Susan Smith, who has been behind bars for nearly three decades after drowning her two sons, is optimistic about her upcoming parole hearing, reportedly telling one of several suitors on a recorded phone call that she’s served enough time in prison.
Family members told the New York Post that the notorious South Carolina inmate, now 52, has spent the last several months convinced that a parole board will let her out of prison after her upcoming hearing on Nov. 4.
In preparation, Smith has been hard at work courting her admirers – according to recorded phone calls from Leath Correctional Institution reviewed by the Post, the convicted killer carried on romantic and sexual conversations with at least 12 suitors over the past three years.
SUSAN SMITH, NEARING PAROLE AFTER MURDERS OF YOUNG SONS, SAYS SHE’D BE ‘GOOD STEPMOM’: REPORT
Susan Smith, pictured in a recent mugshot at left and at 22 years old in 1994, has been incarcerated in South Carolina for nearly 30 years for the murder of her two sons. (South Carolina Department of Corrections)
“It’s time for me to get out,” Smith told one such suitor over the phone earlier this year. “I’ve done my time. I’m ready to go.”
In March, she asked another man how he could support her if she is paroled, according to another conversation reviewed by the Post. The man replied that she has a large nest egg – a combination of money that he had saved up, gifts from her admirers and the sale of family property – waiting for her if she gets out.
“I’ll tell you what I did last night, thinking of you – I made a spreadsheet that starts out with $213,000,” the caller told the notorious inmate. “You’re gonna have more than that. I think you’ll be in the $220,000 range, all put together. You can [spend] $40,000 a year. While you’re withdrawing from that balance, it’s still earning interest on the undrawn amount.”
KAREN READ MURDER CASE ENDS IN MISTRIAL WITH ‘DEEPLY DIVIDED’ JURY
Susan Smith was convicted on July 22, 1995, of murdering her two sons, 3-year-old Michael Daniel Smith and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith. Initially, Smith claimed that a Black man carjacked her with the two boys still inside her vehicle. But her story unraveled, and the woman admitted that she let her vehicle roll into a lake with the boys strapped inside. (Getty Images)
“In 20 years’ time, you will have spent most of that,” he said. “But you will still have some of it left over.”
“I love you so much,” Smith said after a short pause.
“I love you too,” the suitor replied.
The conversation took a raunchy turn, the Post reported, with the man speculating about what Smith would look like in a wet T-shirt.
“I’m going to have you in the front seat of my car,” the man said. “You’re so bad,” Smith replied, giggling.
“I have some ideas of things we can do. But I’m going to make you wiggle and squirm before I tell you.”
FLORIDA’S TOP PROSECUTOR BETS ON DECK OF CARDS TO SOLVE STATE’S COLDEST CASES
Michael Daniel Smith, 3, and his 14-month-old brother, Alexander Tyler Smith, in a family photo.
“Babe, I’m already wiggling and squirming,” the man replied.
Late last year, she had “ways to get [his] attention” and speculated about how she might cater to him in the morning.
“I can get you up in the morning,” she said, coyly. “And I mean up.”
SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
But Smith is unlikely to be paroled on her first attempt – or ever, experts told the Post.
According to South Carolina Department of Corrections records, Smith began her life sentence on Nov. 4, 1994, after she was convicted on two counts of murder in the deaths of sons Michael Daniel Smith, 3, and Alexander Tyler Smith, 14 months.
Smith let her car roll into John D. Long Lake in Union County, South Carolina, with the two boys strapped into their car seats. She stood by as the vehicle sank to the bottom and drowned both children.
Toys are pictured at a small memorial beside the spot where Michael and Alexander Smith were drowned in 1994. (William F. Campbell/Getty Images)
GET REAL TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
Initially, then-22-year-old Smith told investigators that a Black man had carjacked her while the two boys were still inside the car.
Days later, she wept alongside husband David Smith on national television, pleading for their safe return:
“Your mama loves you so much,” she said during one news conference.
But nine days later, she confessed – she was allegedly motivated by her affair with a wealthy man who didn’t want children.
FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X
Grief-stricken David Smith, the inmate’s former husband, is pictured weeping amid a crowd of mourners as he leaves the funeral for his sons Michael and Alex. (Thomas S. England/Getty Images)
Her prospective affair partner and ex-boyfriend, Tom Findlay, penned a letter a week earlier that prosecutors said drove Smith to drown the boys.
“Susan, I could really fall for you. But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that aren’t suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your children,” he wrote, according to Deseret News.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
David Smith, the father of the two slain children, has since remarried and fathered two additional children. He and his family intend to oppose Smith’s release.
“David still thinks of his boys every day, and doesn’t ever want Susan to get out,” one of the man’s relatives told The Messenger. “She belongs in jail… she is exactly where she needs to be – in prison. And we will do what it takes to keep her there.”
Smith has confirmed her intention to show up at the hearing, the Post reported. Meanwhile, the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services has notified victims’ families about the upcoming hearing.
