republican Party and was a prominent member in the Christian Coalition. So Susan and her brothers would move out of their modest house and into Russell's home in one of the best parts of town. But behind that respectable public life, Russell was sexually abusing his stepdaughter. And it began when Susan was only 15 years old. And for a while, she would tell no one. And then in 1987, at 16, she told her high school guidance counselor and her mother. And Linda would confront him and Russell admitted it and promised to stop. And the family went to counseling. But he would keep abusing her anyway. And by February of 1988, Susan came forward again and said it had continued straight through the counseling. And social services and the sheriff's office opened an investigation and a case worker interviewed Susan, her counselor and her teachers. But no charges were filed. And Susan agreed not to press them. And Russell's lawyer and the solicitor worked out an argument instead. And on March 25, 1988, a judge sealed that agreement and it never became public. But Susan was struggling and first tried to take her own life at 13 by swallowing aspirin. She would try again on November 1988 at 17 years old. And while she worked at a Windixi supermarket part-time, she was drawn into an affair with an older married co-worker. And after he ended it, she was devastated and swallowed more aspirin and ended up in the hospital for about a week. And doctors would diagnose her behavior as part of an adjustment disorder and chalked it up to stress. And in 1989, she told a psychiatrist that what had happened with her stepfather had been consensual. And she resented that the male attention at home went to her mother instead of her. And all the while, despite the pain surrounding her, Susan seemed to be thriving. She did well in school and belonged to the beta club, along with math and Spanish and Red Cross clubs. And she was president of the Junior Siviting Club and spent two years as a candy striper at the local hospital. And in her senior year, her classmates voted her the friendliest girl in school. And they remembered her as cheerful and down to earth. Now, Susan started at the Windixi in Union in the summer of 1988, the summer before her senior year. And she came in as a cashier and made head cashier within six months and was promoted again to the store's bookkeeper. And David Smith was a store clerk at the same store. Now, he was an average student who worked hard and had started working there after school when he was sixteen. And David had been dating his longtime girlfriend, Kristi Jennings, but their relationship eventually ended on good terms. And not long after that, he began dating Susan, drawn to her vivacity and million dollar smile. And they dated about a year before they decided to get married. Now, Susan was only 19 years old at this point and two months pregnant as well. And David was 20. In 11 days before the wedding, David's older brother, Danny, would pass away at 22 of complications from Crohn's disease. But even with David's family in mourning, Linda, Susan's mom insisted they hold the date so the pregnancy would not show. Everything's about image back then. Even is now, to be honest, so they married on March 15, 1991 at the United Methodist Church in Bogensville. And their first son was Michael Daniel Smith. And he was born at Mary Black Hospital in Spartanburg on October 10, 1991. And they gave him his middle name in honor of David's brother, Danny. Now, David and Susan soon after bought a home together in the winter of 1993. And it was a small ranch house with dark red shutters. Now, Beverly and Linda Russell put up the down payment for the house. And then soon after that, Alexander Tyler Smith was born on August 5, 1993 by emergency C-section. So by October of 1994, Michael had just turned three and Alex was 14 months old. And the boys had already become their own little people. Michael went by Mike Mike and Alex was that rat. And Michael was sensitive and easily hurt, always in motion and quick to play. A sudden boo could set his lip quivering. And he was turning into a talker who loved being read to the snoopy comic strip most of all. And he liked to help his father in the shop at their home, toying with a little wrench at whatever David was fixing. And Alex was the easy one. Little would bother him and he stayed closest to his mother. And even so, Michael always looked out for his baby brother. He stepped in for Alex at the nursery if another kid took his toys. And once ran off a stray cat that had frightened him. And both parents are remembered as very devoted to the boys. But they had separated multiple times by their third anniversary. Värsä. Kain in March 1992, - started a relationship with a former boyfriend at the store. In David acknowledged the tension came from both sides, "I was a lousy husband. There was infidelity, but there was infidelity on her part too, and money was a constant strain for them. Susan worried about the bills and borrowed from her mother, which angered David. In David had moved up in management by then, so at the store where they had both worked, he was Susan's supervisor. And employees there watched Susan come in crying, certain David was sleeping with one of the cashiers. And in June of 1993, while Susan was pregnant with Alex, David began a relationship with a cashier named Tiffany Moss. And within three weeks of Alex's birth, David moved out. And after Alex, Susan chose not to go back to the supermarket, because she would have been working under David alongside Tiffany Moss, who he was sleeping with. So instead, she got a job as a bookkeeper at Consoprodux, the largest textile mill in Union. And in time, she became assistant to the executive secretary of the company, President Jay Kerry Findley, earning $6.10 an hour. She enjoyed the work. She would make travel arrangements, hotels for out-of-town clients, and ordered flowers, etc. And it put her close to a way of living she had never been near. Now, Tom Findley, one of the Jay Kerry Findley's three sons, was 27 and ran the graphic art department at his father's company. And his father had bought Consop in 1986, and it was likely no family in the county had more money. Now, Tom lived in a guest house on the grounds of the family estate. And he was known for late-night hot tub parties, and for swimming in golf at the Fairwood Country Club. He was called "The Catch" by the Secretaries at Consop, Susan and Tom began seeing each other in January of 1994, during a separation moment in her marriage. And she hoped to leave Union with him for London, where his family was acquiring a plant. Now, David did not let go quietly, though. He discovered the affair and threatened Findley. And Susan and Findley stopped seeing each other that spring. In the spring and early summer of 1994, Susan and David tried to make the marriage work once more. So David moved back in and stopped seeing Tiffany Moss, the cashier. But at the end of July, Susan decided she was done, telling David she wanted to get a divorce. And in August, he rented a two-bedroom apartment two miles away, and he set up a room for the boys with a bed, a crib, and new toys. Now, Susan started seeing Findley again in September, and in early October, she filed for divorce. So now they were officially separated. And that brings us to the night of the tragedy. So it was around 9 o'clock on the night of Tuesday, October 25, 1994, when Susan Smith came running up to Shirley MacLeod's front door in Union, South Carolina, and she was frantic pounding on the door. "Please help me," she cried out. "He's got my kids in my car, a black man has got my kids and my car." And from the house, the call went out to the sheriff's office, quote, "I have a Susan Smith here," the dispatcher believed, saying that someone has taken her children in her car. And she said she had been stopped at a red light on Highway 49 at the Monarch Mills intersection with both boys in the car. When a man opened the passenger door and got in, and he had a gun, and he pressed it into her side, saying, "Shut up and drive." So Susan drove. For five miles, she went down Highway 49 with the man beside her and her sons in a backseat. And then he told her to stop and get out, quote, "Shut up and get out of the car. Or I'm going to shoot you," unquote. And she said she begged to take her children, but he would say, quote, "Don't worry lady, I'm not going to hurt your kids," unquote. And then he shoved her out onto the road and drove away. At this point, Michael was three years old and Alex was 14 months still inside the car. And that car was Susan's burgundy, Mazda. As she described the man to the police as black, around 40 in a plaid jacket, a dark shirt, jeans, and a dark toboggan, or "took" for my fellow Canadians. And a sketch artist turned her description into a face, and copies of it were soon taped up in shop windows all over town. Now David was working his shift as an assistant manager at the Windixi, and Susan called him there and he left the store in a panic to find his boys. And Sheriff Howard Wells of Union County took charge of the case, and local, state, and federal agents made the county courthouse their command center. And they searched immediately, but the first hour is produced, nothing. There was no sign of the car and no one matching the sketch and no sign of the boys. So the search grew fast, volunteers came out to help on foot, and from error alongside the police, and support arrived from around the county, and tips came in by the thousands. More than the investigators could keep count of. And the day after Susan reported the car-jacking, the state law enforcement division put helicopters over John D. Long Lake, and swept the neighboring Sumter National Forest with heat sensors. And police dogs worked the ground around Union. And the story became one of the biggest in the country, families watched the news each night for word of the two boys, who came to be called America's children, and the coverage carried around the world. And Susan was in front of the cameras constantly. On NBC's Today Show, she said, quote, "As a mother, it's only a natural instinct to protect your children from any harm. And the hardest part of this whole ordeal is not knowing if your children are getting what they need to survive," and it hurts, unquote. And in another appearance, she spoke to Michael and Alex directly. As though they might be listening, saying, quote, "You guys have got to be so strong. I just feel in my heart that you're okay, but you got to take care of each other," unquote. And David would stand by her in the frenzy, and he pleaded, quote, "If the person who has mine and my wife's children see this, we come to you and we beg that you please do not hurt our children. Just find the compassion, find it somewhere in your heart to let them return home safely, they don't hurt them. You can take the car, whatever you want, just don't hurt our children," unquote. And the description of the perpetrator was general enough to fit a great many men, a black man around 40 that doesn't really narrow it down. So when Union, the search pressed hardest on black residents. And Mayor Harold Thompson spoke of men pulled from their homes and questioned because they matched what Susan had described, and the tension in town climbed through the nine days, even if it never fully boiled over. But away from the cameras, the investigators were beginning to doubt the car jacker even existed. And they brought Susan back in on October 26, and her account started to kind of come apart. The problem was the intersection itself, because the light at monarch stays green until a car on the cross street trips it. So with no other traffic around, it would have never actually turned red. Susan had said she was sitting at that red light, with no other cars in sight. And the friend she said she had been driving to see a man named Mitch had not been expecting her and was not home at the time of night. So she took a polygraph two days after the car jacking, and one question in particular gave her difficulty. And that question was, "Do you know where your boys are?" But as we know, polygraphs are not admissible in court. They're just something to gauge a possible suspect, essentially. And in public, Wells kept his footing, but the strain kind of showed. He would say, "It's hard to imagine that the car just vanished, so we're doing all that we can, backing ourselves up," unquote. But Susan wept through many television appearances, but up close, the investigators saw something that didn't match, because the tears never actually came. And the FBI agent, who ran her polygraph, David S.B., noted that she made fake sounds of crying with new tears in her eyes. And Roy Pascal, the artist who had drawn the car jacker from her description, came away doubting her as well. He felt she was generally vague while describing the kidnap her, but was pointed about certain tiny details in the sketch. And on the first night while riding to her mother's house, Susan told David that Finley might come by, and she didn't want him upset. But with their son's missing, David couldn't make sense of a thought like that. And almost no one outside law enforcement knew it, but divers had already been in the lake. And on the night of the 25th, the same night Susan reported the car jacking, Wells called the state dive team and told them he had good reason to think a car was in John D. Long Lake. So they searched out from the boat ramp across the width of the launch, and about 90 to 100 feet from shore. And a member of the dive team, Tim Baxley, said, quote, "We got down to about 18 foot of water, and we didn't run into anything, no car or person at the time," unquote. Because it was as far out as they ever needed to look for sunken car, so they packed up and went home, because the Mazda was not in the stretch they had searched. All right, let's take a quick pause because I gotta be honest with you. Summer has completely wrecked my routine. Getting trips, late nights, and saying yes to everything, my eating has gone off the rails a little bit. A lot of eating out, a lot of ordering in, a lot of having girl dinners every single night of the week, like some pickles, a handful of shredded cheese with a bag of chips and some chocolate. The girls know what I'm talking about, but it's not sustainable, ladies. And now things are finally slowing down, but my to-do list isn't. I needed a way to get back to eating real food. without spending every evening cooking, 'cause who's got time for that? And that's where Factor comes in. Now, Factor makes chef-crafted dietitian-designed ready to eat meals, so you don't have to choose between real food and convenience. And they're ready in two minutes with no prep and no cleanup, which, on my busiest days, is the only reason I'm eating an actual lunch. And every week, there were over 100 nutrient-tense menu items to choose from. I've currently been hooked on the salmon burgers, and I keep sneaking a pumpkin flavored cheesecake into my box at the treat. 'Cause cheesecake has grown on me now, and same as pumpkin flavored, who would've thought? Plus, 97% of users agree that Factor Meals help them live a healthier life. It's taken the guesswork out of eating well for me, I use Factor, and honestly, you should too. Let's eat real, and head to FactorMeals.com/CCM50Off, and use code CCCM50Off to get 50% off in one free breakfast item per box for one whole year, while supplies last until October 31st, 2026. That's code CCCM50Off at FactorMeals.com. See website for details. Thank you so much to Factor for sponsoring the video and supporting the channel, and let's get back to it. So nine days after she first told her story, Susan sat with Sheriff Wells in a small room in the gymnasium of a church away from the reporters. And he had listened to her account multiple times, and he had no longer believed it at this point. So Wells told her a lie of his own. He said undercover officers had been working a drug investigation at the intersection where she said the car-jacking happened, and none of them had seen it. Quote, this could not have happened, as you said, unquote. And he also told her he would have to inform the press. Her story was a lie, because her lie had caused undue pain to the black community, and it was his duty to help end the division that came from it. And that carried real weight. And then Susan took his hands and asked him to pray. So Wells did. He prayed about the burden on her, her family, and the officers who had searched and asked God to lead them through it. He said that, quote, in time, all this would be revealed, unquote. And then he looked at her and said, it's time. And Susan broke, she dropped her head into her hands and sobbed, quote unquote. I'm so ashamed, I'm so ashamed. And then she asked Wells for his gun, and he softly asked her, why would you want to do that? And through sob, she answered, you don't understand, my children are not all right. Because there had never been a black man in a plaid jacket. Susan had let her car roll into John D. Long Lake with a Michael and Alex inside. And she told investigators she did not watch the car go under. She turned and ran with her hands pressed over her ears. And in her written confession, she described the moment, quote, I dropped to the lowest point when I allowed my children to go down that ramp into the water without me. I wanted to turn around so bad and go back, but I knew it was too late, unquote. And once she told them where the car was, Wells called the dive team back to the lake. And they now understood why they hadn't found anything in that same water days earlier. That actually would explain, quote, so we knew it wasn't within a hundred feet of the ramp, which normally any time we would have dove for a car before, we wouldn't have thought it would have gotten more than a hundred feet out in the water, unquote. So Steve Morrow and another diver went back in the lake and found the Burgundy Mazda 122 feet from the edge. They, quote, actually laid hands on the car and determined the bodies were inside, unquote. They checked the windows to keep the scene sealed inside and hooked a record cable and swam alongside as the car was drawn back to the shore. Michael and Alex were in the back seat. Each still strapped into his car seat. In Susan's wedding dress and photo album were in the car with them. Now when the car came up out of the water that night, the people at the ramp came apart. Tommy Popes, the local prosecutor, was there, and he would say, quote, "When that car is pulled out and in those two car seats are two precious boys who have been in the water for nine days, I saw men and women in law enforcement just crying," unquote. And Morrow had seen a great deal in his work, but not this saying, quote, "There were a lot of season law enforcement officers here that night, and there were a lot of tear shed," unquote. And afterward, Morrow drove home to his own four-and-a-half-year-old son, saying, quote, "I hugged my wife. I don't think we spoke, and then I got in bed with my son and laid there for the rest of the night," unquote. So for nine days, the country had thrown itself behind Susan and David. Strangers held visuals, papered storefronts with flyers, and flooded the police with tips about America's children. And now they had learned that the woman who had begged the cameras for her son's return was the one who had murdered them. And Pope said, quote, "The betrayal was worse than had there been a car-jacker, and that's what made it resonate. People were so drawn in to help and drawn in by Susan," unquote. And David learned the truth from a news report on TV. And he couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing, and he couldn't believe that he had to find out that way. He felt a swirl of emotions from sorrow to rage, saying, quote, "I didn't know what to do. Everything I had planned on my life with my kids was gone," unquote. And he has since said the pain of the entire situation nearly took him with his sons, saying, quote, "What she did not only to Michael and Alex, she came pretty close to causing me to end my life because of the grief she brought upon me," unquote. And when Sheriff Wells finally arrived to deliver the news, he did so to the entire room of people at the Russell's house, including people that were essentially strangers to David. And despite the recognition Wells had received for his handling of the case, David still has not forgiven him for not delivering the news to him privately in that moment, or even delivering it personally before the world heard. And for Union's black residents, and for black Americans following it, the confession landed as its own kind of injury, because the hunt for the perpetrator had pressed hardest on them, and there had never even been a card-jacking at all. And many in Union's black community had never believed the story to begin with, as columnist Gregory Cane put it, a black man driving off with two little white boys, quote, "would have been caught within 15 minutes," unquote. And Vincent Dawson, a Barbara in Union, said, quote, "When she pinpointed one of us, the authorities here were quick to start ransacking our community for a suspect. But since she confessed, no one has rushed forward to apologize. That doesn't make for a very strong community spirit," unquote. And Donald M.H., president of the National Association of Black County Officials, said the false accusation, quote, "assaulted the character of every black male in America. This nation's shame that we accept such accusations without questions," unquote. But Susan's own family apologized to the black community. The situation pulled a long history into view. In Gloria Brown, Marshall, a civil rights lawyer and law professor, said it against the lynchings. "Black journalist Ida B. Wells had documented many built on white women's word against a black man. It's a, quote, "demonstrated position of power that white women have. It's a historical power play that still works today," unquote. So beneath the lie and everything it stirred, the story of how Susan reached the lake started eight days earlier, with a letter. So on October 17, 1994, Findley typed her a letter and handed it to her the next day at work. And he opened, warmingly, calling her intelligent, beautiful, sensitive, and understanding. But the purpose of the letter was to end things. And he told her why it couldn't work between them, saying, quote, "Susan, I could really fall for you. 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," unquote. And he left no room to misread it, saying, quote, "I'm sure that your kids are good kids. But it really wouldn't matter how good they may be. The fact is, I just don't want children," unquote. And Susan had carried that letter for a week when October 25 had come. And Findley said that he spoke with her three times that day. The first was frantic. She told Findley that David was threatening to tell others that she had slept with Findley's own father, Carrie, and with her stepfather, Beverly Russell. And the second time she showed up to give his sweatshirt backs, and quote, "I want to give you this because I may not see you again," unquote. And Findley said, quote, "It seemed very clear she was suicidal," unquote. And the third time she came back with the boys and a friend, Susan Brown, and took back what she'd said about the relationship with Findley's father that David had threatened to reveal. And she was calmer than she had been in the morning at this point, even if she was still a bit shaken. But that evening, she drove the boys to John D. Long Lake, a little over five miles from home. She pulled onto the boat ramp, let off the emergency brake, and quietly shut the door. And both boys were apparently asleep behind her. And the car rolled into the water, and she ran. And by her own later account, her plan had been to hold both boys and jump from a bridge, but she changed course when one of them woke up. And the car stayed at the surface of the water for around six minutes before one under. Investigators would later find out. And then the rest of the evening unfolded as we know. She ran to the McLeod house near the lake and raised the alarm. She told them a black man had taken her car to stoplight and driven off with the boys inside. And that was a story she gave the police and then the whole country for nine days straight. While her boys were sitting deceased in the back of her car, after she murdered them. And in her handwritten confession, she wrote about wanting to die, and about not wanting to leave her boys behind, quote, "I was very emotionally distraught. I didn't want to live anymore. I felt I couldn't be a good mom anymore, but I didn't want my children to grow up without a mom. I didn't love with someone very much, but he didn't love me and never would. I had a very difficult time accepting that. When I was at John D. Long Lake, I had never felt so scared and unsure as I did." Then, unquote. And later, at trial, the two sides would read the same facts in opposite directions. Prosecutor Tommy Pope argued she killed the boys to win Finley back, pointing to the letter, because the man she wanted had told her the children were the obstacle. And then, soon after that, she murdered two innocent babies, and then Sonny Huston, a former federal prosecutor, described what Finley's testimony did to Susan's case, quote, "Now you have someone saying, 'Yeah, I was in a relationship with her and broke it off, because I didn't want the responsibility of children.' Now the fingers pointed directly at her, I think it gives her the intent." And the defense, led by David Brock, argued mental illness. A woman broken by her father's suicide, her stepfather's abuse, and repeated rejection, who had meant to die alongside her sons. And the defense said she lived with untreated depression and a dependent personality disorder. And as a teenager, when doctors raised the depression, her mother and father allegedly had refused to let her be treated. But to Pope, the lake was in a ranger. Susan's wedding dress and photo album were in the car. So to him, she was packing away the life she wanted, gone, quote, "She basically packed up that whole part of her life and put it in that lake," unquote. And he never actually believed her claim that she ran without watching, saying, quote, "Some of the best lies are wrapped up in truth," unquote. And years later, in a 2015 letter to South Carolina newspaper, she rejected the idea that she killed for a man. Saying, quote, "The thing that hurts me the most is that people think that I hurt my children in order to be with a man. That is so far from the truth. There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. I was not in my right mind," unquote." Now neither reading of the facts answers everything. If it was only about Finley, the confession's language about dying alongside her sons doesn't quite fit. And if it was only a failed suicide, the nine days of lies that followed don't look like a woman in collapse. However, what it is not in dispute is what Susan did at that lake and what it cost Michael and Alex. "Susan Smith has been arrested and will be charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of her children, Michael III and Alexander, 14 months." Now the same day, Susan confessed to November 3rd, she was arrested. And the charge was two counts of murder, one for each boy, and she was taken southeast of Union to the South Carolina Women's Correctional Institution in Columbia and placed in an isolation cell with nothing but a blanket and a Bible. And guards watched her around the clock because of the risk she would take her own life. The next day, she appeared at the Union County Courthouse for a bail hearing, and her parents put together a defense team including David Brooke and Judy Clark, a capital defense attorney already making a name for herself. And she'd actually later defend the Univomor, Ted Kaczynski, and Boston Marathon bomber, Jekar Zorneyev, whom of which I will cover at some point because a lot of you guys have asked. So on December 12th, a state grand jury indicted her on the two murder counts, and the charges could carry a death sentence. But before any of that could play out, Union had to bury the boys. And on November 6th, three days after the confession, the town gathered at Buffalo United Methodist Church a short drive from the lake, and more than 1,000 people came, and the two boys were buried together in one white coffin, and their mother was not there. She was in her cell unable to attend. And David, distraught, stayed by the casket through the morning, then went home to change and came back for the service. And so many flowers were ordered for the funeral home and the lake side that the florist across the area completely ran out of flowers. And Reverend Mark Long, who led the service, spoke to the anger that had gripped the town since the confession, "They have to look beyond their own anger. It has to be dealt with in a positive way, knowing that it's all right to vent that kind of anger. But then it must be left in the hands of God." And at a service that Sunday, Long asked for something harder. He said that despite what she had done, Susan was still a child of God and that God still loved her. He asked for members of the community to "reach out to someone who has done a heinous crime and say God forgives you, and we forgive you." And during the search, the town had tied up yellow ribbons everywhere in support of the missing boys. And after the funeral, the ribbons came down, and light blue and white ones went up in their place in honor of Michael and Alex. And at the boat ramp where the car had gone into the water, the town set memorial markers and planted a young tree. Let's take a quick pause because I want to tell you a little story. So last weekend, I finally did the thing. I've been avoiding all year, probably for the past two years, to be honest. I gleaned out my closet and I found a whole rack of stuff. I kept swearing I'd wear and just spent too much money on, but never even wore. And I'm like, "Why do I even have this?" Like a jacket I bought for one event or jeans that haven't seen the light of day ever and don't fit me. It was a little embarrassing because that's real money just hanging there. So I tried out Vinted. And if you haven't heard of it, Vinted is a second hand marketplace app that makes it easy for everyday sellers. People like you and me to sell pre-loved fashion and earn some extra money. And listing on Vinted is quick and super simple. I am not tech savvy and it is a very simple system. I just snapped a few photos, added a description, and listed a whole pile of clothes from the couch I was sitting on, very simple. And once something sells, Vinted creates the prepaid shipping label for you. So there's literally no hassle figuring out postage. And the part that really got me is that there are no seller fees. So whatever you make, you actually keep. And that made me want to list even more stuff. It's very freeing, just getting rid of stuff. And it's a bonus that you get a lot of trash from it. And yes, maybe I did put my first few sales toward a couple new pieces for fall, but my closet actually has some breathing room now. So see what's hiding in your closet. You might be surprised how much you can earn with Vinted. So download the Vinted app for free to start listing with no seller fees. Thank you so much for venting for sponsoring the video and supporting the channel, and let's get back to it. Now, Susan's trial opened on July 18, 1995, in Union, before Judge William Howard. And Tommy Pope led the prosecution, as we know, while David Brock and Judy Clark defended her. That same summer, the OJ Simpson trial was running in Los Angeles under constant television coverage. But in Union, the judge kept cameras out of the courtroom. And guilt was never the question, because Susan had already confessed. The trial instead was about two things, why she did it and what her punishment should be. A Pope's case came down to one argument. Susan killed the boys because they stood between her and Tom Finley, the man she wanted. And a central evidence was the two-page letter Finley had typed for Susan, pulled from the Mazda at the bottom of the lake. Yes, the letter was in the Mazda. So I think it's extremely relevant. And he showed the jury a videotaped reenactment of a car like Susan's rolling down the ramp and sinking beneath the surface. And he showed them photographs of the Mazda coming out of the lake with the boys still strapped in. And clips of Susan on television during the nine days begging for the sons she had drowned already. And diversed, Steve Marrow testified about reaching the car at the bottom of the lake, saying, "I was able to see a small hand against the glass." Now the Mazda had gone in nose first, he said, leaving Michael and Alex hanging upside down in their seats. And the defendant's answer was that this was not a calculated murder, but a suicide that failed. A woman whose mind had come apart after facing rejection from the man she loved. The state was asking the jury for death and Pope stood by that choice, saying, quote, "This community can begin to heal, it's taken a tremendous toll, but it's something that had to be done." But the town's mood had shifted. And right after the crime, Union had wanted her executed. But as Susan's history came out, the abuse and the long depression, sympathy started to grow. And for the first time in the case, Beverly Russell was called to the stand. Now Russell, her stepfather and a fixture in the community, stood in front of the jury and wept. He admitted, molesting Susan from the age of 15, and said the sexual relationship had continued as recently as August 1994, two months before the death of her sons. And then, through tears, he pulled out a letter he had sent her in jail and read it to the courtroom. Quote, "I want you to know you do not have all the guilt in this tragedy. My heart breaks for what I have done to you." Unquote. And a caseworker named Jenny Ward also testified for the defense about investigating Susan's abuse allegation. Quote. at child sexual abuse. It is criminal in nature. The child said it. The perpetrator admitted it. That's a case." But no charges were ever brought, as we know. And Ward believed the family had been intimidated by Russell's political standing and the file was sealed. Quote, "That's the only order I've sealed in 20 years." Now under cross-examination, Pope pushed her to concede that Susan had shown no sign of being suicidal at the time. And Ward gave him that, but held her ground, saying, "I hold adults responsible for adult behavior." And in defense, psychiatrist told the jury that after David left in August 1994, Susan sank into depression, drinking more and sleeping with several men at once. One of them being her stepfather. And witnesses walked the jury through her two teenage attempts and her father's suicide when she was six. And a prison guard, Felicia Mungo, said Susan often broke down crying over the boys behind bars. And David testified for the prosecution and as a count of losing his sons left several jurors in tears. He had wanted the death penalty for her. And under South Carolina law, a life sentence could mean parole in 20 or 30 years. And to David, that was not nearly enough. Saying quote, "I feel she doesn't deserve another chance in society," she gave up that right, unquote. Susan would never testify herself. And also when the moment came for a closing statement, she waved it. In Judy Clark, closed for the defense, saying quote, "Sadness is what brings us together, not evil. The love of Susan Smith for those two boys was unbelievable. There was no evidence of anything but absolute unconditional love." The only two people who loved her unconditionally are gone. She made that decision with confused mind and heart that has no hope, unquote. And Brock argued that a life sentence would be its own punishment. That Susan would carry the grief and the memory of what she had done for the rest of her days. And then Pope closed for the state, saying quote, "On the night of October 25, Susan Smith made a choice, a horrible, horrible choice. She chose the love of a man over the love of those boys," unquote. And Pope told the jury that the instant Susan let that break off, it was as if she had pulled the trigger. And he spoke about the boys, saying quote, "Mercifully, they truly never understood why it happened. They knew it was dark, they knew they were scared, and they knew they were alone," unquote. So on July 22, after only two and a half hours, the 12 jurors ate white and four black, three women and nine men found Susan guilty on both counts. And six days later on July 28, they came back from another two and a half hours with a unanimous decision on the sentence. They rejected death and Susan would spend the rest of her life in prison. And juror Deborah Benvenuti explained quote, "we all felt like Susan was a really disturbed person, and we all felt that giving her the death penalty wouldn't serve justice," unquote. And Judge Howard called their choice the toughest moral decision anyone has to make. And as a verdict was read, Susan put her head on Brooke's shoulder and padded his back, then wept as the guards let her out. And David sat stone-faced and told reporters quote, "This is the most difficult thing I've had to do. I guess since I buried Michael and Alex," unquote." And he said that he was disappointed with the outcome but respected the jury's decision. And outside the courthouse, the crowd was divided. Back in her cell, she went on suicide watch again, with a camera on her at all times, at a guard passing every 15 minutes with no visitors for the first days. And under South Carolina law, Ben, her life sentence left open the possibility of parole after 30 years. Since then, Susan has spent three decades in the South Carolina prison system, and is now held at the Leith Correctional Institution in Greenwood County. And our years inside have not been quiet. She has been disciplined more than once for drug possession and for sexual encounters with correctional officers. In 2000, she picked up a sexually transmitted infection behind bars, and an investigation found that two officers, a lieutenant named Houston Kegel, and a captain named Alfred Roe, had sex with her while she was in their custody. And more disciplinary action came after she gave a documentary producer contact details for her relatives and for David. And in August 2024, just before her first shot at parole, she lost her canteen, phone, and other privileges for 90 days for contacting a victim or witness of a crime. And in the time since these actions, records show no further trouble, and she has earned work credits as a wardkeeper assistant since October of 2024. Under the law, as it stood, when she was sentenced, Susan's life term did not mean life without parole. South Carolina abolished parole for life sentences in 1996, but the change did not reach back to her case. So on November 4, 2024, after 30 years, Susan Smith became eligible for parole for the first time. And on November 20, she appeared before the state parole board by video and was unanimously denied. And she will be eligible again in November of 2026, and every two years after that. And Tommy Pope came to speak against her release, saying quote, "Susan has always focused on Susan. Susan made a horrible, horrible choice to choose a man over her family. If she could have put David in the car, he would have been there too." And over the years, Susan has given her own account of the night, more than once. And in a 2015 letter, she wrote to her reporter at the state in Columbia, she insisted that she was not the monster society thinks I am. Something went very wrong that night." She wrote, "Planned to kill myself first and leaving a note behind telling what happened, but didn't believe I could face my family when the truth was revealed." An at the 2024 hearing, she wept as she addressed the board. Quote, "I know that what I did was horrible, and I would give anything if I could go back and change it. I love Michael and Alex with all my heart," unquote. And the board asked how she would answer the responders and law enforcement she had misled, and she said quote, "I'm sorry that I put them through that. I didn't lie to get away with it. I was just scared. I didn't know how to tell people that love them that they never see them again. I am Christian and God is a big part of my life, and I know he has forgiven me," unquote. And her lawyer, Tommy Thomas, framed the case as one about "the dangers of untreated mental health," unquote, pointing to an undiagnosed depression after Alex was born. And he noted she had no prior record and said that if released on parole, she would live with her brother. David rebuilt his life as best he could. He buried again in 2003 to Tiffany Moss, the cashier, and they had a daughter and later another child. But he has never accepted the sentence as enough, saying quote, "She deliberately killed Michael and Alex, and they can't let her out. 30 years is not enough. I wanted an eye for an eye, but the jury saw different," unquote. And at the 2024 hearing, he sat before the board and tears and asked them to keep her in prison, saying quote, "This wasn't a tragic mistake. She purposely meant to end their life," unquote. And she had served by his math 15 years for each boy, and the others in the story went their separate ways. Beverly Russell, her stepfather resigned from the state Republican party in April of 1995, once the abuse became public. And he lived his last years quietly with his wife and would die at his home in April of 2018 at the age of 70. And Howard Wells, the sheriff, whose questioning had broken the case, later fell into trouble of his own. And in 2009, a federal grand jury indicted him for persuading a witness to mislead investigators in a loan inquiry. And he pleaded guilty to lying to a federal agent about money he had loaned, and in September of 2010, was sentenced to 90 days in prison. And Tom Findley, the man whose letter had sat at the center of it all, has kept out of the public eye in the years since. Over 30 years, this story has often been told as "suicens," but this last part belongs to her sons. Michael Daniel Smith, who was only three years old, an Alexander Tyler Smith, who was only 14 months. And David's clearest memory of the two of them was simple game they played with blocks. Michael would build a tall tower. And Alex would come blazing through the construction, sending the blocks flying. And Alex would laugh, and Michael would join in with him. And it was a laugh, David wrote, "You could catch like spring fever." And even after he and Susan separated, David kept the boys bed times the way that had always been. He would bring them back to her place at the end of the day and get them ready for sleep, giving Michael the bath he loved, and the hairwashing he couldn't stand. And after they had kissed Alex Goodnight in his crib, the two parents and Michael would lie down together on a pallet on the floor until the boy drifted off. And Michael had fallen asleep between his mother and father since he was a baby. Lying there in the dark beside his estranged wife was strange. David admitted, "But it was all for the boys," he said. Michael was a daddy's boy. And when David was no longer living with Susan, she told him Michael would wake in the night crying, saying, "I want my data." And Alex was still a baby, and David was trying to turn him into a daddy's boy too. He fed Alex his baby food and took care of both boys if they ever got sick during the night. And whatever he had gotten wrong in the marriage, David believed he had been "a good father to Michael and Alex." two stone markers stand today as memorials to them off at Lockhart Highway. A short way up, a small road near the lake, and a visitor once called it a quiet well-kept place with a bit of serenity, and David has carried the weight of the loss for three decades, but he's done what he can to keep living. He built a new family, and he says that now he struggles to remember his boys. He is forgiven Susan, though forgiveness isn't forgetting. "I forgiven her," he says, but it still doesn't take away the act of what she did. It doesn't make it any less, any easier." And he is promised to keep their memory alive by coming back to parole hearings every two years for as long as the hearings go on, but the case left a mark. Its name still calls up two things at once, a mother who drowned her own boys, and the man she invented to carry the blame. But whatever it came to mean for people, none of it undoes the two boys that were lost. Michael and Alex were taken, along with every ordinary day that should have come afterwards. But that is the case of Michael and Alexander, and yeah, this is a very tough case. I know a lot of you asked for me to deep-dive into this case, and I know a lot of you would like me to deep-dive into others, so please let me know in the comments. What other cases you would like me to look into, and until then I will see your beautiful face. So right, please stay safe out there. Bye.