Experts Say Killer Mom Susan Smith’s Relationships Show That Humans Are Disposable to a Shooter Looking for Parole
Susan Smith’s first chance at parole is coming up this fall, 30 years after she drowned her two young kids. However, reports of her relationships while she was in jail show that she still sees people as “disposable,” according to an expert.
In November 2004, Smith, then 51 years old, will have her first parole hearing. This is 30 years after she admitted to killing her 3-year-old son Michael Daniel and 14-month-old son Alexander Tyler in a South Carolina lake.
Smith killed her boys a week after Tom Findlay, her ex-boyfriend and possible new lover, wrote a letter saying that her kids were getting in the way of their relationship.
Susie, I think I like you a lot. His words to her were, “But, as I’ve already said, there are some things about you that aren’t right for me, and yes, I’m talking about your children.”
Police psychologist and licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Katherine Kuhlman told Fox News Digital that Smith’s behavior is a sign of Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD). She said that DPD was probably a factor in Smith’s crime in 1994 and is still shown by her many romantic letters.
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders says that people with DPD “need for others to be responsible for the most important parts of their life.” Folks with DPD have “difficulty disagreeing with others because they fear the loss of support or approval.”
The New York Post says that Smith has been seeing about twelve suitors over the past three years while his jailhouse texts and calls were being listened in on. The newspaper said that many of them have offered to help her financially if she gets out of jail, and conversations with many of them have taken breathy, sensual turns.
Last week, one of those men told the news source that he fell in love with the prisoner at first, but then felt “duped.””She always wanted something from me,” the South Carolina man told the Post. He had been writing to Smith for 18 months before they stopped talking.
“We’re not men to her; we’re marks,” he stated. “She’s always figuring out what she can get.”
“It looks like people are disposable to her,” Kuhlman said. “She throws away her kids and her relationships. She’s done when they stop serving her…The question is whether she’s being manipulative on purpose or because of this problem she has. According to Kuhlman, and Fox News Digital, there is “not a lot of treatment” for personality disorders, especially for people who are in jail.
“There’s no medication that can treat it,” she stated. “This is the kind of thinking that gets ingrained in people, usually when they are very young.” People with personality problems need a lot of help, but they can learn how to deal with it.
“That level of intensive treatment is not being used with prisoners,” Kuhlman said. “They’re more focused on making sure that depressed people don’t kill themselves and keeping people calm.”
“She could [tell the parole board] that she was working through it, but I’m not sure that would be possible,” he said.
Smith seemed hopeful in one recorded phone call ahead of his Nov. 4 release hearing.
Smith is said to have told one suitor over the phone earlier this year, “It’s time for me to get out.” “I did my time. “I’m ready to go.”
Philip Holloway, a criminal defense lawyer, told Fox News Digital that she is “unlikely” to get out of jail early.
“I expect that she would be denied parole – the facts of this case are horrific,” he said. “I see it’s unlikely that she would be released into society.”
Holloway talked about Smith’s long history of bad behavior in jail. The South Carolina Department of Corrections says Smith lost his right to use drugs twice in 2010 and again in 2012, which meant he could not eat in the restaurant, visit with visitors, or use the phone. Also in 2010, Smith lost his rights because he hurt himself.
“[Her record] would suggest that there is an inability that remains in her, the inability to conform to rules and regulations in things that we expect,” he said. “We have societal norms and rules and laws that we are all expected to abide by – if she is not able to follow the rules and live within the expected guidelines that are given to her [in prison], I don’t see any reason to expect any different if she is released into society.”
Holloway said that Smith’s relationships while she was in jail shouldn’t affect the parole board’s decision. Instead, he said, the board’s decision could be affected by comments from living relatives of her murdered children who are against her parole.
David Smith, the father of the two children who were killed, has since gotten married again and has two more children. Reports say that he and his family plan to fight Smith’s release.
A family member of the guy told The Messenger, “David still thinks of his boys every day and doesn’t want Susan to ever leave.” “She should be in jail; she is exactly where she should be: in jail.” We’ll do anything to keep her there.
The Post reports that Smith has confirmed that she will be at the hearing. The South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services has already told the families of the victims about the meeting.