Susan Smith, a South Carolina woman who admitted drowning her two children 30 years ago, was unanimously denied parole after her first appearance before the board Wednesday.

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

On October 25, 1994, Smith, then 23 years old, strapped her sons – 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander – into their car seats and drove the car into a lake near her home.

Initially, Smith lied to police and said a black man had carjacked her and kidnapped her sons. Smith’s husband believed her, and the young parents appeared on TV to beg the suspect to take the boys home.

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

MORE: Laken Riley case: Suspect found guilty by judge of all campus murder charges

The board mentioned how her case took resources away from the law enforcement community searching for her sons. When asked what she would say to first responders, Smith said, “I’m sorry I did that to them.”

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

“I’m a Christian and God is a big part of my life. And I know he has forgiven me,” Smith said.

MORE: What’s next for the Menendez brothers? A look at their lives in prison, 3 roads to freedom

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

“This was not a tragic mistake. … She deliberately planned to end their lives,” he said, adding: “I never regretted it.”

“She came close to making me take my own life because of the grief she had caused me,” David Smith said.

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

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

She said some days her husband can’t get out of bed because of the pain.

“Michael and Alex were given no chance to live. They were given 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 choice by choosing a man over her family,” Pope said. “If she could have put David in the car, he would have been there.”

“For the crime she committed… that sentence has not yet reached,” Pope said.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that the young mother had an affair and that her boyfriend broke off the relationship because of her children.

Susan Smith’s defense said she planned to commit suicide with her children but left the car at the last minute.

Pope noted Wednesday that “she wasn’t wet, she wasn’t hurt” when she ran for help.

The defense also focused on her mental health and her childhood; Susan Smith’s stepfather testified that he sexually abused her for years.

MORE: Look back at killer mother Susan Smith’s 1994 case as she asks for parole

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

Beginning in her 30s, she will be eligible for a parole hearing every two years.

David Smith told the parole board on Wednesday: “I will be here every two years in the future to ensure their deaths are not in vain.”

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

Susan Smith’s attorney, Tommy Thomas, told the parole board that this case is 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 prior criminal history, and he said that if she is released on parole, she would live with her brother.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Susan Smith denied parole 30 years after killing her two sons originally appeared on abcnews.go.com