Linda Collins Murder Suspect Pleads Guilty Of Murder

Publish date: 2024-05-02

As the NBC program, Dateline examines Linda Collins murder; all eyes are on Arkansas. KARK and other national NBC stations broadcast the two-hour show on Friday night.

Linda Collins-Smith was a former state senator.

On June 4, 2019, Collins’ body was discovered outside her house in Randolph County. Authorities detained Rebecca O’Donnell, a friend of the late senator, a few days later.

Let’s dig more into the murder mystery.

The murder case

Kevin Bell, the sheriff of Randolph County, spoke to the media after the sentencing hearing to provide more information about how Rebecca O’Donnell committed the murder.

Bell reported that Collins was fatally stabbed. Prosecutors claim that money plays a role in the murder. The motive behind the murder and additional information was not immediately known.

According to authorities, Linda had been missing for a few days when her body was discovered at her Pocahontas-area residence on June 4, 2019.

O’Donnell was detained en route to Linda’s visitation a few days after her body was found, and she was charged with capital murder. National news outlets covered the case. 

State police spoke with Collins-friend Smith’s and former campaign supporter Rebecca O’Donnell soon after the body was discovered. 

She stated that the two of them had quarreled over a text message that wasn’t responded to immediately.

Police were able to obtain the surveillance tape from Collins-house, Smith’s, which showed a woman screaming before O’Donnell put a big knife in a pocketbook.

Investigators assert that O’Donnell removed Collins-home Smith’s security cameras but left some of the videos intact.

A nighttime video outside the house showed someone entering the house while hiding behind a white sheet hours after the murder.

O’Donnell entered a guilty plea and is currently incarcerated for 50 years. Charges of first-degree murder, mistreatment of a corpse, and two no-contest requests to solicit murder in Jackson County are all included in the plea agreement.

She participated in the state’s interstate compact program; therefore, her whereabouts cannot be disclosed to the general public even when she is in another state.

When filling out checks, O’Donnell repeatedly falsified Collins-signature and Smith’s according to affidavits, which led detectives to believe that money was the driving force behind Collins-murder. O’Donnell was found guilty of a murder-for-hire scheme as well.

According to court records, she attempted to recruit inmates to kill Collins-ex-husband, Smith’s the prosecutor overseeing her case, and the judge.

O’Donnell allegedly attempted to recruit prisoners at the Jackson County Detention Center to kill many people involved in Smith’s case while he was still awaiting trial. 

These individuals included Smith’s spouse at the time of her death, Phil Smith, and the woman he married after the murder, as well as the former judge Harold Erwin, prosecutor Henry Boyce, and others.

Boyce and Erwin withdrew from the case as it developed. The 57 years she was given as punishment included the seven-year sentence for soliciting murder. 

O’Donnell is anticipated to start her state prison sentence right now.

Trial & Testimony

Smith has used O’Donnell for both her political campaigns and business endeavors. If the matter had gone to trial, O’Donnell might have received the death penalty if she had refused the agreement.

O’Donnell claimed in court on Thursday morning, “I went to Linda’s residence, and purposefully killed her and then hid the body“.

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