Drowning of Two Boys by Mother in South Carolina Is Re-Enacted

Investigators rolled Susan Smith’s car into a murky lake and let it sink with a waterproof video camera in the back seat Wednesday to show what her two little boys may have seen in their final moments.

It took about six minutes for the 1990 Mazda Protege to go under.

The car floated for some distance, its trunk lifting high into the air before it slid beneath the surface with a rush of bubbles. It came to rest upside down, with its newly replaced windshield cracked, much as divers had found the car on Nov. 3 after Smith confessed, State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Hugh Munn said. Munn would not say how deep the water was where the car sank.

Divers took photographs and investigators took videotapes from several angles on shore.

Sheriff Howard Wells, who got Smith to confess that she drowned her sons, stood grim-faced on the bank.

“We found that there were several questions during this investigation that needed to be answered before the trial, and a re-enactment was the only way we could do it,” Wells said. He would not elaborate.

Smith’s murder trial begins July 10. She could get the death penalty.

In her confession, Smith said she was suicidal the night of Oct. 25. But she got out of the car and let it roll into John D. Long Lake with 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex strapped into their car seats in the back.

Originally, she had told investigators that a carjacker had taken the boys.

Defense attorney David Bruck said he will probably pursue a defense that hinges on her mental state at the time. Smith, 23, has been examined by state doctors to determine if she was sane, but the judge has sealed the report.