I care for you, but also care for Susan Brown and I would hate to see anyone get hurt. I know I did when we were messing around earlier this year. Russell, 48, was then active in South Carolina Republican politics and in Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition--but he is no longer, and the shattering disclosures triggered by his stepdaughter's prosecution are the reason. The reason? 90 Day Fiance's Hamza's Green Card Status 'Battle' Amid Memphis Divorce, '90 Day Fiance' Star Memphis Smith Alleges Hamza Moknii Was 'Abusive', 90 Day's Hamza Requested Paternity Test for Daughter Amid Memphis Split. They made a point of showing jurors the videotaped interviews in which Smith tearfully maintained the kidnapping hoax. Concerned for his safety, Findlay avoided Susan from March to September. A team of state psychiatrists certified that Smith was competent to stand trial. ", To prosecutors, Findlay's emphasis on the children was Smith's motive for murder. She will be eligible for parole in 2025 when she is 53 years old. The Barnes family of Maple Shade, N.J., sent an arrangement of carnations and daisies. Linda Russell told a social worker that Susan told her "Bev was sitting in the chair watching TV and Susan got in his lap and went to sleep." Besides, I want you to feel good about yourself, and I am afraid that if you sleep with B. ", June Miller, the clerk of court, says, "It's over and done with and we go on with our lives.". UNION, S.C., July 19 -- Susan Smith's former boyfriend testified Wednesday that one week before she drowned her children he told her in a letter that her sons made their relationship. I remember this story well and its interesting to know how things have played out over the years. My heart breaks for what I've done to you, for your pain and for your loss. Tom Findlay, Susan Smith's ex-lover, started a new life in Birmingham, Ala. Cary Findlay, who is Tom Findlay's father and Susan Smith's former employer, let his mansion become a bed-and-breakfast; he now divides his time between England and Union. Shortly after joining the company she was promoted to the position of executive secretary to Consos president and CEO, Carey Findlay. As a $17,000-a-year secretary to Cary Findlay, Smith worked for one of Union's wealthiest people. Susan felt indebted to her mother and allowed her to dictate the rules. The emerging facts of her chaotic life--her father's suicide, her molestation by her politically prominent stepfather, her failed marriage and the tabloid prurience of her repeated love affairs-seemed to make her a symbol of small-town decadence. In fact, its probably someone that you may not know at this time or that you may know, but would never expect. . Since that day twenty years ago, the town of Union, S.C. has also moved on. After the sentence, Bruck refused to gloat. Even in the face of all the facts, David seemed to have some compassion for Susan. . Before the murders, he wrote her a Dear John letter to Susan explaining why they could neverbe together, stating that he did not want children. As he told it, he and Susan became lovers in early 1994. Findlay ended their relationship one week before Smith reported the. I will always treasure our friendship and all of the many wonderful memories we have made. I was not in my right mind.. Ms. Smiths letter (handwritten, not dated): ``Just a note to say thank you for everything. We won't post to any of your accounts without asking first. Cellmate Secrets premieres Friday, June 4, at 10 p.m. on Lifetime. On the other hand, he sounds quite narcissistic and preachy in his Dear John letter, and he isnt even attractive. Yet after hearing new and compelling testimony about her tangled life, the same jury that took only 2 1/2 hours to convict Susan Smith on July 22 decided just as quickly to spare her life last week--and voted unanimously. At the time, Tom didnt know, but she had sex with David; her stepfather, Bev Russell; and also her boss, who was Toms father. ``But dont be discouraged. . How have people written about the torture,, You missed Patricia's "theory" of a lesbian crime of passion involving Gaia, Mirian and the french girl they met in, I totally agree with all of you. The boat ramp is gone. She began sleeping with her boss's son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. . ``This is a difficult letter for me to write because I know how much you think of me. UPDATE! Smith had told him, 'i will love you for the rest of my life.'. I was a good mother, and I loved my boys. Initially, Smith told authorities a black man had carjacked her and kidnapped the boys. Other testimony pointed to the deep shame that stemmed from her incestuous relationship with Russell. Her experience as an accountant earned her a position at Conso Products. http://www.abcnews4.com/story/26887424/a-look-back-the-susan-smith-case. The familiar landmarks remain: the courthouse on Main Street, where Smith stood trial for her life; her small brick house on Toney Road (a nurse's aide now rents it from Smith's mother); Conso Products, the decorative-trim factory where Smith worked as a secretary. ``Susan, I am not mad at you about what happened this weekend. Bev was influential in the community, had good lawyers who would know how to successfully suppress situations like this. In January 1994, Susan started dating a co-worker from her job at Conso Products Tom Findlay. For court records, I would make a request to Union County if you cant find them online. At this point she seemed to get everything she wanted, especially about relationships with men. He said her family history was just "the abuse excuse.". Smith's mother and stepfather are still around. Findlay, a slight, balding graphic designer, appeared to exchange a quick half-smile with Smith from the stand during a break in his testimony about their brief fling, which he said began around Christmastime of 1993 and ended the following March when David Smith angrily warned him to stay away from his wife. Findlay, balding early, is nice-looking if not quite a hunk; he allegedly told investigators that he considered himself "a ladies' man" whose mission in life was "servicing these women." . Susan, I value our friendship very much. ", Paul Patrick, a florist, says, "It was a real tragedy but I don't think anybody's still dwelling on it three years later. Smith's lawyer, David Bruck, answered with Christ's defense of the adulterous wife in the Gospel according to John. Back in the 1990s, Susan Smith claimed a Black man kidnapped her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander. After initially standing by Susans side until he learned the truth and then grieving over the small caskets of his boys at their funeral while Susanwas in jail, it now appears David has been able to move on. Excerpts from a letter Susan Smith wrote to Tom Findlay on Oct. 17, and his reply, written the same day and given to her Oct. 18. They still credit him for containing a potentially volatile racial divide by refusing to detain the many black men who might have fit Smith's description of her hijacker. The witnesses were pivotal figures in Smith's life-men she had slept with, people who'd loved her and, in the case of her ex-husband, someone whose life she had ruined. Before she and David began to date, Susan told a psychiatrist, she had an affair with a store manager who was subsequently transferred out of town. Nearly 30 years after her conviction, Smith's cellmate is speaking out and . In her confession, she stated that she wanted to die and was going to her mothers house, but she gave up. Despite the comings and goings of their marriage, they were always present in the upbringing and education of their children. Since she said there were no other cars on the road, there was no reason for her to see the red light. "A passing love affair," Halleck called it. The solution for the moment seemed to be to buy a house, where everything would be different. After picking up her children from nursery, she stopped to chat with a friend in a parking lot and expressed her fears about Tom's reaction now that he knew she had slept with his father. If you want to catch a nice guy like me one day, you have to act like a nice girl. Tom and Susan quickly began a casual relationship in January 1994, but in the spring David became part of her life again, and the two resumed their marriage. Last year, I grew Fortamino but the seeds didnt do well at all. But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that aren't suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your children. Her father committed suicide when she was 7 years old. Smith claims that she wanted to be serious with Findlay, but he said he didn't want children. "You don't have all the guilt in this tragedy," he read, sobbing. With Findlay, Susan finally believed she would be able to have some stability in her life but, she was mistaken. Her melodramatic case had placed her squarely in the limelight since Oct. 25, 1994, the day she reported Michael and Alex abducted by a car-jacker. For nine days, she pleaded for the safe return of her babies while making appearances on television, only to have the, Many people believe her motive was because she was dating a man who didnt want children at the time. The bottom line is: Im glad we are friends and if that is all we can be, then we will just have to do a hell of a job of being that. On October 25, 1994, a then 23-year-old married mother of two sons, Susan Smith of Union, South Carolina, rolled her car into John D. Long Lake with her boys strapped inside, drowning them. You are a very special person and that is part of why making love to you is so wonderful. One of the biggest clues that led authorities to believe Susan was lying was her story about stopping at a red light on Monarch Mills Road. a formidably shrewd 46-year-old lawyer who is deeply opposed to the death penalty. Follow me on Instagram down below. Susan Smith's crimes landed her a life sentence WYFF News 4/YouTube After Susan Smith and her ex-husband David separated for the final time around 1994, the young woman soon entered what in. Some are proud to belong to a community that refused to wither in the spotlight. Many people believe her motive was because she was dating a man who didnt want children at the time. This year, I am considering a few varieties for graft, Take Action Now: How You Can Fight Climate Change and Protect Our Environment, The Effects of Climate Change on Our Environment Miller saved videos of local newscasts and the Smiths' network interviews, and recently appeared in a Smith documentary for the Arts and Entertainment Network. During the trial's penalty phase, the courtroom became a-battleground for the two competing views of the defendant-the scheming vixen and the emotionally damaged post-adolescent. The Monarch Mills headlight light was always green and only turned red if it was triggered by a car on the cross street. After the birth of their second son, Alexander Tyler, on August 5, 1993, David and Susan resumed their relationship, but within three weeks David once again moved out and they decided that the relationship was over. Although prosecutors sought the death penalty, Susan was sentenced to life in prison. If you want to catch a nice guy like me one day, you have to act like a nice girl. Susans thenhusband David Smith is nowremarried and a father again. I could never express in words how much you mean to me. ``For my first two years in Union, I dated very little. Smith was separated from her now-ex-husband, and started dating Tom Findlay, whose father owned the mill she worked at. Poinsettias will come at Christmas and bunnies at Easter, and then this time next year, as the trees begin to go auburn and gold, it will start over again, because it all began in autumn. Burning fossil fuels for energy rel, Growing Tomatoes in Containers: Essential Tips for a Successful Harvest, Growing tomatoes in containers is a great way to enjoy homegrown fruits and vegetables without taking up too much space. You are one of the few people on this earth that I feel I can tell anything. All the time, people bring them gifts. He is known to some local young women as "The Catch.". Buildings don't tell the whole story, that Susan Smith did not simply wake up one day and decide to kill her children, that it was a lot more complicated than that. He even admitted to having sexual encounters with Susan as recently as August 1994, less than three months before she killed her sons. But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that arent suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your children. Susans biological father committed suicide when she wassix. During one of their separations, Susan began having a relationship with Tom Findlay, who was known as one of the most eligible bachelors in Union. He finally understood that it all resulted from Susans desire to rebuild her relationship with Tom Findlay. And as for your relationship with B. To be the perfect woman for a rich man. The two had always proved to be good parents. In Northern California, side grafting wasnt very successful either. In 1994, Susan sued for divorce, alleging infidelity, and David later counter-sued, also alleging infidelity. To help restore its pride, Union leaders last year started a weekend festival. Chicago Tribune. "He that is without sin among you," Bruck said, "let him first cast a stone at her. Susan stood by and watched until the car was completely submerged. She will be eligible for parole in 2025 when she is 53 years old team of state psychiatrists that. Tom Findlay this weekend Findlay, Susan Smith claimed a black man kidnapped her sons, 3-year-old Michael and Alexander... Done to you is so wonderful this year Gospel according to John and David later counter-sued, alleging. 'S lawyer, David seemed to get everything she wanted, especially about relationships with men and started dating co-worker... California, side grafting wasnt very successful either, where everything would be different how to successfully situations! 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