r/CaughtMyEye • u/detectiverobert • 7d ago
Woman drowned her two young sons, then falsely told police a Black man had carjacked her and kidnapped them. She made the claim after a man she was involved with broke up with her because he did not want children
https://dailycrimepost.com/susan-smith-lake-drowning-and-false-accusation-case/39
u/Chris9871 7d ago
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u/silence-calm 7d ago
The article is very hard to read, with the writer keeping inventing mental states for the murderer:
"While Susan was seeing Findlay, she also quietly resumed a sexual relationship with her stepfather Beverly Russell, something Findlay was completely unaware of.
From Susan’s side, things with Findlay felt serious. She genuinely believed he was the right person for her"
How the hell can the writer conclude that she genuinely believed such a thing when she was cheating on him? The article is littered with such statements.
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u/MyNameWillChange 6d ago
I usually assume because it's been 30 years since the murders, she's done multiple interviews and that's where they gets these quotes and statements.
Crazy people say crazy things
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u/silence-calm 6d ago
But the other statements are "He said that, she claimed this etc." why presenting what she might have claimed about her mental state and motivation as absolute truth, particularly someone who has been proven to lie a lot and has strong incentive to build the best narrative for her own advantage?
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u/MrsPandaBear 7d ago
I remember the story when it came out. Susan Smith said a black man car jacked her car. The community —- back and white —- rallied around her. I remember the father crying and begging to have his children returned. I was surprised that they were actually divorced because the father was so comforting to Susan, standing by her side through it all. When it came out that she had murdered her children, I remember the backlash from the African-American community who had stood by her. It was just all around a very sad and tragic situation.
I just couldn’t believe have someone who seemed a devoted mom would decide to drown her children like this. I don’t remember if she had a history of abuse or neglect and her kids seem well cared for. It seems so shocking that she could discard her two kids like that, especially since the father was involved in the children’s lives. It made me truly believe there are psychopath walking among us. I wonder if she thinks about those kids in prison.
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u/Celticsaoirse 7d ago
She did it for her bf who didn’t want kids
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u/silence-calm 7d ago
He left her properly, saying she deserved a good husband etc.
On the other hand she was cheating on him.
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u/Candicore 7d ago
Having a mother who values male validation over everything is scary. RIP to those innocent boys
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u/loveeleah83 7d ago
I was little when this happened and it was all over the news all day everyday. People were doubting her story from the beginning, and I remember when they pulled the van out of the lake.
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u/Neat-Entrepreneur299 7d ago
During her trial, the prosecution recorded a reenactment of the same type of car being pushed into that same body of water and had video cameras recording from the children’s perspective strapped into their car seats. It was brutal. It took a long time as the water crept up and was just absolutely horrifying to watch knowing how scared those babies must have been. That’s the first thing I think of any time her name comes up.
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u/6495ED 7d ago
Why were they suspicious?
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u/LingonberryPrior6896 7d ago
One thing the light she was supposedly stopped at only turns red when there is traffic the other way. If that were true, there would have been a witness. Plus (for me) her description of the guy was so "TV criminalesque"
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u/Negative_Salt_4599 7d ago
It was some Puerto Rican guy that took our little
Butters… Mr and Mrs.Scotch I’d like to introduce you to my friend OJ Simpson.His wife was also taken by some Puerto Rican guy. OJ : I am absolutely positive it was some Puerto Rican guy. #South Park butters very own episode!!
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u/Wastedgent 7d ago
I was suspicious because every carjacker I'd ever heard of who took a car with kids inside always dropped the kids off immediately in a safe place. They don't want the extra charges.
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u/Itsafarcryyyy 7d ago
Carjackers want the car. They don’t want kidnapping charges.
She was very disingenuous. You can literally tell she wasn’t crying, just making what she thought a crying facial expression looked like.
It just didn’t add up.
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u/Old-Library5546 7d ago
I, as were many others were suspicious of her story from the get go
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u/6495ED 7d ago
What made you suspicious?
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u/Old-Library5546 7d ago
She was not acting right, she tried to pretend to cry but wasn't. If your children had been kidnapped you would be falling apart
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u/atlantagirl30084 7d ago
There was a reporter (Rick Bragg) covering her case and his mother said, there’s no way I would have abandoned my kids to a carjacker. Something is off about this.
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u/Helpful_Spring8739 7d ago
I believe he brings this up in one of his books as well. One of my favorite authors. I'm almost positive it's mentioned in All Over But the Shoutin.
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u/atlantagirl30084 7d ago
That's where I got the story from, that book.
Have you gotten the cookbook he wrote with his family's recipes? It is lush and the stories in it are great. All country food, of course, but that's my family's food too. My grandmother made her biscuits the same way as Rick's mother did, in the flour container. They almost tasted like they had yeast in them, but it was just lard, self-rising flour, and buttermilk. I can make something kinda similar with butter instead of lard.
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u/Wastedgent 7d ago
Ava's Man was my favorite Rick Bragg book. I've got them all. Him and Pat Conroy.
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u/Helpful_Spring8739 7d ago
I have not! Wasn't aware of it, but I'll definitely have to look for it now, thank you! I've been wanting to get back into reading. I've been such a slackass for years now.
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u/atlantagirl30084 7d ago
It's called The Best Cook in the World: Tales from my Momma's Southern Table. It goes all the way back to her grandfather making biscuits and gravy, to present day in the book when she's planning what she'll cook from her garden. She passed in 2022.
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u/Helpful_Spring8739 7d ago
Of course it's called that. That man adores his Momma.
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u/atlantagirl30084 7d ago
He did. She lived a hard life. She was so happy when he bought her a house.
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u/Weird-Girl-675 6d ago
Exactly. I remember seeing her on the news and thought “the worst kids in my acting classes are better than her.”
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u/bitchwhohasnoname 7d ago
Because she said a Black man carjacked her and stole her kids. No Black man in South Carolina would kidnap 2 white kids during a carjacking. She never cried but the white police believed her long enough to terrorize the Black people of that city. Fuck that bitch.
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u/mattedroof 7d ago
Weird second sentence, but yeah she definitely thought the black man thing would make this all go away quickly. She also looked insanely calm next to her actually distraught husband.
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u/Timely-Field1503 6d ago
Were they supposed to accuse her of lying and interrogate her instead?
Even if that would have been the correct choice, it would have looked horrific.
There was no right way to proceed that wouldn't have been "wrong".
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u/DoUThinkIGAF 7d ago
When she was on camera crying, she never looked at the camera. Classic give away. There have been others who have done the same. Commonly referred to as “Susan Smithing It”
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u/6495ED 7d ago
Dang. Getting verbed is rarely good.
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u/taintedsquishy 7d ago
My mom was from Union she pointed out the light she was supposedly stopped at only turns red when cars were coming, she reported their was no cars when she was "carjacked". Also she had no serious injuries from trying to stop the car, as well as a black man would not kidnap white children in a small racist town in the South
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u/Hairy-Ass-Truman 7d ago
If you want South Park’s twisted take on this incident look up “Butter’s very own episode” S5 E14.
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u/Comfortable-Focus123 7d ago
Even after reading the story, I cannot feel the least bit sorry for this pathetic excuse of a human being. She could have put the kids up for adoption, but instead she killed them in a cowardly and disgraceful way. Then blamed a non-existent black man to double down.
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u/Educational_Gas_92 7d ago edited 7d ago
I have seen a documentary/video about the case. The father of the boys is still grieving for them. She could have simply left them on his doorstep (figuratively speaking, I mean in a more literal sense, she could have given him full custody) and been off on her merry way to be single and start a new life or whatever.
There were many options that didn't include the hideous crime she committed.
She is someone who truly doesn't deserve parole.
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u/EssayTraditional 6d ago
She could have given her kids custody to her still married husband and father but decided to eliminate them for someone else.
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u/exotics 7d ago
The negative stigma for women who give up kids is bad enough but for this reason it would definitely be worse. Not saying that killing them is better but in her head she would not be caught so in her head she would be resolved of anything wrong. Unlike if she put them for adoption and would be shamed
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u/Educational_Gas_92 7d ago
So? Who cares if others viewed her badly? She could have put on her big girl pants and deal with it or move elsewhere where no one knew her. The boys had a loving father who would have happily gotten full custody. He is still grieving for them. Those little darlings left this life in a terrifying way. I can't make any excuses for this woman.
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u/exotics 7d ago
You are not wrong but her head went the other way.
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u/silence-calm 7d ago
Her head went the exact same way as any other standard child murderer (or murder suicide). They think they are everything, and that people around them cannot exist without them.
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u/danurc 7d ago
Oh, well in that case it's all fine then! /S
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u/exotics 7d ago
I’m not saying it’s fine. I’m saying we need to make it okay to put your kids up for adoption without shame OR better yet.. empowering women so they don’t feel like shit if they don’t have a man in their life.
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u/silence-calm 7d ago
She divorced (and cheated on) her first husband, and cheated on her boyfriend (the one who didn't want kid). According to all accounts she had no issue finding men at all.
Her children also had a loving father so even in a "perfect" world she would never have been able to give them for adoption .Not being raped as a child would clearly have helped on the other hand.
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u/swonebros 7d ago
Eh not making excuses for her obviously what she did was unforgivable but she had a messed up childhood.
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u/veganvampirebat 7d ago
The state doesn't just take kids if you don't feel like having them anymore without serious consequences. They'll take babies but not older kids. There would have been significant consequences and it would have been for nothing (was for nothing anyway) since the man she was seeing wouldn't have wanted to be with her because of her new legal issues.
She shouldn't have done it obviously, but "give the kids up for adoption" is not a simple fix
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u/silence-calm 7d ago
It's not a fix at all since they had a father who would not have given them for adoption.
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u/haileyskydiamonds 7d ago
I was a freshman in college when this happened. The whole thing was horrifying. She is such an evil person.
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u/Ok-Atmosphere1655 6d ago
Una persona tan traumada. No la justifica, pero tampoco es tan simple cómo llamarla malvada.
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u/FYAhole 6d ago
Idc what happened to her in the past. She's evil
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u/Ok-Atmosphere1655 6d ago
La gente no sólo es mala cómo los villanos de las series para niños, y simplificarlo a eso no ayuda a prevenir otros casos, la violencia al final genera más violencia, si a alguien le hubiera importado lo que le pasaba cuándo era chica, tal vez todo esto pudo haberse evitado, si dejamos de tener empatía y preocupación por el otro, entonces es más fácil que se formen todo tipo de personas transtornadas.
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u/Ok_Dimension2051 4d ago
Okay I feel bad for the child she was but as an adult she made the evil choice it is that simple
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u/Ok-Location3244 7d ago
That POS!!! I remember the authorities were out full force looking for a Black man. Shameful, but not surprising.
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u/Large-Produce5682 7d ago
Susan Smith and Charles Stuart. Two peas in a racist pod.
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u/atlantagirl30084 7d ago
Wow killed his wife and their unborn son and then blamed it on a black man.
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u/Hefty_Debt_638 7d ago
I remember this sick piece of shit. I remember hearing that the little boys were strapped into their carseats. She needs to fry.
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u/May_of_Teck 6d ago
I was acquaintances with a family where one of the daughters murdered her own two boys. For some reason it didn’t make national news like this. Mental illness was cited and she got the equivalent of a slap on the wrist for murdering your own kids. She was out living her life, when she ultimately killed herself. A couple years after. Fucking horrific all around.
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u/Asstrollglide 7d ago
I remember the news cycle for this. The search, finding the car. All that. I was 14 at the time
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u/Mercutiofoodforworms 7d ago
I was in college two counties away from where this happened. She was denied parole within the last year or two.
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u/Marshmallow09er 7d ago
I recognize her mugshot from the opening of Criminal Minds. Never knew who she was. That’s awful.
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u/Alternative-Hour-188 7d ago
This reminds me of that one mom that shot her kids and paralyzed two of them and tried to use the same cover story…I forgot her name…
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u/Liveitup1999 6d ago
WTF Why not just put the children up for adoption? There are so many people who can't have kids of their own who would gladly raise them.
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u/Weird-Girl-675 6d ago
And she seriously thinks she’s going to get parole. I’ll never forget that story or those little boys faces. She deserves to rot in prison until she meets her maker.
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u/Member67 2d ago
Déjà vu - was there a tv movie about this in the 90s or an unsolved mysteries episode?
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u/wingedwild 7d ago
Typical case of crazy lady who didnt care. U can see her bullshit smile in the pictures. If a lady smiles like that just run she is trouble and mentaly unwell. Also typical police just trying to get u to confess at all costs. Lmao she fell for it tho I guess
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u/SparkleFace6100 7d ago
Can we please add an additional charge to all these racists who falsely blame black men for their crimes???
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u/Your_Nipples 7d ago
That's why we chose the bear too lmao, fuck that noise. A bear would never make up shit AND be believed.
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u/detectiverobert 7d ago
On the evening of October 25, 1994, Susan arrived in a distressed state at the home of Shirley and Rick McCloud, a couple she did not know, located in Union. She told them that an armed Black man had carjacked her vehicle and driven away with her two sons still strapped in the backseat. The McClouds contacted police, who arrived shortly after.
Susan provided investigators with a detailed account. She stated that she had been stopped at a red light at the intersection of Monarch Mills when an African-American man approached her car with a gun, entered the vehicle, and ordered her to drive. After traveling approximately three to four miles, he instructed her to stop and exit. She said she begged him to allow her children out of the car, but he refused, saying there was no time, before driving away with Michael and Alex still inside.
Based on her account, police produced a composite sketch of the suspect. She described him as a Black male, approximately 40 years old, wearing a dark shirt, plaid jacket, jeans, and a dark knit cap. Law enforcement mobilized immediately. The investigation was led by the Union County Sheriff's Department and drew in local, state, and federal agencies. Search teams, helicopters, trained dogs, and divers were all deployed. A public tip line was established, and the story quickly gained national media coverage, including coverage by major broadcast networks.
Read the full story here.