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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Andrea Cavallier

Susan Smith drowned her children in a lake then blamed a Black man. 30 years later, she asked for freedom and was denied

Thirty years ago the story of a young white mother from South Carolina captured the nation’s attention when she claimed to have been carjacked by a Black man who forced her out of the vehicle and drove away with her two young sons in the car.

For nine days in October 1994, the community rallied behind Susan Smith, then 23, and her then-husband David, as they stood in front of TV cameras and tearfully pleaded for the safe return of their boys – Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months.

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