An interview of child-murdered Smith could offer insights into her motivations.
We can understand Gov.-elect Nikki Haley's reluctance to provide Susan Smith with a public platform of any kind. But giving Oprah Winfrey a chance to pry into Smith's psyche could be enlightening.
Smith, as many South Carolinians vividly remember, was convicted in 1995 of murdering her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex. The children disappeared on Oct. 25, 1994, in Union.
Smith, who is white, first told police that she had been carjacked by a black man who kidnapped the boys. That sparked a statewide manhunt.
But, after lying to the nation for nine days, she admitted to killing her sons by rolling her car into a lake while the children were strapped inside.
Winfrey has stated that she has tried to land an interview with Smith for years. In the April edition of The Oprah Magazine, she said that she is motivated to talk to Smith "because she changed the way we look at parents in this country."
"When somebody comes forward and says, 'My child is missing,' we now suspect the parents first. She changed the paradigm," Winfrey said.
Hoping to interview Smith during her final season, Winfrey recently appealed directly to Haley to allow Smith to talk. But Haley refused, saying she would adhere to the state Department of Corrections' longstanding policy of barring inmates from giving interviews.
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