Susan Smith’s ex-husband wonders if he forgives her

Three decades after his ex-wife Susan Smith drowned their two sons in 1994, David Smith is wondering whether to forgive the convicted killer who is serving a life sentence for the murders but is eligible for parole in November.

In an exclusive interview with Court TV airing on Friday, September 13, David said he had forgiven Susan, but that didn’t make the pain of losing their sons any easier.

“Yes, I have forgiven her, but again, it comes down to my faith in God and the way I was raised. We have to forgive,” David told Court TV presenter Julie Grant. “But that doesn’t take away from what she did. It doesn’t make it any less bad, it doesn’t make it any easier. But I have forgiven her for what she did.”

After being convicted of two counts of murder in 1995, Susan was sentenced to life in prison. She is currently being held at Leath Correctional Facility in Greenwood, South Carolina. On November 4, 2024, Susan will be eligible for parole for the first time, making it possible that the two could come face to face.

“I would just tell him that you have no idea the harm you have done to so many people,” David said. “I would tell him that, to the best of my ability, I will do everything in my power to make sure you stay behind bars.”

At the time of the murders on October 25, 1994, Susan, then 23, told police she had been carjacked by a black man who drove off with her two young sons still in the car. For nine days, she made tearful pleas on national television for their safe return. But it was all a lie.

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As her story began to unfold, Susan admitted there was no car thief and that she had let her car roll into a lake with Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, still strapped in their car seats. Authorities said she committed the murders because she was secretly dating a man who didn’t want children.

After a series of disciplinary infractions behind bars for self-harm, drug use and possession of narcotics or marijuana, Susan defended herself in a public letter claiming she had been misunderstood.

“Mr. Cahill, I am not the monster that society thinks I am,” she wrote in 2015 to Harrison Cahill, a journalist at The Statea South Carolina newspaper. “I’m far from it.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or visit www.childhelp.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in more than 170 languages.