Who wants to talk about Susan Smith?

[AmyW]

I've had years to think over what she did and I'm still just as angry as I was in 1994. Her husband, David, wanted the children. It would have been the simplest thing for her to hand them over, get a divorce, and go do whatever the hell she wanted. Why on earth would she kill them and in such a horrible way? (Not that there's any great way to kill your kids) I would love nothing more than for the SCDC to paint autopsy photos of her boys all over her cell so she had nothing else to look at but them. Paint, not paste, so she couldn't rip them off.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/susansmithad1.html (*NOTE* this ad was removed due to the negative attention it received. What a surprise)

http://www.teleplex.net/shj/smith/trial/latest.html

[Grusinskaya]

I agree about the autopsy pics. I think she was incredibly selfish. She killed her children and then she planned on living her romantic little life with the man she'd killed them for? Merrily go on like nothing had happened? I think she would have, had she not been found out.

There are so many women killing their children now, I don't know what has gotten into people. What happened to a woman turning into a lioness to protect her children?

[katta]

I've listened to the facts of this case and then the sympathy for Susan aspects of the case.

There was alot of things going on for example her husband gave up their apartment to live in a school bus while she had her first kid and I think she was expecting? It's been a while since I read about the school bus. Then the nutty christians that were feeding her head with crap about how to be the perfect mother. David wanted a big family and didn't agree with birth control. Susan seemed to not take a stand and was easily influenced by others.

Now that is the middle man drama right there. She tried very hard, she gave up on her hobbies and went from someone who swam alot and had that as a passion to someone shut behind doors and sometimes in cramped space. She was also the homeschool teacher. I am guessing that she didn't have much of a break and the husband probably didn't empathise that much with how she must be feeling but then again I have a feeling that even if he did she would have declined because she would feel like a bad mom.

Now away from the drama, the ending result is what I cannot sympathise with at all!

She planned it. She waited right after her husband left. Didn't care her own children were screaming. That's cold. People may have messed with her head but it takes someone with a cold heart to do such things...then again sometimes to get a heart to grow cold you have to get to that person's head and it's a shame that her children had to pay for it.

I just hope that through such a tragedy that lessons from all sides can be learned.

Husbands. If a psychologist tells you "Hey your wife is unstable, do not have another child or something bad will happen" listen! I know you probably don't believe in birth control but it's cruel to do that to your partner who is mentally unstable.

Wives. If you get to that point to where you find yourself changing in a cold way, try very hard to pull yourself together..just try, quit going along with what others are trying to make you do and listen to yourself. Others telling you what to do with your life are ruining it for you and you need to stand up and say Look, I'm not having another baby, I can't do it. I will snap. If you are just using me as a baby making machine, we are getting a divorce because obviously you don't respect my wishes or have enough empathy to understand the situation.


When people are expected to be super this or more than what they are capable of, it does a wear and tear on that person's state of mind. It's a form of gluttony.

[katta]

Wrong topic...I mix up Susan Smith and Andrea Yates all the time :o

[TuscanDreams]

Susan Smith committed the most arrogant act because she is narcisstic and a $#!%. I can't stand to hear her name.

How in the world can you strap your kids in the car and watch them drown? I'd think that she would at least have tried to change her mind and run after the car, but nope- she let those tiny boys suffer.

LWOP is a good choice for her, the death penalty would have let her off too easy. You can't punish a dead person and she's suffering everyday that she's in prison. I wish that she had the autopsy photos taped to her wall and she had to fall asleep looking at them every night. :cuss:

[AmyW]

lol Katta. I was going "Hmm, I don't remember that in her case." There are some similarities between the two women so it's understandably easy to mix them up.

Her mother has written a book:
http://www.authorsbooknook.com/smith.htm

I can't say for sure how I'd feel if I had a daughter who murdered her two very young, precious boys. I feel for this woman; I can't imagine how it must feel to be in her shoes. But Susan is exactly where she belongs.

[Levi]

I have no sympathy for Susan Smith @ all. I just don't get her defenders. They blame EVERYONE but her. The same with Andrea Yates. What ever happened with personal responsibility in this country? We are in a sad state of affairs IMO when we start looking for excuses for dirtbags like Susan Smith who murder their children. She knew exactly what she did & IMO needs a needle in the arm.

[Levi]

lol Katta. I was going "Hmm, I don't remember that in her case." There are some similarities between the two women so it's understandably easy to mix them up.

Her mother has written a book:
http://www.authorsbooknook.com/smith.htm

I can't say for sure how I'd feel if I had a daughter who murdered her two very young, precious boys. I feel for this woman; I can't imagine how it must feel to be in her shoes. But Susan is exactly where she belongs.
There have been many books written by people blaming everyone under the sun EXCEPT for Susan Smith. I feel like screaming. HELLLOOO people, she is the one who killed them!!!

[AmyW]

I agree, Levi. It's disgusting the way so many people have sympathized with her. She deliberately and maliciously murdered her children in a horrible way. I think she should be drowned, revived, drowned again, revived again and stuck in her cell with nothing to look at but images of the boys. :flamemad:

[User615]

I agree, Levi. It's disgusting the way so many people have sympathized with her. She deliberately and maliciously murdered her children in a horrible way. I think she should be drowned, revived, drowned again, revived again and stuck in her cell with nothing to look at but images of the boys. :flamemad:



Quite the sadist you are. Maybe some anger management counseling? Susan is obviously sick and mentally unstable. You can't bring her kids back, and making her suffer more isn't going to chanage anything. She's paying her for her crime.

[AmyW]

Quite the sadist you are. Maybe some anger management counseling? Susan is obviously sick and mentally unstable. You can't bring her kids back, and making her suffer more isn't going to chanage anything. She's paying her for her crime.

I am not a sadist, I am a mother who couldn't imagine drowning her son for any reason. I don't believe she was mentally unstable. She was selfish, plain and simple, and cared more about herself than her kids. I think making her look at what she did would be a much better punishment than what she's doing now, which is basically nothing.

[User615]

I am not a sadist, I am a mother who couldn't imagine drowning her son for any reason. I don't believe she was mentally unstable. She was selfish, plain and simple, and cared more about herself than her kids. I think making her look at what she did would be a much better punishment than what she's doing now, which is basically nothing.


I would think that being in jail would remind her every day of what she did. While I agree she had selfish motives, I can't fathom a mother of sound mind killing her children. Unless she has no conscience, that is what will torture her every day, not prison.

[Auntie Venom]

I have little use for Susan Smith. I do not believe that she is or was mentally ill. I believe that she is the same kind of creature as Dianne Downs: a sociopathic monster.
Posting the autopsy pictures in her cell would do no good. If she gave a rat's ***** about those boys she would never have done what she did. She wanted to be free, and she wanted to hurt her husband and she did it the best way she knew how.
She and Downs are actually remarkably similar. And there is little bad enough that could be done to punish them for their crimes.:flamemad:

[AmyW]

You both have excellent points; I also believe she is a selfish monster and in that case, the pictures really wouldn't do any good, would they?

[happytweety]

Quite the sadist you are. Maybe some anger management counseling? Susan is obviously sick and mentally unstable. You can't bring her kids back, and making her suffer more isn't going to chanage anything. She's paying her for her crime.

I am sorry but I gotta say that it's people who think this way that let people like Susan Smith, Andrea Yates, and so many more to live a life like nothing has happened. Susan Smith is alive and kicking and whether it's in prison or not she is alive, her kids didn't have the time to live and experience what life is all about.
As far as I am concerned, they should had these women who kill their kids, to people who can take care of them. Call me saids or whatever anybody wants. Let other people do to them what they did to their children. :flamemad:

[User615]

I've listened to the facts of this case and then the sympathy for Susan aspects of the case.

There was alot of things going on for example her husband gave up their apartment to live in a school bus while she had her first kid and I think she was expecting? It's been a while since I read about the school bus. Then the nutty christians that were feeding her head with crap about how to be the perfect mother. David wanted a big family and didn't agree with birth control. Susan seemed to not take a stand and was easily influenced by others.

Now that is the middle man drama right there. She tried very hard, she gave up on her hobbies and went from someone who swam alot and had that as a passion to someone shut behind doors and sometimes in cramped space. She was also the homeschool teacher. I am guessing that she didn't have much of a break and the husband probably didn't empathise that much with how she must be feeling but then again I have a feeling that even if he did she would have declined because she would feel like a bad mom.

Now away from the drama, the ending result is what I cannot sympathise with at all!

She planned it. She waited right after her husband left. Didn't care her own children were screaming. That's cold. People may have messed with her head but it takes someone with a cold heart to do such things...then again sometimes to get a heart to grow cold you have to get to that person's head and it's a shame that her children had to pay for it.

I just hope that through such a tragedy that lessons from all sides can be learned.

Husbands. If a psychologist tells you "Hey your wife is unstable, do not have another child or something bad will happen" listen! I know you probably don't believe in birth control but it's cruel to do that to your partner who is mentally unstable.

Wives. If you get to that point to where you find yourself changing in a cold way, try very hard to pull yourself together..just try, quit going along with what others are trying to make you do and listen to yourself. Others telling you what to do with your life are ruining it for you and you need to stand up and say Look, I'm not having another baby, I can't do it. I will snap. If you are just using me as a baby making machine, we are getting a divorce because obviously you don't respect my wishes or have enough empathy to understand the situation.


When people are expected to be super this or more than what they are capable of, it does a wear and tear on that person's state of mind. It's a form of gluttony.

I like your style. That is great medicine, for both genders. Kudos to you.

[bandit's mom]

Quite the sadist you are. Maybe some anger management counseling? Susan is obviously sick and mentally unstable. You can't bring her kids back, and making her suffer more isn't going to chanage anything. She's paying her for her crime.

Not enough. The biotch is still breathing. If she'd been a man she'd have
received the Death Penalty. Personally, I think she should have
been strapped in the backseat of a car and then the car left to drift
into the lake. Let her get a real "feel" for what her kids experienced.

[AmyW]

Confession of Susan V. Smith

When I left my home on Tuesday, Oct. 25, I was very emotionally distraught. I didn't want to live anymore! I felt like things could never get any worse. When I left home, I was going to ride around a little while and then go to my mom's. As I rode and rode and rode, I felt even more anxiety coming upon me about not wanting to live. I felt I couldn't be a good mom anymore, but I didn't want my children to grow up without a mom. I felt I had to end our lives to protect us from any grief or harm.

I had never felt so lonely and so sad in my entire life. I was in love with someone very much, but he didn't love me and never would. I had a very difficult time accepting that. But I had hurt him very much, and I could see why he could never love me. When I was at John D. Long Lake, I had never felt so scared and unsure as I did then. I wanted to end my life so bad and was in my car ready to go down that ramp into the water, and I did go part way, but I stopped. I went again and stopped. I then got out of the car and stood by the car a nervous wreck.

Why was I feeling this way? Why was everything so bad in my life? I had no answers to these questions. I dropped to the lowest point when I allowed my children to go down that ramp into the water without me. I took off running and screaming "Oh God! Oh God, no! "What have I done? Why did you let this happen? I wanted to turn around so bad and go back, but I knew it was too late. I was an absolute mental case! I couldn't believe what I had done. I love my children with all my . That will never change. I have prayed to them for forgiveness and hope that they will find it in their (hearts) to forgive me. I never meant to hurt them!! I am sorry for what has happened and I know that I need some help. I don't think I will ever be able to forgive myself for what I have done.

My children, Michael and Alex, are with our Heavenly Father now, and I know that they will never be hurt again. As a mom, that means more than words could ever say. I knew from day one, the truth would prevail, but I was so scared I didn't know what to do. It was very tough emotionally to sit and watch my family hurt like they did. It was time to bring a peace of mind to everyone, including myself. My children deserve to have the best, and now they will. I broke down on Thursday, Nov. 3, and told Sheriff Howard Wells the truth. It wasn't easy, but after the truth was out, I felt like the world was lifted off my shoulders. I know now that it is going to be a tough and long road ahead of me. At this very moment, I don't feel I will be able to handle what's coming, but I have prayed to God that he give me the strength to survive each day and to face those times and situations in my life that will be extremely painful. I have put my total faith in God, and he will take care of me.

Signed, Susan V. Smith
11/3/94 5:05 p.m.


The underlined part is what I have the most difficulty understanding. Why was it too late? I think she could have at least -attempted- to go into the water and unstrap them from their seats if she had been truly as distraught as she claimed. I think it is BS and it makes me nauseous.