Susan Smith: Child Murderer or Victim?

David

Barbara, David's mother (AP)

David Smith was born on July 27, 1970, the second of three children born to Barbara and Charles David Smith. Charles Smith was also called David and was a Navy veteran who had served two tours of duty in Vietnam. Barbara Smith was a devout Jehovah's Witness who sheltered David from many outside influences during his childhood. When David was two years old, the Smith family moved from Royal Oak, Michigan to Putnam, five miles northwest of Union. David's father worked in a clothing store in downtown Union and later as manager of Wal-Mart. While David was growing up, his mother had two part-time jobs: she worked in a lawyer's office and in a dialysis clinic. David's mother also attended college part-time and studied to be a nurse. David had an older stepbrother, Billy, from his mother's first marriage, an older brother, Danny and a younger sister, Becky.

David's parents' marriage was troubled. Over the years of their marriage, David's father grew to dislike his wife and her devotion to her religion. As David grew older, he found the strict religious practices of his mother's religion and its insistence on isolation from the larger community distasteful. In David's long time girlfriend Christy Jennings' opinion, David's childhood was difficult and deprived. David followed his father's example and rejected the Jehovah's Witnesses. This caused friction within the Smith household and when David was seventeen, he distanced himself further from his mother and moved out of his parents' home and into his great-grandmother, Forest "Moner" Malone's home next door. David's older brother Danny was also living at their great-grandmother's house.

At the age of sixteen, David began working after school at Winn-Dixie. David was an average student, but he had a very strong work ethic and was a pleasant and personable young man.

David Smith's 1988
high school yearbook
photo

During the summer of 1990, David and Susan began to date, although at the time, David was engaged to Christy Jennings. David viewed his relationship with Susan as casual and not serious. In January 1991, after dating for about a year, Susan found out she was pregnant. David told Christy about Susan and Christy broke off her relationship with David immediately.

David and Susan decided to get married because they were both against Susan having an abortion. Although marriage represented safety and stability to Susan, it also meant that she would have to give up her plans to attend college. Susan desired to go to college, but she really had no idea what college she wanted to attend or what she wanted to study.

In their own ways, Susan and David were emotionally needy people who found comfort and in the beginning of their relationship, similarities with each other. David and Susan seemed to fulfill what the other needed emotionally, however their relationship was filled with many stresses and strains. Susan and David's backgrounds were completely different and this also caused friction between them. David was raised in the country and Susan was raised in the city. In Union, the city kids like Susan looked down on the country kids like David.

Susan's mother and stepfather were not pleased by the news of Susan's pregnancy and marriage. Susan's mother was disappointed that David did not have a college education and was not from the same economic background as Susan.

On March 4, 1991, David's older brother, Danny who was twenty-two, died of complications from Crohn's disease, a painful inflammation of the intestinal tract. During the winter of 1991, Danny had undergone surgery at the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. After the surgery, Danny developed a bacterial infection and, in his already weakened condition, quickly deteriorated and died. Eleven days later on March 15, 1991, Susan and David wed at the United Methodist Church in Bogansville. Susan was nineteen and two months' pregnant. David was twenty. Even though David's family was dealing with the death of Danny, Susan's mother, Linda, insisted that the wedding go forward as scheduled. Linda was concerned that Susan's pregnancy would begin to show before the wedding could take place.

David had worked steadily over several years renovating a small house located on the same property as his great grandmother's house. Before Susan and David were married, David had shown Susan the house and told her of his plans for living in the house after they were married. In David's eyes, Susan had agreed with him that they would live in the house after they were married, but those plans changed when Bev and Linda saw the house. Susan lost interest in living in the house after her parents' visit. To David, the simple country home was comfortable and ideal for his and Susan's needs. To Susan, it was a "tin-roofed country shack." Susan probably dreamed of moving into a new home that was bigger and grander than the home she had been raised in. Susan and David compromised, and Susan moved in with David at Moner's house.

In May 1991, three months after Susan and David's wedding, David's father attempted to commit suicide. Susan found him at his home on the floor. David's father had taken an overdose of pills. From the strain of Danny's death and David's father's attempted suicide, David's parent's marriage fell apart. David's mother, Barbara, moved to Garden City, South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach. David's father continued to live in Putnam. After his suicide attempt, David's father was hospitalized and treated for depression. During his hospitalization, David's father met Sue, the woman who would become his second wife.