DENVER (Court TV) — Thirty years after Susan Smith shocked America by drowning her two young sons in a South Carolina lake, the prosecutor who tried her case revealed never-before-heard details at CrimeCon 2025.
Tommy Pope kicked off his talk with a Rush song, a PowerPoint full of ’90s clip art, family photos, and Andy Griffith references — joking that his accent made him sound more like a weatherman warning of a tornado than a prosecutor. The lighthearted opening gave way to a sobering journey through the Smith case, the investigation and the haunting images that have stayed with him decades later.
A Mother’s Betrayal
Former prosecutor Tommy Pope shared how the unprecedented coverage shaped the case during his presentation at CrimeCon 2025 in Denver, Colorado. (Court TV)
In October 1994, Smith told police her sons, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, had been kidnapped in a carjacking. For nine days, the country searched. But Pope said investigators quickly suspected her story didn’t add up — carjackers don’t take children…