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Killer mom Susan Smith is now 'complete nightmare' after parole was denied: report

Smith was denied parole in South Carolina in November after spending 30 years behind bars

Susan Smith prison call Aug. 13

Susan Smith can be heard in a prison call made on Aug. 13 speaking about a letter from the media. (Credit: South Carolina Department of Corrections)

South Carolina killer mom Susan Smith is reportedly acting like a "complete nightmare" behind bars, months after she was convicted of a disciplinary charge for speaking with a filmmaker and ultimately denied parole. 

The 53-year-old, who is serving a life sentence for drowning her two young sons in a lake in 1994, was denied parole on Nov. 20 after spending 30 years incarcerated.

"Last year, when she had a chance of getting out, she was really cooperative, helpful, even pleasant," a Leath Correctional Institution employee told The New York Post.

"But now she’s the complete opposite. Just rude and b----y all the time. Overnight, she went from being a model prisoner to a complete nightmare," the employee continued, believing that Smith's previously positive character was just an act to get out of prison. 

KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH HEARD IN PRISON CALL MAKING VOW AMID PLOT TO PROFIT FROM HER CRIMES

Susan Smith

Susan Smith, pictured in a recent mugshot, left, and at 22-year-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)

Susan Smith's sons

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 )

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. 

She was convicted for 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. 

KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH DENIED PAROLE 30 YEARS AFTER DROWNING SONS

Susan Smith walks with her attorneys in 1995

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)

In August, 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. 

This was Smith's first disciplinary action in almost 10 years, and she was convicted of the charge on Oct. 3, Chrysti Shain, director of communications with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, previously told Fox News Digital.  

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During her November parole hearing, Smith appeared emotional and crying on a jailhouse court feed. The reasons for the parole board's denial were the nature and seriousness of the crime and Smith's institutional record of offenses. 

"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 crying

Susan Smith crying during her Nov. 20 parole hearing.

David Smith, ex-husband of Susan Smith exits the building after learning that her parole was denied

David Smith with his wife, Tiffany Smith, leave the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services in Columbia, South Carolina, on Nov. 20, 2024. Smith’s ex-wife, Susan Smith, was denied parole for her life sentence in the 1995 drowning murders of her two toddlers. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)

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Her ex-husband, David Smith, attended the parole hearing to face the woman who killed his children and asked for the court to deny her parole, wearing a pin showing his two toddler sons.   

"I'm here to advocate on Michael and Alex's behalf and as their father," he said at the hearing. "God gives us free choice, and she made free choice that night to end their life. This wasn't a tragic mistake…she purposely meant to end their life."

Mollie Markowitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Email tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. She joined Fox in 2019 and made her way from producing live news coverage to true-crime documentaries at Fox Nation. She has interviewed Ted Bundy survivors, the children of notorious serial killers, survivor Lisa McVey, members of law enforcement and families impacted by traumatic crime.Currently, she covers national crime stories for Fox News Digital. You can follow Mollie on LinkedIn.

Authored by Mollie Markowitz via FoxNews January 28th 2025