Ex-Husband of South Carolina Mom Who Murdered Their Two Young Sons Pleads, "They Can't Let Her Out"
"I wanted an eye for an eye, but the jury saw different, so," David Smith, the ex-husband of Susan Smith, who killed their kids, told Dateline.
It’s been more than 30 years since South Carolina mother Susan Smith strapped her two young sons into their car seats and let her vehicle roll into a lake, then claimed the murdered boys had been kidnapped in a carjacking.
Now, Susan’s ex-husband, David Smith, is speaking out in a riveting new Dateline episode that features exclusive details and the latest developments in the haunting case that continues to captivate the nation.
"What stands out to me about the Susan Smith reporting is just how much that case still resonates with so many different people who were attached to it, whether it was law enforcement or reporters who covered it," NBC News’ Craig Melvin told NBC Insider. "It is still very much one of those cases that folks still talk about. People remember where they were when they found out she confessed. People remember where they were when they found out she wasn’t going to be sentenced to death. People remember where they were when those two little boys were laid to rest.”
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According to Melvin, David himself asked him why the case continues to resonate with so many, decades later, when he sat down for the network exclusive interview about Susan's recent attempt to be paroled.
"I still maintain that one of the reasons is because she lied for nine days after what she did and led law enforcement on a wild goose chase and tugged at the heart strings of millions of strangers and told a big lie," Melvin told NBC Insider. "Even 30 years later, it's still hard to fathom how a mother could do something like that to two little boys. People will never forget that case.”
Who is Susan Smith?
Susan fooled the nation — and her own husband — in 1994 when she claimed that a Black man carjacked her and drove off with her two young sons, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, still in the vehicle, according to the Associated Press.
“We’re not going to give up until we find you,” a grief-stricken David said in front of news cameras as his wife sat beside him.
A nationwide manhunt was quickly launched to find the children.
"We all united with the hope that we would find those little boys,” former TV reporter Heather Hoopes-Matthews told Dateline, as seen in a preview of the episode, titled “Return to the Lake.”
But investigators would soon discover that Susan purposefully killed the boys by letting her car roll into the John D. Long Lake, then came up with the fake carjacking story.
The episode — airing Friday, February 14 at 9/8c p.m. on NBC — will include rarely heard audio of Susan from the initial interrogation.
What happened to Susan Smith?
Susan was convicted of murder in 1995 and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
She was denied parole in November of 2024, after making a tearful plea for her release.
“I know that what I did was horrible,” she told the parole board, as seen in video obtained by Dateline. “And I would give anything if I could go back and change it.”
David Smith wanted an "eye for an eye"
In the 30 years since Michael and Alex were murdered, David has remarried and had a daughter, and is now speaking out about his loss and his thoughts today about Susan’s actions.
“She deliberately killed Michael and Alex and they can’t let her out," David told Dateline, adding, "30 years is not enough."
“You don’t think she’s been rehabilitated?” Melvin asked during the exchange.
“I don’t think she’ll ever be rehabilitated,” David replied.
When asked by Melvin at another point in the interview whether he would have been better off if his ex-wife had been executed for her crimes, David, thinking of her parole eligibility, answered: "Wow. ... For myself, yes, because I wouldn’t have been dealing with what’s coming up now."
"I mean, Craig, I know that they said she had a tough life growing up and I’ve never tried to make light of that, but you don’t kill your children for what happened to you,” David added. “I wanted an eye for an eye, but the jury saw different, so.”
Who is David Smith’s current wife?
David found love again with a woman named Tiffany, who he married in 2003.
“I saw how dedicated and faithful and compassionate Tiffany was through all of it and stuck by my side, so I knew that, better make that jump before I lose it,” he told Dateline.
Although he'd never imagined he'd have more children after losing his sons, David and Tiffany eventually welcomed a daughter, Savannah, and later, another child.
“How does something like that change you as a father?” Melvin asked David. “When you lose two kids the way you lost them, how does that change you, and the way your parent?”
“For me, it was a fine balance between being over protective and not very protective at all, not being part of their life because you’re scared to love them,” David replied.
Along with David’s candid interview, the Dateline episode also features interviews with his wife, Tiffany, Susan Smith’s defense attorney, and the chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
To learn more, watch Dateline on Friday at 9/8c p.m. on NBC or stream the episode on Peacock when it becomes available the next day.
And for even more Dateline, sign up for the show's official newsletter and check out its podcast.
