At the time, Tom didnt know, but she had sex with David; her stepfather, Bev Russell; and also her boss, who was Toms father. ``For my first two years in Union, I dated very little. SC State House Last summer, Tim and Angie Phillips came with their three small children and two family friends, one of them a 3-year-old. Susan could not continue working at the same place as David, so she looked for a new job. She seemed very nervous and asked to leave work early. . She kept those, too. Linda Vaughan married stockbroker Beverly Russell, the son of a leading local family, about a year and a half later. Other key figures in the case have gone on to both fame and failure. Susan stood by and watched until the car was completely submerged. Then she drove out to John D. Long Lake and let her maroon Mazda Protege roll into the reddish-brown water. Thank you for the info. Recently, someone gave them a toy truck, a tiny plastic horse, two pinwheels (one for each brother), a plaster angel kneeling in prayer, a $2 bouquet of supermarket flowers and miniature wind chimes, left to tinkle softly in the country graveyard. "Dear Susan," Findlay said. He told her to keep it: Smith was wearing the shirt when she drove her sons to the lake that evening. But others, when they travel, won't say where they're from because they'd rather not answer questions. According to a deposition taken in March in connection with Susan and David's divorce (which became final in May), soon after she began working at Conso Products in 1993, Susan took up with. The town of 10,000 started the event following the Susan Smith murder trial to showcase its softer side," the Journal wrote. The highway sign simply reads John D. Long Lake. ``But our differences go far beyond the children issue. , whose father owned the mill she worked at. ", This smarmy rejection threw Smith into panic. In July 1995, Smith was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years, which is around the corner in November 2024. Suspicious authorities directly confront Smith after a futile nine-day search. Only a few days before Susan Smith drowned her two young sons, her former boyfriend testified today, he wrote her that the children were one reason their relationship could not continue. First were Michael, who was 3, and Alex, 14 months. ), A strapping, silver-haired man, Russell stunned the courtroom by admitting that his consensual involvement with Susan continued intermittently through her marriage and subsequent separation from David Smith. The dead boys' father, David Smith, said he and his family were "disappointed" at the verdict. ", To prosecutors, Findlay's emphasis on the children was Smith's motive for murder. . Susan herself is now in prison after being found guilty of the murders of her children in July 1995. She is currently based at the Leath Correctional Institution near Greenwood, South Carolina. Before the murders, he wrote her a Dear John letter to Susan explaining why they could neverbe together, stating that he did not want children. "Had I been true to you in my responsibilities, you would have been stronger in yourself, not needing to be constantly supported and reassured emotionally. "Susan, I am not mad at you about what happened" at the hot-tub party, Findlay wrote. "There will always be something to remind each of us that such a thing happened here," she says. ``But dont be discouraged. The prosecution's main weapon was tear-drenched testimony from a vengeful David Smith, who accepted a box of tissues from Judge William Howard. Hours later, a co-worker called to ask if he had heard the news about Susan-- and Findlay's first thought was, "Oh my God, she's killed herself. Susan became pregnant and had an abortion. Smith, now 26, is in prison in Columbia; she was sentenced in 1995 to life in prison and must serve at least 30 years. We have been raised in two totally different environments, and therefore, think totally different. I dont blame him for declining interviews and book deals and disappearing. Williams asked again. The letter is dated Oct. 17, 1994. The previous year, Union had the festival two years to the weekend after Smith confessed to the sheriff where he could find her boys. After the sentence, Bruck refused to gloat. Davids parents were grieving the recent loss of another son who died of Crohns disease just 11 days before Susan and Davids wedding. Im sure that your kids are good kids, but it really wouldnt matter how good they may be the fact is, I just dont want children. I was a good mother, and I loved my boys. THE BOYFRIEND'S STORY. Tom Findlay, 28, is a graphic designer who works in his father's firm. "Fussy or singing, fussy or happy, which one is it? Russell signed a statement admitting his conduct and the family sought counseling-but Susan and her mother said they didn't want to prosecute. They were buckled into their car seats when their mother stepped out, lowered the emergency brake and let the car roll down the steep ramp, into the deep water. He was considered twenty years ago to be the most eligible bachelor in Union, as the son of a wealthy mill owner. "He that is without sin among you," Bruck said, "let him first cast a stone at her. Susan Smith was both perpetrator and victim. Maybe he wasnt ready for children at the time at such a young age. The divorce apparently led her millworker father, Harry Vaughan, to commit suicide one month later, an event that may have helped create the emotional vacuum that has haunted her ever since. On November 3, 1994, David and Susan appeared on the CBS This Morning program and David expressed his full support for Susan and her story about the kidnapping. Since she said there were no other cars on the road, there was no reason for her to see the red light. Americans seem guilty of vast hypocrisy. I am shocked how nobody speaks of him yet he casued so much harm by modeling Susan at 15 AND kept on having sex with Susan his dauther after Susan got maried. They planned historic-home tours, an art exhibit, a barbecue cookoff, a log-rolling contest and live bands. Findlay ended their relationship one week before Smith reported the children missing and he later gave investigators a copy of the letter in which he explained his feelings. Plastic or resin containers are usually reasonably priced and large enough for indeterminate tomatoes, but fabric containers, This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our, LETTER FROM SUSAN SMITH TO TOM FINDLAY - HIS LETTER IN RESPONSE. In his Dear John letter, he was honest with the girl and told her they would never be together although I did think he sounds like a total D-bag (re: ..maybe somebay youll meet a nice guy like me. Whatever!). "Really, I think this is an example of how little this situation is on the minds of people who live here. And city and county leaders, who had to work together to prepare Union for a trial-time media deluge, allied again this year. You are a true friend. The jury found otherwise -- a tacit recognition that the core issue was whether Smith was mentally ill. South Carolina's definition of insanity is one of the most restrictive in the nation: it did not permit Smith to plead not guilty by reason of insanity or, more plausibly, temporary, insanity. The following year, prison captain. Susan became famous for the brutality and coldness with which she killed her two children. The marriage was a step up: Susan and her brothers, Michael and Scotty, moved into a comfortable ranch house in Mount Vernon Estates, an upscale subdivision outside Union. I was not in my right mind.. Her descent began with the divorce of her parents in 1977, when Susan was 6 years old. When she went on to say she had been riding around in the car singing with her sons, Caldwell said he interrupted and reminded her she earlier had described the boys as fussy that day. You will without a doubt make some lucky man a great wife. She gained the . In January 1994, Susan started dating a co-worker from her job at Conso Products Tom Findlay. Actually, he is online. Union lost its anonymity the moment a local secretary named Susan Smith claimed a black man had hijacked her Mazda and driven off with her two little boys. But at Patrick's shop, he keeps a pocket paperback of "Sins of the Mother," one of many books published on the Smith case. Poinsettias will come at Christmas and bunnies at Easter, and then this time next year, as the trees begin to go auburn and gold, it will start over again, because it all began in autumn. And a nation that has heard the squalid evidence about Smith's liaisons with four different men, including her own stepfather, voted 63 percent to 28 percent in a NEWSWEEK survey that she should have been put to death. Beverly Russell, a leader of the Christian Coalition at one time, and Linda Russell split up before the trial. Bev stayed away from the family for a few weeks, but after a few sessions of family counseling he returned to normal family life. On the other hand, he sounds quite narcissistic and preachy in his Dear John letter, and he isnt even attractive. Tom Findlay, Susan Smith's ex-lover, started a new life in Birmingham, Ala. Cary Findlay, who is Tom Findlay's father and Susan Smith's former employer, let his mansion become a. Jurors heard Smith's love letters read aloud and watched a videotaped television interview Smith gave shortly after reporting that her two toddlers had been kidnapped by a black carjacker last Oct. 25. Red Rocket is a determinate tomato variety that is well-suited to hot, muggy climates like those found south of Memphis. Her saga of suicide attempts and molestation and depression and marital deception is embodied in those closest to the case. So it was Susan Smith's claim that drove her to murder her two sons. In Touch Weekly has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services. State police investigator David Caldwell testified that Smith was first accused of killing her sons just a day after they disappeared. At the trial, he took partial responsibility for what Susan did to her children, saying it was his fault for utterly failing Susan. They eventually settled down in a brick starter home in Union. At the time David was engaged to another woman and broke it off to be with Susan. This didnt seem to work, so she told him about the supposed affair with her boss, also Toms father, and warned him that the details of the relationship might come to light during the next few days. " Cladwell said Smith then began crying, said she wanted to go home, and stalked out, hollering in the hallway of the sheriff's office: "I just can't believe they think I did it.". They argued there was no evidence, as the defense claimed, that Smith had driven to the lake to commit suicide. . Why not simply give custody of the boys to their father? Ms. Smiths letter (handwritten, not dated): ``Just a note to say thank you for everything. In. But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that arent suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your children. I was not ready to assume the important responsibilities of being a father, Findlay wrote in a statement issued through his lawyers. Their last meetings came on Oct. 25 at the Conso plant. They came because it was the third anniversary of the brothers' deaths. She was also sexually abused by her stepfather. I want you to know that I will always love and care for you for the rest of my life. The letter about the reasons for the breakup, written by Tom, was also inside the car. Chicago Tribune. The following year, prison captain Alfred Rowe also pleaded guilty to having sex with Smith and was sentenced to five years probation. She flirted with another man, and Tom, to judge by the Dear Jane letter he sent her two days later, was at least somewhat offended. In March 1992, the couple separates, and they try to save their marriage between comings and goings during the next seven months. Susan can't get over Tom Findlay It was October 25, 1994, Susan was at work. As deeply depressed as she was that Tom had ended their relationship, she was still sexually involved with David - and with her step-father, Bev Russell. Nothing--not Smith's sad history or blighted hopes, nor any kind of victim chic-can explain that act away. Copyright 2023 | We Support Phalanx Family Services & St Agatha Catholic Church, Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Powered by Frackle Media, Taylor Swift Reveals Lyrics and Their Meanings to Jimmy Kimmel [Video], Horror Movie Villains That Became Halloween Traditions, An Important Message, and a Warning to My Christian Friends, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0, http://www.abcnews4.com/story/26887424/a-look-back-the-susan-smith-case, http://www.thomasandrewart.com/KathyKemparticle.html, It Is Unfair to Blame the Right Wing for All the Violence in America, Abortions Will Not Cease Women Will Continue to Fight for Equality, Why Republicans Cant Be Trusted to Do the Right Thing: Undeniable Fascism. The most startling testimony, however, came from Smith's ex-lover, Thomas Findlay, who said aloud in open court what has been whispered in this small Southern town since Susan Smith confessed to murder last fall -- that she had been having a secret affair with her stepfather, Beverly Russell. . . But after that, Susan was severely punished for exposing what was described by her mother as family conflicts. Appearances seemed to matter more than her daughters well-being. "He's got my babies," Smith said. In a last effort to control Toms feelings, she asked her friend to watch the children while she went to Toms office to tell him that everything she had said was nothing but a big lie. During one of their separations, Susan began having a relationship with Tom Findlay, who was known as one of the most eligible bachelors in Union. So, where are all of the key players now, including the woman at the center of it all? That man, Tom Findlay, took the stand and read a letter he had written to Smith breaking off their relationship. To help restore its pride, Union leaders last year started a weekend festival. At this time Susan was having sex with at least three men. She seemed to be unhappy with her pregnancy, complaining almost all the time about her condition. By October 1994, Susan had already signed divorce papers with David. Besides, I want you to feel good about yourself, and I am afraid that if you sleep with B. The jury took less than 3 hours to return a guilty verdict on two charges of murder. He cited the differences in their backgrounds, and was also emphatic about not wanting children or wanting to raise children. Susan Smith's attorney, David Bruck, summed up the case as bad for all, calling it "an awful human tragedy." Join the world's news leader for an in-depth multimedia look at the top news stories of 1995. . But seeing you kiss another man put things back into perspective. What the jurors heard was the fullest account yet of why she did it--and in the end, confronted with the pathos of it all, they decided both sides were right. The bottom line is: Im glad we are friends and if that is all we can be, then we will just have to do a hell of a job of being that. Sources Concerned for his safety, Findlay avoided Susan from March to September. But I am very thankful that there are people like you who are not so selfish as I am, and dont mind bearing the responsibility of children. TOM FINDLAY'S TESTIMONY: There was even an episode at the end of high school where Susan sought help from a school counselor. She is currently serving his sentence at Leath Correctional Institution in South Carolina. Susan had been a sad and introspective child. On Oct. 18, Findlay wrote Smith, breaking off the relationship because he did "not want the responsibility of children." Over the next week,. I could never express in words how much you mean to me. We won't post to any of your accounts without asking first. "I'll never forget what Susan has done to me and my family, [and] I even have to say, to her family," Smith said. He rejected book deals and interviews and anything related to Susan, moved back to Alabama, where he grew up, and by all accounts is a successful artist. These evil perverts should be castrated (preferably with a blunt knife). During her adolescence Susan became popular at school, she was a very attractive young woman and seemed to take leading positions in school activities. But the marriage slowly un-raveled. It is the story of a woman who, to judge by the evidence ofher life, succumbed to her own molestation as a teenager and grew up to become a promiscuous, sexually exploitive adult. Despite the comings and goings of their marriage, they were always present in the upbringing and education of their children. Susan gave the police the exact distance the car floated before sinking. 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