Director Phillip Noyce’s crime drama “Above Suspicion” vividly depicts the illicit relationships that caused Mark Putnam to murder Susan Smith. The film, starring Emilia Clarke, Jack Houston, Sophie Lowe, and Austin Helbert, centres on a driven new agent who works to support an FBI field agent in the sleepy Kentucky hamlet of Pikeville. Yet due to a series of circumstances, Mark Putnam ends up killing her.
The case of Susan Smith still horrifies many, despite the fact that the filmmakers of the 2021 film took liberties to enhance the plot. Mark Putnam became the first FBI agent to be accused of murder as a result of the incident. Do not continue reading if you are also interested in learning more about Mark Putnam. So let’s learn more about him now, shall we?
Who is Mark Putnam?
Mark Steven Putnam, who was born on July 4, 1959, in Coventry, Connecticut, had always been a fiercely competitive kid in both athletics and school. Putnam was always drawn to athletics, and even when majoring in criminology at the University of Tampa, he continued to devote himself to these activities as a method to express his aggression. Although he was quite active in extracurricular activities, his ultimate goal had always been to work for the FBI. He married Kathy, the daughter of a successful real estate developer, before relocating to Kentucky.
Putnam was able to become a member of the FBI in August 1986 and was thereafter assigned to Pikeville, Kentucky. Putnam got to know Susan and Kenneth Smith, a husband and wife who, in spite of their separation, still lived together in a residence, and used their information to track down the burglar who had stolen $18,000 in cash from a bank in Kentucky. Carl Edwards “Cat Eyes” Lockhart, Putnam’s suspect, was renting a room from the Smiths, so Putnam’s plan appeared to be successful.
But before long, his relationship with Susan as a handler evolved into something else. According to rumours, Susan Smith would frequently hang around outside the courthouse to meet Mark, talk on the phone for hours with Mark’s wife Kathy Putnam, and even cropped her hair to resemble Kathy. Mark and Susan quickly started having extramarital encounters. Despite nevertheless, Mark’s wife Kathy was kept in the dark about their rendezvous and sexual activity.
After Putnam was relocated to Miami, Susan quickly fell pregnant. According to accounts, Susan assured him repeatedly that she would inform the FBI and the media as well as everyone else about the pregnancy. In order to work on another case, Mark went back to Pikeville while she was four months pregnant. He took Smith to Peter Creek Mountain during this visit. Mark indicated he would adopt the child Susan gave birth to and requested a paternity test from Susan. However, their discussion quickly turned into a major altercation, and on June 8, 1989, Putnam killed her by strangling her.
Where is Mark Putnam Now?
After murdering Susan Smith, Mark Putnam kept her body in the trunk of his car for a whole day before discarding her there the next evening. Shortly after Susan’s sister Shelby Ward reported her missing, Putnam came to the public’s attention. But no evidence existed, thus Mark could not be charged. However, a year later Putnam himself committed his crimes. Putnam admitted to killing Susan Smith on June 12, 1990, and was sentenced to one year in prison.
Putnam acknowledged in a signed confession that he had choked Susan Smith out of intense wrath. At the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, he received a sentence of 16 years in jail. Putnam’s wife stayed committed to him throughout, even moving to Minnesota to be nearer to him, despite his crime of passion. Sadly, Kathy Putnam passed away from organ failure in 1998 at their Manchester home, partially as a result of severe alcoholism, illustrating the terrible consequences of the farce. Putnam, however, was transferred to several federal organisations.
Although Mark Putnam received a 16-year prison term, he was shortly released. Mark Putnam was released from prison after ten years for acting as a “model prisoner” in various prisons. Mark Putnam, who was 41 years old when he was released from a Massachusetts jail in 2000, started again in Georgia. Following Mark’s incarceration, the family made the decision to keep quiet about his children, who had witnessed the traumatic circumstances of their father being imprisoned and their mother’s passing.
Mark Putnam, who is now in his 60s, has remarried, lives in Georgia, and works as a personal trainer. Despite Putnam’s continued secrecy regarding his personal and professional life, many people still want to learn the full story of what happened between them to motivate Mark Putnam to do such a crime.
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