The 9-Day Lie That Fooled America | Susan Smith Case — Transcript

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1. 0:00Some stories are disturbing because
2. 0:02they're violent. Others are disturbing
3. 0:04because they're calculated. This one is
4. 0:06disturbing because an entire country
5. 0:07cried with her. She stood in front of
6. 0:09cameras, tears streaming down her face,
7. 0:12begging for her children to be returned
8. 0:14safely, but the whole time she knew
9. 0:17exactly where they were. This is Crime
10. 0:21Scene Archives. October 25th, 1994.
11. 0:26Union, [music]
12. 0:26South Carolina. Susan Smith called
13. 0:28police in hysterics. She said a black
14. 0:31man had carjacked her. She claimed he
15. 0:33drove off with her two young sons still
16. 0:35inside the car. Three-year-old Michael,
17. 0:3814-month-old Alex. The story spread
18. 0:41instantly. A mother attacked. Two babies
19. 0:45kidnapped. The nation watched. Susan
20. 0:48appeared on television, her voice
21. 0:50trembling. I just want my babies back.
22. 0:53Her husband stood beside her. The
23. 0:54community [music] rallied. Search
24. 0:56parties formed. Police worked around the
25. 0:59clock. America believed her. For nine
26. 1:02days, the country feared for those boys.
27. 1:05But investigators noticed something.
28. 1:07There were no witnesses.
29. 1:09No evidence of a carjacking. Details in
30. 1:12Susan's story began to shift. Small
31. 1:15inconsistencies,
32. 1:16then larger ones. She struggled to
33. 1:19maintain the timeline. Detectives
34. 1:21pressed harder and slowly the lie began
35. 1:25to unravel. On November [music] 3rd,
36. 1:271994, after hours of questioning, Susan
37. 1:30broke. She confessed there had been no
38. 1:33carjacking, no stranger, no kidnapping.
39. 1:37She had driven her car to Lake John
40. 1:39Dong, put the car in neutral, and let it
41. 1:42roll down the boat ramp with her two
42. 1:44sons strapped into their car seats.
43. 1:46inside as the car slipped into the
44. 1:49water. Those boys were alive, trapped,
45. 1:52unable [music] to escape. Investigators
46. 1:55later described how the car filled
47. 1:56slowly. There was no panic call, no
48. 2:00rescue attempt, just silence for 9 days.
49. 2:04She stood in front of cameras knowing
50. 2:06her children were [music] at the bottom
51. 2:07of that lake. Why? The motive shocked
52. 2:10people almost as much as the crime.
53. 2:12Susan had been involved with a wealthy
54. 2:14local man. He had told her he didn't
55. 2:16want children. Friends testified she
56. 2:19feared losing him. Prosecutors argued
57. 2:21she believed her son stood in the way of
58. 2:23a new life, a new relationship, a fresh
59. 2:27start. Without them, the case ignited
60. 2:30outrage. But it also exposed something
61. 2:32deeply troubling. Her initial accusation
62. 2:35targeted an unknown black man. For days,
63. 2:38police searched for someone who never
64. 2:39existed. The false accusation
65. 2:42intensified racial tension in the
66. 2:44community. It added another layer of
67. 2:46damage, another betrayal. During the
68. 2:481995 trial, the courtroom was packed.
69. 2:52The defense argued mental instability,
70. 2:54depression, emotional breakdown. But
71. 2:58prosecutors [music] painted a different
72. 2:59picture. A mother who made a choice, a
73. 3:03deliberate act. The jury found her
74. 3:04guilty of two counts of murder. She was
75. 3:07sentenced to life in prison. Avoiding
76. 3:10the death penalty by a narrow margin.
77. 3:12Michael was three. Alex was just 14
78. 3:16months old. Their short lives became
79. 3:18symbols of innocence. Lost. Susan Smith
80. 3:21remains incarcerated. And every few
81. 3:23years, the case resurfaces. Because
82. 3:26people still struggle to understand it.
83. 3:28How does a mother do that? How does
84. 3:30someone cry on television? While hiding
85. 3:32a truth that dark. This wasn't rage. It
86. 3:36wasn't [music] panic. It wasn't
87. 3:38self-defense. It was something colder. A
88. 3:40decision made behind the wheel of a car,
89. 3:42a lake at night. Two children strapped
90. 3:45in their seats. The entire country
91. 3:47believed her. And maybe that's what
92. 3:49makes this [music] case unforgettable.
93. 3:52Because sometimes the most convincing
94. 3:55tears hide the darkest truths.