Murderous mother Susan Smith had a steady stream of suitors in prison, but many of them suddenly stopped speaking to her, leaving the convicted killer confused as to why he was being ignored, according to prison records obtained by The Washington Post.
Smith, who is serving a life sentence for drowning his two young sons in 1994 in a case that sparked national outrage, is an extensive user of the South Carolina prison’s text messaging and phone system, talking multiple times a day.
All of the chats are recorded and kept for the public record, and an examination of the records revealed that some of her lovers on the outside suddenly stopped communicating with her.
One of the men told The Washington Post that the deciding factor was seeing how many other men Smith was romantically involved with.
“She knew I was in love with her but she was talking to other guys,” said the divorced man in his 50s, who had been engaged in romantic conversations with Ms Smith for more than 18 months.
“I needed to break up completely so I stopped talking to her. I thought she could sort it out.”
Smith, 52, tried messaging the man at least twice after they lost contact. “I haven’t heard from you,” she said, a month after his last message. “Are you OK? I don’t know what happened.”
When the man did not respond, Smith stopped communicating with him and began to focus on speaking to other mistresses in her stable.
“She didn’t put up much of a fight,” the man told The Post dryly. “She just went ahead.”
Smith has had romantic relationships with at least 12 men over the past three years while in prison, and many of her hot-headed suitors were unaware the others even existed.
“I really thought I was the only one,” the man said, “but I was wrong. There were so many others.”
Smith has been incarcerated at Reese Correctional Facility in Greenwood, South Carolina, for more than 20 years following the infamous murders of his two sons.
She is due for parole later this year and has told her family she believes she deserves to be released.
When she was 22, she crashed her car into John D. Long Lake in Union County, South Carolina. Her sons, Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months, were still in their car seats. She stood by the lakeside as the car sank to the bottom and her boys slowly drowned.
Smith later falsely told police that a black man had stolen his car and abducted the boys, prompting authorities to conduct a door-to-door search in the predominantly African-American neighborhood.
Smith and her then-husband, David, appeared on national news daily pleading for the safe return of their sons, but after nine days, Smith finally admitted that no one had stolen the car and that she had drowned her sons in the lake.
Her motive was that she was having an affair with a wealthy man who didn’t want children. The car was pulled from the water with both boys still in their seatbelts.
She was convicted of murder but avoided the death penalty, instead receiving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
She is asking suitors to help her build a life outside of prison.
“She’ll find someone to fund her, but it won’t be me,” a former suitor says. “Every minute is a sucker.”
