A killer mom who infamously drowned her two sons has become a ‘complete nightmare’ behind bars since her long-shot chance at parole was denied, prison sources say.
Susan Smith, 53, is serving a 30-years-to-life sentence for killing her sons Michael, 3, and Alexander, 1, in 1994 by strapping them into her car and rolling it into a South Carolina lake.
An employee at Leath Correctional Facility in South Carolina, where Smith has been locked up, told the New York Post that she was playing nice last year when she had the chance at parole but her demeanor switched as soon as she was denied.
‘Last year, when she had a chance of getting out, she was really cooperative, helpful, even pleasant,’ they said.
‘But now she’s the complete opposite. Just rude and bitchy all the time. Overnight, she went from being a model prisoner to a complete nightmare.’
Smith’s behavior previously became a point of contention as her controversial parole hearing neared last year, as it was revealed she had been facing prison disciplinary charges.
While the prison guard claimed Smith had been a ‘model prisoner’ to staff, she was caught communicating with a filmmaker to discuss her crimes, possibly at a shot at true-crime fame upon her release.
Susan Smith, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1995 after murdering her two sons, has become a ‘complete nightmare’ behind bars since her long-shot chance at parole was denied in November (photo from 2016)
Smith’s sons Michael, three, and Alexander, 14-months-old, were strapped into their car seats by Smith, who then let the car roll into a lake in South Carolina
When Smith went up for parole in November, her ex-husband David, the father of their two children that she murdered, begged authorities to keep her locked away.
Smith has had a history of infractions during her incarceration, including drug use, self-mutilations and incidents in which she was caught having sex with guards.
In Smith’s parole Zoom call, she broke down in tears as she insisted to parole officers that she had found religion and was a changed woman.
‘I am a Christian and I know that God has forgiven me,’ she said, begging the panel to ‘show the same kind of mercy.’
The murderess’ attorney Tommy Thomas said at the parole hearing that she was earning an associate’s degree in ‘Christian counseling’, and had been mentoring other inmates.
According to the prison guard who spoke to the New York Post, this was all part of Smith’s pre-parole plan to fix her image before authorities.
‘If you didn’t know better, you’d wonder why this really nice mom was in prison,’ they said.
‘She would call everyone ‘sweetie’ and was really helpful. If she saw something on the floor, she’d pick it up. She kept her bunk area really tidy. She was wonderful.’
David spoke against his ex-wife in her hearing and insisted that he would be back every two years that she goes before the panel again, telling the parole board: ‘She should never get out.’
Smith broke down in tears at her parole hearing in November as she claimed she had found religion, but the parole board rejected her request for freedom
The jury spared Smith (seen after her 1995 arrest) from the death penalty and instead she was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years
David Smith, father of the boys, leaves the church after funeral services for the two young boys
Smith reported the boys missing in 1994 and claimed an unidentified black man took them during a carjacking, and begged for the supposed kidnapper to return her sons before eventually confessing
As soon as she was denied, the prison employee said her good behavior ended, and it ‘was like a switch went off.’
‘She stopped being friendly and cooperative. She isn’t keeping her areas as clean as she used to. She seems like she doesn’t care.’
‘She was one of the best (prison) employees before (her parole hearing),’ they continued. ‘And now she does the bare minimum, so that she doesn’t get into trouble. And she’s got an attitude when she does it.
‘Obviously the parole board could see right through her… It just goes to show how manipulative she is.’
Smith’s crimes in 1995 shocked America, as she initially claimed that her two sons were taken by a black man who carjacked her.
Smith, who was 22 at the time, was having an affair with a man named Tom Findlay, the son of her boss at Conso Products – a home décor trim company.
But after Smith kissed and fondled another man during a 1994 naked hot tub party, Findlay, now 56, dumped her – and told her in a letter that he didn’t want to be with a woman with children.
Smith was just 22 when she was arrested in November 1994 and had her mugshots taken
David Smith held up a picture of his murdered sons Michael and Alex and smiled after his ex-wife Susan was sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts of murder
‘Susan, I could really fall for you,’ Findlay wrote. ‘You have so many endearing qualities about you, and I think that you are a terrific person.
‘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. I’m sure that your kids are good kids, but it really wouldn’t matter how good they may be … the fact is, I just don’t want children.’
A week later, furious and despondent Smith let her burgundy Mazda roll down a boat ramp into John D. Long Lake with her two sons – Michael, three, and 14-month-old Alex – still strapped into their car seats.
As Smith claimed she had been carjacked, she and her husband campaigned on TV for nine days begging the supposed kidnapper to return their boys.
However, the mother-of-two finally confessed after the nine days, and a jury convicted her on two counts of first-degree murder but rejected handing her the death penalty.
In February of last year, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that the evil mother had been having phone sex with a man half her age from prison, one of at least seven men she has supposedly had in-prison trysts with while incarcerated.
