Susan Smith.Photo: SC Department of Corrections
Susan Smith, the notorious South Carolina woman whokilled her two sons in 1994, has been sending “romantic correspondence” to a man outside the jail, two sources with direct knowledge tell PEOPLE.
Smith, now 50, is serving a life sentence at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood, S.C. Her time behind bars has beenfraught with disciplinary actions, including illicit drug use, self-mutilation and sexual contact with a guard.
But Smithhas been behaving herselfrecently in the hopes that she will be paroled in November 2024, and a member of her family tells PEOPLE that she has started a new long-distance relationship that she hopes will continue if she is released.
“They write letters all the time,” the family member says. “They started about a year ago. Handwritten letters about what their future will be. She’s very romantic like that, always wanting to find a happily ever after.”
Another close source confirms the correspondence, telling PEOPLE that Smith sends “a few letters per week.”
The man, in his mid-40s, lives outside Columbia, S.C. He works in residential construction and is divorced with two adult children. He wrote to Smith after seeing a documentary about her on television, and a long-distance romance blossomed.
PEOPLE has seen parts of two of the letters. In one letter, Smith tells the man about her day and writes, “I hope I get to see you f2f [face to face] soon.” In the second letter, she thanks him for a recent letter and says, “I can’t believe I can fall for someone I’ve never met.”
Dave Martin/AP.
Smith is one of the most notorious prisoners in South Carolina history.
But it was all a lie.
As her story began to unravel, Smith admitted that there was no carjacker, and that she had let her car roll into a lake with Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, still strapped in their car seats.
Her motive: She was secretly dating a man who didn’t want children. The story became international news, even landing on the cover of PEOPLE. Smith was convicted of two counts of murder and is serving a life sentence.
But Smith claims she has been misunderstood.
In 2015, Smith wrote a letter toThe State. “I am not the monster society thinks I am,” she wrote. “I am far from it.”
“Something went very wrong that night. I was not myself,” she continued. “I was a good mother and I loved my boys. There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. I was not in my right mind.”
Smith’s ex-husband — and the father of the boys — told PEOPLE in 2010 that he has never fully recovered from the pain. “There’s always this nagging and gnawing heartache,” David Smith said. “It’s there every day, even if I’m not always conscious of it.”
It’s unclear if Smith will be paroled in November 2024, but she’s hoping that she can get out of prison and begin a new life. The family member who spoke with PEOPLE, though, says she’s where she needs to be.
source: people.com
