The FBI Killer

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Discretion, Is it by him needed
murder. Susan Smith was born as Susan

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Daniels in nineteen sixty one. She
was raised in Freeburn, Kentucky, alongside

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nine siblings and with a mother who
worked as a housekeeper and a father who

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lost his job in the local coal
mines. The Daniels children often had to

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go without. In the seventh grade, Susan had no choice but to drop

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out of school. Her parents just
couldn't afford to pay the fees. When

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she was fifteen years old, Susan
met twenty two year old Kenneth Smith.

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Susan didn't care that Kenneth was a
grown man seven years her senior, or

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that he made a living selling cocaine, PCP and methanphenamine. In nineteen seventy

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nine, a few years after the
relationship began, Susan and Kenneth got married

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just as she turned eighteen. Due
to Kenneth's role as a local prominent drug

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dealer, Drugs were a big part
of his relationship with Susan from the very

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start, and it only got worse
after they were married. Susan might have

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expected Kenneth to settle down and become
more responsible when he became a father,

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But soon enough she was a mother
of two and she was fighting with Kenneth

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more than ever. Eventually, Susan
and Kenneth agreed that they were simply not

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compatible enough to be in a romantic
relationship. They decided to get a divorce,

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but continued living in their family home
together for the sake of their young

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children. In the late nineteen eighties, Kenneth's circle of friends in Pikeville,

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Kentucky beginning to track the attention of
the FBI. Investigators were interested in one

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man in particular, thirty two year
old Carl Edward Lockhart, who was known

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by the nickname Cat Eyes. Carl
had already been convicted of robbery, but

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the FBI believed that he was planning
to carry out more crimes in the future.

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In nineteen eighty eight, a young
agent was assigned to the case,

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twenty one year old Mark Putnam.
Mark was a criminologist who had graduated from

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the FBI Academy two years prior in
nineteen eighty six. Shortly after his graduation,

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he had gotten married to his longtime
girlfriend, Kathy, before he launched

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into full time work as an agent. When Mark met with the local deputy

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Albert Hartfield. The deputy strongly recommended
somebody who would be able to help the

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FBI with the case. Albert told
Mark that he had a friend by the

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name of Susan Smith who would be
able to act as an informant and share

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information about Carl Lockhart and his crimes. Mark met Susan and agreed to offer

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her financial compensation in exchange for her
help, and Susan was happy to regularly

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contact Mark, updating him with any
news she had about Carl. In total,

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Susan was paid five thousand dollars for
her assistance, which today is around

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thirteen thousand dollars. Thanks to Susan's
input, Mark successfully arrested Carl in late

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nineteen eighty seven, and the following
year he was charged with robbery and sentenced

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to more than fifty years behind bars. Once Carl Lockhart was behind bars,

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Mark expected that he would stop communicating
with Susan. But for Susan, their

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relationship had taken on a new meaning. She didn't just see herself as a

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paid informant for the FBI. In
fact, she believed that she and Mark

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had a special connection. She wanted
to continue talking to him. Even though

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the case was closed, and even
though he was married to another woman.

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Eventually, Mark decided that he also
felt a connection to Susan, and the

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pair kept growing closer. Before the
end of nineteen eighty eight, their close

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relationship had become sexual, and Susan
was overjoyed. They would sneak around together,

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arranging to meet up at local motels
for sex, and driving to secluded

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places where they could be together.
For Susan, it was exciting. However,

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Mark was anxious. He knew that
he was breaking countless rules by having

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a sexual and romantic affair with an
informant. He'd managed to keep it quiet,

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but if the FBI found out,
he would lose his job, and

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if his wife found out, it
would destroy his marriage and family life.

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Mark decided that he needed to get
away from Susan and focus on his career,

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so he requested to be transferred to
Florida, hoping that time away from

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Kentucky would force Susan to move on
from their relationship. A year later,

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a new investigation into a string of
carth theft's led Mark right back to Kentucky,

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where Susan was waiting for him.
She told him that she was four

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months pregnant, and that she knew
he was the baby's father. For Mark,

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it was as if all of his
nightmares had come true. He couldn't

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leave his wife to raise a baby
with another woman, but he also knew

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that Susan wouldn't let it go.
In desperation, he offered to adopt the

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baby himself and raise it with his
wife, who he believed would agree to

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stay with him as long as he
ended the affair with Susan immediately. Susan

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refused this offer. She was having
the baby and she wanted Mark to raise

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it with her. On the eighth
of June nineteen eighty nine, Mark took

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Susan for a ride in his rental
car and then parked in remote clearing to

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continue their discussion. He tried to
convince her to give the baby up.

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She tried to convince him to leave
his wife for her. It was clear

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to Mark that they would never agree, and he felt that if Susan had

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the baby, his infidelity and unprofessionalism
would be exposed. He felt like he

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was backed into a corner, and
Susan felt the same way. As their

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argument continued to escalate, and Susan
began to slap him. Mark felt like

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he had no other choice. He
began to strangle Susan, continuing even after

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she stopped struggling and lost consciousness.
He later claimed that he panicked and tried

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to resuscitate her, but was unsuccessful. Once Mark was sure that Susan was

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dead, he dragged her body out
of the passenger seat and laid it in

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the trunk of the rental car.
He left it there overnight before driving out

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to an abandoned coal mining road around
ten miles north of Pikeville, where he

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hoped the body would remain undiscovered for
years. He didn't turn himself into the

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authorities or show any signs of remorse
for killing Susan and their unborn child.

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After dumping the body, Mark simply
drove straight back home to Florida and reunited

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with his family. But the Susan
Smith problem didn't disappear from Mark. After

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only three days, Susan's sister,
Shelby Ward, became concerned and reported her

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as missing. The investigation quickly highlighted
a person of interest, Mark Putnam,

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the FBI agent who had a close
connection with Susan and had been in town

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during the time that she went missing. As soon as Mark was suspected to

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be involved in the disappearance, the
case became a federal manner and the FBI

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began to investigate their own agent.
In nineteen ninety Marco was asked to undergo

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a polygraph exam, which he failed. Side note, I've mentioned on this

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podcast several times over the years my
disdain for polygraph tests, and the reason

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I've said is because they're only a
little more accurate than a coin flip.

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There's a reason that they aren't admissible
in court, and people over the years

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of me saying this on the podcast
to ask for more information on how I

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decided that, is there a court
case to reference and rather than giving my

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opinion again. This comes from the
American Psychological Association. Relating to polygraphs,

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it says polygraph testing has generated considerable
scientific and public controversy. Most psychologists and

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other scientists agree that there is little
basis for the validity of polygraph tests.

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Courts, including the u United States
Supreme Court US versus Cheffer in nineteen ninety

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eight, have repeatedly rejected the use
of polygraph evidence because of its inherent unreliability.

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Nevertheless, polygraph testing continues to be
used in non judicial settings, often

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to screen personnel, but sometimes to
try to assess the veracity of suspects and

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witnesses, and to monitor criminal offenders
on probation. So if the police have

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you in an interrogation room and they
say we want to give you a polygraph

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test and you pass it, they
know that you could pass it and still

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be guilty, so they might come
back into the interrogation room and say,

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well, you failed that thing,
so let's talk, because they're allowed to

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lie to you. And also,
you could be completely innocent but very nervous

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about being there in an interrogation room
and talking to the police, and maybe

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someone you were close to has just
been murdered. And you fail it.

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But you're innocent, but you fail
it, the police are going to put

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so much pressure on you because of
that failed polygraph test. So that's why

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I don't like them. But that's
not to say that sometimes they don't get

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it right. Because when Mark Putnam
failed his he finally gave up. He

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felt like the investigation was closing in
on him and he knew that he wouldn't

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be able to fool the FBI.
Shortly after the polygraph he confessed that he

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had strangled Susan to death and gave
a detailed description of where her body could

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be found. Sure enough, Susan's
remains were discovered and Mark was arrested,

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becoming the first FBI agent ever to
be convicted of murder. Compared to Carl

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Lockhart, the robber we mentioned earlier, and his fifty seven year sentence,

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Mark received a relatively light sentence for
strangling his affair partner to death. Only

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sixteen years behind bars, Mark was
described as a model inmate. He was

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polite and courteous, never causing any
trouble, and always followed orders. Because

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of his good behavior, he was
released after serving only ten years of his

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sentence, but his wife, Cathy, who had stood by him throughout his

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incarceration, had recently passed away due
to complications of alcohol abuse. At forty

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one years old, Mark Putnam was
now a freeman and a widower. He

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decided to start a new life for
himself, moving to Georgia and eventually got

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remarried. To this day, it's
unknown whether Susan Smith had ever truly been

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pregnant, or if she was lying
about her pregnancy as a way of ensuring

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that Mark would leave his wife to
be with her. In her conversations with

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Mark, she'd claimed to be four
months pregnant, and Mark Edman convinced that

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she was telling the truth, but
when the remains were examined during an autopsy,

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the medical examiner found no signs of
a fetus. That is ten Minute

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Murder for today, Brief and bingeable
true crime. My name is Joe.

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I'm the host, and thank you
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