Why?, She said she did not think Putnam wanted to kill Smith, but rather that he was pushed to it. This story has been shared 142,081 times. And according to "Above Suspicion," there was a lot of money to be given out to informants. You know, how many FBI killers do we know? asked Riverfill 10 Manager Cathy Harris. Susan began calling Putnams home constantly, and his wife Kathy would pick up the phone and play the role of therapist for hours on end. She said she would tell the FBI, my family and the newspapers, Putnams statement said. It doesnt matter if youre an upstanding citizen. . In October 1986, Putnam graduated from the FBI Academy and shortly thereafter, married Kathy Putnam, the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer. But poor white men are treated no better! Initially, Mark Putnam was assigned to the Louisville office in Kentucky, and Kathy Putnam had already started looking for houses in the area. The story of slain FBI informant Susan Smith of Pikeville will be featured on an episode of the new series The Perfect Suspect, which airs at 9 p.m. Thursday on Investigation Discovery. Putnam appeared tense during his 20-minute appearance in Pike County Circuit Court. Good read, Irving! It will forever be a win in my book. Is 'Above Suspicion' (2019) Movie Based On A True Story? Smith also built up a relationship with Kathy Putnam, and the two of them often spoke on the phone for hours on end. . In other words. What a great (in)justice system we have. [3] His aim was to arrest a famous 32-year-old ex-convict and bank robber, Carl Edward "Cat Eyes" Lockhart. I feel like Kathy and Susan were both victimized by Putnam, I saw an interview of him at the end of the movie and found it unsettling and down right creepy how he smiled when talking about Susan. If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. 1994 . Susan Daniels Smith, 28, dropped out of sight last June after threatening to expose the two-year affair and her pregnancy to the agent's wife, said sister Shelby Ward. Mark Steven Putnam pled guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter (Susans autopsy determined she had not been pregnant). Susans collaboration with Putnam was successful. The new episode of "The Perfect Suspect," which airs at 9 p.m. Thursday on Investigation Discovery, focuses on the 1989 death of FBI informant Susan Daniels Smith in Pike County. The Old Crime is New Again newsletter is a monthly email covering a topic that has not appeared in the blog. #Betrayed Series Premiere: Mom Becomes FBI Informant To Protect Kids From Abusive Partner https://t.co/zaH1JTj8h1 pic.twitter.com/3DITRy835G, Investigation Discovery (@DiscoveryID) August 24, 2016, FBI Agents Sex Affair With Informant: He Made Her Fall In Love, Then Dumped Her Literally. I felt sorry everyones children. He murdered a woman in cold blood with his bare hands and he only had to serve 10 years. The partners approached Lockharts best friend, Kenneth Smith, and his 25-year-old ex-wife Susan Smith. The icing on the cake was when president Obama declared Treyvon Martin was the son he never had. The reason George Z. was found innocent by a racially diverse jury was because he was simply protecting his life from having his head bashed into the concrete sidewalk. Isnt the fact that he was an FBI agent who had an affair with his informant and then killed her more pertinent to the story and any judgments about his conviction and sentence than his race? Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty To Slaying Kentucky Woman She was the fifth of nine children (including her sister Shelby Ward). This raises the question of whether or not Smith was ever pregnant, or if there would be any reason for others to try to disprove her pregnancy. Susan dropped out of school in seventh grade due to her family's financial difficulties. . Stop with trying to appear like youre helping a race or ANY underprivileged community and actually DO Something about it! Susan Daniels was born in Matewan, West Virginia in 1961. The OJ case seems to always get under some folks skin. In the initial investigation of Susan Smith's disappearance, police focused on Kenneth Smith and his acquaintances. [2], Putnam was released from prison in 2000, at age 41. All Rights Reserved. The old feud was part of Susan, as she was a descendant of both clans. Yes, that is interesting. In 1990, the investigation into Smith's death became an FBI matter, as Putnam was under suspicion for her disappearance. Ive read all of the court paperwork. As a result, his confession is assumed to be an honest retelling of events. Glad to see race was brought up when it has nothing to do with this case. Your out of touch. Her body was found last. Also, lets talk about Larry Miller, president of Nike Air Jordan. I thought he was some white dude trying to scare me with a pistol. The New York Post reports that Putnam instead stated that after getting a paternity test, he and his wife would adopt the child. I think it was her fingernail, but Im not sure. Roadside Attractions/Courtesy . The story is a tragic tale of how one mans ambition and another womans wild infatuation collided with deadly consequences. According to Putnam, his contact with Smith became less frequent after Lockhart's case was closed. If you take someones life not to ruin your career and marriage, you deserve to rot in hell regardless. I dont care if they have a record or not. Her parents moved to Freeburn, Kentucky, when Susan was an infant. Within five years of dropping out of school, at the age of 15, she met 22-year old Kenneth Smith, and the two of them began dating. Mark Putnam initially approached Kenneth about being an informant. They jumped up whooping and dancing around as if everyone of them had won the lottery. In the statement, he recalled a bitter, violent argument with Ms. Smith about her pregnancy. He soon met a girl from the nearby holler who worked as an informant. Its sad that you rob a bank Cat Eyes and you get nearly 60 years thanks to Susan Daniels Smith, But you murder a PREGNANT informant and you only do 10 years? In "Above Suspicion," Joe Sharkey writes that before long, Mark amassed a network of informants and started thinking of himself as a "streetwise crime-fighter who was living the life that he had always dreamed about." In 1987, an ambitious rookie FBI agent came to Pikeville, Kentucky for his first posting out of the academy. Well, if he were any other color they wouldnt have even charged him. I remember when the story broke, being in the next town over, at the age of 12. After Mark Putnam was able to gain Susan Smith's trust, they started meeting two to three times every week. Susan Daniels Smith, aka Sue Smith, the Pikeville, Kentucky, informant who was killed by her married lover, FBI Agent Mark Putnam, will have her story discussed again for the first time in many years on Betrayed, the new Investigation Discovery crime series. I believe you are incorrect about that. Grow up. Ten years is pathetic and a slap to the victims family. In a signed confession, Mark Putnam said he choked Susan Daniels Smith, 27, on June 8, 1989, in an act of extreme rage while the couple arued over support of her expected child. And then she met Mark Putnam and became obsessed. He said he placed the body in the trunk of his rented car and dumped it the following evening off an old coal mine road about nine miles north of Pikeville. Putnam reportedly confessed because he got overwhelmed with the guilt. People dont say this out of white guilt, they say it because they either believe black people or they have witnessed it first hand like I have. Karla Ward: 859-231-3314, @HLpublicsafety. Release Date. His decision to confess likely wasn't just remorse; he appears to have realized that he'd finally been caught. On June 16, Smith's sister Shelby Ward filed a missing person report after failing to find Smith. Although Mark Putnam claimed that he murdered Susan Smith because she threatened to tell his wife about their affair and her pregnancy, Smith's sister Shelby Ward remains convinced that this wasn't the only reason she was murdered. We dont want to make a secret about it, but we prefer not to bring it out, he said. Sad, but true. There were no winners in this case. Putnam was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but was released after 10 years, early in 2000, on good behavior. She wasnt pregnant. I couldnt even make it to the. Matewan is at the heart of the area embroiled in the infamous nineteenth century Hatfield-McCoy feud. FBI Special Killer Agent | Mark Putnam / Susan Daniels Smith Case Im not saying Larry Miller should be prosecuted and Im not defending Mark Putnams disgusting actions, all Im saying that your comment about gee this wouldnt happen with anyone but a white guy is ridiculous. The pay, however, for an FBI . . Erin is right. His attorney, Pat Molloy of Lexington, said she and the children visit him regularly at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn. But the sister of Susan Daniels Smith--the woman Putnam strangled, the woman whose body he hid for 12 months while her family agonized over her disappearance--is not. Your email address will not be published. When Putnam arrived in 1987, Lockhart was being released from prison after serving seven years out of his 18-year sentence. This isnt a black/white issue? There, in 1989, FBI Agent Mark Putnam killed an informant with whom he was having an affair. And it should. What does that count for anything? She said the child was his and threatened to expose him. Huggins was hired as a technical advisor for Above Suspicion, the feature film based on the non-fiction book of the same name that depicts the tragic saga of Mark Putnam . But according to "Above Suspicion," Kenneth came into the meeting with a list of demands for Putnam, asking for a weekly salary in addition to being given protective custody and having his probation removed. If they admit to having an affair with the first wife, Id cross him off. Mark Putnams wife, Kathy, has moved to Minnesota to be near her husband. This is insane! They were not concerned about Justice being served; they only wanted the Black man to be found not guilty. But the bottom line is hes a killer.. Smith was a local dealer in methamphetamine, PCP, and cocaine, hardly a model citizen. That partnership, according to reports, soon became an affair. And now to, you know, see her in a movie, you know, about my hometown-even though it was a dark part of our towns history, said local man and Riverfill 10 employee Jonathan Collins. Do the research. That will never be erased but yes being white made all the difference for him and his future + current success story. I wonder if he would have done more time if he killed a man. He soon met a girl from the nearby holler who worked as an. As far as Michael Brown, that gentle giant, the only way his DNA and blood splatter couldve gotten on the inside of the police cruiser was he was sticking his hand in there trying to get the officers weapon. In "Above Suspicion," Jack Huston plays real-life FBI Agent Mark Putnam and Emilia Clarke plays Susan Smith, the woman he murdered. Mark Putnam was smart enough to realize that continuing to see Susan could be detrimental to his career and his marriage. Discovery (@wbd) August 23, 2016. Copyright 2021 WYMT. He didnt even confess until after a year, after being a suspect and after a failed polygraph test. Although Mark Putnam was now based in Miami, Florida, he returned to Pikeville in the summer of 1989 to tie up a car theft case that he had been working on. Listen to "67: The Killing of FBI Informant Susan Daniels Smith" on Spreaker. YupPigs always get away with the evil they do. Recall that in 1987, Agent Mark Putnam was just beginning his investigation of Cat Eyes Lockhart. Maybe he served more time because he was white? FBI Special Killer Agent | Mark Putnam / Susan Daniels Smith Case Analysis Dr. Todd Grande 1.27M subscribers 149K views 11 months ago This video answers the question: Can I analyze the case. 67: The Killing of FBI Informant Susan Daniels Smith - Spreaker He used Ms. Smith as an informant in a bank robbery and car theft case. [3] Smith and Putnam met in the spring of 1987, and they began to have frequent contact for the exchange of information about Lockhart's upcoming criminal plans. Mark Steven Putnam was born on July 4, 1959, in Coventry, Connecticut, to Barbara and Walter. The following year saw him sentenced to 57 years in federal prison for robbery. The next evening, he dumped her off an old coal mine road about nine miles north of Pikeville. Kenneth was a drug dealer when the two of them met, and soon they were using drugs together. Isnt it a shame it wasnt of one of your own he kindly murdered, whom you unseemly waited for the return of their body! And there are plenty of people of all colors who get out of jail early for good behavior. Have you paid for someone elses groceries when its obvious they are struggling? But he received a light sentence because the authorities had no case. Theres no hiding from it. Putnam had become cool in his attitude toward her, something that worried Susan greatly as she desperately tried to hold onto him. How nice for him. Two years before Mark was released from prison, his wife Kathy Putnam died suddenly from organ failure at the age of 38. From last weeks mob murder in Beverly Hills, we travel to Pikeville, Kentucky. The affair with Susan Smith ruined his marriage. Website Intellectual takeout, receives funding from right wing groups, and the Koch brothers. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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Theres a long history of killers with higher socioeconomic status than their victims getting softer sentences than what their crime alone deserved. 7.8K views 9 months ago In 1987, an ambitious rookie FBI agent came to Pikeville, Kentucky for his first posting out of the academy. Mark Putnam reads, exercises, works in the prison hospice and chapel, and is talkative during calls to his family. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. Susan Daniels Smith lived a life of poverty, violence and misery. OJ also goes on to write a book which he more or less admits to the killings. He is adjusting. But Mark consistently put in extra time and set his sights on becoming an FBI agent. Her parents moved to Freeburn, Kentucky when Susan was an infant.