She Murdered Her Own Kids - The Susan Smith story

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Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast 5 min 1 speaker 6 chapters transcribed

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Who is Susan Smith?

Narrator 0:00

So this woman, her name's Susan. And Susan will do anything to get a man to pay attention to her. So one day, she gets married to this guy, David. And they have two kids together. But that's not enough for Susan. So she starts smashing with a lot of people. She smashes with her husband, which makes sense. But she also smashes with her coworker, his name's Tom Finley.

What led to Susan's infidelity?

Narrator 0:22

And she allegedly smashes with Tom Finley's dad. And not only that, she even smashes with her own former stepdad. Ew. But one day, it all comes tumbling down when her husband David catches her having a flirty phone call with her co-worker Tom Finley. And David gets mad and he's like, you better stay away from my wife, Tom. So then Tom Finley and Susan, they stop smashing and they end the affair.

How did her relationship with Tom Finley evolve?

Narrator 0:46

But unfortunately it's too late for Susan and David's marriage because shortly after they file for divorce. And once they do, Susan hits up old Tom Finley again and they start smashing again. But then one night, Tom invites Susan over to a hot tub party. And while she's there, for some reason, Tom Finley starts making out with another woman. So Susan gets jealous, and she wants revenge.

What was Susan's reaction to Tom's letter?

Narrator 1:07

And she finds a different dude at the party, and she starts making out with him. And I guess Tom Finley, he doesn't like this too much. Because two days later, he sends Susan a letter. And in it, he basically says, yeah, you're great and all, but your actions at the party weren't very ladylike. And, most importantly, he says, I like you, but you've got kids. And Tom Finley doesn't want kids. Now, Susan, at this point, she's really upset, because she's super in love with Tom. And she doesn't take this letter well, and she is determined to win him back. So, one day, she shows up to visit him at work, and she's a total wreck. And she's crying, and for some reason, she confesses to him that she hooked up with her former stepdad. Ew. And she tells him that she hooked up with his own dad.

What drastic plan did Susan devise?

Narrator 1:51

And Tom, he obviously had no idea any of this was going on. So he finally, once and for all, just ends it with Susan. It is over. Here's the thing though. Tom said it's over. But what Susan hears is maybe we have a chance. So that night, Susan comes up with a wild plan to try and win Tom Finley back. Now in that letter he had sent her, Tom mentions that he doesn't want kids.

What tragic event occurred at the lake?

Narrator 2:15

So now it's Susan's goal to get rid of her own children. So she goes home and she has pizza with her three-year-old and her one-year-old sons. Then she straps them both into the car and she takes them for a drive. And when they get to a big lake in the area, Susan pulls over and she gets out of the car. And the kids are still strapped inside. And that is when Susan takes the car and she puts it in neutral and she lets it roll into the water. And it takes about six minutes, but eventually the car fully submerges. And of course, both the three-year-old and the one-year-old, they drown. Then Susan runs to a random stranger's home nearby and she's panicked and she asks to use their phone and she calls the police and she's like, help, my car was stolen with my kids inside. So police, they rush to the house and Susan tells them this whole story.

Narrator 3:05

She tells them she was stopped at a red light at a deserted intersection and some black guy came along and he forced her out of the car at gunpoint. And then he stole her car with her kids in it and he drove off. Now police, to their credit, they jump into action right away. They take Susan's description of the carjacker and they create this whole police sketch. And then search parties are sent into the nearby forest and police follow leads to other counties and out of state. And this story makes national news. And suddenly everyone is looking for this fictional black man. And Susan, she's all over TV asking for the kids to be brought home safely, pretending that she's a concerned mother. I want to say to my baby, And not doing a very good job at it.

Narrator 3:52

Regardless, the whole country is watching and everyone feels bad for this traumatized mother who had just lost her kids. Until police, they start to notice they and Susan's story aren't adding up.