I wont do that again. She is currently based at the Leath Correctional Institution near Greenwood, South Carolina. Sheriff Howard Wells served time for public corruption in 2010. Most of them have left town. Thank you for your article. The following year, prison captain Alfred Rowe also pleaded guilty to having sex with Smith and was sentenced to five years probation. "You don't have all the guilt in this tragedy," he read, sobbing. In January 1994, Susan started dating a co-worker from her job at Conso Products Tom Findlay. ``But dont be discouraged. On one hand, I feel sorry for the guy because he got wrapped in this mess when he clearly stated he wanted nothing to do with the girl. At 11 that night, Smith called Williams and said she wouldn't be at work the next day. . The Barnes family of Maple Shade, N.J., sent an arrangement of carnations and daisies. Such a position also gave her the chance to get close to her boss son, one of Unions most desired bachelors, Tom Findlay. Tom Findlay, 28, is a graphic designer who works in his father's firm. 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. Beverly Bev Russell, a successful local businessman. I do. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20358219,00.html Im just going to live one day at a time. 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. "Dear Susan," Findlay said. Susan Smith murdered her young sons in 1994. David felt left out. She was also introduced to her boss's son, Tom Findlay. Keep scrolling below to find out more about Susan Smiths case, trial and to find out where she is today. There is someone out there for you. ', Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. . "Fussy or singing, fussy or happy, which one is it? THE NEWSWEEK POLL (c) 1995 BY NEWSWEEK, INC. Now more than ever, Americans support the death penalty by striking majorities. 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." You will, without a doubt, make some lucky man a great wife. Their last meetings came on Oct. 25 at the Conso plant. 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. "Susan, I could really fall for you," he continued. Then she drove out to John D. Long Lake and let her maroon Mazda Protege roll into the reddish-brown water. At the time David was engaged to another woman and broke it off to be with Susan. She flirted with another man, and Tom, to judge by the Dear Jane letter he sent her two days later, was at least somewhat offended. . "He's got my babies," Smith said. Although prosecutors sought the death penalty, Susan was sentenced to life in prison. On October 25, 1994, the Union native, who was 23 years old at the time, called the police and claimed an armed black man stole her car and drove off with her two sons inside. The letter about the reasons for the breakup, written by Tom, was also inside the car. Linda, Susans mother, always consented to the borrowing, but on the other hand, she felt entitled to guide the couples life, mainly in the aspects related to Michaels upbringing. Patrick is in there. Susan seemed to be integrating high society, just like her mother Linda. Fox Carolina Susan and Tom began dating in January 1994, however, Susan and David got back together in the spring. Shell have to keep behaving herself like she has been as of late, an insider told, Smith was also disciplined in 2000 for having sex four times with prison guard, , who later pleaded guilty and spent three months behind bars for the crime. He really got a bad rap out of all of this even though, IMHO, he had no contribution to the situation. He told her to keep it: Smith was wearing the shirt when she drove her sons to the lake that evening. 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. Maybe he wasnt ready for children at the time at such a young age. She soon became pregnant and they decided to get married. I do want us to be friends forever and Ill never let anything happen that would change that. There was even an episode at the end of high school where Susan sought help from a school counselor. In a day filled with dramatic testimony, Smith sat blank-faced as witnesses took the stand and painted a conflicting portrait of the 23-year-old defendant as a vixenish adulteress, a lovesick secretary, an abused child, a frightened wife, a skillful liar and a doting mother. According to previously secret records from a state family court, Russell began molesting Susan when she was 15. They still receive gifts. TIME What was only supposed to last a few months, resulted in a promotion to accountant at the store. Is Every Duggar Ridiculously Messy? After picking up her children from nursery, she stopped to chat with a friend in a parking lot and expressed her fears about Tom's reaction now that he knew she had slept with his father. He was considered twenty years ago to be the most eligible bachelor in Union, as the son of a wealthy mill owner. That man, Tom Findlay, took the stand and read a letter he had written to Smith breaking off their relationship. But it seems Susan just couldn't keep her lips dry, and one night Findlay found her in his own hot tub kissing another man. They were from Union County, so the community not only grieved again, but wondered what it had done to deserve so much pain. Excerpts from a letter Susan Smith wrote to Tom Findlay on Oct. 17, and his reply, written the same day and given to her Oct. 18. The idea that she would kill her . "I didn't know what to do," he said. ", This smarmy rejection threw Smith into panic. She goes to Tom and reveals that she has been having sex with her stepfather since she was 16. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. 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. She gained the . The justice system imposes the death penalty far more often than it actually delivers it (page 24). 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. As I told you, I was starting to let my heart warm up to the idea of us going out as more than just friends. ``One more thing before I go, please dont ever hesitate to call me if you ever need anything! During one of their separations, Susan began having a relationship with Tom Findlay, who was known as one of the most eligible bachelors in Union. It was October 25, 1994, Susan was at work. 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. Linda Vaughan married stockbroker Beverly Russell, the son of a leading local family, about a year and a half later. . On the other hand, he sounds quite narcissistic and preachy in his Dear John letter, and he isnt even attractive. . 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. Susan Smith called the police saying that she had her car stolen by a black man who kidnapped her two young children. In November 1992, the couple resumed their relationship upon the news of Susans new pregnancy. The emerging facts of her chaotic life--her father's suicide, her molestation by her politically prominent stepfather, her failed marriage and the tabloid prurience of her repeated love affairs-seemed to make her a symbol of small-town decadence. Susan Smith has been returned to her tiny cell at the Women's Correctional Institution in Columbia, S.C. She has no personal possessions, no contact with other inmates and she wears only paper gowns--a precaution against suicide, because real clothes can be turned into nooses. So the trial result is likely to divide Americans just as it divides Union, S.C. "A lot of people in Union are not feeling too good," said Christine Bird, one of many residents who gathered at the courthouse to hear the decision. . She claimed that she did not see any other cars on the road, but the light turned red. You will without a doubt make some lucky man a great wife. A coincidence, says Vickie Shields, the local "hometown coordinator" under the South Carolina Downtown Development Corp. No one noticed the timing until too late. 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. We are the home of true crimeMade with in Brazil. At the age of 16 her stepfather started to molest her. . "We agreed the intimate part of our relationship should be postponed till she was divorced," Findlay testified. TRUE CRIME - CURRENT TRIALS, OLD or COLD CASES, Harvest Delicious Red Tomatoes with Red Rocket in Hot Climates South of Memphis, Tomatoes are a popular and versatile crop that can be grown in many climates, but it is important to choose the right variety for your climate. So, where are all of the key players now, including the woman at the center of it all? Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window). Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com. He is known to some local young women as "The Catch.". 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. Susan had a troubled childhood, which was plagued with suicide attempts and traumatizing events. Actually, he is online. Susan Smith's nervous paramour cast doubt today on charges that she killed her children to pursue their romance, saying Smith's anguish actually stemmed from a recent affair with her own stepfather. 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!). To be the perfect woman for a rich man. Sheriff Howard Wells took polygraph tests on David and Susan. It takes 60 days for Red Rocket tomatoes to reach maturit, Rootstock Selection for Short Season Tomatoes: What to Consider and Recommended Varieties, Rootstock selection is an important part of successful tomato production, especially in short seasons. Early this year, the state moved the monuments 50 yards from the water, to the wooded edge of the access road. THE MARGIN OF ERROR IS +/- 4 PERCENTAGE POINTS. In Touch Weekly has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services. "I think you're involved in this thing," Caldwell told Smith in an interview that day. Russell and Smith's mother, Linda, are separated. In her confession, she stated that she wanted to die and was going to her mothers house, but she gave up. This year, as the bands and barbecue mavens set up, television trucks arrived on Main Street, but not for anybody's sauce recipe. 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. Her father committed suicide when she was 7 years old. Williams said Smith came to her in tears that afternoon and asked to go home early. 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. I was not ready to assume the important responsibilities of being a father, Findlay wrote in a statement issued through his lawyers. We are just two totally different people, and eventually, those differences would cause us to break up. Find the editorial stock photo of Findlay Tom Findlay Center Former Boyfriend, and more photos in the Shutterstock collection of editorial photography. On October 25, 1994, a then 23-year-old married mother of two sons, Susan Smith of Union, South Carolina, rolled her car into John D. Long Lake with her boys strapped inside, drowning them. I really wanted to be with you and hated that I wasnt. Since that day twenty years ago, the town of Union, S.C. has also moved on. Susan felt indebted to her mother and allowed her to dictate the rules. Brackett, who is still something of a spokesman for Union's black community. And special thanks to my fellow true crime buffs in the True Crime Discussions group on FB, especially PAT! Now, at Foster Park, there's a new set of playground equipment, and a marker, in memory of the Smith boys. At the time, Tom didnt know, but she had sex with David; her stepfather, Bev Russell; and also her boss, who was Toms father. Susan Smith's most intense extramarital affair was with a newfound employee at Conso Products in 1993. Susans mother, Linda Russell, continuedto support her daughter,claiming as recently as five years ago thatSusan simply lost touch with reality at the momentshe murdered her sons. I want you to know that I have never felt with anyone, the way I feel when I'm with you. 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. By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms and Conditions and that you have read our Privacy Policy. Tom didnt even let Susan start talking. But unfortunately, it won't be me. This is "a difficult letter to write because I know how much you think of me . In addition to Findlay, several other Conso Products employees testified. She was in a bit of a hurry, as her goal at the time was a new marriage to Tom. And your friendship is one that I will always look upon with sincere affection. Tom Findlay is the son of Cary Findlay, president of the company. One of the most intriguing parts of this story was Lindas conduct in the face of abuse. That man, Tom Findlay he read, sobbing Findlay Tom Findlay is son! 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