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Killers Amongst Us: Beautiful Blonde Mom Breaks into Politics, MURDERED! · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:04
Speaker 1: Hi guys, Nancy Grace here, welcome back to Killers amongst Us,
0:08
Speaker 1: the production of iHeart Media and Crime Online. Do you
0:12
Speaker 1: ever see people on TV and I don't know. Maybe
0:17
Speaker 1: they're a celebrity, maybe they're a talking ahead, maybe they're
0:21
Speaker 1: a politician, a politician that takes stands about what they
0:25
Speaker 1: believe is right or wrong, or maybe they're a dirty politician.
0:30
Speaker 1: And you wonder, what is that famous person's life really like?
0:36
Speaker 1: Because you see them in one way, you kind of
0:39
Speaker 1: think you know them, but you don't. You don't know
0:43
Speaker 1: what their life is like. You don't know whether they've
0:46
Speaker 1: made enemies by the positions they take or the things
0:50
Speaker 1: that they say. What is going on in the lives
0:55
Speaker 1: of the people we see and read about, Who are
0:58
Speaker 1: their enemies? Who was within their circle of friends, their family?
1:05
Speaker 1: You know, the stark realization is there are killers amongst us.
1:16
Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace, thank you for being with us for
1:19
Speaker 1: Killers amongst Us with me an all star panel to
1:26
Speaker 1: unravel a mystery. Leavi Page Crime online dot com investigative reporter,
1:32
Speaker 1: professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My
1:36
Speaker 1: Feet and star of a brand new program poisonous liaisons
1:40
Speaker 1: on the True Crime Network. We're now in psychologists joining
1:43
Speaker 1: me from New York Karen Stark, judge, trial lawyer, anchor
1:47
Speaker 1: Court TV, Ashley Wilcott, and two very special people joining
1:53
Speaker 1: me today from Arkansas, Tate Williams and Butch Smith. I
1:58
Speaker 1: want to talk for a moment about who is this
2:02
Speaker 1: beautiful blonde with the big blue eyes named Linda. Take
2:09
Speaker 1: a listen. Linda Collins grew up in smalltown Arkansas. She
2:13
Speaker 1: was born in Pocahontas, but went to school in Willaford.
2:16
Speaker 1: Her family home was located ten miles down a gravel
2:19
Speaker 1: road with no running water until she was in her teens.
2:22
Speaker 1: In fact, Willaford is the epitome of small town. Just
2:26
Speaker 1: seventy five people live there today. It's this upbringing that
2:30
Speaker 1: Collins credits for her success in life. She says, it's
2:33
Speaker 1: this background that taught her the value of hard work
2:36
Speaker 1: and the blessing of living in a land where everyone
2:39
Speaker 1: from the poor country girl to the inner city street
2:42
Speaker 1: kid has the opportunity to achieve their dreams. Well, right there,
2:46
Speaker 1: our friends at Crime Online told me a lot. Linda
2:49
Speaker 1: Collins grew up poor and a small town in Arkansas.
2:55
Speaker 1: Now I can relate to that, growing up on a
2:57
Speaker 1: red dirt road in the middle of soybean fields and
3:00
Speaker 1: pine trees. Born in Pocahontas, Arkansas, goes to school in Williford.
3:06
Speaker 1: Her family home was down a gravel road with no
3:11
Speaker 1: running water. Until she was in her teens. I can
3:15
Speaker 1: remember my grandfather came and dug our well in the
3:19
Speaker 1: backyard because where we lived there was no as we
3:23
Speaker 1: called it, city water. Straight out to leave Page Crime
3:27
Speaker 1: online dot Com investigative reporter, tell me about Pocahontas, Arkansas.
3:32
Speaker 1: So Nancy. That is a small town in the northern
3:36
Speaker 1: part of Arkansas, and it has a population of six thousand,
3:40
Speaker 1: six hundred and eight people. Six thousand people. You know, hey,
3:43
Speaker 1: at least it's a town. Well, where I grew up
3:46
Speaker 1: in Bibb County, we were an unincorporated Bibb County. We
3:50
Speaker 1: had to make an address, but I guess that's because
3:52
Speaker 1: as the closest way, the only way as a marker
3:55
Speaker 1: to get the mail to us. What do we know
3:58
Speaker 1: about Linda Collins joining me? Butch Smith and Tate Williams,
4:05
Speaker 1: her son and daughter Tate. What can you tell me
4:09
Speaker 1: about your mom's upbringing. I mean, this is a real
4:12
Speaker 1: rags to richest story, coming from a gravel road with
4:16
Speaker 1: no running water and finding her way at the ladder
4:20
Speaker 1: to business owner, realtor, and politician. That's pretty impressive. Yeah. Absolutely.
4:26
Speaker 1: She was a very strong woman. You know, she was
4:30
Speaker 1: raised to give it one hundred and ten percent everything
4:34
Speaker 1: she did to you know, really put yourself out there
4:38
Speaker 1: and if you're going to do it, you know, you
4:40
Speaker 1: do it to the best of your ability. And she
4:43
Speaker 1: definitely used that motto to really drive her through her life.
4:49
Speaker 1: What was she like as a mom? Tate, What are
4:52
Speaker 1: your most vivid memories of your mom when you were
4:55
Speaker 1: growing up? She was very strict and strong. She expected
5:00
Speaker 1: the same out of us as she expected for herself.
5:03
Speaker 1: So if we did something, we were expected to do
5:05
Speaker 1: it one hundred and ten percent, because one hundred was
5:07
Speaker 1: just doing it, you know, just enough. You needed to
5:10
Speaker 1: do it, you know, more than that, you needed to
5:13
Speaker 1: give it your all. And so that really she really
5:16
Speaker 1: used that in everything in all of our life lessons
5:20
Speaker 1: growing up to give us that same drive in life
5:23
Speaker 1: as well. What about it, But what do you recall
5:25
Speaker 1: your most vivid memories? Was it a birthday party? Was
5:28
Speaker 1: it her cooking dinner? What? What was it? What sticks
5:31
Speaker 1: in your mind? Well, to be honest, the cooking dinner
5:34
Speaker 1: thing was not necessarily a fourte my mother's not that
5:38
Speaker 1: she couldn't. The lady was just so busy that she
5:41
Speaker 1: really just did not have time. To be honest with you,
5:43
Speaker 1: I would say that the I guess the main takeaway
5:48
Speaker 1: or the main memory I've got over, it's going to
5:50
Speaker 1: be the just the sheer drive that this woman had
5:53
Speaker 1: that I have no idea how she accomplished the thing
5:56
Speaker 1: that she did on a daily basis, and you know,
5:59
Speaker 1: just trying to strive to be like that. And nobody
6:02
Speaker 1: can forget her reverend stick that she was always sporting around,
6:05
Speaker 1: So that bright revorend stick always sticked out in my mind.
6:08
Speaker 1: When you say all the things that she accomplished in
6:10
Speaker 1: a day, what do you mean by that? So she
6:14
Speaker 1: owned multiple hotels, She had built a franchise property back
6:18
Speaker 1: in two thousand, She had another unfranchise property that we
6:20
Speaker 1: had purchased and remodeled. We had multiple mental properties that
6:24
Speaker 1: she also took care of, and all the while she
6:28
Speaker 1: was dealing a mother and of course, on top of
6:31
Speaker 1: all that she was also in politics when she was
6:33
Speaker 1: down into a little rock at the Capitol and you know,
6:37
Speaker 1: dealing with all that, and because she hadn't parted down there,
6:39
Speaker 1: that she was staying at part time and she was
6:41
Speaker 1: always always on the go. No too, Karen Stark, psychologists
6:44
Speaker 1: joining us today from Manhattan. I get it coming from
6:48
Speaker 1: a home where you didn't even have running water and
6:50
Speaker 1: you lived on a gravel road. Analyze what you're hearing,
6:55
Speaker 1: Karen Stark about their mom, Linda, Well, when I'm here
6:58
Speaker 1: watch believe it or nutsounds a lot like you. You know,
7:02
Speaker 1: someone who didn't have much growing up and was completely ambitious.
7:09
Speaker 1: And we all know that raising children and trying to
7:13
Speaker 1: be successful for a woman is a hard thing to balance.
7:18
Speaker 1: But she was able to do that even though her
7:20
Speaker 1: cooking was an outstanding and she was driven to success.
7:25
Speaker 1: That's what I get about her fumbling. You know, I
7:35
Speaker 1: think sometimes people that grew up so poor, they just
7:40
Speaker 1: will spend all their energy do whatever it takes to
7:45
Speaker 1: rise up out of that for themselves and their children.
7:50
Speaker 1: Take a listen. Early on, Colin Smith's business acumen was evident.
7:53
Speaker 1: She got into real estate and became a nationally recognized agent.
7:57
Speaker 1: From there, she began to move into the hotel business,
8:00
Speaker 1: and she became president of the Arkansas Launching Association and
8:03
Speaker 1: winner of statewide tourism awards. Wow, our friend ed Crime
8:07
Speaker 1: online dot Com. That's Dave Max speaking. Wow, those are
8:11
Speaker 1: some serious accomplishments. Straight out to Levi Page, Crime online
8:14
Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter, this woman sounds like a house
8:19
Speaker 1: of fire, as we say, absolutely Nancy. She owned hotels,
8:24
Speaker 1: she was a real estate agent. She served in the
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Speaker 1: Arkansas House of Representatives and then went on to become
8:30
Speaker 1: a state senator. So this is someone that is extremely
8:34
Speaker 1: ambitious and very successful in life. She had a drive
8:38
Speaker 1: to her and to top it all off, she's beautiful.
8:42
Speaker 1: Butch or Tay, do either one of you look like
8:44
Speaker 1: your mom? You really? Do? You really look like her?
8:53
Speaker 1: Tap Um? I don't think so as much, but I
8:56
Speaker 1: definitely have family members that declare that I definitely am
9:00
Speaker 1: related to her. Well, you are one lucky girl. Let
9:04
Speaker 1: me tell you that. Coming from a gravel road with
9:08
Speaker 1: no running water, this woman claus her way to success
9:14
Speaker 1: single handedly. You know, Ash Wilcot, you're a judge of trial, lawyer,
9:19
Speaker 1: anchor court TV at Ashley Wilcott dot com. We're hearing
9:22
Speaker 1: a lot about all her achievements, but she has children,
9:27
Speaker 1: she has a home. She was a mother that took
9:30
Speaker 1: care for children and raised them, trying to give them
9:34
Speaker 1: a better life than she had as a child. That's
9:37
Speaker 1: hard to do. It takes a lot of love to
9:40
Speaker 1: raise two children while you're trying to drag the whole
9:44
Speaker 1: family up so they don't have to go through what
9:48
Speaker 1: you went through. That's exactly what causes the drive, right.
9:51
Speaker 1: You know, you just heard from the family that she
9:54
Speaker 1: was driven, that she was busy all the time. Why
9:57
Speaker 1: do people do that to provide and the mother they're
10:00
Speaker 1: specifically when they have children. I see it in court
10:02
Speaker 1: all the time. They have that drive to provide for
10:06
Speaker 1: their children. And this is the American dream. How did
10:09
Speaker 1: she succeed? How did she find the success only by
10:12
Speaker 1: working her tail off and working hard. Good for her
10:16
Speaker 1: for doing the right thing to provide for her kids.
10:19
Speaker 1: And you know, it's hard for a lot of people
10:20
Speaker 1: to understand when you are working hard, you want to
10:25
Speaker 1: be with your children. You want to be there with them,
10:30
Speaker 1: and you'll move heaven and earth to be with them,
10:33
Speaker 1: to be at home, to be in their lives. But
10:36
Speaker 1: first of all, you got to put food on the table.
10:39
Speaker 1: And when you grow up the way this woman grew
10:42
Speaker 1: up with nothing, not even running water, you don't want
10:47
Speaker 1: your children to live the way you did as a child.
10:51
Speaker 1: I think it's hard for a lot of people that
10:52
Speaker 1: haven't in Paris to understand that you want something better
10:55
Speaker 1: for your children. I mean, Joe Scott as a death investigator, profess, Sir,
11:00
Speaker 1: you have to face this every day between work and home. Yeah,
11:04
Speaker 1: you do, Nancy, And you have to make these determinations.
11:07
Speaker 1: What's going to have the more weight to it. You know?
11:11
Speaker 1: Right now, I've got my grandchildren with me, which is
11:14
Speaker 1: the biggest blessing in the world. I'd much rather be
11:17
Speaker 1: with them than be doing work, for instance. And sometimes,
11:21
Speaker 1: you know, you have to make this decision. I have
11:23
Speaker 1: to work in order that I can spend more time
11:26
Speaker 1: with my family. And it's a very very difficult balance
11:29
Speaker 1: to realize. Tell me to Lenda's children now adults, Butch
11:34
Speaker 1: and Tate, tell me about your mom's nurturing side to you.
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Speaker 1: I imagine the reason she was so driven is to
11:44
Speaker 1: try to have a better life for her family. What
11:48
Speaker 1: about it? Butch well, absolutely, Nancy. She only wanted the
11:51
Speaker 1: best for us, but she didn't want the best in
11:53
Speaker 1: a spoiled kind of way. Let me back uple commit there.
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Speaker 1: You know, while we were growing up as teenagers and
12:02
Speaker 1: you know, and things like that, and when we're kind
12:03
Speaker 1: of coming come in a age, so to speak, us,
12:06
Speaker 1: you know, we had the potential to become you know,
12:09
Speaker 1: spoiled you know, little children and things because you know,
12:12
Speaker 1: the income was getting better for the family and everything
12:15
Speaker 1: like that. And that wasn't the way that she worked,
12:17
Speaker 1: and that's not the way her brain was wired. It
12:18
Speaker 1: was you know, yeah, you would get the necessities, but
12:21
Speaker 1: anything else that you want, you're going to work your
12:23
Speaker 1: butt off to get it, just like I did. And
12:25
Speaker 1: so you know, that's just that was the nurturing side,
12:29
Speaker 1: I guess in a way, is that she wanted us
12:31
Speaker 1: to be um, you know, kind of in the same
12:35
Speaker 1: way that she was in that you know, don't expect handouts,
12:38
Speaker 1: don't you know, don't don't base yourself off other people.
12:42
Speaker 1: You're gonna do yourself. You're gonna be you and to
12:44
Speaker 1: do the best of you that you can be. So
12:46
Speaker 1: Butch and Tate. This is all compounded by the fact
12:50
Speaker 1: that she's a single mom supporting you guys. Butch right
12:57
Speaker 1: right as she divorced, was divorced from our biological father
13:02
Speaker 1: back when we were very young. I'd say before I
13:05
Speaker 1: was ten years old. Probably absolutely. I actually had noticed
13:08
Speaker 1: before I was ten years old. And so then you know,
13:12
Speaker 1: from there we were having to kind of live with
13:14
Speaker 1: our grandparents and stuff until she could get another homelind
13:17
Speaker 1: out and from and working NonStop at the real estate,
13:21
Speaker 1: just anything and everything that she could do to support it.
13:25
Speaker 1: And so she absolutely loved it. Was very caring. It's
13:29
Speaker 1: just you know, when somebody's working their tail office. She
13:32
Speaker 1: did and worked the hours that she did. You know,
13:35
Speaker 1: we had limited time seeing her when we were younger. Um,
13:39
Speaker 1: you know, until things financially improved, it it more. But
13:41
Speaker 1: she just did everything that she could to make sure
13:43
Speaker 1: that we were taking care of you know, honestly, wonderful
13:46
Speaker 1: she is as a grandmother. She when she got to
13:49
Speaker 1: the point of you know, me and my sister having children, Uh, financially,
13:53
Speaker 1: she was much more stable than she was as we
13:55
Speaker 1: were growing up. And uh, and you know how parents are,
13:58
Speaker 1: especially mothers with the children. You know, they loved to
14:02
Speaker 1: spend that time with those grandkids and really meant a
14:05
Speaker 1: lot to the kids. And I've got my oldest child
14:08
Speaker 1: has some mental disability, and so she is his favorite
14:13
Speaker 1: person because she took a lot of extra time and
14:17
Speaker 1: still with him. I wonder if that's not why people
14:20
Speaker 1: say they're better grandparents than they were parents, because when
14:23
Speaker 1: you're a parent, you're trying so hard, Like I run
14:27
Speaker 1: like a comanche all day and then try to get
14:31
Speaker 1: with my children. But you know it's because I'm trying
14:35
Speaker 1: to support them, Yes, And I'm just thinking about what
14:39
Speaker 1: all she went through in her background, and you know,
14:42
Speaker 1: it brings to mind. Karen Stark me getting home from school.
14:49
Speaker 1: We were latch key kids because my mom had to
14:50
Speaker 1: work so late at night. My dad had to work
14:55
Speaker 1: different shifts for the railroad. So we would come home
14:58
Speaker 1: and it was the highlight of my dad when I
15:00
Speaker 1: heard my mom. Sometimes it would be six, sometimes it
15:03
Speaker 1: would be seven or later blow her horn as she
15:06
Speaker 1: came up the driveway, and we would all have whoever
15:10
Speaker 1: was home, we would all have dinner together, and she
15:14
Speaker 1: usually worked so late. We and we were two little girls,
15:18
Speaker 1: and my brother would try to get dinner started. So
15:22
Speaker 1: because I feel so bad because she was working so hard.
15:26
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people experienced that across
15:29
Speaker 1: the country. And I know Tate and butched it, and
15:32
Speaker 1: you know that the story doesn't sound strange to meet all, Nancy,
15:36
Speaker 1: because I grew up the same way. And I feel
15:40
Speaker 1: like my own mother was like that. She had to work,
15:43
Speaker 1: and what she wanted more than anything was for her
15:46
Speaker 1: kids to be okay, to do well, and to do
15:51
Speaker 1: better than she had done. And I hear that in
15:54
Speaker 1: this story. I hear a loving mother who was outfield,
15:58
Speaker 1: really doing anything that she could to provide for her family.
16:03
Speaker 1: On top of that, she didn't have a husband, so
16:06
Speaker 1: her children would be raised by grandparents. It's really an
16:10
Speaker 1: American story, don't you think one of those success stories
16:13
Speaker 1: where you do everything. I really do, I really, I
16:16
Speaker 1: really do, Karen, start and think about it. She didn't
16:20
Speaker 1: just go for a lifestyle for her children. She wanted
16:26
Speaker 1: to make changes in this world. Take a list st
16:29
Speaker 1: our friends at CBS. The fifty seven year old mother
16:32
Speaker 1: was elected to the States Senate as a Republican in
16:34
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen. Glinda's one of those people that couldn't it
16:38
Speaker 1: be bought, uncorruptible, that wanted to tell people that bad
16:42
Speaker 1: stuff was happening at the capitol. Ken Yang was Collins's
16:45
Speaker 1: communication director. He says O'Donnell worked on Collins's reelection campaign.
16:50
Speaker 1: They're good friends. They traveled together, then did grassroots stuff. Oh.
17:00
Speaker 1: The fifty seven year old mother was elected to the
17:03
Speaker 1: state Senate as a Republican in twenty fourteen. Blenda's one
17:07
Speaker 1: of those people that couldn't be bought, uncorruptible, that wanted
17:10
Speaker 1: to tell people that bad stuff was happening at the capitol.
17:14
Speaker 1: Ken Yang was Collins's communication director. He says O'Donnell worked
17:18
Speaker 1: on Collins's reelection campaign. They're good friends. They traveled together,
17:23
Speaker 1: then did grassroots stuff. Now that's jumping into a cesspool
17:27
Speaker 1: right there. To Butch Smith and Tate Williams. When you
17:31
Speaker 1: get into politics, I mean you are swimming with some
17:35
Speaker 1: swamp rats for sure. And what I understand is that
17:39
Speaker 1: your mom, Linda wanted to make changes in this world
17:45
Speaker 1: and expose bad things happening at the capitol. Their words,
17:50
Speaker 1: not mine. You can make a lot of enemies that way,
17:54
Speaker 1: Tate Williams, Yeah, you can. You know. She often heard
17:58
Speaker 1: people will go to her of having the backbone of
18:01
Speaker 1: ten men. You know, she when she felt something and
18:05
Speaker 1: it was a moral obligation to her, she did not
18:08
Speaker 1: back down. And it didn't matter how tall you were,
18:10
Speaker 1: because she was a very short lady, and she didn't
18:13
Speaker 1: care if you look down on her. But she always
18:16
Speaker 1: held her ground and made sure that people knew what
18:19
Speaker 1: was going on. She didn't want it. She wanted transparency.
18:22
Speaker 1: She didn't want that to be hidden, especially you know
18:25
Speaker 1: in Little Rock, Kay Williams. The worst times I ever
18:31
Speaker 1: had at the DA's office when I was prosecuting, that
18:34
Speaker 1: was when I had to go to the Georgia State Assembly,
18:37
Speaker 1: the legislature and lobby anti crime issues. I mean, being
18:42
Speaker 1: around those politicians. Oh, dear Lord in Heaven, I couldn't.
18:47
Speaker 1: I'd rather try a serial killer than I remember trying
18:50
Speaker 1: to get the rape She'll law passed, and they fought
18:54
Speaker 1: tooth and nail. Of course, most of them were defense attorneys.
18:57
Speaker 1: They didn't want anything to protect a victim. And I
18:59
Speaker 1: looked her around and I thought, what in the world
19:01
Speaker 1: of the public only knew what goes on in politics.
19:05
Speaker 1: And here comes You're a mom Linda, the long blonde hair,
19:08
Speaker 1: the beautiful blue eyes, and she is going to expose
19:12
Speaker 1: quote bad things happening at the Capitol, and she would
19:17
Speaker 1: not back down. Oh h E double l knows she wouldn't.
19:22
Speaker 1: And the only reason she was making it was because
19:26
Speaker 1: of sheer drive. Sheer drive. Take a listen to Aaron Hogan.
19:34
Speaker 1: I remember watching her work all day here at the Capitol,
19:37
Speaker 1: and once her day was finished, she would pack up
19:40
Speaker 1: the move vehicle and take me along. We hop in there.
19:44
Speaker 1: We would go two hours. However, we get to to
19:47
Speaker 1: get back to her district and we would be at
19:50
Speaker 1: the meeting her again. But she was willing to for
19:52
Speaker 1: a couple hours and then you back in the car,
20:00
Speaker 1: back in the car and get back to it a
20:01
Speaker 1: little while so that she would be here for work
20:03
Speaker 1: the next morning. We had a lot of long, good,
20:07
Speaker 1: heartfelt talks together on those drives, and when we were
20:11
Speaker 1: not talking, she was on the phone helping someone. That's
20:15
Speaker 1: who she was. When everyone else has went out and tired,
20:21
Speaker 1: I'd gone home by the bed, she was still working.
20:24
Speaker 1: Sometimes I would receive text messages from her at two o'clock,
20:27
Speaker 1: three o'clock in the morning and break the Loorida did
20:30
Speaker 1: not see him till the next morning because I valued
20:32
Speaker 1: my sleep. So while everybody else goes to sleep, Mom
20:36
Speaker 1: is up working pushing it. I bet she was so
20:41
Speaker 1: tired at night. You know. Whenever she would fleep, she
20:49
Speaker 1: didn't fleep the whole one. She just like Aaron, sit
20:51
Speaker 1: on there. She Mom would text you at two or
20:53
Speaker 1: three o'clock in the morning. It was very very regular,
20:55
Speaker 1: not occasionally, it was every every couple of days. You'd
20:58
Speaker 1: received messages in the middle of the mon and she
21:00
Speaker 1: just hadn't went to bed yet. And then she'd be
21:02
Speaker 1: up around six thirty seven o'clock the next morning, going
21:05
Speaker 1: right back out of the again. Well, you know, it
21:06
Speaker 1: must have often mentions that I'm texting at one or
21:09
Speaker 1: two and then again at five. That's not because I
21:12
Speaker 1: don't want to sleep. I just have so much to do.
21:15
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, to get it all in. It's
21:18
Speaker 1: hard to do. I've got a very strong feeling she
21:21
Speaker 1: didn't want to stay awake all night long. No, not
21:24
Speaker 1: at all. She couldn't turn it off either, you know,
21:29
Speaker 1: she just had to get it all done, you know.
21:31
Speaker 1: And then finally, once she got whatever it was that
21:34
Speaker 1: day she needed to get done, she could sleep for
21:35
Speaker 1: an hour or two and then get up and do
21:36
Speaker 1: it again. And she got that from her from her father,
21:40
Speaker 1: and my grandfrom grandfather is the same in fact way,
21:43
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's she learned it from him. Yeah, But
21:47
Speaker 1: I gotta say as successful as she was literally pulling
21:51
Speaker 1: herself up from her with her own bootstraps, she was
21:55
Speaker 1: unlucky in love her first marriage. Ends. She did get
22:02
Speaker 1: the joy of having Butch and Tate her son and
22:05
Speaker 1: daughter the apples of her eyes. But she left your dad.
22:11
Speaker 1: They broke up, Butch. What happened, Well, that would have
22:16
Speaker 1: been back before I was even ten years old, So
22:19
Speaker 1: back when I was very young, and I believe ate
22:21
Speaker 1: the feeling diapers. At the time, my father he had
22:26
Speaker 1: hurt his back or injured it in some way, and
22:28
Speaker 1: he was very adamant about living on disability, and he
22:31
Speaker 1: wanted my mother to quit her job, stopping him what
22:34
Speaker 1: she was doing, and just settle down and just live
22:37
Speaker 1: off the government type of deal. And that's just not
22:40
Speaker 1: who she was, it's not what she's made of, and
22:42
Speaker 1: she didn't. She wasn't going to go along with that plan.
22:46
Speaker 1: She wanted something more than that. And so then I'm
22:49
Speaker 1: sure that went to other discussions and other issues again
22:52
Speaker 1: I was a child then, but then they went ahead
22:56
Speaker 1: and they divorced, and now that was kind of kind
23:00
Speaker 1: of the deal with that. So that didn't work out.
23:03
Speaker 1: This was not a stay at home and live off
23:05
Speaker 1: government disability woman. Oh, that was not going to work.
23:10
Speaker 1: She devotes herself to pulling her and her two children
23:14
Speaker 1: up to a different socio economic strata, and she worked
23:20
Speaker 1: around the clock to make it happen. But then she
23:24
Speaker 1: seems to meet her night in shining armor, Philip Smith,
23:30
Speaker 1: who turns out to be a circuit court judge. So
23:34
Speaker 1: here she comes, this hard charging, beautiful blonde collides with
23:40
Speaker 1: Philip Smith, a lawyer who goes on to be a
23:44
Speaker 1: circuit court judge. Wow, it finally seems like in addition
23:51
Speaker 1: to the joy she gets from her children, she's getting
23:55
Speaker 1: happiness in her life. But that was not meant to be.
23:59
Speaker 1: Take a listen to Hyler Thomas and at Kaark court
24:02
Speaker 1: documents who revealed the former senator was in the process
24:05
Speaker 1: of divorcing her husband, retired Judge Philip Smith. Hearing in
24:10
Speaker 1: that case was scheduled later this month, and according to
24:13
Speaker 1: documented testimony, the couple were at odds over money after
24:17
Speaker 1: selling a local hotel for more than a million dollars
24:21
Speaker 1: the X lawmakers. A former spokesperson tells us the divorce
24:25
Speaker 1: quote was not pleasant. H why is it that money
24:29
Speaker 1: seems to be at the root of so much heartache?
24:34
Speaker 1: LEVI page what happened in the divorce? This guy's a judge,
24:39
Speaker 1: for Pete's sake. Yes, they were going through a very
24:42
Speaker 1: bitter divorce proceedings, Nancy. At one point Philip Smith accused
24:47
Speaker 1: Linda Collins Smith of hiding assets and he wanted her jail.
24:51
Speaker 1: That did not happen, and he was also I guess
24:54
Speaker 1: it didn't. This woman works her fingers to the bone
24:57
Speaker 1: to amass owning the string at motels and suddenly comes
25:02
Speaker 1: along with this lawyer and he wants to take the
25:04
Speaker 1: whole thing away from her. Oh no, oh no, that's
25:08
Speaker 1: not even you know, scratching the service of their divorce.
25:11
Speaker 1: I mean, at one point he was investigated for improper
25:14
Speaker 1: use of court equipment during the divorce proceedings, and he
25:19
Speaker 1: was reprimanded and agreed to step down from the bench
25:23
Speaker 1: and agreed to never work again as a judge. So
25:27
Speaker 1: in the middle of his divorce from Linda, this comes out. Oh,
25:30
Speaker 1: I bet he had an axe to grind, but with politics,
25:34
Speaker 1: divorce enemies, she had a mass. Clawing her way to
25:40
Speaker 1: the top and taking hard positions on fighting corruption at
25:45
Speaker 1: the state capitol. Everything comes to a screeching halt. Nancy
25:52
Speaker 1: Grace Killers amongst us, signing off goodbye friend.