Susan Smith, a woman from South Carolina who admitted that he drowned his two children, now 30, was unanimously denied parole after appearing before the board for the first time on Wednesday.

“I know what I did was horrible. And I would give anything if I could go back and change it,” an emotional Smith told the parole board via Zoom. “I love Michael and Alex with all my heart.”

On October 25, 1994, Smith, then 23, strapped her sons — 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander — into their car seats and let the car roll into a lake near her house.

At first, Smith lied to the police and said a black man had carjacked her and kidnapped her sons. Smith’s husband believed her, and the young parents appeared on television to plead with the suspect to bring the boys home.

On November 3, 1994, police confronted Susan Smith about her story, and she confessed to the murders.

The board noted that her case took resources from the law enforcement community searching for her sons. Asked what she would say to those who responded, Smith said, “I’m sorry I put them through this.”

“I wish I could take that back, I really do,” Smith, now 53, said. “I didn’t lie to get away… I was just scared. I didn’t know how to tell the people who loved them that they would never see them again.”

“I am a Christian and God is a big part of my life. And I know he forgave me,” Smith said.

Susan Smith’s ex-husband David Smith became emotional as he asked the board to deny parole.

“It was not a tragic mistake … She intended to end their lives,” he said, adding: “I never felt any remorse from her for that.”

“She came pretty close to having me end my life because of the pain she caused me,” David Smith said.

So far, his ex-wife has had “15 years per child,” he said. “It’s just not enough.”

David Smith’s current wife, Tiffany Smith, asked the council to keep Susan Smith in prison for life to give the family some peace.

She said her husband couldn’t get out of bed for days because of the pain.

“Michael and Alex had no chance at life. They were forced into the death penalty,” she said.

Tommy Pope, the prosecutor in the case, also asked the board to deny parole, saying, “Susan has always focused on Susan.”

“Susan made a horrible, horrible choice to choose a man over her family,” Pope said. “If they could have put David in the car, he would have been there too.”

“For the crime he committed … that punishment has yet to be meted out,” Pope said.

At the trial, prosecutors claimed the young mother was having an affair and said her boyfriend broke up because of her children.

Susan Smith’s defense said she planned to kill herself with her children but left the car at the last second.

Pope noted Wednesday that she was “not wet, not hurt” when she ran for help.

The defense also focused on her mental health and childhood; Susan Smith’s stepfather has confessed to sexually abusing her for years.

Susan Smith was convicted but spared the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison.

She is eligible for a parole hearing every two years starting at age 30.

David Smith told the parole board on Wednesday: “I will be here every two years to make sure their death is not in vain.”

Susan Smith has faced disciplinary action several times in prison, including for sexual encounters with correctional officers, drug possession, and providing contact information for her family and ex-husband to a documentary producer.

Susan Smith’s lawyer, Tommy Thomas, told the parole board that this case was about “the dangers of untreated mental health.” He said Susan Smith had undiagnosed depression after her second son was born.

Thomas emphasized that she has no criminal record and said that if she is paroled, she will live with her brother.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.