Susan Smith’s ex-husband confesses chilling response to ‘eye for an eye’ after she tragically killed their sons and falsely accused a ‘kidnapper’

CHILD killer Susan Smith who drowned her two toddlers in the 1990s should have been executed for her heinous crimes, says her ex-husband.

An emotional David Smith said he “wanted an eye for an eye” after she rolled her car into a lake while they were strapped in their seats.

A parole board decided unanimously last November that Smith should remain in prison, where she has spent 30 years.

She had claimed that God had forgiven her for killing her two sons, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, on October 25, 1994.

Smith was found guilty of causing the deaths of her sons by deliberately allowing her car to drive into the John D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina.

The boys’ bodies were found dangling upside-down in their car seats, one tiny hand pressed against a window.

David Smith, her ex-husband and the father of the boys, had a private conversation with Craig Melvin from NBC News to discuss her recent plea for release.

David was asked whether he would have preferred the state had executed Susan instead of sentencing her to life in prison.

He replied, “Wow, for myself, yes, because I wouldn’t have to be dealing with what’s coming up now.

During the interview, David remarked, “I understand that she may have faced challenges in her childhood, but that does not justify taking the lives of your own children.”

“I wanted an eye for an eye. But the jury saw different, is all.”

Smith, 53, is serving a life sentence after a jury convicted her in 1995 of murder – but decided to spare her the death penalty.

She is eligible for a parole hearing every two years now that she has spent 30 years behind bars.

Smith had made international headlines in 1994 when she insisted for nine days that a black carjacker had driven away with her sons.

AFFAIR

Prosecutors argued that she killed Michael and Alex because she blamed them for the break-up of an affair.

Smith had been in a relationship with the wealthy son of the owner of a business where she worked.

Her attorneys blamed her mental health.

David told NBC that he has been concentrating on rebuilding his life since her incarceration.

And, he had been blindsided by last year’s parole hearing as he had long put the thought of the double murderer’s potential freedom in the back of his mind.

REMARRIED

David said that he and his new wife, Tiffany – who remained by his side throughout his ordeal – have simply focused on building a life together.

The couple got married in 2003.

He said, “I saw how dedicated and faithful and compassionate Tiffany was through all of it, and stuck by my side.

“So I knew that I better make the jump before I lose it [by marrying her].”

David had never assumed that he would end up having more children.

But the couple ended up having a daughter, Savannah, now 24.

SCARED

Craig Melvin asked David how the murder of his toddlers had changed him as a father, “when you lose two kids and the way you lost them, how does that change you and the way you parent?”

He told the Dateline presenter, “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 because something might happen to them.”

Why was Susan Smith convicted of murder?

Susan Smith killed her two young sons 30 years ago by rolling her car into a South Carolina lake while they were strapped in their car seats.

Susan Smith claimed in October 1994 that she was carjacked late at night near the city of Union.

She also claimed that a black man wearing a toboggan hat had driven away with her sons, Michael, three, and 14-month-old Alex.

Police responded quickly, going door-to-door in local neighborhoods in predominantly black communities.

Over the next few days, they expanded their efforts, leading to a nationwide search and investigation.

For nine days, Smith made numerous and sometimes tearful pleas asking that Michael and Alex be returned safely.

She and her then husband, David, made multiple appearances on national TV.

But, during that entire time, the boys remains were in Smith’s car at the bottom of nearby John D. Long Lake, authorities said.

MYSTERY

Investigators said that Smith’s story simply didn’t add up.

Carjackers usually just want a vehicle, so investigators asked why they would let Smith out but not her toddlers.

The traffic light where Smith claimed she had stopped when her car was taken would only be red if another vehicle was waiting to cross – yet Smith said no other cars were around.

Smith ultimately confessed to letting her car roll down a boat ramp and into the lake.

Her car, and both of her sons’ bodies, were located about 122 feet from the shore of John D. Long Lake.

BOYS’ BODIES

A recreation by investigators showed it took six minutes for Smith’s Mazda to drop below the surface.

Cameras inside the vehicle – for the recreation – showed lake water pouring in through the vents and steadily rising inside the vehicle.

The boys’ bodies were found dangling upside-down in their car seats, one tiny hand pressed against a window.

JAIL

Smith, now aged 53, is serving a life sentence after a jury in 1995 convicted her of murder but decided to spare her the death penalty.

She is currently imprisoned at Leath Correctional Institution in South Carolina.

INTERROGATION

The two-hour Dateline, Return to the Lake, is airing today, February 14, at 9 pm ET/8 pm CT.

It reveals exclusive new details and the latest developments in the case.

The show features in-depth interviews with Smith’s defense attorney, David’s current wife, and the Chief of South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

There is also a rare interrogation audio of the killer from the initial investigation.

David vehemently opposes her release from prison.

“She killed his kids, [and] caused him a lifetime of heartbreak,” one of his relatives told the New York Post last year.

SEX WITH GUARDS

CBS News reported in 2000 that Smith had sex with a guard while in prison.

Smith, then aged 29, told investigators that she had four sexual encounters with Lt. Houston Cagle, Corrections Department spokesman John Barkley said.

Cagle confirmed the allegations and was fired, Barkley added.

MONSTER

“I am not the monster society thinks I am,” Smith wrote in a 2015 letter to The State. “I am far from it.”

“Something went very wrong that night. I was not myself,” she continued. “I was a good mother and I loved my boys. There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. I was not in my right mind.”

Double murder motive

The case attracted international headlines

During Smith’s trial in 1995, her defense team, including David Bruck and Judy Clarke, tried to argue that she was “deeply troubled” and suffering from “severe depression,” as reported by The New York Times.

“This is not a case about evil,” Clarke argued, adding that this particular case was “about despair and sadness.”

Bruck and Clarke claimed that Smith had driven to the lake with the intention of killing herself and her two sons, but had jumped out of the car at the last minute.

The prosecution, meanwhile, claimed that Smith had murdered her two boys to continue a relationship with a local wealthy man, Tom Findlay.

Findlay, then 27, was the son of the owner of Conso Products, the largest employer in Union, South Carolina.

Sometime before the murders, Findlay had sent Smith a letter, ending their affair.

The letter, dated October 17, 1994, mentioned that Susan “will, without a doubt, make some lucky man a great wife,” as reported by Crime Library.

“But unfortunately, it won’t be me,” Findlay wrote.

“Susan, I could really fall for you. You have some endearing qualities about you, and I think that you are a terrific person,” he continued.

“But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that aren’t suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your children.” 

Findlay didn’t want the responsibility of raising another man’s children, even if it meant leaving Susan.

Susan, furious and saddened over his rejection, murdered her two sons less than a week later.