Michael and Alexander Smith were two young brothers who were murdered by their mother Susan in 1994. The case gained much media attention and it was eventually revealed that the children’s own mother was their killer.
Susan Leigh Vaughn was born on September 26, 1971 in Union, South Carolina. She grew up in an unstable household after parents divorced and her father died by suicide when she was 6. She then attempted suicide when she was 13, and was also molested by her step father. She graduated high school in 1989 and attempted suicide once more before marrying David Smith in 1991.
Susan gave birth to her and David’s first son Michael Daniel Smith in 1991. She later gave birth to their second son Alexander Tyler Smith in 1993.
On October 25, 1994, Susan called 911 claiming that an African American man had carjacked her with her two sons still in the car. She then went on national television with a plea for her children to be returned safely. Susan gained much attention and sympathy after this, but some still found her behavior to be suspicious. There are several interviews in which Susan seemed to be putting on a facade with what some felt were fake cries.
Investigators later revealed that they had suspected Susan from the beginning that she was responsible for her sons’s disappearance and later murders. 2 days after the boys went missing, both Susan and David took polygraph tests, and after giving conflicting statements regarding the carjacking, Susan’s story was not believed by investigators.
9 days after the report about the children, Susan later recanted her statement and admitted to killing her children. She confessed that she had let her car roll into the nearby John D. Long Lake with 3 year old Michael and 14 month old Alexander still in the car, resulting in their deaths. It was revealed that she was having an affair with a wealthy man named Tom Findlay, who tried to end their affair after telling her that he did not want children. Although Susan claims that she didn’t have a motive and that she just wasn’t in the “right state of mind”, one can infer that she did this to carry on her relationship with Tom Findlay.
Before Susan revealed where the children were, investigators had already been searching in nearby ponds and lakes, including John D. Long Lake. The investigators initially didn’t find the car in the lake because they thought it would be about 30 feet off the shore, but it was actually about 122 feet off the shore.
Susan’ trial began in 1995. Her defense argued that she was mentally unstable and suffered from depression, and her step father even testified for molesting her. One of her co-counsel’s Judy Clarke stated that, “…Smith drove to the edge of the lake to kill herself and her two sons, but her body willed itself out of the car.” This statement alone is ridiculous. The prosecution argued that Susan committed these murders so that she can start a new life with her lover. It only took the jury about 2 and a half hours to convict Susan with 2 counts of murder for the deaths of her young sons. At first, the death penalty was considered, but Susan was eventually sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in November 2024.
The children’s father and Susan’s husband David Smith was revealed to have not been involved with the crime whatsoever and he and Susan later got divorced in 1995. Susan in currently serving her sentence in the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution. During her time there, Susan became sexually involved with two correctional officers who later lost their jobs as a result.
Though Susan claims that she isn’t a monster, her actions clearly state otherwise. Not only did she make the accusation that some random black man had carjacked her and lied to the nation on television, but she so cold heartedly killed her two innocent babies. She shouldn’t be given the option for parole and get her life back because Michael and Alexander will never be able to get their lives back.
Resources-
TRUE CRIME REPORT 
She should be executed for doing this to innocent children this is a message to you Susan smith u shouldn’t have even had these children if u could so easily take away the lives of these young boys how could you you should drown in hell like u did to these boys they couldn’t even protect or save there selves you should suffer like you made them do
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