Susan Smith killed her 2 young children by pushing her car into a lake. 30 years later, she’s up for parole

“I want to say to my babies that your mama loves you so much…” Susan Smith, then 23 years old, tearfully said to the scrum of news cameras.

(CNN) - “I want to say to my babies that your mama loves you so much …” Susan Smith, then 23 years old, tearfully told the scrum of news cameras. It was early November 1994, and Smith had recently told police her 3-year-old son Michael and 14-month-old son Alex were taken when she was carjacked by a Black man in the city of Union, South Carolina, in late October, setting off a manhunt and a barrage of media attention on the young mother. “You guys have got to be strong … I just know, I just feel in my heart that you guys are OK,” she said. But it would turn out Smith’s young children were already dead – strapped in their car seats at the bottom of nearby John D. Long Lake, authorities said. Investigators were skeptical of Smith’s story from the start, and eventually, under questioning, she confessed to rolling her car into the lake, killing her sons, The Associated Press reported. The story made international headlines, and her 1995 murder trial was followed closely around the world. The prosecution pointed to reports Smith was having an affair with her boss’ rich son who had just broken up with her because he didn’t want children. Her attorneys argued she was suicidal and depressed and intended to stay in the car with her children, AP reported.