The horror that results when the surface of high morality is removed to expose the horrific particulars of a heinous crime can grip everyone. The Phillip Noyce-directed film “Above Suspicion” is based on the real-life experiences of Susan Smith. The story’s concept was a murder case that managed to surprise everyone while also leading to the conviction of the first FBI agent. In the film, a driven rookie agent assists an FBI field agent in the struggling Kentucky hamlet of Pikeville.
The 2021 crime thriller, starring Emilia Clarke, Jack Houston, Sophie Lowe, and Austin Herbert, provides a dramatised account of the crime that stunned many. In addition, Susan Smith’s real story is enough to make people ponder forgoing morality. Go no farther if you’re curious in the sad incidents that occurred between Susan Smith and Mark Putnam. Let’s investigate the situation further to learn more information!
How Did Susan Smith Die?
Susan Smith was the fifth of nine children and was born in the West Virginian community of Matewan in 1961. When Susan Smith was a young child, her parents moved to Freeburn, Kentucky, where she attended school through the seventh grade before quitting because of financial difficulties. Susan met Kenneth Smith in Pikeville, Kentucky, when she was 15 years old. The couple had two children, Brady and Miranda, after getting married in the late 1970s. The couple continued to live together and share a home with their kids despite getting divorced.
After Smith vanished on June 8, 1989, her sister filed a missing persons report. She assisted in the arrest of local robber Lockhart, but when the police questioned him, he gave no clear replies. Even her husband Kenneth Smith’s role in the incident was questioned by the police, but to no avail. Answers to the riddle didn’t emerge until Susan Smith’s nude dead body was found at a roadside ravine in Pikeville, Kentucky, a year later.
Who Killed Susan Smith?
Mark Putnam, a 1959 Connecticut native who had recently completed the FBI Academy, was posted to the sleepy Appalachian town of Pikeville, Kentucky, in 1987. Putnam had been sent to Pikeville to track down the thief who had taken $18,000 in cash from a nearby bank in Meta, Kentucky.
Carl Edward “Cat Eyes” Lockhart, a mutual acquaintance of Susan and Kenneth Smith, was the prime suspect in a significant case until newly assigned FBI agent Mark Putnam made Susan his handler and the investigation’s eyes and ears. Susan, who was 25 at the time and acting as an informant, conveyed the shotgun she’d seen with Lockhart that suggested there might be another major bank heist. Things quickly changed, though, as Susan Smith’s focus and devotion to her job began to take a different direction.
The events leading up to Susan’s death were also recounted by Joe Sharkey, a former New York Times writer, in his book “Beyond Suspicions,” which served as the basis for the film. According to the book, Susan Smith became smitten with Mark Putnam, a new FBI agent, and started contacting his home, where she would speak to his wife for hours. Their friendship quickly became more intense, and Mark and Susan allegedly had multiple sex acts.
Susan’s fascination with Mark became into a source of worry, from purchasing Putnam pricey presents to arranging distractions at his job. But, when Putnam transferred to Miami after being stationed there, their romance came to an end. Putnam learned about the pregnancy rumours Susan had been circulating when he returned to Pikeville to finish up another case. Then he drove Smith to Peter Creek Mountain. Putnam requested a paternity test after Smith claimed the infant was his, and he even made an adoption offer. Due to Susan’s ensuing intense wrath, the two got into a fight, during which Putnam choked Her to death.
Following the sad events, Mark Putnam had kept Susan’s body in the trunk of his car for a full day before discarding it the next evening in a gully by the side of the road. Fingers were pointed at Putnam when Susan’s sister Shelby Ward reported her missing, but it had little impact.
Mark Putnam didn’t actually perform his crimes until a year later. Prosecutor John Paul Runyon acknowledged his disbelief at Putnam’s shocking confession in an interview with the Associated Press. Putnam might have easily gotten out of prison because the prosecution lacked even the slightest bit of proof to support his charges. Nonetheless, Putnam was honest in his written testimony and revealed that Susan Smith threatened to hang him over the pregnancy and reveal their affair to their family, friends, and the FBI.
Mark Putnam was sentenced to 16 years in the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of Susan Smith on June 12, 1990. Putnam agreed to the plea deal, the case was settled before trial, and he only had a brief appearance in the Pike County Circuit Court. There is no proof, but many people think Susan Smith’s murder had additional causes.
These accusations stem from the fact that, despite Susan Smith being four months pregnant, the medical examiners who performed a postmortem on her body did not discover any signs of a pregnancy. In addition, some question Putnam’s motivations because he rented a private car rather than merely using the FBI vehicle and made suggestions regarding Putnam’s involvement in other matters. Nonetheless, these alleged accusations continue to be refuted.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Mark’s younger brother Tim Putnam acknowledged that his elder brother had been consumed with remorse, which was what drove him to come clean and confess to the police. The grieving family of Susan Daniels Smith, on the other hand, found different ways to cope. Smith left behind a son and a daughter who, despite the sudden occurrence that permanently ruined their lives, managed to move on. The conversation Kathy had with author Joe Sharkey provided the most trustworthy details concerning what happened inside the Putnam family.
Many people continue to wonder about the unspoken holes in the story, though, and they make wild guesses about what occurred between the two at the time. Putnam’s wife, Kathy Putnam, relocated to Minnesota to be closer to him after he received a prison sentence at the age of 30. Sadly, she passed away eight years later from severe alcoholism-related organ failure. Mark Putnam, on the other hand, was the first FBI agent to be found guilty of murder.
After Smith vanished on June 8, 1989, her sister filed a missing persons report. She assisted in the arrest of local robber Lockhart, but when the police questioned him, he gave no clear replies. Even her husband Kenneth Smith’s role in the incident was questioned by the police, but to no avail. Answers to the riddle didn’t emerge until Susan Smith’s nude dead body was found at a roadside ravine in Pikeville, Kentucky, a year later.
Following the sad events, Mark Putnam had kept Susan’s body in the trunk of his car for a full day before discarding it the next evening in a gully by the side of the road. Fingers were pointed at Putnam when Susan’s sister Shelby Ward reported her missing, but it had little impact.