Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / SHOCK as FEMALE STAFFER ARRESTED in gory murder of gorgeous AR Senator

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SHOCK as FEMALE STAFFER ARRESTED in gory murder of gorgeous AR Senator · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. On Tuesday, June fourth, twenty nineteen,
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Speaker 1: the dead body of a female was discovered that the
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Speaker 1: residence of former Arkansas State Senator Linda Collins Smith. The
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Speaker 1: condition of the body prevented any immediate positive identification. The
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Speaker 1: Randolph County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene that around
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Speaker 1: five forty five PM and immediately began securing the crime scene.
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Speaker 1: The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division was dispatched to
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Speaker 1: the scene along with forensic examiners from the Arkansas State
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Speaker 1: Crime Lab a little rock. The body has been sent
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Speaker 1: for an autopsy to determine the positive identification and cause
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Speaker 1: of death. What happened and absolutely gorgeous Arkansas State senator
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Speaker 1: body found shot dead and wrapped in a blanket outside
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Speaker 1: her home. To top it all off, her husband, her
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Speaker 1: ex husband, a judge. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. What in the hay
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Speaker 1: happened to Arkansas State Senator Linda Collins with me an
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Speaker 1: all star panel, Dave Mac, doctor Michelle Duprey, Ashley Kelly,
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Speaker 1: and Daryl Cohen. First to You, Syndicated talk show host
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Speaker 1: Dave Mack Dave Mack. What happened for an Arkansas state
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Speaker 1: senator to be found dead and wrapped in a blanket.
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Speaker 1: Just let's just start with how her body was found.
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Speaker 1: About a day or two before her body was found,
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Speaker 1: neighbors heard gunshots, okay, when her body was found. When
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Speaker 1: they went on a welfare check, they found her deceased
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Speaker 1: body wrapped in a blanket. And apparently it was you know,
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Speaker 1: hot and everything else, so you've got decomposition. That's why
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Speaker 1: they couldn't even determine quickly what had happened. Okay, you
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Speaker 1: know to doctor Michel du Pree, we're now a medical
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Speaker 1: examiner out of South Carolina and author of Homicide Investigation
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Speaker 1: fuel Guide, how badly does it hurt an investigation when
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Speaker 1: the body is left in hot weather Financia. Of course,
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Speaker 1: hotter weather makes the body decompose faster, and of course
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Speaker 1: that there is any injuries, the body will decompose out
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Speaker 1: those injuries even more fast. So it can be very
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Speaker 1: difficult to do to determine who that is. You know,
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Speaker 1: I know it's harsh to think of it this way,
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Speaker 1: but think about a piece of fruit that you let
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Speaker 1: sit there and decompose. The warmer the weather, the more
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Speaker 1: rapidly the fruit decomposes. Same thing with a human body.
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Speaker 1: Take a listen to this from our friends at THHV eleven.
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Speaker 1: This is Jordan Hollington's deputy is joined by Arkansas State
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Speaker 1: Police's criminal investigation team. A sea of investigators spotted combing
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Speaker 1: through the former state senator's property. Neighbors living around the
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Speaker 1: crime scene chose not to go on camera because they
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Speaker 1: said they're scared to speak out, but they said this
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Speaker 1: whole ordeal is like a mystery. Colin Smith's home located
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Speaker 1: right off Highway ninety in the Edgewood neighborhood, one that
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Speaker 1: people here told us off camera is typically quiet. You
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Speaker 1: can see the vehicles behind the crime scene tape. Neighbors
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Speaker 1: told us the red truck belongs to the former senator.
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Speaker 1: That's the vehicle she was spotted driving in about two
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Speaker 1: weeks ago, and the others we are told belonged to
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Speaker 1: her father and son. As investigators arrived, neighbors said those
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Speaker 1: vehicles were left on the property. The body found outside
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Speaker 1: the home has since been taken to the state crime lab.
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Speaker 1: The condition of the body prevented any immediate positive identification. There,
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Speaker 1: they'll determine the cause of debt. Wow. Okay, back to
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Speaker 1: doctor Michelle d Pre, medical examiner from South Carolina dot
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Speaker 1: door du Pre, they could not even identify the body
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Speaker 1: and a decomposed so much. But come on, it's wrapped
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Speaker 1: in a piece of carpet and it's outside her home
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Speaker 1: and she's missing. I mean, how could it have decomposed
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Speaker 1: so rapidly they can't even identify it? Nancy, that very
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Speaker 1: well may be because of the injuries and where the
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Speaker 1: injuries are. Injuries will decompose a lot faster than the
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Speaker 1: normal intact skin or tissue, so I suspect that this
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Speaker 1: is partly due to the injuries. So bottom line, what
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Speaker 1: they're saying is they can't look at her face and
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Speaker 1: identify her. Okay, that means her face was either so
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Speaker 1: badly injured, say from a gunshot, wound or bludgeoning, they
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Speaker 1: can't make a facial recognition identification. Daryl co and criminal
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Speaker 1: defense attorney joining me out of Atlanta. You can find
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Speaker 1: them at Darrell co and dot TV. Darryl. That's every
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Speaker 1: murderer's dream for the body to go, you know, unfound.
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Speaker 1: For the longer the better delay. Delay delay is a
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Speaker 1: defendant's friend and then the body's so decomposed you can't
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Speaker 1: make an id. Why does that cause murder perps to
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Speaker 1: dance up and down the hall all of the courthouse. Well,
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Speaker 1: they dance because if you can't determine the cause of death,
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Speaker 1: if you can't even determine who it is it was
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Speaker 1: killed without DNA, they're dancing because the more time, the
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Speaker 1: less evidence, the more likely a defendant's going to be acquitted.
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Speaker 1: And in this instance, what do we have. We have
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Speaker 1: a recently killed person wrapped up, decomposing, and how do
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Speaker 1: we put a purp there? How do we part a
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Speaker 1: person of interest there? How do we find the defendant
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Speaker 1: to prosecute we have? The police have to do a
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Speaker 1: lot of work, a lot of the investigative techniques that
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Speaker 1: they don't like to do. So from a defense strategy,
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Speaker 1: this is, you know, a jackpot. They can't identify her
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Speaker 1: body at days and days and days passed before the
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Speaker 1: body's found. To Dave Matt joining Me, syndicated talk show host,
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Speaker 1: So she Arkansas state senator apparently goes missing. She served
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Speaker 1: in the legislature. She was found dead outside her home
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Speaker 1: there in Pocahontas. That's about one hundred and thirty miles
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Speaker 1: northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas. Now, authorities have released very
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Speaker 1: few details about her murder, but we know it's a
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Speaker 1: murder because why else would she be wrapped up in
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Speaker 1: a carpet. They're releasing very few details about how she
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Speaker 1: was killed, but apparently it was a gunshot wound, and
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Speaker 1: Dave Mack, I'm de do seeing that, says they can't
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Speaker 1: make a facial recognition id she was shot in the face.
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Speaker 1: You kind of have to assume that we don't even
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Speaker 1: know exactly what day she was killed. We only know
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Speaker 1: that her last post was on May twenty eight, and
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Speaker 1: then nothing else was heard from her, and when police
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Speaker 1: went to check, that's when they discovered her. And that
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Speaker 1: was at least a day or two after neighbors reported
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Speaker 1: hearing gunshots. To add to the mystery, a judge agrees
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Speaker 1: to seal all the records, all the documents, so we
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Speaker 1: can't find out exactly what police know, but I do
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Speaker 1: know this. Take a listen to sound victim Arkansas State
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Speaker 1: Senator Linda Collins. This is from Ashley kurtzy Ka r KTV.
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Speaker 1: I am here with Senator Linda Collins Smith and you
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Speaker 1: know what it's like to be on the receiving and
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Speaker 1: this is your community. How are folks holding up right now?
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Speaker 1: You know, I know that a lot of folks are tired,
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Speaker 1: And of course for the folks that are coming back
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Speaker 1: into their homes and having to clean up, they are tired,
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Speaker 1: but I know that they have to do this, and
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Speaker 1: so they're out here. They're getting some help maybe you know,
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Speaker 1: hopefully there's volunteers coming to help clean up after the
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Speaker 1: disaster getting over here, and their hearts, they're broken, they're tired.
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Speaker 1: They did this in twenty eleven to have to be
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Speaker 1: doing it again. And so I have had a home
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Speaker 1: burned to the ground and whether you have nothing, and
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Speaker 1: you know we were home but didn't even have his
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Speaker 1: shoes on that day. So I know that for these people,
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Speaker 1: I just want to thank all of you for turning
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Speaker 1: out and the host state, the community turning out to
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Speaker 1: help these people by donating, you know, being generous and
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Speaker 1: giving to them. You are hearing in the Arkansas State
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Speaker 1: Senator Linda Collins so worried about her constituents, so worried
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Speaker 1: about the people around her, But who's here to worry
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Speaker 1: about her? Now? She has found we believe shot dead
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Speaker 1: by a gunshot wound to the face, her body decomposing
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Speaker 1: wrapped up in carpet outside her home. Crime Stories with
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Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, with the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division
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Speaker 1: and the Randolph County Sheriffs Department, in coordination with the
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Speaker 1: Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney's Office, have arrested one person
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Speaker 1: in connection with the homicide, a former Arsas State Senator
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Speaker 1: Lynda Collins Smith. Forty eight year old Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell,
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Speaker 1: is in custody in connection to that investigation. Sheriff Kevin
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Speaker 1: Bell told us she was arrested around four o'clock today,
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Speaker 1: That was just about an hour before the press conference tonight.
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Speaker 1: Criminal charges are pending and we are still waiting to
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Speaker 1: confirm details about why exactly she's being considered a suspect,
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Speaker 1: but Sheriff Bell says they cannot disclose any more information
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Speaker 1: right now. The investigation is presently at a critical juncture
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Speaker 1: and no further information will be released at this time
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Speaker 1: until we are confident that it will not compromise the
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Speaker 1: integrity of the criminal investigation. We're also learning more about
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Speaker 1: the arrest, like Shelby said, O'Donnell was arrested just before
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Speaker 1: four this afternoon during a traffic stop on Highway sixty two.
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Speaker 1: Bell was the one who arrested O'Donnell. You are hearing
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Speaker 1: some of the latest the mysterious circumstances around the death
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Speaker 1: of former Arkansas State Enator Linda Collins, and now we
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Speaker 1: are learning that a female staffer is suspected in the murder.
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Speaker 1: They say, the female staffer was pulled over because of
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Speaker 1: a traffic stop. Okay, you know what. They did, the
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Speaker 1: same thing with Timothy McVey, the Okay City bomber. I mean,
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Speaker 1: it happened so often that a simple traffic stop yields
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Speaker 1: incredible results. Same thing in Israel, Keys the serial killer,
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Speaker 1: they kill, the Alaska barista, the young teen girl, Samantha
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Speaker 1: ko Nick. He was pulled over I think in Texas
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Speaker 1: for a tail light or some other traffic incident, and
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Speaker 1: the whole thing blew wide open. In this case, this
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Speaker 1: female staffer pulled over with a traffic violation and then
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Speaker 1: charged with murder. Take a listen to our friend Marty
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Speaker 1: Gonzalez at ABC News this morning new insight into the
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Speaker 1: connection between a former Arkansas state senator killed in her
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Speaker 1: home and her former campaign staffer arrested in connection. It
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Speaker 1: comes as a shock. Linda Colin Smith was found shot
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Speaker 1: to death on June fourth. Days later, Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell
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Speaker 1: updated her Facebook profile picture to this smiling image of
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Speaker 1: them together. Then Friday, without explanation, police took O'Donnell into custody.
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Speaker 1: The investigation is presently at a critical juncture and no
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Speaker 1: further informational way released at this time. ABC news station
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Speaker 1: KAI reporting that O'Donnell recently appeared as a corroborating witness
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Speaker 1: in Colin Smith's divorce case. And we're told the two
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Speaker 1: were good friends. They were all fighters for the Second Amendment,
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Speaker 1: and so they would you know, you'd see them at events,
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Speaker 1: travel together. This weekend, family, friends and colleagues gathered for
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Speaker 1: Colin Smith's funeral, remembering her as a loving mother and
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Speaker 1: tough legislator. And police still aren't saying anything about a
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Speaker 1: possible motive or when charges maybe file. I don't get it.
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Speaker 1: A former female staffer of this arc saw state senator
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Speaker 1: is now suspected in her murder. Her gunshot wound to
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Speaker 1: the face. To syndicated talk show host Dave mac what
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Speaker 1: is the evidence they have against the staffer a friend.
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Speaker 1: They're not saying Nancy. They're playing this so close to
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Speaker 1: the vest. All we know is that apparently Becky o'donald
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Speaker 1: was very very close to Linda Collins. The part that
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Speaker 1: made me sick was six days after her body was discovered,
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Speaker 1: this Becky o'donald posts a picture of the two of
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Speaker 1: them to her Facebook page, and the tim hugging and smiling.
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Speaker 1: So all I can think of is that that case
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Speaker 1: years ago of Selena the singer and her friend who
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Speaker 1: managed her clothing store and was her fan club president
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Speaker 1: shooting her. That's all I can think of. I can't
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Speaker 1: even get past anything else in The police aren't helping
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Speaker 1: by giving us any information. Well, we know that Linda Collins,
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Speaker 1: who formerly went by Colins Smith, and O'Donnell, the woman
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Speaker 1: now suspected in her murder, her former friends slash staffer
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Speaker 1: were friends, and o'donald had helped Collins with her most
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Speaker 1: recent campaign and had even been high up in the
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Speaker 1: campaign and the highest echelons of the campaign. You know,
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Speaker 1: Daryl Cohen, when you have a friend on friend murder,
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Speaker 1: what could be a possible motive? M A l E
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Speaker 1: My view, is when things come out, we're going to
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Speaker 1: find out there was a man involved, and that she
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Speaker 1: was mad. She shot her in the face because she
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Speaker 1: couldn't stand to see her anymore, and she was going
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Speaker 1: to get mad and get even I think we'll find
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Speaker 1: that that's what's going to be part of it. Yep,
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Speaker 1: a man, you know, Daryl Cohen. I find that so
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Speaker 1: interesting that you, a man, think that men are so
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Speaker 1: so irresistible that a friend would shoot another friend in
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Speaker 1: the face to get a I believe you said, m
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Speaker 1: A l E. Really is that your experience with women
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Speaker 1: that they pull guns and knives and beat each other
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Speaker 1: to be with you? No? I wish somebody would, but
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Speaker 1: the answer is no. I feel in this instance it
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Speaker 1: smells to me very much like a soap opera. That
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Speaker 1: they were friends. They had an argument. If they have
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Speaker 1: an argument over losing a campaign not going to happen,
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Speaker 1: they have an argument over address not going to happen.
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Speaker 1: If they have an argument over mail, and they are
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Speaker 1: both interested very much in this mail, I think very
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Speaker 1: easily it could happen. What about it, joining me Ashley Kelly,
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Speaker 1: licensed clinical social worker. Any number of things, maybe one
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Speaker 1: uncovered financial wrongdoing, in the campaign, maybe one of the other,
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Speaker 1: maybe one found something incriminating of the other, you know,
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Speaker 1: maybe it was a heat of passion, an argument, maybe
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Speaker 1: like in Selena, possibly the staffer had a crush on
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Speaker 1: Linda Collins that was not returned. It could be a
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Speaker 1: number of number of factors. Sure, and without knowing this
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Speaker 1: good friend's mental health background, she could have it undiagnosed
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Speaker 1: personality disorder that showed its ugly face in a heat
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Speaker 1: of passionate could have been a lot of different things.
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Speaker 1: It's hard to say without that information. So right now
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Speaker 1: we don't know the motive. But what do we know
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Speaker 1: at all about any evidence police have to arrest the
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Speaker 1: friend slash campaign worker. What do we know if anything,
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Speaker 1: at this early juncture, Dave Matt Nancy. All we know
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Speaker 1: is that police were called for a welfare check and
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Speaker 1: been tracking it back two days before her body was discovered.
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Speaker 1: Neighbors said they heard gunshots. We have an ongoing relationship
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Speaker 1: between Rebecca then O'Donnell known as Becky and miss Collins,
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Speaker 1: so we know they had a very close bond and
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Speaker 1: that they've been together for many, many years as friends.
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Speaker 1: Police are not releasing any any evidence whatsoever. On what
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Speaker 1: directly ties Becky to the murder Miss Collins joining me
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Speaker 1: Karen Smith, forensics expert, founder of Beer Bones Consulting, Karen
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Speaker 1: way In at this point. You know, if it was
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Speaker 1: a gunshot wound, hopefully they have a projectile or possibly
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Speaker 1: a casing. If a semi automatic was used, they can
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Speaker 1: trace that back to a gun if they find one.
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Speaker 1: If if Rebecca had a gun registered to her and
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Speaker 1: they can trace that back, that might be one way. Also,
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Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure that the senator had surveillance at
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Speaker 1: her house. Most people do now, so they may have
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Speaker 1: Rebecca on surveillance at the house around the time of
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Speaker 1: the murder. So these maybe things that police are keeping
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Speaker 1: close to the vest for obvious reasons. But it's certainly
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Speaker 1: there's another odd fact. And Dave Mack alleged this earlier.
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Speaker 1: Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell recently switched her Facebook profile picture to
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Speaker 1: one showing her with the dead senator. And she did this.
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Speaker 1: It's a real smiley picture of the two together after
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Speaker 1: Linda Collins is killed. That's creepy in itself, but let's
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Speaker 1: go on. Well, you know, Daryl Cohen, I'm gonna have
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Speaker 1: to eat a dirt sandwich, because apparently it's now coming
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Speaker 1: out that the Arkansas State Senator Linda Collins, divorced from
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Speaker 1: a judge, had a close relationship with the staff or
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Speaker 1: O'Donnell's boyfriend. So, you know what, as much as I
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Speaker 1: pooh pooed you, you may be right. Daryl Cohen, Okay,
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Speaker 1: you stole that from me. But I don't know of
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Speaker 1: any outbursts or any anger directed one against the other.
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Speaker 1: Do we know anything about that, Dave Max, No, Nancy.
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Speaker 1: But you know, the one thing you have to think
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Speaker 1: about is you've got a woman O'Donnell, who is working
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Speaker 1: for a very high profile and very wealthy former state senator.
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Speaker 1: On their last campaign, they thought they were gonna win.
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Speaker 1: She didn't. But you know, you've got a lot of
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Speaker 1: really tight relationships, and O'Donnell was one of the three
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Speaker 1: people who actually testified over a financial deal between Linda
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Speaker 1: Collins Smith and her former husband, the judge Smith, and
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Speaker 1: so she was intimately involved in all aspects of the
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Speaker 1: campaign and of their personal life. We wait as justice unfolds,
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Speaker 1: but what we know now a former female stafford slash
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Speaker 1: friend suspect and the murderer of gorgeous Arkansas State senator
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Speaker 1: former Senator Linda Collins. Nancy, we just got an update.
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Speaker 1: Arkansas judge has found probable cause to charge Rebecca len
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Speaker 1: O'Donnell with capital murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering
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Speaker 1: with physical evidence in the murder of former state Senator
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Speaker 1: Susan Collins Smith. She was arrested last Friday night, you know,
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Speaker 1: the Arkansas State Police and Randolph County Sheriff's Department and
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Speaker 1: announced the arrest and connection with the murder charge. The
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Speaker 1: judge has now sealed all the records in the case
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Speaker 1: until it's over with, and he's slapped a gag order
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Speaker 1: on everyone involved, so we're not going to get a
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Speaker 1: whole lot more information, but he has found enough to
18:55
Speaker 1: charge her. Clive stories with Nancy Grace. It has been
19:16
Speaker 1: seven months since Kaden McWilliams was last seen alive. He
19:20
Speaker 1: was in school then at Denver's Ellis Elementary, described as
19:23
Speaker 1: a kind and sweet seven year old, but now police
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Speaker 1: confirmed the last week of school Caden disappeared. Today. Denver
19:30
Speaker 1: Public Schools would not comment on whether anyone had reported
19:33
Speaker 1: Kayden missing then, saying the district does not want to
19:36
Speaker 1: hinder the police investigation. But police started searching for the
19:39
Speaker 1: boy just two weeks ago, and then arrested his mother,
19:42
Speaker 1: Alicia Pankey, December twenty second, on a heroin charge, shortly
19:47
Speaker 1: after police receiving tips leading them to this storage unit
19:50
Speaker 1: where they found Kayden's body. Police also arrested this man,
19:53
Speaker 1: Leland Panky, Alicia's husband, on a year old domestic violence charge.
19:58
Speaker 1: Records obtained by Denver seven, he was accused of strangling
20:01
Speaker 1: a woman until she lost consciousness in twenty seventeen. He's
20:04
Speaker 1: not yet charged in Cayden's death, and it's not clear
20:07
Speaker 1: if he is Cayden's father. What we know is the
20:09
Speaker 1: coroner is still investigating how this little boy died, and
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Speaker 1: it could have happened months ago. I Nancy Grays, this
20:15
Speaker 1: is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You
20:17
Speaker 1: were hearing our friend Jacqueline Allen at ABC seven in Denver.
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Speaker 1: How did seven months pass until this little boy? Cat
20:28
Speaker 1: William's body was found encased in cement? How did it happen?
20:35
Speaker 1: Cat William's body was found encased in concrete. Newly released
20:39
Speaker 1: court documents show his mother, Alicia Pankey, went to police
20:42
Speaker 1: about six days before he was found to report her
20:45
Speaker 1: husband choking her. Police then checked on her children and
20:48
Speaker 1: found her daughter at a daycare center. They say the
20:51
Speaker 1: girl told them that Cayden was lost. Police searched the
20:54
Speaker 1: storage unit off East Evans Avenue on December twenty three
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Speaker 1: and found a large piece of concrete King's remains hidden
21:01
Speaker 1: an animal carrier. I just don't understand how seven months
21:04
Speaker 1: go by. Joining me an All Star panel, Dave Matt Doctor,
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Speaker 1: Michelle Duprie, Ashley Kelly, Daryl Cohen, and Karen Smith Dave
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Speaker 1: mac Let's just start at the beginning. How does a
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Speaker 1: seven year old boy go missing for seven months and
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Speaker 1: nobody knows well. The mother of Kadin actually went to
21:24
Speaker 1: the school to check him out on May twenty fourth,
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Speaker 1: and then she arrived back at the school in August
21:30
Speaker 1: to say that she was going to homeschool him. Okay,
21:33
Speaker 1: so there was a plan of action here. He was
21:35
Speaker 1: removed from school early from one year and before the
21:38
Speaker 1: next year got underway, she said, no, I'm checking him out.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to homeschool this little boy. That's why they
21:43
Speaker 1: didn't know he was missing. Yeah, that's the same thing
21:45
Speaker 1: that happened with the Turpins out in California. The house
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Speaker 1: of horrors where all the children were starved, beaten, chained
21:53
Speaker 1: to their beds. They were quote home schooled as well.
21:58
Speaker 1: But I gotta tell you, I met a lot of
22:00
Speaker 1: kids this past week at Scout camp that were a
22:03
Speaker 1: lot of them were homeschooled, not the majority, but some
22:06
Speaker 1: of them, and they seemed perfectly adjusted. They excelled. So
22:12
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that homeschooling is bad. But what I
22:15
Speaker 1: am saying is that homeschooling gives a lot of bad
22:19
Speaker 1: parents a chance to get away with abuse and no
22:22
Speaker 1: teachers know about it. What about it? Joining me? Atlanta
22:26
Speaker 1: criminal defense attorney Daryl Cohen, Darryl what about it? Nancy?
22:30
Speaker 1: Sometimes there's nothing to explain. Sometimes you just have to
22:34
Speaker 1: take the facts as they are. Seven months it just
22:38
Speaker 1: doesn't work. I just don't understand what was going on.
22:42
Speaker 1: I'm not sure any of us understand what was going on.
22:45
Speaker 1: I don't understand another thing. Dave mac How do they
22:47
Speaker 1: finally find his body in case of cement and where? Okay,
22:51
Speaker 1: it went back to the original charges. You know when
22:53
Speaker 1: you heard the report that Panky Leland Panky have been
22:57
Speaker 1: accused of choking his wife Elisha Alicia, and there was
23:03
Speaker 1: a charge. He never appeared in court, so when she
23:06
Speaker 1: went and filed a complaint the week before Christmas, the
23:09
Speaker 1: police went to find him. That's when they found the
23:11
Speaker 1: living conditions of the family. Okay, they were living in
23:14
Speaker 1: short to run hotels. When they searched the rooms the hotels,
23:19
Speaker 1: they searched the leveland Panky's room, and they found things incriminating.
23:22
Speaker 1: There was a problem. They could find the daughter. They
23:25
Speaker 1: asked him, where's your son. He said, let's change the subject,
23:29
Speaker 1: talked about something else. When they talked a little girl,
23:31
Speaker 1: she says, well, he's missing. He's gone. They then tracked
23:34
Speaker 1: back over to the mother's hotel. They were not living
23:38
Speaker 1: in the same hotel. When they got to hers, she
23:41
Speaker 1: was telling a story of moving things in a BMW
23:44
Speaker 1: and there was a lot of cash and drugs involved
23:46
Speaker 1: in this. But the bottom line is they were able
23:49
Speaker 1: to trace back just detective work going through these hotel rooms,
23:53
Speaker 1: they were able to find different indicators that there was
23:56
Speaker 1: something in a storage building. They found a car to
23:59
Speaker 1: business part of a storage facility, and that's when they
24:01
Speaker 1: looked into this thing and saw something that was out
24:04
Speaker 1: of the ordinary, shouldn't have been there. Looked like a
24:08
Speaker 1: big wrapping of trash bags, thick trash bags. But there
24:14
Speaker 1: was a stench as soon as they started opening one
24:16
Speaker 1: of the bags. Daver dogs indicated there was a decomposed
24:19
Speaker 1: corpse in there. It took authorities seven months to find him.
24:24
Speaker 1: In kasten sement. I'm talking about a seven year old
24:27
Speaker 1: little boy, Caveman Williams. Because first he was being homeschooled, okay,
24:32
Speaker 1: so schools were not keeping up with a deli tenants.
24:35
Speaker 1: Nobody knew he was missing. Then they go to the
24:40
Speaker 1: home because which is a motel on a domestic violence warrant.
24:47
Speaker 1: It's what I'm understanding, and that's when they start sorting
24:50
Speaker 1: out that the boy is missing. Is that correct? That's
24:53
Speaker 1: absolutely correct. That's why there was seven months in between.
24:57
Speaker 1: Nobody was looking after this kid. And again they did
25:00
Speaker 1: have a younger daughter involved too, and she was in daycare.
25:03
Speaker 1: So you've got one child from this family that seems
25:06
Speaker 1: to be okay, but you've got this little boy and
25:09
Speaker 1: nobody's seen him from May twenty fourth until we have
25:12
Speaker 1: this horrific discovery inside that. So the daughter is in
25:16
Speaker 1: daycare and she's okay, and she says her brother Caden
25:21
Speaker 1: is missing. You know. To Ashley Kelly, licensed clinical social worker,
25:26
Speaker 1: I've noticed a lot of abuse cases that one child
25:29
Speaker 1: is singled out for the abuse in the family. It
25:32
Speaker 1: looks like the daughter is okay. Why is that why
25:35
Speaker 1: the parents singled out one child. Yeah, that's a good question, Nancy.
25:41
Speaker 1: It does happen quite a bit where one child is
25:43
Speaker 1: singled out and the other seems to be fine until
25:48
Speaker 1: that child is either removed or unfortunately killed in this case,
25:53
Speaker 1: so it's not unusual. It's not unusual unfortunately for abus.
25:58
Speaker 1: You know, what we know about the way that he
26:01
Speaker 1: was found is also shocking and I may need a
26:05
Speaker 1: shrink Ashley Kelly to explain how somebody could do this.
26:08
Speaker 1: But this child's body was found encased in cement inside
26:14
Speaker 1: a dog crate in a Denver storage unit. The boy
26:19
Speaker 1: apparently died in the crate after the dad forced him
26:25
Speaker 1: to sleep there, and we are learning this from the mother.
26:32
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friend Jackie Crate ABC seven, Denver.
26:35
Speaker 1: This case started unfolding just days before Christmas, but sadly,
26:39
Speaker 1: police believe the seven year old Kaden McWilliams may have
26:42
Speaker 1: been dead since May. It wasn't until the week of
26:45
Speaker 1: December twenty first, police received information about a missing child.
26:49
Speaker 1: That week, an officer discovered heroine inside a hotel room
26:53
Speaker 1: belonging to the child's mother, Alicia Pankey. On December twenty second,
26:58
Speaker 1: She's arrested at a hotel for felony drug possession. The
27:01
Speaker 1: next day, on December twenty third, Kayden Is found dead
27:04
Speaker 1: inside a Denver storage unit. It's unclear how long he
27:08
Speaker 1: had been there. His mother, Alicia Pankey, was in court
27:10
Speaker 1: this afternoon after turning herself into police yesterday. And Kayden
27:15
Speaker 1: was a student at Ellis Elementary School in southeast Denver.
27:18
Speaker 1: It's unclear up until what point he was enrolled there,
27:22
Speaker 1: and new tonight we heard from the school's principal who says, quote,
27:25
Speaker 1: Kayden was the sweetest boy. He stood out from others
27:29
Speaker 1: from the moment he walked through the school doors every
27:31
Speaker 1: morning with a huge smile on his face and quote.
27:34
Speaker 1: The school also called Kayden a model student, saying he
27:37
Speaker 1: wasn't afraid to do the right thing because it was right.
27:40
Speaker 1: And tonight, Alicia Pankey is being held for investigation of
27:43
Speaker 1: child abuse resulting in death. Crime stories with Nancy Great.
28:03
Speaker 1: The seven year old boy found dead in the storage.
28:05
Speaker 1: Une had meth and cocaine in his system. According to
28:08
Speaker 1: the Medical Examiner. Caten Williams was found in December. On Friday,
28:11
Speaker 1: the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner released the autopsy results.
28:15
Speaker 1: The report reads, in part, it is possible the Decedon
28:18
Speaker 1: experienced complications of injuries, for example infection or sepsis. However,
28:22
Speaker 1: he may have also suffered a component of asphyxia, dehydration,
28:26
Speaker 1: and or hypothermia, which cannot be confirmed. His mother, Alicia Pankey,
28:31
Speaker 1: was formally charged with child abuse resulting in death and
28:34
Speaker 1: abuse of a corpse. This little boy only twenty seven
28:37
Speaker 1: pounds at age seven when his body was found in
28:40
Speaker 1: cased in cement. To doctor Michelle Dupre, author of Homicide
28:44
Speaker 1: Investigation Field Guide South Carolina Medical exam Or doctor g Pre,
28:50
Speaker 1: we still don't have a cause of death. How can
28:52
Speaker 1: you get a cause of death? And what's the hold up, Nancy.
28:54
Speaker 1: Sometimes we cannot get a cause of death. In that case,
28:57
Speaker 1: we actually follow that death certificate as under harmon, which
29:00
Speaker 1: leaves that case open in case new information or new
29:04
Speaker 1: evidence of found. In this case, it may be very
29:07
Speaker 1: difficult because the child's body was conclosed in cementth it
29:11
Speaker 1: may be very difficult to tell, you know, I'm not
29:14
Speaker 1: quite sure how this slipped through the cracks to Dave
29:20
Speaker 1: Matt When the first incident of domestic abuse occurred. Why
29:25
Speaker 1: were the children allowed to stay in the home with
29:28
Speaker 1: the dad Leland Panky? You know, Nancy, they moved around
29:33
Speaker 1: a lot in a voided contact. That's why there was
29:35
Speaker 1: that open warrant for Leland Panky that they hadn't meantle
29:39
Speaker 1: to serve. They had left their home and were living
29:41
Speaker 1: in a short term hotels and that's why the kids
29:45
Speaker 1: were under the radar, you know, that's why they weren't found.
29:49
Speaker 1: So they were going hotel to hotel to stay under
29:51
Speaker 1: the radar, to keep him out of jail apparently, and
29:54
Speaker 1: and to deal drugs because you've got forty thousand dollars
29:56
Speaker 1: in cash that they were found with on top of drugs.
29:59
Speaker 1: Both parents, Leland as well as Elisha, we're both found
30:01
Speaker 1: with drugs on them and that's what actually landed them
30:03
Speaker 1: both in jail. Pankey, Leland Panky actually ended up in
30:06
Speaker 1: jail because of the old warrant on domestic of violence
30:09
Speaker 1: and drug charge. You know what about that? Did doctor
30:11
Speaker 1: Michelle dupre. What about the fact that he had meth
30:14
Speaker 1: in a system when they analyzed. How do you find
30:16
Speaker 1: that out, Nancy. We would do toxicology examination, and we
30:20
Speaker 1: can do that from tissue. We can do that from
30:22
Speaker 1: surrounding the surrounding environment. We can test body parts to
30:27
Speaker 1: de charming if there is toxicology issues, and in this
30:31
Speaker 1: case there was. We've learned another fact to Daryl Cohen.
30:35
Speaker 1: Apparently a woman spoke with the mother, Alicia Pankey, and
30:41
Speaker 1: she says the mom told her that Caden died in
30:45
Speaker 1: that door crate after he was forced to sleep there
30:48
Speaker 1: by the dad. Leland that the crate was covered with blankets,
30:53
Speaker 1: and Alicia believes Caden suffocated overnight. Now, in my mind,
30:59
Speaker 1: that's still felony murder, which carries the same sentence as
31:04
Speaker 1: premeditated murder. Felony murder is simply when you're committing a felony.
31:08
Speaker 1: Think of it like this, a bank robbery. Jackie Howard
31:11
Speaker 1: and I go into rob a bank and we bring
31:14
Speaker 1: intern Riley along with us, and Riley's just sitting out
31:17
Speaker 1: in the car and minding her own business as a
31:19
Speaker 1: getaway girl. And then Jackie gets a wild hair and
31:22
Speaker 1: starts shooting kills three bank tellers, Riley sitting out in
31:26
Speaker 1: the car, a little intern Riley. Uh huh. She's in
31:29
Speaker 1: it for three counts, a murder one, that's right. She's
31:32
Speaker 1: committing a felony bank robbery and a death occurs even
31:38
Speaker 1: though she didn't intend it. In this case, Daryl Cohen,
31:40
Speaker 1: I would argue to a jury, this was child abuse,
31:44
Speaker 1: extreme child abuse, putting a child in a dog crate
31:47
Speaker 1: and covering it with blankets, and if he's suffocated, it
31:50
Speaker 1: was a result from child abuse. That's felony murdered. Darryl, Hey,
31:52
Speaker 1: you going to get around that? I do not know
31:55
Speaker 1: how to get around that, and I wish I had. Well,
31:57
Speaker 1: that's what you're paid for. That's what you get paid
32:00
Speaker 1: and thousands and thousands of dollars you and your dopers
32:03
Speaker 1: and your killers, all your clients. My Nancy. My argument
32:07
Speaker 1: would be that she didn't mean to kill him, but
32:11
Speaker 1: it's the felody murder rule. My argument would be that
32:14
Speaker 1: he was unruly, he was difficult to deal with, and
32:17
Speaker 1: we've tried everything, and so we put him in a
32:20
Speaker 1: grate and we put the blankets over him. That would
32:22
Speaker 1: be my argument. We did not mean to kill him.
32:25
Speaker 1: We are just devastated. My clients are devastated that he
32:29
Speaker 1: is dead. But frankly, it would not fly and it
32:32
Speaker 1: shouldn't fly. So bottom line, Daryll Cohen, if she's charged
32:35
Speaker 1: with child abuse resulting in death, what would her penalty
32:39
Speaker 1: be in Georgia? Life? Probably life with parole, but life
32:45
Speaker 1: unless you know what I think the mom should be
32:48
Speaker 1: charged with keeping the dad in the home. Listen to this.
32:51
Speaker 1: So I was able to confirm that Elijah Pinky is
32:54
Speaker 1: married to Leland Pinky with a marriage license. We already
32:57
Speaker 1: knew that Elisha Pinky has a criminal record deating back
33:00
Speaker 1: to two thousand that includes driving under the influence in
33:03
Speaker 1: heroin position. Today I got hold of more court documents
33:07
Speaker 1: that accused Leland of abusing her several times. Today, Leland
33:12
Speaker 1: Pankley appeared in court facing second degree assault charges from
33:15
Speaker 1: an incident back in November of twenty seventeen. He's accused
33:19
Speaker 1: of holding his wife down on the couch and strangling her.
33:22
Speaker 1: His wife told officers that she lost consciousness twice from
33:26
Speaker 1: his triangulations. Police believed that the boy has been dead
33:30
Speaker 1: since me We are also learning the same woman who
33:34
Speaker 1: reported how Alicia said Kayden died allegedly said that the
33:40
Speaker 1: dad holding him, lifting him by the neck off the floor.
33:43
Speaker 1: He went to a bathroom with the little boy, where
33:46
Speaker 1: Alicia heard a scuffle ensued. Then Leland comes out of
33:51
Speaker 1: the bathroom alone, saying they can't save both children. That's
33:57
Speaker 1: contradictory to putting him in a cage blankets over him.
34:02
Speaker 1: She says that the mom said the parents removed the
34:05
Speaker 1: boy's body from the hotel in the dog carrier, took
34:08
Speaker 1: him to the storage unit, covered him in cement, and
34:11
Speaker 1: in case the kennel in trash bags. To me, mom
34:15
Speaker 1: needs to be charged with murdering one right along with
34:20
Speaker 1: the dad. What about that? Daryl Cohen one thousand percent agree.
34:24
Speaker 1: If those facts are as mentioned, the mother is equally culpable.
34:30
Speaker 1: She did exactly what it takes to murder her own child. Well,
34:34
Speaker 1: I can tell you on this charge, even if it's
34:36
Speaker 1: not upgraded, she is looking at a max of life
34:40
Speaker 1: behind bars. If she is convicted on even these charges,
34:45
Speaker 1: she will get life behind bars. Bottom line, Caden's body
34:50
Speaker 1: showed signs of abuse, starving prior to his death. Is
34:56
Speaker 1: this just another case of a child slipping through the
35:00
Speaker 1: system's cracks, Dave matt Is that what happened? Apparently so, Nancy.
35:04
Speaker 1: But I will tell you that twenty seven pounds at
35:07
Speaker 1: the time of his death. Somebody in that school system
35:09
Speaker 1: had to know how because he couldn't have weighed much
35:12
Speaker 1: more than that when he was in school for the
35:14
Speaker 1: last time. Because they're saying that he died within four
35:16
Speaker 1: to six weeks from the last time he was seen
35:18
Speaker 1: in school. So you're gonna tell me that it's normal
35:20
Speaker 1: for a seven year old to weigh twenty seven pounds.
35:23
Speaker 1: I got four kids. They all weighed more than that
35:24
Speaker 1: by the time they were two. So how long had
35:26
Speaker 1: he been being home school before he died? That's a
35:30
Speaker 1: good point, Dave Matt. Well, they checked him out in
35:32
Speaker 1: May twenty fourth, Okay, that was when she a week
35:34
Speaker 1: before school ended. His mom checks him out of school.
35:37
Speaker 1: Then she goes back to school in August after he's
35:40
Speaker 1: presumed now we believe he's already dead. But she goes
35:42
Speaker 1: back in August and says, oh, he's not coming back
35:45
Speaker 1: to school this year. I'm going to homeschool. So how
35:47
Speaker 1: long before he was dead? Nancy? They're actually they're actually
35:51
Speaker 1: saying that they last saw him May twenty fourth, and
35:53
Speaker 1: then the school never saw him again. Police are saying
35:56
Speaker 1: that he was killed, that he had to him killed
35:58
Speaker 1: some time between then and July. So we're talking five
36:01
Speaker 1: or six weeks between the time that school last saw him,
36:03
Speaker 1: So he was already emaciated by that time. I found
36:06
Speaker 1: it hard to believe. There were no bruises, no indicators
36:09
Speaker 1: at all that he was being mistreated. Why did it
36:13
Speaker 1: take so long for them to charge the mom and
36:15
Speaker 1: the dad once they found his body. Well, you know what,
36:18
Speaker 1: we mentioned that he was encased in cement, and from
36:21
Speaker 1: the time that they found the body until and they're
36:23
Speaker 1: having to break down everything that went on. It wasn't
36:26
Speaker 1: just a simple process of looking at a child. You're
36:28
Speaker 1: talking about a child that had been dead for some time,
36:30
Speaker 1: encased in cement. You know, we just found out not
36:33
Speaker 1: that long ago about the drugs that were found in
36:36
Speaker 1: his liver in his body. So they still haven't determined
36:39
Speaker 1: the actual cause of death, but they found that he
36:42
Speaker 1: had he had wounds that hadn't healed all the way.
36:45
Speaker 1: He had broken bones, some that were healed, some that weren't.
36:49
Speaker 1: We know that the condition of this child's body was
36:52
Speaker 1: horrific at the time of his death. That's all we know.
36:55
Speaker 1: That's why it takes so long for all this to
36:57
Speaker 1: go on. We wait as just as so a full
37:00
Speaker 1: for the mother Alicia Pankey and husband Leland Pankey, May
37:04
Speaker 1: they both wrought in hell. Nancy Grace Crime Story, signing
37:08
Speaker 1: off goodbye friend,