Susan Smith
Updated: 5/17/2026, 11:30:46 AM Wikipedia source
Susan Leigh Smith (née Vaughan; born September 26, 1971) is an American woman who was convicted of murdering her two sons, three-year-old Michael and one-year-old Alexander, in 1994, by strapping her children in their car seats, and rolling her car into John D. Long Lake in South Carolina. The case gained international attention because of Smith's false claim that a black man had kidnapped her sons during a carjacking. Her defense attorneys, David Bruck and Judy Clarke, called expert witnesses to testify that she had mental health issues that impaired her judgment when she committed the crimes. Smith was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Smith was first eligible for parole on November 20, 2024, which was denied. She is incarcerated at the Leath Correctional Institution near Greenwood, South Carolina.