UNION, S.C., Nov. 6 -- Two young boys, the subjects of a massive, nationwide search until their mother reportedly admitted she drowned them nearly two weeks ago, were buried Sunday in Union, S.C. More than a thousand well-wishers turned out for the service at the Buffalo United Methodist Church near Union, a short distance from the lake where 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander Smith were sent to their deaths, still strapped into their child seats inside the family car. Authorities said their mother, Susan Smith, 23, admitted Thursday she had drowned her sons and then claimed they had been abducted by a carjacker along a deserted road Oct. 25. Smith's assertion and her tearful public appeals for her sons' safety had sparked a nine day nationwide hunt for the boys and the missing car. The brothers, who died side by side in the car's back seat, were buried together in a single white coffin. Area florists reported they had so many requests for bouquets to be sent to the funeral home and to the lake where the boys died that they ran out of flowers. Union residents who had put up yellow ribbons to show support during the search for the missing boys replaced the ribons with light blue and white ones in their memory. Many expressed bitterness and anger over Susan Smith's story that her children had been kidnapped by a black man. Rev. Mark Long, who conducted the funeral service, said he could offer very little in the way of solace to the community.
'They have to look beyond their own anger,' Long said. 'It has to be dealt with in a positive way, knowing that it's alright to vent that kind of anger, but then it must be left in the hands of God.' At a Sunday morning church service, Long said Mrs. Smith remained a child of God, despite her apparent actions, and that God still loved her. He asked community members 'to reach out to someone who has done a heinous crime and say 'God forgives you, and we forgive you.'' Susan Smith remained jailed in an isolation cell at the South Carolina Women's Correctional Institution in Coumbia, southeast of Union, charged with two counts of first-degree murder and unable to attend her sons' funeral. She was allowed only a blanket and a Bible in her cell and was constantly monitored because of the threat of suicide. Authorities said Smith had indicated she thought about taking her own life because of money problems and a failed marriage before she killed her children instead. Family members said the boys' father, David Smith, was 'devastated' by their deaths. He reportedly spent the morning by the casket before going home to change for the funeral service. Police have said he was not involved in the deaths. (Written by Jeff Bray in Miami)
