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Killers Amongst Us: Beautiful Blonde Mom Breaks into Politics, MURDERED! (part 4) · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:04
Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Nancy Grace here welcome back to Killers amongst Us,
0:08
Speaker 1: a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. As we watch
0:14
Speaker 1: celebrities and politicians on TV listen to them on radio,
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Speaker 1: do you ever wonder don't they make enemies in this
0:22
Speaker 1: line of business? Short answer, Yes, I'm Nancy Grace. Thanks
0:27
Speaker 1: for being with us for Killers amongst Us, Believe it
0:34
Speaker 1: or not, killers even walking the halls of government. Linda
0:40
Speaker 1: Colins Smith, beautiful blonde, big blue eyes, sets politics on
0:45
Speaker 1: a fire in the middle of an acrimonious divorce. Tragedy strikes. Listen.
0:53
Speaker 1: I was the one that found my mother's body on
0:55
Speaker 1: June fourth, twenty nineteen at her home. She was lying
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Speaker 1: face down, wrapped one of my old comforters and shoved
1:03
Speaker 1: ther ain't the tarp in her driveway. I will never
1:07
Speaker 1: not be able to see that picture burned in my brain,
1:11
Speaker 1: the smell of a dead body laying outside, wrapped up
1:14
Speaker 1: in that and that's harp for approximately a week in
1:17
Speaker 1: the Arkansas summer, this swarm of flies that fay out
1:21
Speaker 1: and surrounded me, the sight of her white blonde hair
1:23
Speaker 1: moving because the number of maggots crawling on her scalp
1:27
Speaker 1: The last memory of her that I have was a
1:30
Speaker 1: me making nine one one call and trying not to
1:33
Speaker 1: vomit at the sight and smell my mother's body. That
1:38
Speaker 1: is Linda Collins smith Son Butch speaking with me an
1:42
Speaker 1: All Star panel, Ken Yang, former press Secretary, Senator Missy Irvine,
1:48
Speaker 1: Arkansas State Senator. Longtime friends of Linda Collins, judge, trial lawyer,
1:53
Speaker 1: court TV anchor Ashley Wilcott, doctor Angela Arnold, psychiatrist out
1:58
Speaker 1: of Atlanta, Professor Fat Jacksonville State University, Joseph Scott, Morgan,
2:03
Speaker 1: private eye Derek Ellington, and Crime online dot Com investigative
2:07
Speaker 1: reporter Levi Page. Levi to hear Butch speaking about finding
2:15
Speaker 1: his mother is excruciating. What did the neighbors say they
2:21
Speaker 1: heard or saw? Yeah, So there were a lot of
2:23
Speaker 1: rumors going around Nancy that there was actually that she
2:27
Speaker 1: was a gunshot victim, that she had been shot, but
2:31
Speaker 1: that later turned out not to be true. She was
2:33
Speaker 1: stabbed multiple times and what led to the finding of
2:37
Speaker 1: her body is May twenty eighth was the last time
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Speaker 1: she posted on social media. Her friends and family were
2:42
Speaker 1: reaching out to her, they couldn't get a hold of her,
2:45
Speaker 1: and it's June fourth, after days of not being able
2:48
Speaker 1: to get ahold of her, they go and find the body.
2:50
Speaker 1: And I'm talking about her son and her father, and
2:54
Speaker 1: that nine one one call is very emotional with her son.
2:57
Speaker 1: And when the body was discovered and law enforcement started
3:01
Speaker 1: investigating this case, you know, the one place that they
3:05
Speaker 1: started was her ex husband, because in every case that
3:10
Speaker 1: we cover, Nancy, you look at how was the relationship
3:14
Speaker 1: with the husband or the ex husband, and if it
3:18
Speaker 1: was bitter, if they were going through a tough, bitter divorce,
3:22
Speaker 1: that means that law enforcement is going to zero in
3:24
Speaker 1: on that to see what they can find out. Well,
3:26
Speaker 1: it's my understanding it didn't take too long, under an hour.
3:31
Speaker 1: I've been told before. The judge as he is often
3:35
Speaker 1: still called, was taken in for questioning. To ask you, Wilcott,
3:39
Speaker 1: why why wouldn't you take the husband in for questioning? Nancy?
3:43
Speaker 1: You're always going to do that now. First of all,
3:45
Speaker 1: why because often people are killed by someone close to them.
3:48
Speaker 1: And second, in this case, let's not forget this is
3:51
Speaker 1: a husband who's no longer on the bench because of
3:55
Speaker 1: something we suspect accessing divorced documents and making changes to him.
4:00
Speaker 1: So it was acrimonious. It is well documented that they
4:03
Speaker 1: had a very long, contentious divorce. He'd be at the
4:06
Speaker 1: top of my leg. You know, it's really statistics. You
4:09
Speaker 1: can look and you see, Jessica Morgan, you're a death investigator.
4:13
Speaker 1: That's so often we start with a husband and there's
4:15
Speaker 1: a very good reason for that. Yeah, you got that right, Nancy.
4:18
Speaker 1: You know, media would have us believe that it's going
4:20
Speaker 1: to happen in some dark alley, some strangers going to
4:23
Speaker 1: come up and kill Listen, Statistically, you're more at risk
4:27
Speaker 1: with a person that you're in bed with then you
4:28
Speaker 1: are some stranger coming up to kill you. I gotta
4:31
Speaker 1: tell you, it's going to be that circle of intimates,
4:34
Speaker 1: those people that surround you, and as investigators, that's why
4:37
Speaker 1: we target those individuals to begin with with the investigation,
4:41
Speaker 1: who had motive, means, opportunity access, all of these things
4:45
Speaker 1: go into this recipe that we create. You know, when
4:49
Speaker 1: we're trying to investigate at homicide. I'm sure you all
4:51
Speaker 1: remember the Jody Arias murder case where Jody Areas stabbed
4:55
Speaker 1: or lover Travis Alexander we think twenty nine times and
4:59
Speaker 1: then shot him in the head. It was anger stabbings.
5:04
Speaker 1: I call them to jury's sweetheart murders. It certainly doesn't
5:07
Speaker 1: mean you're being sweet to the victim, but you have
5:10
Speaker 1: to be up close and personal to the victim to
5:13
Speaker 1: stab them. And in this case, Joe Scott, we're gonna
5:16
Speaker 1: we learn Linda Collins was not shot by a sniper
5:21
Speaker 1: or someone at fifty feet. She was stabbed multiple times.
5:24
Speaker 1: Joe Scott, Yeah, she was, and that makes this all
5:27
Speaker 1: the more intimate. Nancy, you know that, you know listen,
5:30
Speaker 1: it's one thing. You mentioned the words sniper just a
5:33
Speaker 1: second ago. It's one thing to shoot some people at range, okay,
5:38
Speaker 1: say ten feet away from you. But when you can
5:41
Speaker 1: be in that person's face, you can actually sense their
5:44
Speaker 1: last breath blown out upon your body as you're driving
5:47
Speaker 1: a knife into their chest, that's something completely different. That
5:50
Speaker 1: goes to a whole another level of rage. Anger, and
5:54
Speaker 1: it's a bloody mess. Nancy, make no mistake about this.
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Speaker 1: If we're looking at the forensics of this, wherever this succurred,
6:01
Speaker 1: there would be blood evidence here. To Ken Yang, the
6:04
Speaker 1: former press secretary for Linda Collins now the spokesperson for
6:07
Speaker 1: Collins family, when you first learned that Linda was the body.
6:15
Speaker 1: It was Linda wrapped in carpet, covered in a tarp
6:19
Speaker 1: at the end of her driveway. What did you think?
6:24
Speaker 1: You know, my my initial thoughn is who who could
6:28
Speaker 1: have done this to Linda? Um? You know they live
6:33
Speaker 1: in a you know, relatively safe, small community. Via Linda
6:39
Speaker 1: had enemies, but you just never think that this would
6:41
Speaker 1: happen to someone that you know. You know, I personally
6:45
Speaker 1: worked for their prosecue attorney's office in my home county
6:47
Speaker 1: for five years, so I've seen things like this, and
6:52
Speaker 1: you know, I just didn't couldn't believe it because I
6:55
Speaker 1: had just been texting with Linda, you know, not too
6:59
Speaker 1: long ago. How did you learn, Ken, How did you
7:08
Speaker 1: learn that it was in fact Linda's body? Um? You know,
7:12
Speaker 1: I I had received several text messages that a body
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Speaker 1: had been found at her house. UM. And you know
7:20
Speaker 1: I hadn't worked for Linda for a few years, but
7:24
Speaker 1: you know, the last thing that she had sent out
7:27
Speaker 1: still had my name on it, and so people were
7:29
Speaker 1: contacting me, and you know, I believed that the son
7:35
Speaker 1: and the daughter reached out to me about a day
7:37
Speaker 1: or so later, asking me if I would officially represent
7:42
Speaker 1: them to inoculate them from from the media. And so
7:45
Speaker 1: you know, I had no reason not to believe the
7:48
Speaker 1: son to believe Butch who had found them. And you
7:52
Speaker 1: know you had you had alluded to you know that
7:54
Speaker 1: he had said, he'll never be able to you know,
7:58
Speaker 1: get that picture. May will not be able to see
8:01
Speaker 1: that picture burned into his brain. And if I may,
8:04
Speaker 1: you know, the quote continues from Butsch this is what
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Speaker 1: the murderer left for the son and the father to find.
8:12
Speaker 1: The smell of the dead body quote. The smell of
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Speaker 1: the dead body laying outside, wrapped up and under her
8:19
Speaker 1: tart for approximately a week in hot Arkansas summer was
8:23
Speaker 1: nausea inducing in it of itself. The storm of flies
8:27
Speaker 1: that flew out surrounded me, the sight of her white
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Speaker 1: blonde hair moving because of the number of maggots quawling
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Speaker 1: on her. That's the last memory of her that I
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Speaker 1: will have. As I was making that, I don't want
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Speaker 1: one call oh ken, oh ken, that you know to
8:47
Speaker 1: you doctor Angela Arnolds psychiatrist. He is an adult, that's true,
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Speaker 1: but even an adult child to see the one that
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Speaker 1: has loved them the most in this world, their mother,
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Speaker 1: and this condition I mean I still to this day
9:04
Speaker 1: remember the moment my dad passed away. I'm glad I
9:08
Speaker 1: was with him, but that moment is forever in my mind,
9:11
Speaker 1: much less what this son had to go through Angela.
9:16
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine it. And he's definitely going to
9:19
Speaker 1: need some treatment for that because that could cause a
9:22
Speaker 1: post traumatic stress disorder for him. I mean, even when
9:25
Speaker 1: I was reading about it, and I'm sure that other
9:28
Speaker 1: people felt the same way, it was very difficult to
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Speaker 1: read about, especially the part about the maggots making her
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Speaker 1: hair move would probably means her face had been eaten
9:39
Speaker 1: away at this point, so hard to take it in, yes,
9:44
Speaker 1: and for that to be the last vision of his mother,
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Speaker 1: I don't know how he's ever going to be able
9:50
Speaker 1: to wipe that memory from his mind. Law enforcement now
9:54
Speaker 1: with the task of determining who murdered Linda Collins Smith,
9:59
Speaker 1: of course, the judge her husband in the middle of
10:02
Speaker 1: an acrimonious divorces taken in. But then think of all
10:05
Speaker 1: the hours of investigation to Senator Missy Irvin, Arkansas Arkansas
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Speaker 1: State Senator and dear friend of Linda Collins, all the enemies,
10:17
Speaker 1: all the death threats, all the insults and criticisms have
10:21
Speaker 1: to be sifted through because of her position as an
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Speaker 1: elected politician. Yes, Nancy, you know when I first heard it,
10:28
Speaker 1: and of course a B I mean, I really, in
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Speaker 1: my heart knew it was probably Linda because I represented
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Speaker 1: Pocahontas in Randolph County when I first was elected with Linda,
10:38
Speaker 1: she was in the House of Representatives and I was
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Speaker 1: in the Senate. So that's how I met her. Was
10:42
Speaker 1: on the campaign trail, so we were together all the time,
10:45
Speaker 1: and you know, it was a it's a beautiful town
10:48
Speaker 1: that the people are very gracious and wonderful, quiet town,
10:52
Speaker 1: and so you know, when you hear this, my immediate
10:55
Speaker 1: reaction was this was a crime of passion, and it's
10:58
Speaker 1: a crime of intimacy and a crime of passion. And
11:02
Speaker 1: of course, Butch knew. He knows the essence of his mother,
11:06
Speaker 1: and so you know, we knew. I knew right away.
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Speaker 1: I think that was Linda. But you do have enemies,
11:13
Speaker 1: and you have to question. I've you know, people are
11:17
Speaker 1: attracted to us as politicians for various reasons, because they
11:21
Speaker 1: admire qualities about us, or we say things that they
11:26
Speaker 1: want to say but they can't say them, or they
11:28
Speaker 1: don't feel bold enough to say them. So we become
11:31
Speaker 1: that and there becomes an attraction I think too people
11:36
Speaker 1: in our positions and you gather friendships, but you sometimes
11:41
Speaker 1: don't know these people. You know. I was at a
11:43
Speaker 1: campaign event one time and took a picture with a
11:46
Speaker 1: man who came up to me and said, I love you,
11:48
Speaker 1: Senator Irvin. You're great. I just appreciate what you do.
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Speaker 1: Can I take a picture with you and I'm going
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Speaker 1: to vote for you? And I was like, great, thank
11:54
Speaker 1: you so much. An hour later, the Clevelande County Sheriff's
11:58
Speaker 1: Department called me because she posted it on Facebook and said,
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Speaker 1: Senator Irvin, you are in a picture with a level
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Speaker 1: four sex offender. Oh, dear lord, and so you know,
12:10
Speaker 1: it just shocks you. But that happens, and it happens
12:14
Speaker 1: quite frequently, So you know, and you don't know who
12:17
Speaker 1: these people are. You don't know what their backgrounds are,
12:19
Speaker 1: You don't know if you can trust them or not.
12:22
Speaker 1: But you know they befriend you. You are befriended so
12:26
Speaker 1: and so, and I heard this. It was a crime
12:28
Speaker 1: of passion. So she's really surrounded by people she doesn't
12:32
Speaker 1: know or doesn't know their motives to Darry Ellington, You've
12:36
Speaker 1: got the husband in the middle of a divorce, She've
12:38
Speaker 1: got all the nuts that she has met in her
12:42
Speaker 1: political career. You've got her running businesses, and not only that,
12:47
Speaker 1: you've got her traveling back and forth and back and
12:49
Speaker 1: forth on long haul tricks to the Capitol and little right,
12:53
Speaker 1: many many times. For all we know, someone could have
12:56
Speaker 1: easily followed her from one of the motels from Rock
13:00
Speaker 1: and very simply just broken in and tried to rape
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Speaker 1: her and killed her. And at this point her body's
13:06
Speaker 1: so decomposed, you may never know that answer, Derry Ellington,
13:09
Speaker 1: there are many many possibilities. Well, and Nancy, what we
13:13
Speaker 1: say now in this day and age, every crime is
13:16
Speaker 1: a computer crime, and we credit law enforcement for having
13:19
Speaker 1: a lot of resources at their disposal to quickly go
13:23
Speaker 1: down the list of suspects. But seems like you know,
13:27
Speaker 1: cell phone GPS data, text messages, location data, emails, law
13:32
Speaker 1: enforcement has the ability to gather all that together very quickly,
13:38
Speaker 1: and looking at the case file, I'm going to be
13:41
Speaker 1: very interested to see the extent of the electronic evidence
13:44
Speaker 1: they have and some of which they reference but not
13:47
Speaker 1: allowed us to, you know, to review if they've not
13:49
Speaker 1: put it into public yet. I mean the reality is
13:52
Speaker 1: actually Wilcott trial trial lawyer and judge court TV anchor,
13:56
Speaker 1: I mean, the possibilities are endless. Is suspickpool is large? Gosh,
14:04
Speaker 1: this is a unique case to me, Nancy, and it's
14:06
Speaker 1: because of what Joe goot Morgan said earlier statistically as
14:09
Speaker 1: someone you know. But when you add to that exactly
14:12
Speaker 1: what the senator just shared and all of the public
14:15
Speaker 1: and publicity and passion around political topic subjects advocacy, it
14:22
Speaker 1: is limitless. I mean, this is a needle in a
14:25
Speaker 1: haystack in terms of the potential perpetrators out there, and
14:29
Speaker 1: especially with the body decomposure at this level, it's going
14:32
Speaker 1: to be hard to get any type even touch a
14:35
Speaker 1: DNA from the body. Then in the midst of the investigation,
14:40
Speaker 1: a love triangle emerges. Linda Collins Smith and Rebecca O'Donnell's
14:44
Speaker 1: relationship was intimate. They can find it in each other.
14:47
Speaker 1: In fact, those who knew the pair, including Collins family,
14:50
Speaker 1: said they were like sisters even though they weren't blood relations.
14:54
Speaker 1: O'Donnell helped Collins with her twenty fourteen and twenty eighteen
14:58
Speaker 1: election campaigns. They to each other socially, even going on
15:01
Speaker 1: trips together. O'donald was even a witness in collins contentious
15:05
Speaker 1: divorce proceedings. She testified about colins separation from her husband
15:09
Speaker 1: of twelve years, Judge Philip Smith. She testified to Colin's
15:13
Speaker 1: residency in Pocahontas and the eighteen month separation from Smith.
15:17
Speaker 1: Smith did not contest the divorce. As news became public
15:20
Speaker 1: that O'Donnell's boyfriend Tim Logins had financial power of attorney
15:24
Speaker 1: for Collins, speculation began on just what was the exact
15:28
Speaker 1: nature of the trio's relations. Were O'Donnell and Collins involved
15:32
Speaker 1: in a love triangle? WHOA did not see that coming?
15:36
Speaker 1: Leavi Page? First of all, who is the man Tim
15:40
Speaker 1: Logins that has power of attorney for Collins? I mean
15:45
Speaker 1: I would have assumed some lawyer or some real estate
15:49
Speaker 1: lawyer would have had that. And then Login's girlfriend is
15:54
Speaker 1: Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell and she works for Linda. So explain
15:59
Speaker 1: to me who are these two individuals Loggins and O'Donnell.
16:02
Speaker 1: So Loggins and O'Donnell they are fiancee, and Tim Loggins
16:08
Speaker 1: was the power of attorney over Linda Collins? Smith and
16:12
Speaker 1: Rebecca O'Donnell had worked for Linda Collins political campaigns twice
16:19
Speaker 1: and she was a very good friend of hers. They
16:22
Speaker 1: traveled together, they spoke to each other, communicated with each
16:26
Speaker 1: other frequently. So you've got these two. One is her
16:31
Speaker 1: power of attorney for financial reasons. The other his girlfriend
16:36
Speaker 1: has worked for Linda for a long time. To Senator
16:39
Speaker 1: Missy Irvin, did you know these two? I only knew
16:43
Speaker 1: Tim Loggins through Facebook? There is there was an ash
16:48
Speaker 1: that was I think it's Act seven forty six that
16:52
Speaker 1: we passed in the General Assembly, and it was about
16:54
Speaker 1: gun rights and and really kind of established an open
16:59
Speaker 1: carry in the state of Arkansas. Um, it wasn't worded
17:03
Speaker 1: completely correct clearly, but because of Act seven forty six,
17:07
Speaker 1: there was a a face group face group Facebook group
17:12
Speaker 1: that Tim Loggins was a part of and so, um
17:15
Speaker 1: it's a big Facebook group and posts and there was
17:18
Speaker 1: some interaction. I had some interaction with some of those folks. Okay,
17:21
Speaker 1: So he was involved in the gun regulation or anti
17:28
Speaker 1: gun regulation pursuit to Ken Yang for a press secretary
17:32
Speaker 1: for Linda. Did you know these two? I did. I
17:36
Speaker 1: actually knew Tim a lot better than I knew um Becky. Uh,
17:42
Speaker 1: you know, they went to everywhere together. I had to
17:45
Speaker 1: end up in uh pokehon as a believing who who
17:48
Speaker 1: went everywhere together, Linda and Becky and Tim okay. So
17:53
Speaker 1: they were friends. Um, yeah, there were there were close friends. Uh.
17:57
Speaker 1: When Tim would come to the Capitol to speak on
18:00
Speaker 1: gun legislation usually and Linda was around usually that Becky
18:04
Speaker 1: was around two. Becky had worked on the campaign in
18:09
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen event in pocohonas I believe in the twenty
18:13
Speaker 1: eighteen and I had invited Linda, and Linda invited to
18:18
Speaker 1: Becky and Tim to come with them, and so you know,
18:22
Speaker 1: I didn't know them well, but I didn't know them.
18:25
Speaker 1: There's a picture of them on her Facebook post and
18:28
Speaker 1: what we call the Senate elevator, the small elevator, and
18:32
Speaker 1: there's a picture of the three of them, and I
18:34
Speaker 1: think it was taken when he came to testify because
18:39
Speaker 1: Linda became the chair of the Judiciary committee because the
18:43
Speaker 1: chair of that committee had to resign. Well, so they
18:46
Speaker 1: did everything together, and Linda trusted Login so much she
18:51
Speaker 1: made him financial power of attorney. And then of course
18:54
Speaker 1: the girlfriend Rebecca O'Donnell had been working for her for years,
18:58
Speaker 1: so the three of them spent a lot of time together.
19:04
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friends at Kai Regin eight
19:08
Speaker 1: news silver and gold coins valuing thousands of dollars. The
19:14
Speaker 1: file revealed O'Donnell sold fifteen thousand dollars worth of gold
19:18
Speaker 1: coins and rings, and it's likely those same coins that
19:22
Speaker 1: Phil Smith said we're missing when he was being interviewed
19:26
Speaker 1: in his ex wife's murder. We also learned about trouble
19:30
Speaker 1: between O'Donnell and Collins. O'Donnell reportedly told that police were
19:35
Speaker 1: trying to prove that she was laundering money from the
19:38
Speaker 1: hotel Collins owned with Phil Smith. She said Collins's dad
19:42
Speaker 1: accused her of stealing, but O'Donnell said that wasn't the case.
19:47
Speaker 1: Whoa fifteen thousand dollars of gold and silver coins and rings?
19:53
Speaker 1: So I guess the judge Phil Smith wasn't all wrong.
19:58
Speaker 1: Somebody stole the silver and gold, but it wasn't his
20:01
Speaker 1: then wife Linda Collins. According to this source, it was
20:06
Speaker 1: I guess her secretary, Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell. What about it?
20:12
Speaker 1: Levin Greg Nancy Linda Collins. Smith's father suspected Rebecca O'Donnell,
20:18
Speaker 1: and so did Linda Collins Smith, and there was some
20:21
Speaker 1: tension there when they started suspecting her of stealing. What
20:27
Speaker 1: was Rebecca's personality? What was she like? I'm gonna stump
20:31
Speaker 1: in here because the Tim Loggins is a hothead. And
20:35
Speaker 1: if you look on the Patriots of Act seven forty six,
20:39
Speaker 1: I mean they're a little bit extreme. I mean I
20:42
Speaker 1: am one Second Amendment person. I'm a very conservative person.
20:46
Speaker 1: My grandpa was against this. But these people are off
20:52
Speaker 1: the chain. And he, you know, he is an aggressive personality.
20:56
Speaker 1: And somebody who has engaged with me on Facebook on
21:00
Speaker 1: that post or has written things, you know, improperly about
21:03
Speaker 1: me or other people on that Facebook past. Oh you
21:07
Speaker 1: know what, That's something I've always told juries. If you
21:11
Speaker 1: can't figure out what happened, find the nut in the scenario,
21:14
Speaker 1: and that will be a big red flag. Ken Yang,
21:17
Speaker 1: What can you so he's uh, let me just say,
21:20
Speaker 1: rabid Second Amendment person that is not a killer make
21:24
Speaker 1: ken Yang? What can you tell me about Rebecca o'donald.
21:27
Speaker 1: You know, she was very nice. She was a definitely
21:30
Speaker 1: a probably the most quiet out of out of the
21:34
Speaker 1: three um but as the Senator Irvan alluded to, you know, Tim,
21:39
Speaker 1: Tim was had had a bigger personality, spoke up more
21:43
Speaker 1: at events or at gathern rings, as did Linda, and
21:49
Speaker 1: you know, Becky typically did not did not do so,
21:52
Speaker 1: but seemed relatively nice and was always very cordial and
21:59
Speaker 1: very pleasant to Dan. Out of the blue, take a
22:02
Speaker 1: listen to our friends at ABCGMA. More than a week
22:05
Speaker 1: after the murder, O'Donnell and Loggins were on their way
22:08
Speaker 1: to the memorial service for Colin Smith when they noticed
22:11
Speaker 1: flashing lights. What did you think was happening when you
22:13
Speaker 1: saw those lights? I mean, I don't know what's going on,
22:16
Speaker 1: but it's obvious. They're stopping us with my son in
22:18
Speaker 1: the truck, and we stop and they've got a R
22:21
Speaker 1: fifteens pointed at us. You can see the look of
22:24
Speaker 1: just uttered disbelief on her face that that was happening,
22:29
Speaker 1: not knowing what's going on, You could just see it.
22:32
Speaker 1: O'donald worked on Colin Smith's most recent campaign, and, according
22:35
Speaker 1: to Logins, was the last person known to have seen
22:38
Speaker 1: Colin Smith alive. I believe it was my twenty eight.
22:42
Speaker 1: Tooklinda lunch, That's what she told me. Took her lunch
22:45
Speaker 1: to her home. Yes, they were very close. You don't
22:48
Speaker 1: understand Becky worked for Linda, but Linda was a family friend.
22:52
Speaker 1: So here you've got the boyfriend telling police his girlfriend
22:59
Speaker 1: is allowed this one he knows of with Linda Collins Smith.
23:04
Speaker 1: What else does he have to say? It was like
23:06
Speaker 1: Becky's sister. Linda was like my sister. You would classify
23:09
Speaker 1: them as best friends. Yes, they were all so close
23:13
Speaker 1: that Logan says O'Donnell was a corroborating witness in Colin
23:16
Speaker 1: Smith's divorce, and he had power of attorney over Colin Smith,
23:21
Speaker 1: overseeing some of her financial matters, and that has brought
23:24
Speaker 1: him under some public scrutiny. I didn't want to do it,
23:27
Speaker 1: but Linda needed to help, and you help a friend
23:29
Speaker 1: when they need it. I never might have a nickel
23:32
Speaker 1: off of helping Linda do any of that period. You're
23:36
Speaker 1: telling me you never benefited from any of that, not
23:40
Speaker 1: a nickel. Are you one hundred percent certain that your fiancee,
23:45
Speaker 1: Becky had nothing to do with the murder of Linda Collins. Yes, Sam,
23:50
Speaker 1: you had nothing to do with the murder of Linda Collins.
23:53
Speaker 1: I did not. That sounds a little weak. To me, yes,
23:56
Speaker 1: I am. I did not I would be throwing a
23:58
Speaker 1: fit and lying on the courthouse steps screaming what else
24:01
Speaker 1: do we learn? After o'donald's arrest, Colin Smith's family was stunned,
24:05
Speaker 1: releasing a statement saying we are sickened and upset that
24:08
Speaker 1: someone so close to Linda would be involved in such
24:11
Speaker 1: a terrible, heartless crime. But Logins is asking for help
24:14
Speaker 1: to clear his fiancee's name, saying he believes the real
24:18
Speaker 1: killer is still out there. As it crossed your mind
24:20
Speaker 1: for a moment, just in some late night alone, were
24:27
Speaker 1: you question, well, maybe Becky is capable of this. Becky
24:32
Speaker 1: is not capable of this. You haven't add every question
24:34
Speaker 1: that at all. No. I mean either she is a
24:38
Speaker 1: best actress in the world and a sociopath and completely
24:43
Speaker 1: fooled me, or there's not a chance she did this,
24:48
Speaker 1: not a chance she did it well. Just as Derek Ellington,
24:53
Speaker 1: expert an online activity at ellington dot Net said, the
24:58
Speaker 1: second thing you do, besides speaking to the husband and
25:01
Speaker 1: the intimates is look at the computers. Take a listen
25:05
Speaker 1: to Aaron Castleberry Kai TV Region eight new court documents
25:10
Speaker 1: recently released, she had new light into the death of
25:13
Speaker 1: former state Senator Linda Collins. Now, the records released today
25:16
Speaker 1: showed Arkansas State Police investigators sought several search warrants for
25:20
Speaker 1: computers and computer and phone records for the two. Now,
25:23
Speaker 1: the affidavit states that o'donald told the ANSP investigator she
25:27
Speaker 1: last saw Collins at her home on May twenty, twenty nineteen.
25:32
Speaker 1: That's where they got into a verbal argument, according to
25:34
Speaker 1: that affidavit, and she said that she had not seen
25:37
Speaker 1: her since that night. Now, on June fourth, her fiance,
25:40
Speaker 1: now that's Rebecca o'donald's fiance say, said that she had
25:43
Speaker 1: visited to Collins's home several times that week, and Collins's
25:46
Speaker 1: son even said that he saw o'donald at his mother's
25:49
Speaker 1: home on June third. So to you, Derry Ellington, online
25:52
Speaker 1: activity expert, what were they looking for? Well, some of
25:54
Speaker 1: the things we would look for besides direct communications between
25:58
Speaker 1: the two, such as takes as an emails, is location data.
26:02
Speaker 1: And the location data can be used to impeach somebody's statement.
26:07
Speaker 1: You know where I was where I wasn't. And so
26:09
Speaker 1: when we talk about location data, we talk about things
26:12
Speaker 1: like cell tower data that the police have access to
26:15
Speaker 1: and then also things they can get from Apple, from
26:19
Speaker 1: Android where when you're using your phone every day, it's
26:22
Speaker 1: also collecting location information on you. And again that information
26:26
Speaker 1: can be very powerful to put somebody in a place
26:30
Speaker 1: and also if the person's lying about where they were.
26:39
Speaker 1: Now take a listen to Aaron Castleberry Kai TV Regionate News.
26:44
Speaker 1: O'donald also told investigators that Timmy Loggins had removed several
26:48
Speaker 1: security cameras from collins As home prior to the murder,
26:52
Speaker 1: because that they did because they did not work, and
26:54
Speaker 1: said that Collins was going to go and say as
26:56
Speaker 1: she could get a refund for them. Now, those cameras
26:59
Speaker 1: were not found at Colls home. So back to you
27:01
Speaker 1: leavi page, Let me understand. O'Donnell now tells police her lover,
27:07
Speaker 1: Tim Loggins, is the one that removed security cameras from
27:11
Speaker 1: the home. That is correct, Nancy, And that is suspicious
27:14
Speaker 1: because she is last seen May twenty eight and those
27:19
Speaker 1: cameras are gone and then she ends up dead. Is
27:22
Speaker 1: it a coincidence that those cameras were removed before she's killed?
27:26
Speaker 1: It all comes to a culmination. Take a listen to
27:29
Speaker 1: Diana Davis KAI Region AH Judge Foegelman asked her, tell
27:36
Speaker 1: us what you did. That was quite a striking moment
27:39
Speaker 1: there in the courtroom, and Rebecca responded with quote, I
27:43
Speaker 1: went to her, I intentionally killed her. O'Donnell was very
27:47
Speaker 1: calm in the courtroom this morning. She looked much thinner
27:51
Speaker 1: than when she was in here before. There was a
27:54
Speaker 1: moment when she teared up in the courtroom, but it
27:57
Speaker 1: was not when she was talking about what she did
28:00
Speaker 1: to Linda Collins. Now you will remember that the state
28:03
Speaker 1: had been seeking the death penalty in the case of O'Donnell,
28:06
Speaker 1: but now that is off the table as she enters
28:09
Speaker 1: plea agreements today here at the Randolph County Courthouse. Her
28:13
Speaker 1: children were in the courtroom, as well as the adult
28:16
Speaker 1: children of former state Senator Linda Collins. How stunned were you,
28:22
Speaker 1: Ken Yang, former press secretary for Linda Collins, to discover
28:28
Speaker 1: this mousey young secretary for Linda Collins admits to murder.
28:35
Speaker 1: It was just heartbreaking and absolutely unbelievable that someone that
28:47
Speaker 1: Linda considered her best friend, that Linda considered her sister,
28:55
Speaker 1: would would do something like this and do something that
29:00
Speaker 1: did you know, obviously all of us that new Linda
29:03
Speaker 1: but ultimately do something that affected her children and do
29:06
Speaker 1: something that affected Linda's dad, who was her best friend.
29:14
Speaker 1: And not only was it just just heartbreaking, but you know,
29:20
Speaker 1: I'm Tuesday still angry about it too, that miss O'Donnell
29:28
Speaker 1: is still here with us and Linda is not. In
29:31
Speaker 1: a bombshell plea deal that takes the death penalty off
29:35
Speaker 1: the table. The former MOUSEI secretary of Linda Collins Smith
29:40
Speaker 1: pleads guilty to her murder, getting fifty years for the
29:46
Speaker 1: death of Linda. Was the motive all about greed, all
29:52
Speaker 1: about money? What do you know, Levin Nancy, You are correct.
29:56
Speaker 1: She actually admitted to stealing from Linda Collins Smith and
30:01
Speaker 1: back to the security cameras that I mentioned earlier. The
30:05
Speaker 1: police never found the cameras, but they were able to
30:08
Speaker 1: go back into the cloud storage where the security footage
30:12
Speaker 1: inside the home. Everything is stored on a cloud. They
30:15
Speaker 1: were able to get a subpoena. It got that footage
30:17
Speaker 1: and it showed Rebecca O'Donnell walking around Linda Collins Smith's
30:22
Speaker 1: home with a bloody knife and blood on her fan.
30:25
Speaker 1: I don't understand why these two Arkansas State Senator Linda
30:30
Speaker 1: Collins and her aid, Rebecca Lyn O'Donnell and separable, working
30:35
Speaker 1: side by side, seeing each other socially every other night,
30:39
Speaker 1: going on trips together. How did that friendship turn fatal
30:46
Speaker 1: to Senator and Missy Irvin way In. Yeah, I was
30:50
Speaker 1: so angry about this, but it was actually my gut
30:53
Speaker 1: feeling that something like this had happened. And it take
30:57
Speaker 1: me back to the tragic death of Seale, the Latin
31:01
Speaker 1: American bombshell, you know, singer, and very similar situation, but
31:06
Speaker 1: it was driven by a hind a crime of passion.
31:09
Speaker 1: There's a friendship in infimacy. There was an attraction. There
31:13
Speaker 1: was this admiration that she is what I can't be.
31:16
Speaker 1: She's bold, and she is, you know, beautiful in this
31:20
Speaker 1: blonde hair and this red lipstick, and she's competent because
31:24
Speaker 1: and I'm not. And so it's you know, I'm talking
31:27
Speaker 1: about Becky o'donald. I mean, they're very opposite, and you know,
31:31
Speaker 1: and Linda was so trusting of people and and trusted
31:36
Speaker 1: unfortunately this woman. And so it really was not shocking
31:40
Speaker 1: to me because of what I have personally experienced, what
31:43
Speaker 1: others I know have experienced, it was not shocking. Well,
31:47
Speaker 1: maybe the prosecution should have thought twice before they took
31:50
Speaker 1: that death penalty off the table. Listen to Kai region
31:53
Speaker 1: Eate News investigators outlined their investigation into Rebecca O'Donnell. The
31:59
Speaker 1: charges in this case solicitation to commit murder, O'Donnell trying
32:03
Speaker 1: to get several of her fellow inmates to murder Linda
32:07
Speaker 1: Collins's ex husband, Phil Smith, and planting a suicide note
32:12
Speaker 1: making it appear as if Smith was the true murderer.
32:16
Speaker 1: That never panned out because those inmates went to investigators
32:20
Speaker 1: and as they talked, investigators learned that O'Donnell admitted to
32:24
Speaker 1: appearing on camera bloody knife in hand, but she claimed
32:29
Speaker 1: that knife was for a chicken and that investigators doctor
32:33
Speaker 1: the video. The investigating file also revealed that she removed
32:38
Speaker 1: those cameras and returned them to the store. Well wait
32:42
Speaker 1: a minute, so now she's behind bars, trying to get
32:46
Speaker 1: Linda's ex husband the judge murdered, and fake a suicide note.
32:52
Speaker 1: You think you've heard it all, well you haven't. Take
32:55
Speaker 1: a Listen to Fox sixteen news reporter Mandy Noel, she's
32:59
Speaker 1: a kis this morning, trying to set up a murder
33:01
Speaker 1: from the high bars. Rebecca O'Donnell is in jail, now
33:04
Speaker 1: charged with murdering Linda Collins. On top of the capital
33:07
Speaker 1: murder charge. Rebecca O'Donnell is now facing two counts of
33:10
Speaker 1: solicitation to commit capital murder and tampering with physical evidence.
33:15
Speaker 1: The new charges were filed in Jackson County's Circuit Court.
33:18
Speaker 1: Were told four inmates say O'Donnell talked to them about
33:23
Speaker 1: killing Collins's former husband and making it look like a suicide.
33:27
Speaker 1: Investigators say O'Donnell wanted the man's current wife to be
33:30
Speaker 1: killed too. Court documents claimed she offered to pay the
33:33
Speaker 1: inmates in gold and silver. All this is happening from
33:37
Speaker 1: inside the Jackson County jail. Whoa so wait a minute,
33:42
Speaker 1: this MOUSEI secretary has killed Linda Collins. Now she wants
33:47
Speaker 1: to kill her ex husband. Linda's ex husband, the judge
33:50
Speaker 1: Philip Smith and his new wife Joe Scott Morgan. You're
33:56
Speaker 1: the death investigator. Ever seen anything like it? No, no, I.
34:00
Speaker 1: You know you would think that you would be emboldened
34:03
Speaker 1: that one time to go over the top. And Nancy,
34:06
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, and you know, in my measure,
34:09
Speaker 1: this this homicide of this poor woman, it beats the
34:14
Speaker 1: band when it comes to others. But the fact that
34:17
Speaker 1: you're going to try to reach out and solicit for
34:20
Speaker 1: a homicide beyond this is mind blowing because of all
34:24
Speaker 1: of the mechanics involved. And you've already been caught once.
34:28
Speaker 1: You know what's on the table with this, it's it's
34:31
Speaker 1: beyond the pole. You know. It seems as if her
34:33
Speaker 1: web of deceit and murderer knows no end. And for
34:38
Speaker 1: all these years she was elbow to elbow with her victim,
34:43
Speaker 1: Linda Collins Smith. But don't forget the impact this has
34:48
Speaker 1: had on Linda's family. Take a listen to Logan Whalley
34:53
Speaker 1: Kai TV. It was an emotional day here at the
34:57
Speaker 1: Randolph County Courthouse. Linda Collins children spoke to us about
35:00
Speaker 1: an hour after the hearing ended, recalling the moment Linda
35:03
Speaker 1: was found dead. And you could tell the emotional toll
35:06
Speaker 1: that this has taken on them. I will never not
35:09
Speaker 1: be able to see that picture burning in my brain.
35:13
Speaker 1: Linda's family fighting back tears after the court hearing Thursday.
35:16
Speaker 1: That was Butch, Linda's oldest child. He was the one
35:19
Speaker 1: who found her dead. He says, the last memory he
35:22
Speaker 1: has of her was making that nine one one call
35:24
Speaker 1: with the sight and smell of his mom's body in
35:26
Speaker 1: his mind. But says his mother's death was quote an
35:29
Speaker 1: awful deed carried out of hate, jealousy, and greed, and
35:33
Speaker 1: we realized that no matter what punishment Rebecca o'donald or steves,
35:36
Speaker 1: it will never be enough. Both Butch and his sister
35:39
Speaker 1: Tate Williams feel that none of the punishments for Rebecca
35:42
Speaker 1: O'Donnell will come close to what they feel is right,
35:45
Speaker 1: a deadly mixture of jealousy, obsession, and greed. The theory
35:53
Speaker 1: is that when Linda Collins confronted O'Donnell for stealing the
35:59
Speaker 1: gold and silver, O'Donnell snaps and stabs Linda dead in
36:05
Speaker 1: a fit of rage. O'Donnell up for parole in thirty
36:10
Speaker 1: years killers amongst us Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend,