Twenty-five years ago, Smith, who looked like she could have been a soccer mom, committed a crime that shocked the nation.
After a woman convicted of murdering her two young children in the early 90s went to prison for her crimes, a guard began a love affair with the killer behind bars, he is telling Inside Edition, describing her today as “a very pretty girl, even in prison.”
In 1994, Susan Smith told a tale of being carjacked by a black man who took off with her two young sons in the back seat. She pleaded for the safe return of her boys, 14-month-old Alexander and 3-year-old Michael.
But little by little, the then-23-year-old’s story fell apart, until the bombshell announcement that she had been arrested and charged with two counts of murder in her kids' deaths.
Alfred Rowe was a guard at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood, South Carolina, when he met Smith. He told Inside Edition that she had enough charm even in her situation to attract him to her.
He said their relationship started after she was “approaching me at about three o'clock one morning, telling me she thought I was the nicest officer there and that she was lonely. And things just escalated.”
Twenty five years ago, Smith, who looked like she could have been a soccer mom, shocked the nation with her crime. It was revealed that she had actually let her car roll down a boat ramp into a South Carolina lake with her two boys strapped into kiddie seats in back. The reason, according to authorities, was that she was secretly having an affair with a man who didn't want children.
Smith's transformation from sympathetic mom to accused child killer stunned America, and she was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison.
Her name faded from the headlines until the early 2000s, when Rowe and another guard were fired for having inappropriate relationships with Smith.
Rowe said he only had one sexual encounter with Smith, but the relationship led him to losing his job and pension. He said she played him like a fiddle.
Smith is eligible for parole in five years, and when asked if she should be let out, Rowe said, “no."
“I don't think the time she's served has been enough punishment for what she's done," he said.
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