S.C. mom charged in deaths of her 2 children

Ron Barnett and Julie Howle | The Greenville (S.C.) News

Show Caption Hide Caption Warrants charge S.C. mom in shooting deaths of children Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark and 13th Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins talk with media about a shooting in Dacusville in which 2 children were killed.

Neighbor heard crash outside the home at about 6 a.m. Tuesday

Mother was in truck%2C had injuries

Sheriff%27s deputies found dead children%2C injured husband inside

DACUSVILLE, S.C. — Two children were found dead in their beds, and their mother has been charged with shooting them to death.

Suzanna Brown Simpson, 35, a "model" volunteer at the children's elementary school, was charged Tuesday with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder in connection with her husband's gunshot wounds, and one count of possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to warrants signed by authorities.

Carly Simpson, 7, was "sweetness defined," said her first-grade teacher, Nancy Zeigler, at Dacusville Elementary School.

Her 5-year-old brother, Sawyer, was "enthusiastic, adventurous and creative" and loved to build things with Legos, said his 4K teacher, Jama Freeman.

Their father, Michael John Simpson, 34, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. He had been shot, authorities said.

Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins said the case could qualify for the death penalty if a conviction is reached because it involves multiple homicides and also because it involves children younger than 11.

On what otherwise might have seemed like a perfect spring day in a community of pastures swaying with bright yellow dandelions, Dacusville was in mourning Tuesday.

Two yellow ribbons adorned the front door of the school, as secretaries went through the sad business of calling parents of the children's classmates. Grief counselors were at the school Wednesday.

Principal Michael Fleming was hardly able to talk about the children.

"Precious children, always smiling, seemed to enjoy school, just really sweet kids," was all he could say by late afternoon.

Life inside the school had gone on as normally as could be expected during the day, he said. Authorities had notified school officials of the tragedy but told them there was no need to lock the school down.

They said the danger had passed.

Tim O'Connor, who lives across the street from the Simpsons, was one of the first to realize something terrible had happened.

"I had just got out of bed," he said Tuesday. "I was sitting there watching TV and drinking my coffee, and I heard boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. At first it sounded like whenever somebody's dumping a dumpster. And then it kept going on."

He decided someone had had a car wreck.

He was right.

When authorities arrived around 6 a.m., they found Suzanna Simpson had been in a truck crash just outside the house and had injuries, officials said.

When they checked inside the house, they found the children and Simpson's husband, they said.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;!--iframe--&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark said he is focused on bringing justice for the victims and couldn't release many details about the present case.

He said he didn't know what precipitated the pre-dawn violence. Authorities were not aware of any domestic violence calls from the home, he said.

"Every community, no matter how great, has its tragedies, and Pickens County has experienced another one today," he said. "As always in Pickens County, we'll come together. We support our own, and we're here for the family of these victims, and we care for them very much."

Suzanna Simpson had no criminal record, as far as authorities had been able to determine late Tuesday.

Less than 4% of all homicides in 2011, the most recent year available, were parents killing their children, according to FBI Uniform Crime Report data. In 1995 in a case that garnered national attention, Susan Smith of Union, S.C., was sentenced to life in prison for driving her car into a lake in October 1994 and drowning her 3-year-old and 14-month-old sons.

The sheriff said he couldn't comment on Suzanna Simpson's condition although he said she is under guard at Greenville Memorial Hospital, about 10 miles southeast of this community of about 3,000.

Nor would he answer whether her husband and the children were asleep when they were shot. He also wouldn't say how the wreck happened or whether authorities believe that the mother was trying to flee.

The ages of the victims made the job that much more emotionally intense for investigators, Clark said.

"No matter how tough a cop you are, no matter how many people you've prosecuted, doesn't matter who you are, when kids are involved it's a whole different situation," he said.

The state Law Enforcement Division sent crime scene agents to assist in processing the scene, according to spokesman Thom Berry.

Glenn Abbott, who said he moved to the neighborhood within a few weeks of the time the Simpsons did nine years ago, described them as a "very nice couple."

"They were a typical, ordinary middle-class family, worked hard," he said. "I never dreamed that would be even possible."

It had been a tough day since hearing the news, he said.

"Lot of tears and a lot of prayers, praying for Michael to pull through," he said.

The Simpsons lived in a modern-looking ranch house with a freshly mowed lawn and landscaping that included several magnolias.

"As far as I know they were pretty good people," said Harvey Alverson, whose property adjoins theirs. "I just don't understand what happened to them."

He's seen seven fatal car crashes in his yard, along a curve in the road, during the 41 years he's lived there but never anything like this, he said.

James Brown, who has lived down the road just past the school for almost all of his 74 years, said the community recently has been stricken with burglaries — "people stealing lawnmowers and trailers, anything they can get money out of."

Otherwise, it's a very quiet neighborhood, he said.

He passed by the Simpson house often.

"I might see the lady come to the mailbox, but I couldn't say I really know them very good," Brown said. "Used to, you knew everybody who lived in every house everywhere. But now everybody works. You just don't socialize like you did 50 years ago."