The use of past or present tense also is significant when referring to missing persons. In such cases, the norm is to describe the person in the present tense, as in, "I just pray that Jenny is all right." When children are missing, in the parents'' hearts and minds, the children remain alive, sometimes long after the point of reason. As evidenced in the Susan Smith case, use of past tense almost immediately after the alleged abduction showed a significant deviation from the norm.
During the investigation, Susan tearfully told reporters, "My children wanted me. They needed me. And now I can't help them."1 Yet, the boys' father, David, who believed Susan's story, tried to reassure her by saying: "They're okay. They're going to be home soon."2
Police subsequently arrested Susan for the murder of her children. She was tried and convicted and is currently serving a life sentence in a South Carolina correctional institution. Many investigators use a technique called "statement analysis" to discern the truth in statements like the ones given by Susan and David Smith. In statement analysis, investigators examine words, independent of case facts, to detect deception. They also remain alert for information omitted and question why the suspect may have done so. Investigators then analyze the clues unintentionally provided by a suspect and use this insight during the subsequent interview.
In the case of Susan Smith, by analyzing the statements made by the victims' parents, one could conclude that the father believed the boys were alive and the mother knew the children were dead. The key to this deduction lies in simple English grammar, specifically, verb tense. The father referred to the children in the present tense; the mother used the past tense. Of all times, when the "abducted" children really would need their mother, she speaks of them in the past tense, e.g., "They needed me." The children could no longer want or need her because they were no longer alive.