Susan Smith, a South Carolina woman who admitted to drowning her two children 30 years ago, was unanimously denied parole after she appeared before the board for the first time on Wednesday.
“I know that what I did was horrible. And I would give anything if I could go back and change it,” Smith, overcome with emotion, told the parole board via Zoom. “I love Michael and Alex with all my heart.”
On Oct. 25, 1994, Smith, then 23 years old, strapped her sons — 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander — into their car seats and let the car roll into a lake near her home.
At first, Smith lied to police and said a Black man carjacked her and kidnapped her sons. Smith’s husband believed her, and the young parents appeared on TV to plead for the suspect to bring the boys home.
On Nov. 3, 1994, police confronted Susan Smith about her story, and she admitted to the killings.
The board mentioned how her case took resources away from the law enforcement community who searched for her sons. Asked what she would say to the responders, Smith said, “I’m sorry that I put them through that.”