Susan Smith, who is in prison for the cold-blooded murder of her two young sons in 1994, hopes to be released on parole later this month – but the parole board has been inundated with dozens of letters of opposition from friends, family and members of the public. .
The South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services confirmed it had received more than 130 letters about Smith’s bid for parole.
Although the letters are not publicly available, a Smith family source told The Post that many of them are filled with nasty comments about Smith’s attempt to get out of prison after 30 years.
“They are horrible,” the family member said. “They say things like, ‘She belongs in that lake with her boys.’ People don’t want her out of jail, and they’re telling the parole board.”
Smith’s ex-husband, David, encouraged the public to write letters of opposition. In an interview this summer with Fox Carolinahe said Smith should never be released.
“She took the greatest gift we have from life,” he said. “She took that away from them, and I want people to remember that. Maybe those who were old enough when that happened remember how they felt when they heard that Michael and Alex were dead and that she had done it; and that perhaps they themselves would write a letter to the parole board or something else that would encourage them to keep her behind bars.’
A relative of David Smith told The Post that he will speak to the parole board before the Nov. 20 hearing.
Smith was a 22-year-old mother when she became a household name for killing her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander. In 1994, she drove her car into John D. Long Lake in Union County, South Carolina, with her boys still strapped into their car seats.
Smith then falsely told police that a black man had carjacked her and kidnapped the toddlers, sparking a manhunt that had authorities going door to door in local neighborhoods that were predominantly African American.
Smith and her then-husband appeared on national news every day pleading for the boys’ safe return.
But nine days later, Smith finally confessed that there was no carjacker and that she had drowned her sons in the lake.
Her alleged motive: she had an affair with a rich man who didn’t want children. The car was pulled out of the water with the two boys inside, right where she had left them.
But Smith insists she is simply misunderstood. In one Letter from 2015 she told the state newspaper that she was mentally ill.
“I am not the monster that society thinks I am. I am far from it,” she wrote. “I’m far from it. Something went very wrong that evening. I wasn’t myself. I was a good mother and I loved my boys. There was no motive as it wasn’t even a planned event. I wasn’t in my right mind.”
But Smith has had a difficult time in prison and her release seems unlikely.
She was punished in 2000 for having sex with two guards while behind bars. She has always maintained that the sex was not consensual due to the different power dynamics.
She has also committed several offenses – including in 2010 and 2015 – for having narcotics or marijuana behind bars.
But for nine years, Smith was a model prisoner — until last month, when she was convicted of trying to cash in on her shame by talking to a documentary producer behind bars and discussing payment for her story.
Smith lost her phone, tablet and cafeteria privileges for 90 days beginning Oct. 4. She can receive visitors, but has no electronic communications with anyone.
