For other people named Susan Smith, see Susan Smith (disambiguation).
Susan Smith
Smith in 2012
Born
Susan Leigh Vaughan
(1971-09-26) September 26, 1971 (age 52)
Union, South Carolina, U.S.
Criminal status
Incarcerated
Spouse
David Smith
(m. 1991; div. 1995)
[1]
Children
Michael Daniel (1991–1994) Alexander Tyler (1993–1994)
Parent(s)
Linda Sue Harrison and Harry Ray Vaughan
Conviction(s)
Murder (2 counts)
Criminal penalty
Life imprisonment with possibility of parole after 30 years
Imprisoned at
Leath Correctional Institution
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 14-month-old Alexander, in 1994 by drowning them in a South Carolina lake.[2]
The case gained international attention because of Smith's false claim that a black man had kidnapped her sons during a carjacking.[3] 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.[4][5]
Smith was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.[2] According to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, she will be eligible for parole on November 4, 2024. She is incarcerated at the Leath Correctional Institution near Greenwood, South Carolina.[6]
^Rekers, George (1996). Susan Smith: Victim Or Murderer. Glenbridge Publishing Ltd. pp. 12, 16. ISBN 0-944435-38-6.
^ abSpitz, Werner U. (2005). "Investigation of Bodies in Water". In Spitz, Daniel J. (ed.). Spitz and Fisher's Medicolegal Investigation of Death. Guideline for the Application of Pathology to Crime Investigations (4th ed.). Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publishing Ltd. pp. 846–881. ISBN 978-0398075446.
^"Susan Smith, Mother Who Killed Kids". NBC News. July 23, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
^Grant, Lorrie (February 27, 1995). "Lawyers to Reveal Defense for Susan Smith: Could Pleas Insanity or Mental Illness for Mother of Drowned Boys". Buffalo News. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
^Bragg, Rick (July 22, 1995). "Psychiatrist for Susan Smith's Defense Tells of a Woman Desperate to Be Liked". The New York Times.
^Helling, Steve (November 15, 2022). "Sex, Drugs and Sickness: Inside Susan Smith's Life in Prison After Drowning Her Sons". People. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
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...
SusanSmith (née Daniels 1961 – June 8, 1989) was an American FBI informant. She was strangled by her handler and lover, FBI agent Mark Putnam – the first...
Susan Kennedy (also Smith and Kinski) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Jackie Woodburne. The character and...
The SusanSmith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named...
Susan Hallock Dey (born December 10, 1952) is a retired American actress, known for her television roles as Laurie Partridge on the sitcom The Partridge...
Loughner, Robert Gregory Bowers, Burford Furrow, Lisa Montgomery and SusanSmith. She has negotiated plea agreements that spared her clients the death...
wound. She had reportedly been suffering from terminal breast cancer. Susan M. Smith (born January 14, 1959, in Beloit, Wisconsin) is an American model and...
Anatomy of a Suicide is a 2017 play by Alice Birch. It won the 2018 SusanSmith Blackburn Prize. The play follows three women, Carol, Anna and Bonnie...
(Maria Dizzia). Herzog, for Belleville, was a finalist for the 2013 SusanSmith Blackburn Prize. Her play Mary Jane premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre...
SusanSmith Richardson is an American journalist, news editor and media executive. She is the former managing editor at The Guardian US. Prior to that...
"Colored American Women". McKinney-Steward was born Susan Maria Smith to Anne and Sylvanus Smith in 1847. She lived at 189 Pearl Street, in Weeksville...
Play at the Broadway World Awards. Prebble was also awarded the 2020 SusanSmith Blackburn Prize. Her play The Effect had a revival in 2023 at the Royal...
playwright, screenwriter, and television writer. In 1999, she won the SusanSmith Blackburn Prize for her play, Refuge. Goldberg is the creator of the...
Promising New Playwright, and Anatomy of a Suicide for which she won the SusanSmith Blackburn Prize. Birch was also the screenwriter for the film Lady Macbeth...
to February 21, 2016, directed by Whoriskey. Nottage won the 2015–16 SusanSmith Blackburn Prize for this play. Sweat premiered Off-Broadway at the Public...
Entanglement by the composer Charlotte Bray. Rosenthal was shortlisted for the SusanSmith Blackburn Prize for female dramatists. Rosenthal teaches playwriting...
Prize, Paul Newman Drama Award, 2015 Kilroys List, finalist for the SusanSmith Blackburn Prize, the Catalyst Awards Entertainment Industry Excellence...
Award (New York City, US) Outer Critics Circle Award (New York City, US) SusanSmith Blackburn Prize (New York City, Houston, TX, and London, UK) Theatre...
Global Information