Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Child Killer Susan Smith's Jailhouse Boyfriend Turns on Her

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who admitted to drowning her two young sons in a car in 1994, has attracted the attention of several men as she comes up for parole. But according to a new online report, one of those men feels betrayed after he found out that Smith was talking with other men online. Smith goes before the parole board in November. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy takes a look at what the jilted man is saying and why Smith is attracting so much attention in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Use the code LAW15 for 15% off at https://citybeauty.com/LCCrimeFix. That’s promo code LAW15 for 15% off your order!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Dr. Daniel Bober https://www.instagram.com/drdanielbober/CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I think Susan Smith only thinks about Susan Smith. I think that she is someone that puts her own needs above everyone else, even her own children. Susan Smith coming up for parole 30 years after murdering her two young sons by drowning them in a lake. She's attracted the attention of many men while behind bars, but now one has turned against her. I'll tell you what he's saying and dig into why men are so attracted to this convicted murderer who's serving life behind bars. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

Susan Smith is coming up for parole in November. She's one of the most notorious child murderers of the 20th century. I remember this case like it was yesterday. Smith was 22 years old in 1994 when she told police in Union County, South Carolina, that a black man had carjacked her and took her car with her two young sons in the back seat. Michael was just three years old and Alexander just 14 months. The search for Michael and Alexander set off a national media frenzy. Smith was on TV for days begging for the safe return of her little boys. Whoever has my children that they please, I mean, please bring them home. Nine days later, Smith's car with

Michael and Alexander strapped in their car seats was pulled from John D. Long Lake in Union County. Tommy Pope was the solicitor in the area at the time. I spoke with him earlier this year about the case. When did you all realize, or when did the SLED agents realize that maybe Susan was not being honest about what had happened? You know, in a strange twist, and like you said, back then, you know, we didn't have all the different news sources we can, but she was drawn from the beginning to the opportunity and the attention of being on the media. I remember I had raw footage from Channel 7 out of Spartanburg that was the first people on the scene to the house she went to.

They had called David to come to the scene and they're about to do the video. The camera lights are off. That was back in the old days when you had a big boy like me carrying the cameras and then you had the anchor person doing the work. So the lady, the anchor person says something to the effect. So David and Susan are standing in front of them ready for the camera. And she says, okay, you know, when the lights come on, then I'm going to ask you, you know, your name and then what happened, whatever. Right before the lights come on, Susan looks at David and kind of giggles like it's exciting, like they're going to be on tv you know what i mean and of course poor david looks like like a deer in the headlights

he looks like a guy who was just told your kids have been stolen and so going through it there were always kind of little instances but i was going to say the media intensity um you know because ultimately she was on every national media, you know, interviewed like the Today Show and all this stuff. And she was fine when she was getting the accolades and the sympathy. When they started questioning her a little bit, she started, you know, cracking. And so I think that media pressure helped. And then there were just slowly inconsistencies the other thing is law enforcement always runs a dual investigation if you tell me an alien took

your child then i'm gonna go work on the alien case too but i'm also gonna check the logical things like family members and so it you know sometimes people say that's offensive but you have to check out the victim's family too, to kind of check that off the list. Fortunately, they kept that working and ultimately it proved they were looking in the right spot. A jury convicted Smith of the murders. Despite seeking the death penalty, Smith was sentenced to life in prison. Smith claimed she had a psychotic breakdown and garnered some sympathy because she claimed her stepfather had sexually abused her.

Despite that life sentence, Smith would be eligible for parole after serving 30 years. That 30 years is coming up in November. So Smith will go in front of the parole board at that time. Now, we've told you before here on Crime Fix that Smith has been in trouble while in prison for having sex with a corrections officer. She was caught with drugs but her records show that she has not been in trouble since 2015. one other thing i've noted smith hasn't earned any educational credits during her time in prison it's been almost 30 years she has though earned some work credits she's worked in landscaping she's been an office clerk and in april she was named a ward keeper assistant. During her time in prison, Smith has also kept busy by communicating with men from the

outside who want to date her if she is released. The Messenger reported last year that Smith told one man she believed she'd make a good stepmom. That man reportedly responded, you'd be great, babe. But now there's new reporting from the New York Post that reveals one of her suitors feels that Smith actually betrayed him. He says he feels duped, according to the website. The retired man told the Post, I saw in the news that she was talking to other guys, so I looked into it myself. I actually got the transcripts and realized

that she wasn't being faithful. He continued, she'd always say she didn't want to ask for anything, but she'd give hints and she'd accept anything I'd give happily. I loved her, but I don't know if she loved me, even though she said so. I don't think she is capable of loving anybody but herself. The man was also quoted as saying, she always wanted something from me. We're not men to her. We're her marks. She's always figuring out what she can get. The Post also quoted the man as saying, all she does is take, take, take. The Post also said that Susan Smith has told people that she's done her time and she's ready to go. I cover some really

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That's promo code LAW15 for 15% off of your order. Dr. Daniel Bober is a forensic psychiatrist. Thanks so much for joining me, Dr. Bober. Your thoughts on these men, and there are more than a dozen of them, who are writing Susan Smith and carrying on what they think is a romantic relationship with her. attraction towards criminal offenders. But what's unique about this case is usually it's women pining after men and not men pining after women. So this one is a little bit atypical. But we have to ask ourselves, what would cause someone to be attracted to someone who is incarcerated? And there's many psychological theories as to why this happens. Part of it is thrill and excitement. People enjoy going after high profile people. They get a thrill after it. Some people say it's a savior complex. They believe that the person might be innocent and they make it their mission to save them, to clear them,

and it gives them a sense of purpose. But ultimately, a lot of these people who go after incarcerated individuals are very damaged themselves. They may have a history of trauma, and we're talking about emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. And so they are drawn towards relationships which feel safe and familiar. So they're repeating a lot of the same themes again. But, you know, at the end of the day, if you lay down with a snake, you can't be surprised if you get bitten, right? This is someone who is incarcerated. She is a survivor. She's looking for any way she can to make her stay easier and quicker. And that, you know, may come in the form of less time,

of money for her commissary. So it's not surprising to me that she's not faithful and she is where she is. Susan Smith, you know, for those of us who remember this case back in the 90s, I mean, this was about as bad as it gets. We're talking about two little kids defenseless, one of them a baby, the other a toddler, children, two little boys strapped into their car seats. Their mother lets their bodies in the car sink into the lake and just slowly drown. I mean, she could have saved them, but she watched them drown from the bank of the lake. And then she did this, you know, according to her confession, because of another man. She was having an affair with another man cheating on her husband,

and that man didn't want children. So there's this common theme here with Susan Smith and men. Do you have any feelings on that and what might be driving her? I think Susan Smith only thinks about Susan Smith. I think that she is someone that puts her own needs above everyone else, even her own children. And what's worse, if we remember that case, she accused an African-American of doing it, which stirred up racial division. And then eventually she confessed that she did it because she wanted to be with a wealthy

man who didn't want children. So this is someone to me who is very narcissistic, who only thinks about herself. And yet again, she's thinking about herself. But again, you can't be surprised if you're the person that's pining after her, that she would be talking to other people. You can't expect someone like this to be faithful because they've shown time and time again that they're always going to put their own needs first. It's interesting you bring that up because the New York Post actually spoke to one of her suitors. And this man told the reporter from the Post that he saw on the news that she was talking to other men.

He thought he was the only one, according to the reporting. So he looked into it further and found out that she was talking with a dozen or more men and having similar conversations. And she he felt that he had been duped and that she wasn't being faithful and that all she does is take, take, take. So that to me makes me think that he was giving her impossibly money for commissary and things like that. So it mimics what you're saying, mimics what this gentleman quoted in the story is saying. So she's just got nothing but time on her hands behind bars. What you're saying mimics what this gentleman quoted in the story is saying. So she's just got nothing but time on her hands behind bars. And people are obviously reaching out to her.

There are systems for this. There are pen pal programs where people can get in touch with inmates. There's dating websites where you can actually hook up with someone who's in prison. So, I mean, I think you really also have to look at the people that are, again, are attracted to these type of incarcerated individuals. They themselves, I think a lot of them are damaged. They have low self-esteem. They feel that because they can't be in a conventional relationship that they may seek out these criminal offenders. And so, I think you have to also look at the psychology behind why they would be drawn towards someone who is incarcerated. Susan Smith got life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving a certain number of years. So this is going to be her first time up for parole in November. I just don't see

that happening, given all of the facts of the case. And we've covered her case before here on Crime Fix, where we've looked at some things about her life behind bars. She hasn't earned any educational credits. She's gotten into some trouble, although she hasn't been in trouble recently, but she has been in trouble in the past. Do you see the parole board down there in South Carolina releasing her? I don't, because I think an argument could be made that she's still a threat to the community. I don't really sense that there's any real remorse there. And I know that the parole boards want to see that the person has evolved in some way, that they've learned from their crime. And so I don't really see a lot of evidence that she has evolved, that she has accepted responsibility, that she has any real sense of remorse. But that being said, I don't have access to her prison records, to her therapy notes. So I can't really

say that for certain. But if I was on the parole board and I saw this kind of behavior, this doesn't really seem like a changed woman to me. When I look at the messages that some of the men send Susan Smith as well, something also kind of gets me thinking about the fact that maybe there's something about this that almost seems safe in some respects, or it's like just a fantasy because she's not, you can't, you can't get to her. This is like a fantasy in your mind that you've conjured up and you talk with this person on a tablet, but you can't actually see her unless you go visit her. You can't go out on a date. You guys can't go to dinner and a movie. You can't actually have a real, realistic relationship. It's all back and forth via messaging systems and things like saying. It's a fantasy. It's a romanticization. It's what society does with criminals. Sometimes they glamorize them. And again,

because she's behind bars, you can say or do anything because at the end of the day, she is safe. She's not accessible. And so it is a sort of fantasy land thing because it's not realistic. It's not conventional. It's not accessible. So for some people, that fantasy is something that they enjoy living, but I'm sure it's a stark difference from the reality of being someone. When they get out of prison and they have to try to reenter society, I'm sure that's very different than the fantasy, and I don't think a lot of these men would want to deal with the implications of when she's actually released from prison and looking at the media attention that that's going to bring them. about her possibly being a good stepmom. She thinks she would be a good stepmom.

And he said something to the effect of, you'd be great, babe. I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that a man would think that somebody who murdered her two defenseless little boys could somehow be a really good stepmom after being in prison for so many years and not really having any real life experience.

Yeah, I think he may need a psychiatrist. I mean, I think making a statement like that to someone who's killed their two children, that they would be a good stepmom or a maternal figure, I mean, I think anyone would look at that pretty suspect. So this is, again, someone who needs to look at themselves. If they have that level of insight and it's lacking to that degree. I think they may need mental health assistance. Dr. Daniel Bober, thank you so much.

Appreciate your time. My pleasure. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.