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Susan Smith eligible for parole again after being denied release for drowning her 2 sons in 1994
By Sarah Rumpf-Whitten
Published May 05, 2026
South Carolina killer mom Susan Smith is back up for parole once again after she was convicted of drowning her two young children.
The 53-year-old, who is serving a life sentence for drowning her two young sons in a lake in 1994, was denied parole in November 2024, after spending 30 years incarcerated.
Now, Smith is once again eligible for release as she continues to serve a 30-years-to-life sentence.
Suzanne Smith was convicted of two counts of murder in Union County, South Carolina, in 1995. Her mugshot was retaken in 2024. (AP)
Smith strapped her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander Smith, into the back seat of her car and let it roll down a ramp into John D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina, on Oct. 25, 1994.
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Smith, 22 at the time, watched as it took six minutes for water to fill the car, drown her boys and sink the car to the bottom of the lake.
Susan Smith poses with her two sons, Tommy and Pope. (AP)
She was convicted of the murders of her two children on July 22, 1995, and though prosecutors argued that Smith should receive the death penalty, she was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
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Susan Smith's car is pulled from a lake. (AP)
In 2024, she was up for parole for the first time and was ultimately denied, with the board citing the nature and seriousness of the crime and Smith's institutional record of offenses.
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"I know that what I did was horrible…I’m sorry that I put them through that...I wish I could take that back, I really do...I was just scared," she said during the hearing.
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Susan Smith cries during her parole hearing on Nov. 20.
Smith's disciplinary record during her stint in prison was one of the reasons why she was denied a parole hearing in 2025.
In August 2025, Smith was charged with communicating with a victim and/or witness of a crime for speaking with a documentary filmmaker, which was against prison rules, less than two weeks after she had told an unknown male over the phone that she "wouldn't talk" to the media.
Susan Smith walks with her attorneys in 1995 after being sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for killing her two sons in 1994. (Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma/Getty Images)
This was Smith's first disciplinary action in almost 10 years, and she was convicted of the charge on Oct. 3, 2025, Chrysti Shain, director of communications with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, previously told Fox News Digital.
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If her application for parole is denied this year, she can apply again in two years.
Her latest hearing is set for Nov. 19, 2026.
https://www.foxnews.com/true-crime/susan-smith-eligible-parole-denied-release-drowning-2-sons-1994