Smith, Susan
| Name |
| ||||
| Birthname | Susan Leigh Vaughan | ||||
| born on | 26 September 1971 | ||||
| Place | Union (Newberry County), South Carolina, 34n16, 81w32 | ||||
| Timezone | EDT h4w (is daylight saving time) | ||||
| Data source |
| ||||
| Astrology data |   02°55'  
|
Biography
American homicide; a mother who drove her Mazda car into 18 feet of water in John D. Long Lake near Union, SC with her two sons strapped in their car seats in the back seat, 10/25/1994, c. 9:00 PM.
After her folks divorced, Susan's dad was a suicide 1/15/1978. Her mom remarried, to a man who sexually abused Susan, Beverly Russell. As a teenager, she made two suicide attempts, one in 1985 and one on 11/07/1989. An honors student, she was publicly friendly and cheerful.
Susan married David Smith (born 7/27/1970, Royal Oak, MI) on 3/15/1991. Their son Michael was born 10/10/1991 and son Alexander on 8/05/1993. They divorced 9/22/1994. After the divorce, she found money tight and took a job as a secretary. She had a brief affair with 27-year-old Tom Findlay, who broke it off. When the divorce was final, 5/05/1995, the house was in her name.
After the murder of her babies, Susan spent nine days telling lies and publicly mourning, saying that the children had been kidnapped. Her stories did not hold up and on 11/03/1994, she broke and confessed.
Jury selection began 7/10/1995 and the trial began in Union on 7/18/1995, 9:30 AM EDT. On 7/22 the jury spent 2 1/2 hours deliberating before they returned with a verdict of guilty of murder. Susan Smith went to prison.
In September 2000, a 50-year-old prison guard, Lt Houston Cagle, was fired when he confirmed Smith's accusation that they had sex four times early in the year. She has a job assignment in the prison library and free time on prison grounds.
Events
Source Notes
Dates from Sue Kay, Iris Kinney and Bill Land: times unknown
Categories
- Family : Childhood : Abuse-Sexual (outside of family) (Step-dad)
- Family : Relationship : Number of Marriages (One)
- Family : Parenting : Kids 1-3 (Two sons)
- Passions : Criminal Perpetrator : Homicide many at once (Two sons)
