(NewsNation) — Thirty years after she killed her two children, Susan Smith is now eligible for parole, raising the question of whether she will get out of prison.
Susan Smith initially told law enforcement that a man carjacked her and took off with her two children still inside the car in 1994.
Smith, who is white, identified the carjacker as Black when she described the alleged late-night carjacking near Union, South Carolina.
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Smith pleaded with the media and public for help locating three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, attracting international attention to the case. For nine days, she appeared on TV begging for help.
But elements of her story didn’t add up, including her description of the carjacking and why the carjacker would release her but keep her young children.
Eventually, Smith admitted to strapping her two sons into car seats in the back of her car and driving it onto a boat ramp at a South Carolina lake, letting the vehicle roll into the water with her children inside,
Smith said she was having an affair and the man that she was cheating with didn’t want kids.
Now, 30 years later, Smith is eligible for parole. That angers investigators like Union County Sheriff Jeff Bailey, who says Smith deserves to spend every day of her life behind bars, even if she’s already been locked up for 30 years.
“Those kids didn’t have a chance and I don’t think she deserves one,” Bailey said. “She still killed her kids, that is the bottom line That is [her] blood, [she] chose to let them go into the water and drown. That is a horrible death.”
Smith’s parole hearing is set for Wednesday morning, where she will make her case for release.
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During the trial, Smith’s lawyers said she was experiencing a mental breakdown and had intended to stay in the car with her sons but had exited at the last minute.
Smith has also made claims that her then-husband abused her, something he has denied.
During her time in prison, Smith has faced trouble multiple times, for everything from using drugs to having sex with prison guards.