South Carolina child killer Susan Smith's former husband is "obviously still broken," according to author and New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser, who wrote a book about Smith's arrest and conviction in the 1994 murders of her two young sons.
Smith, who drowned 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander in a Union County lake in October 1994, is getting a chance at parole 30 years later with a hearing scheduled for Nov. 20.
"[H]e's obviously still broken. I mean, he's been living with this for 30 years," Pesyer told Fox News Digital about the killer's ex-husband, David Smith. "He's tried to move on. He had a new family and all that, but he's not over it, and he'll never be over it. I don't see how you can get over it."
Peyser's remarks come in response to David Smith's recent interview with FOX Carolina.
Susan Smith was convicted on July 22, 1995, of murdering her two sons, 3-year-old Michael Daniel Smith and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith. (Greg Smith/Corbis)
"She's always wanted the spotlight in some manner … she always wanted attention, and she always tried to manipulate people, and I don't think she's going to change," David Smith told FOX Carolina, adding that he still misses his two boys. "I wish I could've stopped it.
KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH DISCIPLINED BEHIND BARS WEEKS BEFORE PAROLE HEARING
Susan was 22 when she strapped Michael and Alexander into the back seat of her car and watched as she let the vehicle roll into John D. Lake in Union County. It took six minutes for the two boys to drown. She would go on to tell law enforcement and the public that she was carjacked by a Black man, but evidence led to her arrest shortly after her sons' deaths.
"I’m still fighting for justice for what happened to you."
"I’m still fighting for justice for what happened to you. … I’m doing all I can within my power to make sure that what happened to you doesn’t go in vain," David Smith told FOX Carolina of what he would tell his sons if he could.
Susan Smith, pictured in a recent mugshot at left and at 22 years old in 1994, has been incarcerated in South Carolina for nearly 30 years for the murder of her two sons. (South Carolina Department of Corrections)
Peyser recalled meeting with David's father in the 1990s when she was covering the story.
"I had some small contact with David, not much … but I spoke to his family members … and he was really broken by this. I've never seen a person so upset in my life, and it's totally understandable," Pesyer said. "He believed in her. He loved his wife. And she took away from him really everything he had at the time."
"[S]he took away from him really everything he had at the time."
While a date for Susan's parole hearing has been set, Peyser does not think it's likely she will be released after reports of several scandalous incidents in prison.
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Susan Smith initially claimed she was carjacked, but evidence would later reveal she killed her own two young sons, Michael and Alexander. (Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma)
Susan was convicted on Oct. 3 of communicating with a victim/and or witness of crime, according to Chrysti Shain, director of communications with the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Smith was charged in September after agreeing to send David's contact information to a documentary filmmaker, who then deposited cash into Smith's account. SCDC inmates are not allowed to do interviews over the phone or in person, but they may write letters, according to prison rules.
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While the conviction was her first disciplinary action in a decade, Smith was previously engaged in a sexual relationship with a prison guard, a prison source said in an interview with People in 2020.
Susan Smith was sentenced to life in prison for murdering her two sons, 3-year-old Michael Daniel Smith and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith. (William Campbell/Sygma)
"That's totally illegal in South Carolina, to get phone interviews, to give out information of other people," Peyser said. "I don't know what her game is. I think she is trying to gain sympathy to get out of jail, but she does not deserve it. She has proven time and again that she has not learned a thing and that she's not a very old person. She's still a young woman. She could do great damage on the outside. She's done damage inside, but she could do even more on the outside."
Former Union County prosecutor Tommy Pope, now a South Carolina state representative, previously told Fox News Digital that Smith should not be released.
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Pope said Smith was having an extramarital affair at the time with Tom Findlay, the son of a local, wealthy business owner, who wrote Smith a letter a week before the murders, telling the 22-year-old woman that while he was interested in her romantically, he was not suited to raise children, as the Birmingham News reported in a 2005 interview with Findlay.
Susan Smith was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after killing her two sons in 1994. (Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma)
That letter would become a key piece of evidence in the prosecution's case.
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"She has proved from her conduct in prison that she's had sexual relations with guards, she's got Facebook friends and sugar daddies waiting for her to get out," Pope said. "She is focused on what's best for Susan, not what happened to Michael and Alex."
Pope sought the death penalty for Smith during her trial in 1995, and he does not think she should be eligible for parole today.
Fox News' Mollie Markowitz contributed to this report.
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