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Killer mom Susan Smith’s romances show ‘humans are disposable’ to murderer hoping for parole: expert
Susan Smith is approaching her first shot at parole this fall, 30 years after she drowned her two young sons, but reports of her romances from behind bars show she still sees humans as “disposable,” one expert said.
Smith, now 51, is scheduled for her first parole hearing on Nov. 4, three decades to the date after she confessed to drowning her 3-year-old, Michael Daniel, and 14-month-old, Alexander Tyler, in a South Carolina lake.
Prosecutors had said Smith was driven to kill her boys a week after her ex-boyfriend and prospective affair partner, Tom Findlay, penned a letter about her sons being an obstacle.
“Susan, I could really fall for you. 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,” he wrote, according to Deseret News.
MURDEROUS MOM SUSAN SMITH TOLD SUITOR IN JAILHOUSE CALL SHE IS ‘READY TO GO’ AHEAD OF PAROLE HEARING: REPORT
Susan Smith, 51, is serving time in a South Carolina prison for the murder of her two young sons. (South Carolina Dept. of Corrections)
Licensed clinical and police psychologist Dr. Katherine Kuhlman told Fox News Digital that Smith’s behavior is symptomatic of Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD), which she said was likely a contributing factor in Smith’s 1994 crime and is showcased to this day by her litany of romantic correspondences.
DPD is characterized by a “need for others to be responsible for the most important aspects of their life,” according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. People with DPD have “difficulty disagreeing with others because they fear the loss of support or approval.”
Over the past three years, Smith has courted nearly a dozen suitors over monitored jailhouse messages and telephone calls, according to the New York Post. Many of them have offered her financial security should she be released from prison, and conversations with many have taken breathy, sensual turns, the newspaper reported.
Most recently, one of those men told the outlet that he first fell in love with the inmate, then felt “duped.”
SUSAN SMITH, NEARING PAROLE AFTER MURDERS OF YOUNG SONS, SAYS SHE’D BE ‘GOOD STEPMOM’: REPORT
Michael Daniel Smith, 3, and his 14-month-old brother, Alexander Tyler Smith, are shown in a family photo. Their mother, Susan Smith, was convicted in their deaths.
“She always wanted something from me,” the South Carolina man, who corresponded with Smith for 18 months before cutting ties with her, told the Post.
“We’re not men to her; we’re marks,” he said. “She’s always figuring out what she can get.”
“To her, it looks like humans are disposable,” Kuhlman said. “Her kids are disposable, relationships are disposable. Once they no longer serve her, she’s done…the question is whether she’s intentionally manipulative or if it’s a product of this disorder she’s suffering.”
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Toys are pictured at a small memorial beside the spot where Michael and Alexander Smith were drowned in 1994. (Photo by William F. Campbell/Getty Images)
Kuhlman told Fox News Digital that there is “not a lot of treatment” available for personality disorders – especially not while incarcerated.
“There’s no medication that can treat it,” she said. “It’s a mindset that becomes ingrained in somebody typically starting in their younger childhood years. They can learn to try to manage it…but treatment of personality disorders is pretty intensive.”
“Prisoners are not operating at that intensive level of treatment,” Kuhlman continued. “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,” Kuhlman said.
SUSAN SMITH, MOM WHO KILLED TWO SONS IN 1994, SENDS ROMANTIC LETTERS TO BOYFRIEND FROM PRISON: REPORT
Legal identity photograph of Susan Smith. She was convicted on July 22, 1995 of murdering her two sons, 3-year-old Michael Daniel Smith, and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith. (Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images)
With a parole hearing slated for Nov. 4, Smith seemed hopeful in one recorded phone call.
“It’s time for me to get out,” Smith reportedly told one suitor over the phone earlier this year. “I’ve done my time. I’m ready to go.”
But criminal defense attorney Philip Holloway told Fox News Digital that her chances of an early release are “unlikely.”
“I expect that she would be denied parole – the facts of this case are horrific,” Holloway said. “I see it’s unlikely that she would be released into society.”
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Holloway mentioned Smith’s lengthy record of prison misconduct. According to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Smith lost canteen, visitation and telephone privileges for drug use twice in 2010 and again in 2012. Also in 2010, Smith lost privileges for self harm.
“[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,” Holloway 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.”
David Smith holds up a picture of his murdered sons Michael and Alex and smiles after his ex-wife, Susan Smith, was sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts of murder in Union, South Carolina. (Reuters)
Smith’s jail time romances shouldn’t play a role in the parole board’s decision, Holloway said – instead, surviving relatives of her slain children could impact the board’s decision with statements opposing her parole.
David Smith, the father of the two murdered children, has since remarried and fathered two additional children. He and his family reportedly intend to oppose Smith’s release.
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“David still thinks of his boys every day, and doesn’t ever want Susan to get out,” one of the man’s relatives told The Messenger. “She belongs in jail… she is exactly where she needs to be – in prison. And we will do what it takes to keep her there.”
Smith has confirmed her intention to show up at the hearing, the Post reported. Meanwhile, the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services has notified victims’ families about the upcoming hearing.
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The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.
The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”
Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.
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Stacey Abrams, seen here at Georgia State University on Nov. 7, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, will not run for governor in 2026. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last spring that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.
Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor. Her refusal to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.
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She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.
Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated by the Republican incumbent.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, seen speaking with Fox News Digital during his 2022 re-election campaign, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
In recent years, the political machine Abrams built has faded. The Abrams-founded New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.
And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other Democratic candidates jumped into the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
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Also running for the Democratic nomination is former Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was elected in 2018 but declined to seek re-election in 2022. The former Republican is now a moderate Democrat. Former state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also in the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia. (Getty Images)
In the race for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has the backing of President Donald Trump.
The field also includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper, rates the race a toss-up, while Inside Elections rates it as tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as lean Republican.
Abrams, in her statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she’ll keep her focus on the fight to protect democracy.
“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she wrote.”But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”
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A Florida man is behind bars after allegedly killing a woman and leaving her body on a popular beach the day after Christmas.
Brandon Ward McCray, 28, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals and Hollywood Police Department on Dec. 30, 2025 and charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital.
Authorities responded to a call regarding a body on the sand of Hollywood Beach – located approximately 15 miles from Fort Lauderdale Beach – at around 7 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 26, 2025, according to WPLG. The victim, later identified as 56-year-old Heather Asendorf, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Brandon Ward McCray is charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation in Broward County, Florida, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
Witnesses later told NBC Miami the body was wrapped in a white blanket and had blood trailing from the remains.
Officials did not release details regarding Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected.
Additionally, detectives believe McCray and Asendorf knew each other prior to the alleged murder, according to WSVN.
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Authorities reportedly allege Brandon Ward McCray murdered 56-year-old Heather Asendorf after her body was found on Hollywood Beach in Hollywood, Florida on Dec. 26, 2025. (iStock)
“This case remains an active criminal investigation,” Hollywood police said in a news release. “There is no indication of a broader threat to the community.”
McCray was previously charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2023 after allegedly brandishing a gun at a tow truck driver as his vehicle was being repossessed, according to NBC Miami.
MAN WITH VIOLENT CRIMINAL HISTORY ON PAROLE ALLEGEDLY STABS TEEN TO DEATH: OFFICIALS
Officials reportedly did not release details regarding Heather Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected. (iStock)
He was taken into custody at his nearby home and booked into the Broward County Main Jail on $770,000 bond, WPLG reported.
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The Hollywood Police Department and McCray’s attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southeast
Experts warn of biggest ‘scandal in litigation system’ if SCOTUS doesn’t nix landmark energy pollution case
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FIRST ON FOX: A landmark Supreme Court case set to decide whether Big Oil entities can move coastal erosion suits out of local and state courts and cement them in federal courts, as localities continue to seek billions from domestic oil companies, will have far-reaching repercussions, experts said.
Last year, a jury in coastal Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, ordered Chevron to pay more than $740 million for wetlands damage linked to operations by its former subsidiary Texaco in the mid-20th century.
While the Supreme Court case does not seek to overturn the fine and was filed before the Louisiana ruling, a decision by the high court could carry multibillion-dollar implications, several legal experts said.
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A Chevron Corp. flag flies on the drilling floor of a Nabors Industries Ltd. drill rig in the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas, U.S., on Thursday, March 1, 2018. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
As Chevron argues the suits it is facing in certain Gulf Coast communities — where critics claim some local and state officials are in cahoots against them and aligned with friendly attorneys for the municipalities — many damage claims stem from World War II-era fuel production carried out under federal contract. The companies say that the link to the federal government, along with alleged local bias, means future cases must be heard at the federal level.
Plaquemines Parish argued the claims involve environmental harm that is beyond the control of Washington — meaning that the high court’s decision could reshape where massive suits against Big Oil can be heard; as many companies also seek to ramp up production in line with President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance agenda.”
“There is thus no denying that these petitioners are being sued in state court for production activities undertaken to fulfill their federal refining contracts,” a brief filed by Chevron and ExxonMobil said, in part.
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Prominent NYU law professor Richard Epstein said Wednesday that Plaquemines Parish has pointed to massive erosion dating back to the 1920s amid increased wartime operations, while also citing hurricanes’ devastating impact on the bayou’s already fragile landscape.
Companies used the area to produce “AvGas” for wartime aircraft, and that Louisiana officials calculated the erosion in the billions of gallons, but added that comparisons made to the BP Oil Spill were different because “pollution is very different than erosion.”
“Nobody wishes to deny it, but it had nothing to do with it. So what you do is you have the Supreme Court dealing with a very technical question,” he said.
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“Local bias issue is extremely powerful, which is why you have that statute. It’s the same reason why we have diversity jurisdiction; the home court advantage is really huge and there’s no place where it’s worse than in Louisiana — so you get the bias, you get these jury verdicts, which are completely wacko as far as I can tell,” he said.
He faulted Louisiana officials for siding with plaintiff’s lawyers in the fine-related case to oppose “anything that they bring into court” on such matters, calling it an “outright mischarge of duty” that requires high court intervention.
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Epstein said he is “reasonably confident” that the court will reverse a lower court’s ruling that the parish is the proper legal jurisdiction, warning that if not “it’s a bigger scandal than I think we’ve ever seen in terms of the litigation system.”
Mike Fragoso, an attorney at former Attorney General Bill Barr’s firm Torridon Law, said that there are more than 40 cases filed that allege oil and gas companies have caused erosion through exploration activities in the Gulf; totaling billions of dollars in claims.
Those hefty figures should be a warning against so-called “hometowning” — or the dynamic in which local juries tend to side with their neighbor plaintiffs and against “outsider” companies, Fragoso said.
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“The idea is to prevent local judges and juries from hometowning federal officials as they’re doing the work of the federal government,” he said.
“And Chevron’s view is that because they were in the AvGas business, at the direction of the federal government in World War II, they belong in federal court. The state of Louisiana and the plaintiffs disagree.”
While a supporter of U.S. energy development, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry sided with Plaquemines as attorney general when the saga began.
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Current AG Liz Murrill said in a statement that “virtually every federal court has rejected Chevron’s attempt to avoid liability for knowingly and intentionally violating state law.”
“I’ll fight Chevron in state or federal court — either way, they will not win,” she added.
John Carmouche, an attorney behind the Chevron case and other pending suits, said the appeal to the high bench doesn’t focus on the merits of the dispute itself.
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“It’s more delay, they’re going to fight till the end, and we’re going to continue to fight as well,” he told The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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