‘Monsters Are to be Kept In Cages’: Susan Smith Denied Parole 30 Years Since She Drowned Her Sons and Falsely Blamed Black Man for Their Disappearance. Emotional Hearing Riles Up Social Media

Notorious South Carolina mother Susan Smith, who drowned her two young children after initially claiming a Black man had kidnapped them, was denied parole Wednesday. “I wish I could take that back, I really do,” said Smith, now 53. “I didn’t lie to get away with it. … I was just scared. I didn’t know how to tell the people that love them that they’d never see them again.” Smith said she is at some peace because of her Christian faith. God is a big part of her life, she testified Wednesday, “and I know he has forgiven me.” Susan Smith openly weeps during emotional parole hearing. (Credit: ABC News Live Video Screengrab) It was her first appearance before the state’s parole board, which unanimously voted to keep her in prison for the rest of her life. Smith can apply for parole every two years now that she’s served 30 years in prison. “I know that what I did was horrible,” she said in her testimony, delivered via Zoom. “And I would give anything if I could go back and change it.” “I love Michael and Alex with all my heart,” she said openly weeping and wiping away tears. The...