susan smith tom findlay pictures

Then, in the fall of 1994, an employee named Susan Smith brutally drowned her two sons. Before the couple got a divorce the two still slept with each other on and off. Susan Smith. She told me David knew about a relationship she had had and was going to make it public, Findlay said. In her final year of high school, she received the Friendliest Female award and was known for her cheerful disposition. He sent her a lot of money.. If youre fascinated by the world of true crime, sign up for our newsletter. However, Susan Smith had been followed by troubles from a very young age. After Susan Smith and her ex-husband David separated for the final time around 1994, the young woman soon entered what in the beginning was a consensual relationship with a man named Tom Findlay. Discover amazing horror stories, conspiracy theories, Murder Mysteries, Alien Life, Unsolved Mysteries, latest breakthrough Science news, and much more on Bugged Space ! Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma/Getty ImagesSusan Smith was convicted of murdering her children on July 22, 1995. . She met him on the internet. In 2000, an imprisoned Smith became embroiled in controversy again after allegedly having sex with a prison guard named Houston Cagle. Findlay was one of nine witnesses Wednesday, the second day of testimony in a trial to decide whether Susan Smith lives or dies. Her sentence was thirty years to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after the thirty years are up. The jury deliberated for only two and a half hours, at which point they declared Susan Smith guilty of two counts of murder. . The newlyweds soon started to have fights, and as a result they were separated seven months after their marriage. Resides in Findlay, OH. The company recently donated that money to day-care centers in the area. Russell was one of several relatives and friends to testify on behalf of Ms. Smith, who was convicted Saturday of rolling her car into a lake Oct. 25 with 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex strapped in their car seats. According to aTIME, Smith attempted suicide when she was 13, though her mother and Smith's stepfather "refused" to hospitalize her. You can also find more information, resources, and support at www.thehotline.org. She and David finally filed for divorce in September of 1994, and Smith put all her attention on Tom. "Conso is one fine small company," said Kay Norwood, a textile analyst for Interstate/Johnson Lane. This is what prompted Susan Smith to drown her own children. A newspaper claimed that the sexual relations between them had continued until six months before the murders. Updated: 8:42 AM EDT July 18, 2003. One day in October 1994, Susan Smiths kids, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, joined her for a drive. Susan Smith (ne Daniels 1961 [3] - June 8, 1989) was an American FBI informant. All Rights Reserved. Susan Smith Trial: 1995 . All Filters. Later that day, Susan met the police behind the local church and finally broke down. Cellmate Secrets: Susan Smith will air tonight at 10 ET/9 CT on Lifetime following the enhanced edition of the original Lifetime movie Doomsday Mom: The Lori Vallow Story at 8 ET/7 CT. "A passing love affair," Halleck called it. Michael and Alex Smith were buried together in the same casket on November 6, 1994. Later that year, she attempted suicide yet again. Mr. Findlay testified that when he called Mrs. Smith's house on one occasion, Mr. Smith snatched the phone from her. Susan Smiths most intense extramarital affair was with a newfound employee at Conso Products in 1993. A former state Republican Party executive committee member and Christian Coalition leader, Russell sobbed while jurors watched a videotape of him playing with Alex. She was sentenced to life in prison and won't be eligible for . The idea that she would kill her . Until front-office secretary Susan Smith killed her two sons, Conso Products Co. hummed quietly along, rolling out decorative trimmings for chairs, sofas and drapes. But more than the physical pleasure, he said, she loved. She is serving a life sentence in Leath Correctional institute in North Carolina after she eventually confessed to the murder of her children. Tom Begaye Jr. left the 11-year-old child to die in the desert after "repeatedly hitting her on the head and face with a tire iron." . In 2015, she broke the silence with a letter written to the State Newspaper. Susan Smith told the police that the car and the children were at the bottom of John Ds long lake. She said that she was living in what she called a veil of tears, not wanting to live without a mother. Published on July 9, 2021 11:53 AM. Susan was secretly dating a man who didnt want children, so she decided to kill her children. The case attracted international attention because of her false claim that a black man had kidnapped her sons during a carjacking, but instead Susan Smith and her children, Alex and Michael. Brynley Louise is an avid watcher of movies & television, everything from action thrillers to the occasional sappy rom com. Tom Findlay, her lover and the boss' son in the office where she worked as a secretary and earned $17,000 a year, had written her the now-infamous letter telling her he was not ready to be a father. She made a tearful plea on national television for their safe return. Initially, there was an outpouring of support for the young mother whose sons had been kidnapped by a mysterious carjacker. And for that she was sentenced to life in prison -- with the chance of parole. The jury has heard embarrassing testimony about Smith's affair with co-worker Tom Findlay and her claim _ which she later recanted _ that she slept with J. Cary Findlay, Tom Findlay's father and Conso's chairman. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. Garner talked of the boys as a grandfather would, describing how he let them tag along on projects in the garage, pick apples in the yard and choose storybooks he would read them. My main purpose was to bring her pills. Susan Smith, now 34, was 23 and estranged from David on the day she claimed that a black man had taken her car along with the kids Michael, three, and Alex, 14 months. Weeks after the birth of the second child, Alexander, the couple called it quits once more. He, Joel Guy Jr., 28, murdered and dismembered his parents and attempted to dissolve their bodies in chemicals, after they told, Rachel Barber, 15, was drugged and strangled to death with a telephone cord in an attempt to steal her identity., Jan Broberg was kidnapped by her own neighbor and a good family friend, Robert Berchtold, a churchgoer and a frequent, According to local reports, Shane Goldsby, 26, was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison on Tuesday for the, Mitchell Quy stood and watched as the police searched for his missing wife, and he even joined the search himself., Arne Johnson's trial was the first known court case in the United States in which the defense attempted to prove. We can only hope. Newly resurfaced . 4,617 17 Nov 01, 2008 #1 SUSAN SMITH'S LETTER TO TOM FINDLAY Dear Tom, Just a note to say thank you for everything. Murder of Susan Smith. Her mother Linda, weeks after her divorce, took up a new relationship. On Wednesday, for the first time, Findlay gave his view of Smith. I was not in my right mind.. Meet Gladys Presley, Elvis Presley's Mother And The 'Love Of His Life', The Baffling Mystery Of What Happened To John F. Kennedy's Brain, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Susan se enamor -perdidamente sera la palabra que mejor describe lo que sinti- de Tom Findlay, un diseador de 27 aos que, adems de trabajar con ella, era el hijo de su jefe. "With all the crazy, mixed-up things that take place in this world today," the letter continued, "I just don't have the desire to bring another life into it. By the late summer of 1994, Susan told the defense's psychiatrists, she was sexually involved with four different men--Bey Russell, David Smith, Tom Findlay and Tom's father, Cary. They portray the drownings as a failed suicide. Not that it justifies a single thing, but her life wasn't easy. Ms. Smiths lawyers contend she snapped under unbearable personal pressures and a history of mental illness. He got on the phone and screamed at Findlay: Dont you talk with my wife, you son of a bitch. Tom Findlay, according to the Chicago Tribune. But testimony in Smith's murder trial has thrust Union County's biggest employer into the national spotlight. On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith trapped her 3-year-old son Michael and 14-month old son Alex in her car and rolled them into John D. Long Lake in Union County. In 1994, Smith strapped her two sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, into their car seats and pushed the vehicle into a lake. The man she wrote about was a graphic artist named Tom Findlay, who enthralled the court with details of a stormy relationship that came to a head on October 25, 1994. They got married after only about a year of dating. [2] Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Smith was accused of being racist for blaming an invented Black man for her crimes. ``And yet we love Susan, too. Refine Your Search Results. Susan Smith slept with two corrections officers in 2000 and 2001, both the officers were convicted and Susan was shifted to another prison. Smith made an emotional plea on the television for the safe return of her children. And because of this, Smith has become one of the more divisive and reviled criminals in the pantheon of American true crime, her name a sort of short-hand for the dark, obsessive lengths anyone will go to get what they think they want. At trial, Smiths defense lawyers claimed she was severely mentally ill and pointed to her troubled life as cause. Findlay recalled Smith being upset because David knew, or so she thought, some information that he was going to make public that upset her. Its unclear just what this was, while it would later be revealed that Smith had continued having sexual relations with her former stepfather. Findlay testified as a prosecution witness, but his sympathetic testimony may have helped the defense. I could never express in words how much you mean to me. (Cary Findlay . Once Susan Smith recovered she began a new relationship with high school friend and fellow co-worker David Smith. Her mother was worried about potential embarrassment. Lead prosecutor Thomas Pope painted a very different picture. "They were her world," he said. Almost a decade later, David says he's doing well. A death sentence means a choice of electrocution or injection. She began sleeping with her boss's son, Tom Findlay, in January 1994. Susan Smith killings: . But the Union, South Carolina moms dramatic story turned out to be a tall taleand nine days after those initial claims, Smith admitted there had been no assailant and no kidnapping. Smith believed that getting rid of her children was the only way to please her new lover, Tom Findleythe son of the owner of the company where Smith worked as a secretarywho didnt want children. It was later revealed that he had molested Susan when she was a teenager. Findlay put an end to their relationship in the fall of 1994 but not before he told Smith that, per A&E, that part of their breakup had to do with the fact that he didn't want children. She told the police, the media, and her family a lie, that her vehicle had been carjacked by a black man who drove away with her sons still inside. That 28-year-old witness, Tom Findlay, also wrote that he was afraid that their backgrounds -- he was a child of privilege, she a child of a mill worker who committed suicide when his wife left. Any mother that takes lives of her own children should rot in hell! At thirteen Smith attempted suicide, though nobody knew. Forgiving, Smith said, is "something I guess I . Life in prison would make her eligible for parole in 30 years. At that point, says Rowe, "She could not longer get the male attention that she used as a drug.". As for Susan Smith, whatever we learn and eventually come to understand about the motivations behind her horrible crime, she will always remain . Susan Smith 's former cellmates and a prison guard who had sex with her are speaking out about the infamous woman's checkered time behind bars . However, Susan Smith didnt leave it there. "This is an incredibly sad tale," Norwood said. UNION, S.C. (AP) _ Years after admitting he molested his stepdaughter Susan Smith when she was 16, Beverly Russell testified that they had consensual sex two months before she drowned her sons. You dont have all the guilt of this tragedy, he read from a letter he wrote Ms. Smith this past Fathers Day. Susan Leigh Smith (ne Vaughan; born September 26, 1971) is an American woman who was convicted of murdering her two sons, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, in 1994 by drowning them in a South Carolina lake. Print length 304 pages Language English Publisher Authors Book Nook Publication date January 1, 2000 Dimensions It drew countless visitors who wanted to take . He also admitted sexually assaulting Smith when she was 16, but said that she and her mother never pressed charges. For nine days, she made tearful pleas for their safe return. A divorced father of three, Russell was a thriving stockbroker, and a member of both South Carolinas Republican community and the Christian Coalition. Social Services did very little, and after some family counseling, Bev was welcomed back into the home. Distraught, Smith got her children into her car and began to drive toward her mothers house. Defense attorney David Bruck declined to preview his presentation. Though the then-teenager reported the ongoing sexual abuse twice to her high school counselor the first of which resulted in a brief separation between her stepfather, Beverly "Bev" Russell, Jr., who was a "prominent" member of the South Carolina Republican party, per TIME, and the state's Christian Coalition organization the charges were dropped. TO BE HONEST WITH YOU THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I WISHED THAT SHE WOULD DIE IN JAIL, HOWEVER, IF SHE MAKES PAROLE, MY ADVICE TO HER IS THAT SHE WOULD NOT RECEIVE A WARM WELCOME IN SOUTH CAROLINA. The statement of Tom Findlay, graphic arts manager of Conso Products Company in Union, released Friday by Sharon O'Dell, human resources director for the company: "I am devastated by this tragedy. Though Smith was considered an intelligent and popular student among her peers, officials at her high school knew otherwise. She says, You never know what someone is going through. However, she had a change of heart during filming when she received more details about Smiths crimes. They both came from families tormented by tragedy. The lake where Smith killed Michael and Alex went on to become a macabre tourist attraction. "The company did not do anything.". Everything to Know About the Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult Leader, The True Story Behind Hulu's 'Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence', Susan Smith, in Jail for Killing Her 2 Kids, Tells New Boyfriend She Wants To 'Start Fresh' if She's Paroled, Texas Woman Accused of Strangling Best Friend, Then Stealing Her Newborn Girl Expected to Plead Guilty, Susan Smith, Serving Life Term for Killing Her 2 Kids in 1994, Sends 'Romantic' Letters to New Boyfriend, Susan Smith, in Jail for Killing Her Kids, 'Is Talking Marriage' with New Boyfriend After Release, Everything to Know About 'Real Housewives' Star Jen Shah's Fraud Case. Meanwhile, David had no idea that she suffered from depression and dependent personality disorder. Lived In Pittsburgh PA, Upper . Susan Smith: 20 Years Later. They married on March 15th in 1991 due to Smith being pregnant. According to a prison source who talked to People last year, Smith is currently on a better path at Leath in anticipation of her possible 2024 parole. He hadnt. Findlay wrote: If you want to catch a nice guy like me one day, you have to act like a nice girl. And you know, nice girls dont sleep with married men. Williams testified about a conversation with Susan Smith on Oct. 17, eight days before the murders: "I have a problem," Smith said. He said they had sex. Hulsen also says Smith would get a lot of money from random men and her family. While the crime itself was unspeakable as is, the aftermath of the murders of Smith's children, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, created an almost unprecedented media frenzy at the time, a good part of it perpetrated by Smith herself. ", "Something went very wrong that night. Even one of the more curious moments of their relationship -- her telling him on the day of the drownings that she had once slept with his father -- did not seem to have left him with any ill will toward her. Eventually, Susan Smith was arrested. Again, Smith tried to get Tom on her side by going to his office, and declaring what she had told him was a lie. In her written confession, Susan Smith claimed that she was suicidal on the evening of October 25th. The Charlotte brokerage underwrote the company's initial public offering of stock in December 1993. But more than the physical pleasure, he said, she loved feeling close, being held. The prosecution claimed that since she killed her children it was easy for her to gain the sympathy of her former boyfriend Tom Findly. I will always treasure our friendship and all of the many wonderful memories we have made. ``I think the real focus is not the nature of the crime, he said, ``but what is the right thing to do.. America's original most-hated mom Susan Smith was found in a pool of blood in her prison cell after she slashed her wrists during one of her bizarre cutting rituals, according to reports. When Susan Smiths ex-boyfriend Tom Findlay climbed onto the witness stand Wednesday afternoon, he glanced quickly at her and smiled kindly. Working part-time at a Winn-Dixie supermarket, Susan was overwhelmed after an older, married co-worker broke off an affair with her, and swallowed an overdose of aspirin in an attempt at self-harm. However, as she later confessed, there was no such crime. During the Smith case, Conso's strategy has been relatively straightforward: Cooperate with authorities, keep the Findlays out of the spotlight, and designate Cooney and personnel manager Sharon O'Dell to speak for the company. Drowned her two sons such crime Pace University and a master 's from... Underwrote the company 's initial public offering of stock in December 1993 she called a of. 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