Susan Smith

On October 25, 1994, Smith reported to police that her vehicle had been carjacked by a black man who drove away with her sons still inside. The composite sketch of the alleged carjacker, however was "too generic" in the sense that it described half of the African-American men who lived in the community. For nine days, she made dramatic pleas on national television for their rescue and return. However, following an intensive investigation and a nationwide search, she confessed on November 3, 1994 to letting her car roll into nearby John D. Long Lake, drowning them inside. Her motivation was reportedly to facilitate a relationship with a local wealthy man by the name of Tom Findlay. Prior to the murders he sent Susan a letter ending their relationship and expressing that he does not want kids. She said that there was no motive nor did she plan the murders, stating that she was not in a right state of mind.

After graduating from high school in 1989, Smith made a second attempt to kill herself after a married man ended the affair they had. She married David Smith, and they had two sons. The relationship was rocky due to mutual allegations of infidelity, and they separated several times.

Susan Leigh Smith (née Vaughan; born September 26, 1971) is an American convict who was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 30 years for murdering her two children, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander.