Susan Smith killings: 25 years since South Carolina mom murdered her kids — Transcript

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1. 0:00Susan Smith has been arrested and will
2. 0:03be charged with two counts of murder in
3. 0:06connection with the deaths of her
4. 0:08children
5. 0:09Michael 3 and Alexander 14 months
6. 0:16tomorrow marks a somber anniversary in
7. 0:19South Carolina it's been 25 years since
8. 0:20Susan Smith killed her two young sons by
9. 0:23strapping them inside her car and
10. 0:25rolling it into John D long lake in
11. 0:27Union County now that night she told
12. 0:29police that a black man carjacked her
13. 0:32and her vehicle with her son's still
14. 0:35inside as you heard three year old
15. 0:37Michael and one-year-old Alex after nine
16. 0:40days though Susan Susan Smith finally
17. 0:42confessed saying she did it herself
18. 0:45Smith is now serving a life sentence at
19. 0:48Leith Correctional in Greenwood and is
20. 0:51eligible for parole believe it or not in
21. 0:532024 the case received national
22. 0:55attention Smith and her then husband
23. 0:57David appeared on national news pleading
24. 0:59for their boys safe return I know right
25. 1:05here what the truth is I can I can from
26. 1:11some I can see from their side why they
27. 1:14had to do the things they have to do but
28. 1:18the lower and at myself as know the
29. 1:21truth I did not have anything to do with
30. 1:24the abduction of my children
31. 1:27well nothing she said there was true the
32. 1:31boys were found in their mom's car
33. 1:32inside John DeLong Lake like Darcy said
34. 1:35and her husband was not involved in the
35. 1:38crime now jr. Berry was covering this 25
36. 1:42years ago when this happened and you
37. 1:44know we say 25 years j.r but two South
38. 1:46Carolinians it really doesn't feel like
39. 1:48it was that long I remember the night
40. 1:49the phone call came in from human he was
41. 1:51a sled spokesman he called up the
42. 1:53newsroom on a Tuesday evening and said
43. 1:56hey we've got this case out of Union
44. 1:58County we've got this mother who claims
45. 2:00that her car was carjacked were there
46. 2:02two small children inside he gave me the
47. 2:05details ladies about what she claimed
48. 2:07happened that night immediately I said
49. 2:09to the sled spokesman come on you got to
50. 2:11be kidding me
51. 2:11no mom would let some guy ride off in
52. 2:14her car with the children's trapped
53. 2:16inside but he told me that night he says
54. 2:18well that is the story that she is
55. 2:19telling us and that is the story that we
56. 2:22have to go with and years later I spoke
57. 2:24with the sled chief at the time Bob
58. 2:25Stewart who said all along authorities
59. 2:28had doubts about
60. 2:29Smith story the first night when the
61. 2:32sheriff called and asked for assistance
62. 2:34we sent a team over and one of the first
63. 2:36agents that went over was a forensic
64. 2:38artist who works with a alleged victim
65. 2:43and does a pretty good interview and as
66. 2:47well as doing the artist sketch and when
67. 2:50he completed his work that night he
68. 2:53pretty much indicated that he thought
69. 2:55there were some problems with Susan
70. 2:57Smith's story so that was Bob Stewart
71. 3:01just a few years ago I believe on the
72. 3:0220th anniversary of all of this this
73. 3:05park as you might imagine a lot of
74. 3:06outrage not only in Union County where
75. 3:09this happened all across the state of
76. 3:11South Carolina and nationwide people
77. 3:13were outraged that this woman could come
78. 3:15forward and tell such a lie and put
79. 3:17people in such an uproar now in 2015 she
80. 3:20wrote a letter in prison to give her
81. 3:21side of what happened she says she's not
82. 3:24a monster and that she was a good mother
83. 3:25and loved her boys Smith says something
84. 3:28went wrong that night she was not
85. 3:30herself and there was no motive because
86. 3:32it was not playing well she says there's
87. 3:34no motive but the prosecutor said there
88. 3:36was a motive here and what was a 23 year
89. 3:38old Susan Smith wanted to have a
90. 3:39relationship with a wealthy man in Union
91. 3:42County a man who had told her he didn't
92. 3:44want a family and for that reason they
93. 3:46say she strapped her children inside the
94. 3:47car and rolled it in John D long lake so
95. 3:50that's the motive that prosecutors used
96. 3:52there was some thought that they were
97. 3:53gonna try and get the death penalty here
98. 3:55David Brock a high-profile attorney took
99. 3:57the case trying to keep her off death
100. 3:59row instead she got those 30 years but
101. 4:02as you heard a few moments ago she could
102. 4:03be eligible for parole in five years now
103. 4:05I know you have followed this story do
104. 4:08you know anything about her time in
105. 4:10prison what can you tell us I know she
106. 4:12hasn't been the model prisoner she has
107. 4:14been written up at least five times on
108. 4:16various charges there's drug use also
109. 4:20she had sexual relations with two
110. 4:22correctional officers that was one she
111. 4:24was housed here in Columbia she has
112. 4:26since been moved to Greenwood so when
113. 4:28her probation hearing comes up in a few
114. 4:31years from now all these things that
115. 4:33have happened we'll come back and built
116. 4:35they'll look at it and they'll decide
117. 4:36then you were in the courtroom during
118. 4:38the trial talk to me about who Susan
119. 4:40Smith was in that courtroom we heard
120. 4:43about Susan Smith inside that courtroom
121. 4:44some of it very disturbing testimony we
122. 4:47heard that she tried to commit suicide
123. 4:48at the age of 13 she tried to commit
124. 4:51suicide at the age of 18 she was
125. 4:53sexually molested by a member of her own
126. 4:55family for many years her father killed
127. 4:57himself when she was only six years old
128. 5:00so the defense here tried to tell the
129. 5:02jury look this woman has some mental
130. 5:04issues this woman has some problems this
131. 5:07woman doesn't deserve the death penalty
132. 5:08this woman doesn't deserve this die for
133. 5:10these crimes because she's pretty messed
134. 5:12up now Junior we talked a little bit
135. 5:14about the husband but you know again he
136. 5:17was not a part of this plan he believed
137. 5:19her that somebody had taken their
138. 5:20children and believed that they were
139. 5:22missing for that time period what do you
140. 5:24know about what he's been doing for the
141. 5:25last 25 years David Smith has remarried
142. 5:28for at last check he had two daughters
143. 5:30he visits the grave sites regularly of
144. 5:34Michael and Alex he has tried to put
145. 5:37this behind him he's tried to move on he
146. 5:39says he's always of course gonna
147. 5:40remember his sons but he has no contact
148. 5:43with Susan Smith as far as we know and
149. 5:45he has just moved on with his new life
150. 5:47with his wife and their two daughters I
151. 5:50kind of have a feeling there will be
152. 5:51public outrage when she's up for parole
153. 5:53and the public will have something to
154. 5:55say about it probably so and it could be
155. 5:57that the offenses that she has committed
156. 5:58behind bars might come back to bite her
157. 6:01when it comes for probation times so
158. 6:03there's no guarantee she's going to get
159. 6:04probation but she certainly will
160. 6:06probably be asking for that in about
161. 6:08five years
162. 6:08interesting the players in this case
163. 6:11what's happened to them over the last 25
164. 6:13years
165. 6:13as we mentioned David Smith remarried he
166. 6:15has two kids
167. 6:16the prosecutor Tommy Pope is now a House
168. 6:19Representative representing Union County
169. 6:21in the State House here in South
170. 6:23Carolina the sheriff the man who said
171. 6:25Susan Smith has been arrested in charge
172. 6:27he served 90 days in prison he got
173. 6:29caught up in a federal corruption probe
174. 6:31as for David Brooke he's 70 and he is
175. 6:34still trying to keep people off of death
176. 6:36row he takes cases each and every day
177. 6:38it's hard to believe it's been 25 years
178. 6:40and I think though the overwhelming
179. 6:43feeling for us in the news room is it
180. 6:44was such a horrible crime it just seems
181. 6:47like it happened yesterday it does seem
182. 6:49like it happened yesterday and you know
183. 6:50what John Dee Long Lake that boat the
184. 6:53boat ramp yeah it's been closed because
185. 6:55two years
186. 6:56after all of this happened seven people
187. 6:59drowned one night they went to that very
188. 7:01same boat ramp the car went back into
189. 7:04the water among the seven dead several
190. 7:06children so they just made the decision
191. 7:08let's shut that boat ramp down we'll
192. 7:10move the memorial for the children here
193. 7:12we'll make it safer for people who want
194. 7:14to come and pay respect to get cars in
195. 7:16and out of there Junior thank you so
196. 7:17much for joining us for that update