UNION, S.C. (11/4/94) -- Nine days after a Union woman said she stood in the middle of a dark highway and watched a man drive away with her screaming children, Susan V. Smith confessed to killing them.

Sources say that police have questioned a man said to be Smith's boyfriend who is wealthy and didn't want the children.

Investigators declined to comment on a motive after the arrest Thursday.

Smith, 23, of 407 Toney Road, was arrested by sheriff's deputies late Thursday afternoon. She is being held at the York County Detention Center and is scheduled to be arraigned in court at 11 a.m. today in Union.

York jail Lt. Ted Melton said Smith would be watched closely for her own safety.

"We will have to isolate her," Melton said. "Because of all the stress in this case, she might be suicidal or something."

Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Tommy Pope said a mental evaluation for Smith is a possibility.

State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Hugh Munn said Thursday no further arrests are expected in the murders of the two Smith children.

Munn said Smith told investigators early in the afternoon the car could be found in John D. Long Lake, 7 miles northeast of Union.

Union County Sheriff Howard Wells said Smith's burgundy Mazda Protege was found submerged just off a boat ramp. Two small bodies were found in the back seat of the car. Munn said investigators believe those to be the bodies of Michael Smith, 3, and his 14-month-old brother, Alexander Smith.

Autopsies will be performed this morning to make a positive identification.

"I'm not going to say I was surprised or shocked," Wells said. "We knew from the very start what the possible scenario would be."

Investigators had searched John D. Long Lake several times, but did not find the car.

"This could easily happen when the lake is muddy," Munn said. "It's a big lake, and it was not easy to pinpoint."

Munn said divers from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources found the car about sundown. He said divers used lights to determine it was the missing car and that two bodies were in the back seat.

Smith was detained about 2 p.m. Thursday and divers found the car several hours later, Munn said.

On Thursday evening about 6 p.m. Wells and SLED Chief Robert Stewart flew by helicopter to the home of Smith's parents, Bev and Linda Russell, in the Mount Vernon Estates section of Union. Wells and Stewart told the Russells their daughter was being charged with the murders of their grandchildren.

Less than an hour later, Wells announced the arrest to a throng of reporters and townspeople, who had heard word of a major development.

"Susan Smith has been arrested and charged with two counts of murder in connection with her children Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months," Wells said.

A large gasp rose from the crowd.

Although authorities declined to say what they believe the motive is, CNN reported Thursday night that police have a letter from Smith's boyfriend saying he did not want a ready-made family. The boyfriend was described by sources as a wealthy man and is not Mitch Sinclair, who had been identified earlier as a friend of Smith's.

"I can't believe she killed her children," said Annette Phillips of Union. "That woman hurt a lot of people."

The children's grandmother, Barbara Benson of Garden City, said her son, David, was shattered by the news.

"No, he's not OK," Ms. Benson said of her son's condition. "He's locked in a room and he won't even talk to his father."

"Nobody knows why. I mean nobody knows the motive, I guess."

Munn said officials began to doubt a carjacking had taken place early in the investigation because of inconsistencies in Smith's statements.

"After a time when the vehicle was not spotted, it did not meet the classic definition of a carjacking," Munn said.

Smith told Union County deputies a black man jumped into her car near Monarch Mill about 9:15 p.m. on Oct. 25. She said the man forced her to drive at gunpoint along Highway 49, made her get out of the car near John D. Long Lake and then drove away with her two children still in the car.

Smith knocked on the door of a house near the lake entrance about 10 p.m. and said her children had been taken. She told the occupants of the house her children had been kidnapped.

A massive search to locate the boys was launched by Union County sheriff's officers, the FBI and SLED agents. The story attracted the major news media fromacross the country.

"I think the press attention to this case was very beneficial," Wells said. "The national attention, the intense pressure, the scrutiny by the media probably had a great deal to do with this case being broken."

During the nine-day search Smith and her husband, David, made several tearful and impassioned pleas on national television for the safe return of their children.

While Mrs. Smith was being held, family spokeswoman Margaret Gregory was answering reporters' questions at the Russell home.

She said that Mrs. Smith was hurt that people thought she would harm her children but that she understood why the focus had shifted to her.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and The Adam Walsh Foundation expanded the search for the missing boys nationwide. Thousands of tipspoured in from all over the country.

Rumors that a major announcement would be made at a 5:30 p.m. news conference spread quickly throughout Union County on Thursday afternoon. A crowd of several hundred people gathered outside the courthouse to hear Wells read the brief statement saying Mrs. Smith was charged with the murders of her children.

When the news conference ended, police had to block Main Street because of the milling crowd.

Staff Writer Shelly Haskins contributed to this report.

A copy of Susan Smith's handwritten confession.

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