The saddest place in the little mill town of Union has a fresher horror now.
Seven people, including four children, died in John D. Long Lake on Saturday night when they came to see the spot where Susan Smith drowned her two young sons in the fall of 1994, in a murder that drew worldwide attention.
The seven victims, including a family of five from nearby Buffalo, S.C., were looking at two memorials for the two boys, who died after Smith let her car roll down a boat ramp into the water. She then misled police for nine days by tearfully begging a fictional carjacker to bring home Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months. In July 1995, she was sentenced to life in prison.
Visitors often come to the lake to place flowers, say prayers or pose for pictures. A group of 10 people had driven out to the lake late Saturday night in a Chevrolet Suburban and parked next to the ramp, shining the headlights on granite memorials to the two Smith boys.
Five of the people had gotten out of the car when it started to roll down the embankment, with four children and one adult still inside, said Howard Wells, the Union County Sheriff. The truck plunged into 15 feet of water, drowning all those inside.
Two people outside the truck, including the wife and mother of four of the victims, went into the water to try to save them, and also drowned.
Why no one was able to stop the truck is still a mystery. “No skid marks, no sign they tried to stop,” the sheriff said.
The accident claimed an entire family from Buffalo, a rural community near Union. Killed were Tim Phillips, 26; his wife, Angie, 22, and their three children, Courtney, 4; Melena, 23 months, and Kinsleigh, 4 months. Wells said Tim Phillips was behind the wheel.
It also drowned another child, Austin (Cody) Roodvoets, 3, of Inman, and Carl Sydney White, 29, of Campobello. Both towns are about 30 miles northwest of Union. White, along with Angie Phillips, had tried to rescue the others.
