A mother who tearfully pleaded for the return of the sons she reported kidnapped will be arraigned today on murder charges.
Police say Susan Smith, 23, confessed to killing Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months.
In a tense news conference, Union County Sheriff Howard Wells said divers found Smith's burgundy Mazda Protege at the bottom of Lake John D. Long Thursday.
There were two small bodies in the backseat.
The car had been driven off a boat ramp, said Hugh Munn, State Law Enforcement Division spokesman.
Divers had searched the lake several times, Munn said, but the water was too murky for them to see the car.
Wells said an autopsy would be needed to confirm the identity of the bodies in the car.
Smith told police Oct. 25 the boys had been taken by a gunman who stole her car.
The news of the murder charges shocked this town.
"I've been standing by this girl through thick and thin, I've never doubted her," said a tearful Susan Pegram. "The children are really OK now. They're in the hands of God."
Smith was being held at an undisclosed location.
The arrest warrant shows she confessed. But Wells did not offer a possible motive and took no questions.
Smith's report of a carjacking set off a national search.
As late as Thursday morning she appeared on national television with her estranged husband, David, by her side, tearfully pleading for their return.
A gasp went up from the crowd when Wells read his statement. Other reaction:
-- "What they should do with her is give her over to us. We would do to her the same as she did to the children," said Karen Huss, who has two sons.
-- "I just couldn't imagine that Susan would do that," Sarah Singleton, the children's great-grandmother, told KNBC in Los Angeles. "There is no explanation for murder."
But Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said this case is not unprecedented.
A recent 10-year study by the center showed that in 12% of all reported stranger abduction and murder cases, "the parent or parents had murdered the child and had reported the child had been abducted," he said.
10 Frantic Days Oct. 25: `He's got my kids.' Susan Smith says carjacker took Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months. Oct. 26: The FBI joins in nationwide search. Halloween: Yellow ribbons appear in town. Nov. 2: `Whoever has my children please, please bring them back.' Police search her home. Nov. 3: People gasp at news of murder charges.
