The Scapegoating Murderer

One of the most notorious scapegoaters was the racist bigot Susan Smith. She was the 'woman' who killed her two children by driving a car with them inside it into a river, leaving them to drown. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, she then concocted a cock and bull story about a ficticious black man coming along and abducting the children, and presumably harming them. It wasn't her, of course not. It was that evil boogie man - the unidentified black man who racist whites always want to blame! Oh but of course, Susan Smith had her reasons for doing away with her children. Yes that's right. She had good cause to kill her children. You see, there was this wealthy man who she was having a relationship with who didn't want children. So she had to get rid of her children to keep him. You see, she had good cause. It's not her fault. It was the man's fault for not wanting children! (Oh, erm...... and of course that ficticious black man she blamed everything on) Born Susan Leigh Vaughan on September 26, 1971 in Union, South Carolina. Susan Smith had a troubled upbringing; her parents' relationship was often violent and soon after their divorce, her father committed suicide. Her mother quickly remarried a man who sexually abused Susan.
On October 25, 1994, Smith contacted the police saying she had been carjacked by an African-American man who fled with her two young sons in the car. After she made emotional pleas on television for the safe return of her children, the incident gained media attention and sympathy from around the world. However, nine days later, Smith admitted that she had pushed her car into nearby John D. Long Lake, drowning her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, who were strapped into their car seats inside.
Contempt for Smith was overwhelming, not only because of the racial tension ignited for the false accusation of a black man, but because her alleged motive was to get rid of her children in order to carry on a relationship with a wealthy man who wasn't interested in a woman with sons.
During her trial, Smith's stepfather, Republican Party and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell, testified that he had sexually molested Susan when she was a teenager and again in the months leading up to her drowning the boys. She was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison. Susan Smith is serving her sentence at Leath Correctional Institution in South Carolina and will be eligible for parole in 2024, after serving a minimum of thirty years.