Red-Handed (Rebroadcast)

Summary

Podcast Summary: 20/20 - "Red-Handed (Rebroadcast)"

Introduction

The "Red-Handed" episode of ABC News' 20/20 delves deep into the harrowing true crime case of Linda Collins Smith, a prominent former Arkansas state senator whose life was brutally cut short. Released on August 2, 2025, this rebroadcast revisits the intricate web of political ambition, personal turmoil, and shocking betrayal that led to her untimely death.

Background on Linda Collins Smith

Linda Collins Smith was a dynamic figure in Arkansas politics, known for her ambition and dedication to her community. Born and raised in the rural countryside of Pocahontas, Arkansas, Linda exhibited leadership qualities from a young age. As Brad Milkey narrates, "Linda was always the shining star. There was never a quiet moment with Linda" ([03:39]).

Her early life was marked by modest means, living in a small house without running water until her teenage years. Despite these challenges, Linda excelled in sales, initially selling Tupperware before transitioning to real estate, where she found significant success. Her vibrant personality was evident in her penchant for the color red, from her attire to her red pickup truck ([05:44]).

Political Career

Linda's foray into politics began after her marriage to Phil Smith, an up-and-coming local lawyer. Together, they became a formidable power couple in Pocahontas, expanding their real estate business and investing in local motels. Phil's appointment as a circuit court judge in 2009 further solidified their influence in the region ([07:11]).

In 2010, Linda made a bold move by running for a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives as a Democrat. Her meteoric rise was soon met with a dramatic party switch in 2014, when she declared, "I have joined the Republican Party of Arkansas" ([08:27]). This shift was controversial, burning bridges with her former party but aligning her with the state's growing conservative base. Her conservative stance on issues like economic development, pro-life policies, and the Second Amendment earned her the nickname "the bulldog" among colleagues ([10:30]).

Personal Life and Divorce

Despite her professional success, Linda's personal life was fraught with challenges. Her marriage to Phil Smith, though initially harmonious, deteriorated into a bitter divorce. The separation was acrimonious, with disagreements over properties, finances, and Phil's career as a judge. Linda's fear for her safety became evident when she installed a comprehensive security camera system at her home, a precaution influenced by her troubled marriage ([12:07]).

Brad Milkey recounts the strain of the divorce, highlighting the emotional and financial toll it took on Linda. The proceedings were marked by allegations of abuse and financial misconduct, culminating in mutual restraining orders and ongoing legal battles over assets worth approximately $2 million ([17:00]).

Disappearance and Discovery

In May 2019, following her loss in a tightly contested re-election bid for the State Senate by a margin of merely 600 votes, Linda decided to pursue further political opportunities in Washington D.C. However, shortly after returning from a trip on Memorial Day, Linda vanished without a trace. Her family’s panic intensified when, a week later, her body was discovered under a tarp in her backyard, wrapped in a blanket and showing signs of decomposition ([33:07]).

The discovery was made by Linda's son, Butch Smith, and her father during a wellness check, revealing a gruesome scene that immediately pointed to foul play. Brad Milkey describes the moment of discovery: "I saw my mom there and she was wrapped up in one of my blankets... Linda Collins Smith was found dead in an advanced state of decomposition" ([33:32]).

Investigation

The investigation into Linda's death was swift and intense, especially with the high-profile nature of the victim. Initial suspicions naturally fell on Phil Smith, given the tumultuous divorce and his previous position as a judge. However, Phil vehemently denied any involvement, insisting he had no reason to harm Linda and that any allegations were baseless ([22:03]).

As investigators combed through evidence, including the sophisticated security camera system Linda had installed, they faced obstacles such as missing cameras and tampered footage. A key breakthrough came when video from a security company in Los Angeles was retrieved, revealing audio of the murder and a shadowy figure resembling a ghost hunting show scene moving suspiciously within the house ([47:17]).

Suspicion Falls on Becky O'Donnell

The investigation took a dramatic turn when Linda's close friend, Becky O'Donnell, was arrested in connection with the murder. Evidence against Becky included a handwritten suicide note falsely attributed to Phil Smith, confessing to the murder and subsequent suicide. Handwriting analysis confirmed Becky’s involvement, and additional video footage captured her with a bloody knife, solidifying the case against her ([77:37]).

The story revealed Becky’s manipulative nature, highlighted by her past plot to have her husband killed during her previous marriage—a plan that had never materialized due to insufficient evidence. This disturbing history painted Becky as a calculated and cold-blooded individual capable of extreme actions to protect her interests ([66:25]).

Trial and Guilty Plea

In a courtroom packed with emotion and tension, Becky O'Donnell faced charges of capital murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. Initially pleading not guilty, Becky eventually switched her plea to guilty, stating, "I went over to Linda's house and I intentionally killed her and concealed her body" ([74:58]). Her lack of remorse and the finality of her confession left no room for doubt among the investigators, though questions about her true motivations lingered.

Despite Becky’s guilty plea, the case remained shrouded in unanswered questions, particularly surrounding the initial gag order that prevented the release of critical evidence. The lifting of this gag order later revealed damning video footage, including Becky placing a bloody knife in her handbag, further corroborating her guilt ([77:22]).

Aftermath

The resolution of Linda Collins Smith’s murder brought a sense of closure to her family, though the emotional scars remain deep. Her children, Butch and Tate, expressed their grief and disbelief over losing their mother and grandmother to such a senseless act. Tate reflected, "She did so much in her life. She is so much more than just her murder, just how she died" ([81:09]).

The lifting of the gag order allowed the public to finally see the incriminating evidence, though Becky was moved out of state to a secretive facility, raising suspicions about the transparency of the investigation. The Arkansas Department of Corrections' reluctance to disclose her exact whereabouts fueled rumors and distrust among the community, though investigators remained confident in their conclusion that Becky acted alone ([79:05]).

Conclusions

"Red-Handed" offers a meticulously detailed account of Linda Collins Smith's rise, personal struggles, and tragic demise. Through compelling narratives, interviews, and critical evidence, 20/20 illuminates the complexities of political life intertwined with personal betrayal. The episode underscores the fragility of trust and the devastating consequences that can arise from hidden motives and unresolved conflicts.

Key Quotes:

• Brad Milkey on the shock of discovery: "I could see where her suitcase was there with the tags on it... There was a body found." ([35:15])
• Reflecting on Linda's personality: "She just loved people and she just wanted the best. She wanted the best for everybody." ([81:42])
• Linda's son Butch on realizing Becky’s betrayal: "I felt like somebody else might actually go through the plan." ([69:35])
• Brad Milkey on the final evidence: "We got her. We got her." ([77:37])

This episode serves as a poignant reminder of the unpredictable nature of human relationships and the tragic outcomes that can result from unchecked ambition and concealed truths.

Transcript

[Brad Milkey]

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[Unknown]

2020 starts right now.

It's an otherwise typical spring day in rural Arkansas.

[Brad Milkey]

Best I can remember, you know, it was late in the afternoon, light out still, it was warm. In that area, there's not a whole lot of crime. 911.

[Unknown]

What is your murder state?

[Brad Milkey]

I believe somebody's died.

[Unknown]

You believe somebody's died?

[Brad Milkey]

Where at? We came to do a wellness check at her house.

[Unknown]

Stuff like this doesn't happen here. You know, we're. We're still a safe community under this one.

[Brad Milkey]

She's wrapped up in a blanket. Looking at the scene and the circumstances around it, it was obvious that it was a murder.

[Unknown]

No question in your mind?

[Brad Milkey]

No, ma'. Am. The body found Tuesday night at a home in Pocahontas is that of former state senator Linda Collins Smith.

[Unknown]

I just collapsed. You know, my world just crumbled in that moment.

[Brad Milkey]

This story is truly one of the biggest whodunit that I've seen because she said, you know, she had problems with the judge, her husband, and that's what I said. Your husband.

[Unknown]

I just want to say how humble I am to be your senator.

Do you think her politics might have created enemies for her?

[Brad Milkey]

Oh, I'm sure it did.

[Unknown]

Did she ever confide in you that she had concerns about her safety?

Yes, she had a lot of cameras. Not just like one or two. She had cameras on the garage side. She had cameras on the.

[Brad Milkey]

Actually, the camera inside the video cameras are motion activated.

[Unknown]

It's almost like something out of that show, Ghost Hunters. Is that actually the killer?

[Brad Milkey]

Small town life to me is slower and sweeter somehow. When I was a kid, mom said, get out of the house and don't come back till the street lights come on. That was Poconas. We're right on the edge of the river delta where the foothills of the Ozark Mountains begin. You talk about Bible Belt country, Southern hospitality. That's Pocahontas.

[Unknown]

Everybody knows everyone. Everybody knows if you're doing good or if you're doing bad. It's a very tight.

[Brad Milkey]

For better or for worse, everybody knows your business.

[Unknown]

And just outside Pocahontas in the rural countryside is where Linda Collins grew up.

I think it was the summer of 1978.

Greece was showing, and so we all.

Watched Greece that summer.

We had had a lot of cousins come to visit. Linda's dad had an old Ford truck.

And the whole way home we were singing songs from Greece.

Linda led the singing, she chose the songs, and all of the cousins was backing her up. Linda was always the shining star. There was never a quiet moment with Linda.

She was always a joy to be around.

[Brad Milkey]

My first memories of her, she had pigtails and she was a total tomboy. And I would think she was daddy's girl more than mama's girl.

[Unknown]

Linda's dad was a mechanic and her.

Mom was a stay at home mom. They lived out in the country in.

A small house, like, kind of like a shack. Very modest, but it was a nice cozy home.

She didn't have running water in her house until she was a teenager. But I really think that that helped create the person that she ended up being.

Like a lot of girls in her community, Linda got married right out of high school. She never went to college. And her kids came along pretty quickly. Butch first and then Tate. They were her pride and joy.

[Brad Milkey]

She just always wanted us to have better than what she had. And that was her goal, whatever it took to get there.

[Unknown]

But Linda's early marriage doesn't last at all, ends in divorce, and Linda is raising her two children as a single mother.

She didn't let being a single mom stop her at all. She was very motivated to give us the best life, to give us everything that she didn't have.

[Brad Milkey]

Linda wasn't afraid to work. She worked very hard.

[Unknown]

She started selling Tupperware and then after that she started selling real estate. And we did very well.

Linda has a certain spark. She is a born saleswoman.

[Brad Milkey]

I say affectionately, she was a spitfire. She wouldn't let you off the hook. I mean, she was pursuing something, she stayed on it. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She was a colorful person, had a red truck, red purse, liked her red.

[Unknown]

Lipstick, nails, purse, truck, shoes. Anything that she could get it read, she probably had it in red.

Linda is ambitious and driven, and she.

Meets her match in Phil Smith, who's an up and coming local lawyer. Phil and Linda get married in a quiet ceremony in 1995 when she met.

Phil Smith and they became a couple. What was he like for you as a stepdad?

He didn't become just our stepdad. He was our dad. He was the one that took us to school in the morning. He did all the things that dad is supposed to do.

So you were a close family?

[Brad Milkey]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Unknown]

Very much a church family. We were there Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday, dad led worship services. They were involved in choir singing group.

[Brad Milkey]

Went to church with them. And Phil was always fair, level headed, even tempered, very intelligent person and a nice guy.

[Unknown]

Phil and Linda have a lot of success in business. They're buying and selling real estate around the Pocahontas area, and they even wind up buying two motels in town.

Your parents were kind of a power couple in town.

[Brad Milkey]

They really were.

[Unknown]

They worked very well together.

[Brad Milkey]

She very much loved Pocahontas. She wanted to see it prosper. Linda helped get the highway named the Rock and Roll highway. She named her hotel to Rock and roll Inn.

[Unknown]

Things appear to be going great. Linda is running their real estate business. And then in 2009, Republican Governor Mike Huckabee appoints Phil as a judge of the circuit court.

Linda is right there beside Phil, and along the way, she gets the politics bug herself and decides to run for a seat in the Arkansas state legislature. She is a hometown favorite.

[Brad Milkey]

First time I'd ever seen her. She spoke to our county committee in my front yard. And Linda, she took her shoes off. Typical Arkansas, barefooted. And that's how I met her.

[Unknown]

In 2010, running as a Democrat, Linda wins a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives.

[Brad Milkey]

Linda ran as a Democrat. She was elected and. And she did not fit in with the Democrat majority at that time with her views.

[Unknown]

And I've always wanted it to promote our county.

Linda is in the middle of her first term, and she makes a move that totally upends the political landscape.

[Brad Milkey]

Linda Collins Smith decided to switch parties from Democrat to Republican.

[Unknown]

I'm here today to announce that I have joined the Republican party of Arkansas.

[Brad Milkey]

It was a significant move because no lawmaker had really done that before in the state of Arkansas. She was burning bridges with her old party. Anytime a sitting elected official changes parties, it's a big deal.

[Unknown]

She's elected as a Democrat and then she changed her affiliation to Republican. Was that controversial?

[Brad Milkey]

It was very controversial in some senses. I guess it just kind of showed her personality and how strong and independent that she could make that decision knowing that it could potentially be a career, you know, destroyer.

[Unknown]

I don't think it's going to hurt me. Matter of fact, I think it's going to help.

Do you think her politics might have created enemies for her?

[Brad Milkey]

Oh, I'm sure it did.

[Unknown]

But did she have the kind of enemies who'd be willing to kill? She's only Served one term in the state legislature. But Linda Collins Smith is ambitious. Now she wants to run for a seat in the State Senate.

[Brad Milkey]

In 2014, she was running for state senate. She called me to ask if I would be part of her team, you know, help her get elected for state senate.

[Unknown]

She had her friends actively campaigning for her with signs and standing out by the road. We were voluntold that we were going to help campaign. We stood on the side of the road with signs. We went door to door knocking. We did the phone calls, the parades.

In November 2014, she wins a seat in the Arkansas State Senate, taking 58% of the vote.

[Brad Milkey]

She set a standard of being a real conservative. She's very adamant and passionate about economic development in rural Arkansas. Being pro life was definitely one of the most important things to her.

[Unknown]

Linda is so tough. She earns a nickname among her colleagues as the bulldog.

[Brad Milkey]

She was very strong on the life issue. She was very strong on reducing taxes. I mean, traditional conservative issues. She always stood up for the second amendment. Was very close to the second amendment groups. We appreciate you stopping by here, Triple R pawn.

[Unknown]

Great to be here.

[Brad Milkey]

On the transgender issue, she did run a so called bathroom bill.

[Unknown]

During Linda's first term in the Senate, she finds herself at the center of controversy.

Senate Bill 774 has already been dubbed another bathroom bill.

She proposes a bathroom at the state level that would regulate the use of bathrooms by transgender people.

This bill is truly about the safety and protecting dignity of those children or visitors to our state or all citizens when they're in public facilities.

You are targeting us, making us even more marginalized than we already are.

[Brad Milkey]

Our bill says Linda was loud. You knew what she believed in. You knew she was passionate about that issue and she wasn't going to sit silently if someone opposed her.

[Unknown]

As Linda's professional and political life are really thriving, in her personal life, she's having difficulty. Her second marriage to Phil is dissolving.

Did you know that she was unhappy?

I would say that we, we knew it wasn't a typical relationship. They're very good at business. You know, whenever it came to running the business, when it came to the politics side of it, they were great.

A good team.

Yeah, great team. But it wasn't that loving relationship that you would expect between a husband and a wife.

After 20 years of marriage, Linda and Phil decide to separate. And though they've got lots of personal struggles, Linda throws throws herself into her work.

One of the hallmarks of small town America is that local politicians are unbelievably Accessible at all hours to their constituents.

She was plugged in to her community.

They knew they could call her. They knew they could ask her for.

A favor, and she would be there.

[Brad Milkey]

Linda was my senator, my state senator. She and I shared political views, had a lot of common interests and goals from a legislative perspective, and that was the basis of the start of our friendship.

[Unknown]

Enter Tim Loggins. Like Linda, he also grew up in Arkansas, and he soon becomes one of her staunchest supporters.

[Brad Milkey]

It wasn't uncommon to meet somewhere for lunch every once in a while and talk about laws and legislation and what she hoped to accomplish.

[Unknown]

Linda's friend Tim tells us that during one of those lunches, the conversation pivoted strangely from politics into the personal. And Linda confides that she desperately needs his help.

[Brad Milkey]

She breaks down crime completely out of character. And I asked her, you know, Linda, what's wrong? Because she said, you know, she had problems with the judge, her husband, and that's what I said. Your husband. She was fearful of her safety. And she said, tim, can you come and help me move some of my stuff out of his house? And can you look at security issues that I can take to ensure my safety?

[Unknown]

Did she ever confide in you that she had concerns about her safety?

Yes. After they separated, she shared concerns that she was worried about him coming by the house and things like that.

In fact, a police report indicates that Linda called the police because she said that Phil came to her house uninvited. Phil Smith denies that allegation. Still, Linda's friend Tim, who's a retired law enforcement officer, offers to help her beef up security at her home.

[Brad Milkey]

And she asked me to come to her house. I'm in a relationship. I can't be having lunch and going to another woman's house without explaining to my girlfriend what's going on. So when I went to her house, I took Becky.

[Unknown]

Becky o' Donnell is Tim's longtime live in girlfriend. Becky also grew up in Pocahontas.

[Brad Milkey]

We went to grade school and high school together, so we knew each other basically our whole lives.

[Unknown]

Tim and Becky agree to help Linda beef up the security at her home. They change the locks, and they help her install a wireless security camera system.

There's actual video captured of Tim and Becky installing those cameras.

My mom, she is a single female living alone in a house just outside of town. So that mixed with being worried that our dad was coming over to the house when he wasn't supposed to be there, let her decide to go ahead and install some cameras.

You can actually Hear Linda and Becky's voices on the security video.

They're dead. That's why they're not working.

[Brad Milkey]

These two are not working.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Brad Milkey]

And the fence isn't working.

[Unknown]

The fence doesn't work.

[Brad Milkey]

So we had them on every corner of the house. I put some out in the trees facing the front door. We had them over the front, I want to say nine or 10 cameras. We bought that. Covered all angles, all windows, all entry, to give her a sense of security.

[Unknown]

And they were motion sensitive.

[Brad Milkey]

Yes.

[Unknown]

Look, it finally came on.

[Brad Milkey]

Did it look.

[Unknown]

And did you feel then that she would be pretty safe? From what you could tell, I felt.

[Brad Milkey]

Like the cameras would help her and certainly give her a sense of, hey, there's an intruder. Yes.

[Unknown]

And it's not long before Linda brings Becky in a little close, closer, asking her to help with other projects.

[Brad Milkey]

Linda and Becky had became very close. Becky, she actually helped Linda run her motel business. And she was keeping the books and the financial records and doing the payroll and all of that at Linda's business for her.

[Unknown]

Wherever, you know, Linda needed her. That's where Rebecca was. Was.

And Linda would really come to depend on Becky after she files for divorce from Phil Smith.

[Brad Milkey]

It was a nasty divorce. There's hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line and multiple properties.

[Unknown]

It isn't just money at stake. Phil's career as a judge is also on the line.

[Brad Milkey]

I've investigated Judge Philip Smith. Never did I hear anything like some of the allegations that Linda presented. That's not what we had seen before.

[Unknown]

One thing that Linda would reveal about Phil would almost certainly threaten his career as a judge.

[Brad Milkey]

I'm gonna ask you a sticky question only because it's been presented to me, and I believe it's an issue.

[Unknown]

After 20 years of marriage. Linda Collins Smith, a well known state senator in Arkansas, files for divorce from her husband Phil, a longtime judge in the state.

[Brad Milkey]

At the time, it just sounded like someone who was in a very acrimonious divorce.

[Unknown]

According to court documents, Linda and Phil have about $2 million in assets.

[Brad Milkey]

It was a messy divorce. There was quite a bit of money that they were trying to split up. There was a lot of struggling over property and money and things of that nature.

[Unknown]

So they had gone from being this power couple to being this angry couple.

[Brad Milkey]

Yes. I knew she was scared and felt like she was isolated and was concerned, and that's why she did some things like putting up cameras.

[Unknown]

Things get so acrimonious that Linda and Phil file a mutual restraining order against each other.

Going through the rock and roll inn.

[Brad Milkey]

To make contact with the manager.

[Unknown]

97 a year to the day. After Linda files for divorce, the police are called to one of their motels.

What's your name?

I'm Becky o'.

Donnell. Oh, okay. Yes, okay. I'm her assistant friend. I work for Linda.

Becky is recorded on police body camera telling police that it was Phil who showed up there.

[Brad Milkey]

He's gone.

[Unknown]

Yeah, he left.

He knows he's not supposed to be on this property. I've got the restrain copy the restraining order.

[Brad Milkey]

Park.

[Unknown]

You need to see it. Yeah, we'll probably need to see that.

Phil would later say that he wasn't there to harass Linda or anybody else. He was just there to pick up his mail.

[Brad Milkey]

I appreciate it. Uh huh.

[Unknown]

Anytime. The divorce is pretty messy and it drags on for two years. Linda and Phil seem to fight over everything. Their motels, rental properties, even a collection of valuable coins.

Mom and dad made the decision a while ago that they were going to start investing in some silver and gold.

And that was just put aside someplace.

[Brad Milkey]

You didn't want, basically in a box locked up somewhere. It was just wild. It's gotten to the point, it's so crazy that you guys have to calm down, be adults and get through this.

[Unknown]

Tensions between the couple are at their highest when living. Linda and Phil meet in divorce court.

[Brad Milkey]

Phil's like the picture of the southern gentleman and judge Linda, you know, can't finish a sentence without going to the next subject. In a courtroom, that's not acceptable behavior.

[Unknown]

The divorce court judge accuses Linda of withholding critical information about the values of their assets, about the finances, and about their shared properties.

The judge was requesting information during the divorce, and the judge didn't think mom was giving enough information in a timely manner. Yeah. And so basically the judge was saying she was in contempt of court.

Linda is already under tremendous pressure because of the divorce trial, but then it ratchets up. The divorce court judge threatens to hold her in contempt, and that could land her in jail.

[Brad Milkey]

Mom was basically afraid that she was about to be sent to jail. And so to make sure that the business could still operate, then she'd given power of attorney to Tim, basically because he was already involved with a lot of the day to day dealings and stuff so that he could go ahead and still make sure the business would operate.

[Unknown]

And then as the divorce is going on, Becky even testifies in the divorce trial.

[Brad Milkey]

She did.

[Unknown]

So you were both in her corner?

[Brad Milkey]

Oh, absolutely, yes. We were friends. Yeah.

[Unknown]

Raise your right hand for me. You saw me swear at or from. To tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

[Brad Milkey]

I do thank you.

[Unknown]

But the divorce would have far reaching consequences for Phil. A bombshell revelation buried in the depositions from the divorce case comes out, thanks to Linda.

[Brad Milkey]

I'm gonna ask you a sticky question only because it's been presented to me and I believe it's an issue. Have you ever viewed pornography on that.

[Unknown]

Computer in your office?

[Brad Milkey]

You have? Mm. You ask the question, have you ever? And the answer to that is yes.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Brad Milkey]

But not in a long time. And as a matter of fact. Well, that's fine. However you got, you can ask the questions and I'll answer them.

[Unknown]

Phil's admission that he had watched porn at work on his work computer comes to the attention of Arkansas's Independent Judicial Conduct Commission.

[Brad Milkey]

The end result was a sanction with a permanent ban from being on the bench. So it's essentially the end of the road for us with a judge. It's always a big blow to judges to be sanctioned.

[Unknown]

So even though Phil had already retired from the bench, this means that he could never return and serve as a judge in Arkansas ever again. Phil Smith told ABC News, the JDDC did its job and I agreed with and accepted its determination.

What were her feelings about her divorce and moving on from that?

[Brad Milkey]

She wasn't happy at all with the divorce. She was bitter. She held a real grudge. She didn't feel like justice was done.

[Unknown]

In fact, Linda was so unhappy with the division of their properties, she went on to appeal the divorce court settlement. She still owed Phil nearly $400,000. So by no means were things over between the two of them.

[Brad Milkey]

2018 rolled around, and Linda Collins Smith had to stand for re election as a Republican to the Senate.

[Unknown]

I need your vote. Tell everyone. Go to the polls.

We still have time.

[Brad Milkey]

She ran a campaign. A lot of people thought she didn't have her heart in it. And she wound up losing the race by only about 600 votes. And that was the end of her political career.

[Unknown]

Hey. Just taking a minute to say, moving out of my office today. I just want to say how humble I am to be your senator. How proud I was to serve you.

Linda is no doubt disappointed that she lost that Senate seat, but she soon starts looking in other directions toward us, other opportunities, like spending time with the grandkids, blaming Bernard Go3 Mima, Nick Butt.

I think she was starting to see that there were other paths that she was still gonna be able to do the things that she was passionate about. Happy New Year.

Keep in mind this is the height of the Trump administration. Linda is a hardcore conservative. She goes to Washington to meet with a special interest group to talk to them about a job.

And when I told her, I said, you know, you can go give D.C. a try. Go put your stamp on it. And so I think she was excited about that.

Linda tells her friends and family that she's flying to Washington D.C. but then somehow she vanishes into thin air.

[Brad Milkey]

She had disappeared. Kind of dropped off the road radar. The family could not get a hold of her.

[Unknown]

What's going on?

[Brad Milkey]

She's not answering her phone. The kids can't get a hold of her. We're getting worried about Linda. There's something, the stain all over the.

[Unknown]

Floor in the video that looks like blood. From your fryer to the table. It's a quick trip for crispy fries, but how about a crosstown delivery? McCain's sure crisp fries are designed to go from fryer to container to carrier to passenger seat across town during rush hour, down a shortcut that wasn't all.

[Brad Milkey]

That short to a doorstep before they hit the table.

[Unknown]

And that first bite, the crispiness speaks for itself. To the last bite.

[Brad Milkey]

McCain's sure crisp fries go the distance.

[Unknown]

See how far our fries can take your [e-mail] Delivery we have a downed spacecraft.

[Brad Milkey]

Tuesday, August 12th, the premiere of FX's Alien Earth. This ship collected specimens from other worlds. Invasive species predatory. From creator Noah Hawley and executive producer Ridley Scott. If we don't lock them down, it will be too late.

[Unknown]

What did you do?

[Brad Milkey]

FX's Alien Earth premieres August 12th on FX and Hulu.

[Unknown]

Linda Collinsmith is at a crossroads. She's just lost her Senate seat and she's newly divorced.

Your mom had gone through this very, very bitter divorce. Now she's on her own. What kind of an effect had that had on her?

I think she was having a hard time finding herself again. She had lost her last race and so she wasn't a sitting senator anymore. And she was just really trying to figure out where she was going to go next.

You have to remember that Linda loves politics. She caught the bug and she is nowhere near ready to give up on it. So In May of 2019, Linda is in Washington D.C. where she's in discussions about possibly joining a conservative special interest group.

[Brad Milkey]

I told her, I said, go do something exciting. And it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.

[Unknown]

Well, she came home on a Monday, which was also Memorial Day. I had talked to mom, knew the plan was that Becky was gonna pick her Up. Becky was going to bring her home from the airport, and I had text with her, and she let me know that she had landed.

Had you had any contact with her?

[Brad Milkey]

I knew that she had made it home, but past that, that was the last I had heard.

[Unknown]

Tate keeps texting and texting her mom, but she's getting no response. And even more mysterious, her texts even seem to be getting through to Linda's phone.

Mom had an iPhone, and I have an iPhone, and the text messages went through green. And so for an iPhone to iPhone, where your text messages are always blue, to get a green one, you're like, is their phone off? What's going on?

The mystery only deepens when Linda goes dark on social media.

I had checked Facebook and Twitter and there wasn't any activity.

Was that unusual for her not to be?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. She was very active on social media.

[Brad Milkey]

She had disappeared, kind of dropped off the radar. She was no longer posting stuff on social media. The family could not get a hold of her. They were looking for Linda. They didn't know what was going on. They don't know where she's at. She's not answering her phone. The kids can't get a hold of her. We're getting worried about Linda.

[Unknown]

A full week has now gone by with no word from their mother. So Linda's kids now reach out to her close friend Becky. Becky picked Linda up from the airport and was the one who brought her back to Pocahontas.

Becky was the person you would reach out to if you wanted to get a hold of mom if you couldn't get a hold of her.

Linda has been seeing a new man. So Becky tells Tim that maybe that's where Linda is, at the new guy's house.

[Brad Milkey]

Becky said that Linda was going to to stay with a boyfriend, and where that boyfriend lived at, there was no cell service.

[Unknown]

Did that seem plausible to you?

[Brad Milkey]

Yes. I mean, I had no reason to doubt that.

[Unknown]

By now, Tate is beside herself. She's frantic. She asked Becky to go to her mom's home to see if she's there.

I had text Becky and said, can you go by the house and see if her truck's there? Can you go. You know, can you go by? And so Becky's like, oh, yeah, I can go by there. And so later in that day, I asked if she had actually gone by, and she said, oh, no, I've not gone by. I've got to go fill up shift at the motel and I'll go by. So I had text Butch and I Was like, you've got to go over to mom's house, you know, and just check things out. And I. I let Becky know that Butch was on her way. And suddenly Becky, you know, was like, oh, well, I can go now, too. And so Becky, I guess, went about the same time.

When they get to Linda's house, her red pickup truck is there, but the front door is locked, and she's not answering.

[Brad Milkey]

Becky told me, I went by Linda's today to check on her. She's not there. She's not answering the door.

[Unknown]

Another day goes by, and strangely, still no word from Linda. Her worried father gets together with her son Butch, and they go to her house, and they get in.

[Brad Milkey]

I could see where her suitcase was there with the tags on it, where she flew in from D.C. and that was all there. Didn't find her purse and didn't find her cell phone. Went through all the rooms and didn't find any.

[Unknown]

They get into Linda's kitchen, and it's a mess. But it's a mess because the house is undergoing massive renovations.

[Brad Milkey]

The house was under renovation. There's holes in the floor. There was electrical hanging from the ceiling and the kitchen. There's only a few cabinets that were still left. Bare wood flooring.

[Unknown]

And it's in that kitchen on the bare wood floor that they see something that grabs their attention.

[Brad Milkey]

There's this something, this stain all over the floor. What is this on the floor? It looked like somebody had dropped a coffee pot and just. It had sprayed out from. Just in a sort of semicircular path out from there.

[Unknown]

Some dark splatter.

[Brad Milkey]

Dark splatter just everywhere.

[Unknown]

Butch takes out his phone and starts shooting video of this really strange large stain on the kitchen floor.

[Brad Milkey]

The lights were out, and it was so dark, it was really just kind of hard to just, you know, just to figure out what it is.

[Unknown]

Butch sends the video to his sister Tate, who's at home in Little Rock, worried.

And I show my husband. He's like that. That doesn't look like coffee in the video. It's coming through as. That looks like blood.

Were you starting to panic?

Oh, yeah. I was very panicked at that point.

So you walk outside.

[Brad Milkey]

So then we walk outside, and we're gonna leave. And my grandpa said, hey, do you smell that? It smelled like an animal died. So I went over there to it and, you know, raised the tarp up.

[Unknown]

Butch is horrified, shaken to the core by what he finds under that tarp.

[Brad Milkey]

We have to call the police. 911, what is your murder?

[Unknown]

State and I just collapsed. You know, my world just crumbled in that moment.

It's June of 2019, and Linda Collins has been missing for a week. After returning home from a trip on Memorial Day.

[Brad Milkey]

Linda's father and and her son Butch Smith had went over to her house to do a wellness check to try to locate her, find out what was going on.

[Unknown]

Her family finds a strange dark stain on the kitchen floor. There is no sign of Linda.

[Brad Milkey]

They were searching and they could smell an odor outside the house. And Butch had looked underneath a tarp that was covering up some building material in the driveway of the house. I went over there to it and raised the tarp up. I was just kind of in shock. I saw my mom there and she was wrapped up in one of my blankets from whenever I was younger. Butch found his mother's body in an advanced state of decomposition.

[Unknown]

So she had been dead several days.

[Brad Milkey]

Yes.

[Unknown]

An emotional Butch now calls his sister Tate to breathe break the devastating news.

I just collapsed. My world just crumbled in that moment.

[Brad Milkey]

We have to call the police. 91 1. What does your murder say? I believe somebody's died. It's Linda Collins Smith. And that's the only thing I could think about. There was no other thoughts running through my head besides just the pure shock of what I saw.

[Unknown]

What is your name, honey?

[Brad Milkey]

Butch Smith. I'm her son and I'm here with my grandpa, her dad. We've been trying to find her for the last few days, almost a week, and we've not heard from her. We came to do a wellness check at her house. I think I found a body. Best I can remember, it was late in the afternoon. Light out still, it was warm. In that area, there's not a whole lot of crime. We hardly ever get any calls out there. Received a call from dispatch and I went to the scene Central.

[Unknown]

Dispatch, Butch Smith just called and advised they have Linda Collins Smith out in the yard wrapped in a blanket under a tarp.

[Brad Milkey]

When I pulled up to Linda collinsmith's house, I noticed some vehicles in the yard. Then I seen some building materials that appeared to have a tarp over it. Secure that seam best you can. 101. I've already got it secured. There's gonna be something up with this. We are gonna need cid out here. Ah, possible murder up here. Looking at the scene and the circumstances around it, it was obvious that it was a murder.

[Unknown]

No question in your mind?

[Brad Milkey]

No, ma'. Am. I've got a lady, Linda Collins Smith. She's out here in a big Long. I mean, probably, I'm gonna say 10, 12 foot, tarp over it all, and she's wrapped up in a blanket and put out, put underneath it. Linda Collins Smith's father was there. Her son Butch was there. And of course, they were upset. When I talked to them on the scene, their demeanor appeared to be that they were in shock, and they just seemed to be stunned with what they have found. All right, sir, everybody's on their way. Due to the fact that we're gonna have to look into this, I'm gonna have y' all back all the way up to the road. The fact that a gruesome crime like this would happen in such a small town in northeast Arkansas, that was a big shock.

[Unknown]

A homicide investigation underway after human remains were found outside the home.

[Brad Milkey]

The body found Tuesday night at a home in Pocahontas is that of former state senator Linda Collins Smith. This was a person who had been a significant figure in Arkansas politics over many years. A controversial figure. So your first thought goes to who could have done this and why?

[Unknown]

It's a pretty bizarre crime scene. Why would someone kill Linda inside the house but then decide to hide her body outside?

[Brad Milkey]

You start thinking, well, who the heck could have done this? And my first answer was that my dad did it.

[Unknown]

You always think of who has the most to gain and the divorce being disputed. I said, you know, it was my dad.

You're thinking your dad killed your own mom? Yeah. That had to be hard to even say.

[Brad Milkey]

Absolutely.

[Unknown]

It just felt like you were living in some kind of virtual reality where you were in some. Yeah, TV show or something where all this was happening, but it wasn't really your life.

So as word of Linda's death spreads, Tim goes home to break the news to Becky to tell her that her closest friend is dead.

[Brad Milkey]

I told Becky that they had found Linda's body.

[Unknown]

And how did Becky react?

[Brad Milkey]

She started crying immediately. I mean, we both knew who had killed Linda.

[Unknown]

I thought you were sure you knew who the murderer was.

[Brad Milkey]

Linda told me he was going to murder her anyway, so I believed it.

[Unknown]

So your thoughts went right to her ex husband?

[Brad Milkey]

Yes. She said if anything happened to her, that if she ended up dead or somebody killed her, that it was Phil. Well, you don't take that. That seriously. You know, you don't think she's going to be killed. But again, she said it. So.

[Unknown]

Just days after Linda's murder, another state legislator is found dead, this time in neighboring Oklahoma.

Jonathan Nichols, the former state senator and OU vice president, found dead inside his Norman home. Last night from a gunshot wound. Two Republicans, Republican state legislators found dead within days of each other. Is there a connection? And who might be in danger now?

Was it just coincidence or was there some sort of a serial killer targeting state politicians?

[Brad Milkey]

I gathered a small team of deputies and state troopers and we immediately set up surveillance.

[Unknown]

You were working feverishly against the clock at that point?

[Brad Milkey]

Absolutely. Because Linda Smith visitation was later that afternoon. Our pastor that asked me if there was any kind of security concerns or anything. I remember telling him that if something don't change between now and the funeral service, you're going to shake hands with the killer 101. I've already got it secured. We are gonna need CID out here. Possible murder up here. It was a nasty divorce. There's hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.

[Unknown]

You're thinking your dad killed your own mom.

And then there's another bombshell. Completely out of left field and no suspects.

Two Republican state legislators found dead within days of each other.

[Brad Milkey]

People were like, is this some sort of national killing? Is this a political assassinations that took this story and absolutely blew it sky high.

[Unknown]

Investigators are closing in on a suspect, and it's somebody who was never, ever mentioned in all those theories.

[Brad Milkey]

You can hear the audio of the murder.

[Unknown]

It's almost like something out of that show Ghost Hunters. Is this the killer?

[Brad Milkey]

All that stuff on tv, it doesn't happen. Except in this case, it pretty much all happened.

[Unknown]

We got you.

[Brad Milkey]

We got you. You can quit playing stupid now. We got you.

[Unknown]

Developing news out of northeast Arkansas tonight as we come on the air. A former state.

State senator is found dead.

Her death is being investigated as a murder.

Under this one, investigators learned that Linda Collins Smith was stabbed to death.

This was a very violent, angry murder that had occurred. You know, anytime someone grabs a knife.

And stabs somebody to death with it, it is very personal.

[Brad Milkey]

We never actually found the murder weapon itself. It was obvious to us that someone had tried to clean the crime scene up. On the outside, you could see where Linda's body had been moved to the driveway.

[Unknown]

So you could see what appeared to be foul play and someone who's trying to cover their tracks.

[Brad Milkey]

Yes, it was obvious.

[Unknown]

The first thing investigators do is bring in anyone they can think of for questioning, even Linda's own family, including her dad, Benny, who admitted that he and his daughter weren't on the best of terms when she died.

[Brad Milkey]

When did y' all have a father now? Well, he's been. I don't know, just exactly. It's been. But failure in the beginning Everybody was a suspect because we did not know who done it. Mom and dad went through a real bad divorce. Real bad. It's still a bad and it's still bad. Yeah. And it was not settled yet.

[Unknown]

Investigators, of course, that was one of the questions they ask you is who do you think could have done it?

[Brad Milkey]

What's your good thing about this? What do you think?

[Unknown]

Immediately, it was that my dad already killed her because she had said her several times that she was working, and.

[Brad Milkey]

That was what was gonna happen.

[Unknown]

Investigators hear plenty of speculation about Phil Smith, Linda's ex husband. His reputation as a judge was forever tarnished when he admitted that he had watched porn on his work computer. Now, that information came out during the course of a really nasty divorce. The divorce included financial battles and also allegations of abuse.

And what did you say to the state police?

[Brad Milkey]

Everything that Linda had ever told me.

[Unknown]

She was afraid of her husband. She feared that he might kill her.

[Brad Milkey]

Yes. The difficult part for me was that my reaction wasn't, who could have done this? My reaction was like, oh, my God, what if he did this?

[Unknown]

Phil Smith has always denied harming or threatening Linda. He told ABC News in a statement that he was never physically violent or emotionally abusive towards Linda. He refused repeated requests from ABC News to be interviewed. But at the time of Linda's murder, he was anxious to speak with police.

[Brad Milkey]

Yes, ma', am, this is Phil Smith, and I need to talk to the sheriff. Very personal matter. Let's do this. Can you ask the sheriff to call Phil Smith?

[Unknown]

I sure will.

[Brad Milkey]

I actually talked to Phil Smith on the phone that night, and Phil was immediately very emotional and very cooperative. You know, whatever you need from me, I'm absolutely here to help you in whatever I can possibly help with.

[Unknown]

Did you believe him?

[Brad Milkey]

Yes.

[Unknown]

But investigators aren't ruling anyone out.

[Brad Milkey]

And we have this saying that police work. One thing I learned to do is you always follow the evidence, and that's what we want to do.

[Unknown]

Then the very next day, after Linda's body is found, there are TV reports about an Oklahoma state legislator who's also found dead. Jonathan Nichols, the former state senator and ou vice president, found dead inside his Norman home last night from a gunshot wound. Could the 2 be related? 2 Republican state legislators found dead within days of each other. It was a huge coincidence.

Is there something going on?

It turned out it was a suicide. So we were very quickly able to dismiss any type of conspiracy between the two state senators deaths.

[Brad Milkey]

And then, you know, there's a gag order that was put on the case. No suspects have been named. And an extraordinary gag order imposed in the case is preventing the release of any information. And so that didn't help with all the rumors.

[Unknown]

I've covered crime cases around the country for ABC for almost a decade. I have never encountered a gag order like this. ABC News decided to fight this gag order. We were trying to learn, is the public in danger?

The judge did file a gag order. However, it was being challenged by ABC National News and the Arkansas Press Association.

People were wondering in a case where a prime suspect is a judge, whether maybe this gag order is a function of the judiciary trying to protect itself.

And that almost led people to begin to suspect Judge Smith all the more that maybe there's a cover up going on.

[Brad Milkey]

Yes, I have a brief statement I'm going to read at the end of that statement. We will not be taking any questions. This is all information we can give you at this point. It really added a lot of mystery and distrust.

[Unknown]

While that fight goes on, the media and the public have no idea that investigators have learned something that might be critical to cracking the case. The murder may have been captured on one of those security cameras in Linda's home.

[Brad Milkey]

You think there's cameras in.

[Unknown]

Yeah, she. She had a lot of cameras. Not just like one or two. She had cameras on the garage side. She had cameras in the back. She had cameras inside.

[Brad Milkey]

We need to see those videos as we believe that those videos hold evidence on who was there and who murdered Linda Collins Smith.

[Unknown]

There's only one little problem. While those brackets are still there, the cameras are not.

[Brad Milkey]

One of the things that I immediately noticed. Over on the right corner, right underneath the soffit of the house there, there's a mounting bracket where a camera was located at one time. Of course, we don't know if the camera's been gone for a year or for 24 hours.

[Unknown]

And so that's where.

Putting on the investigator hat. Can we get that video from somewhere else? Is there information that was somehow in.

The cloud that we may be able to pull from?

They find out that video is stored somewhere at a security company in Los Angeles. The video is eventually shipped to Arkansas.

[Brad Milkey]

We immediately had our computer tech person pull that up and we were all sitting in the room watching in real time what he's going through. And he's going through the files. The video cameras were motion activated. The wind was blowing that day which moved the tarp and kicked the camera off. And you can't see it, but you can hear the audio of the murder.

[Unknown]

The audio is so graphic and so disturbing that 2020 has decided not to play it.

[Brad Milkey]

I mean, as bad as it is to listen to, it was huge as far as involved investigative team to have that.

[Unknown]

Could you hear anybody else's voice?

[Brad Milkey]

You could hear the second voice and you could not really make out exactly who it was.

[Unknown]

And then another clue captured on video. It's almost like something out of that show, Ghost Hunters.

[Brad Milkey]

There was actually a video that showed a person coming into the house that was covering themselves in a bedsheet.

[Unknown]

Is this the killer? As investigators keep watching, they can't believe what they see next. What went through your mind immediately?

[Brad Milkey]

What went through my mind was we've got her. We've got her.

[Unknown]

We've got her.

[Brad Milkey]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. It's Brad Milkey, host of ABC's Daily News podcast. Start here. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. Let's map out this week's amazing destinations and travel tips.

[Unknown]

Honestly, Will, I didn't plan any trips, but I did switch to T Mobile with their new Family Freedom offer.

[Brad Milkey]

That's not the itinerary we're following.

[Unknown]

Well, I'm departing from AT&T and embarking on a new journey with T Mobile. They paid off my family's four phones up to $3200 and gave us four new phones on the house.

[Brad Milkey]

Bon voyage. Introducing Family Freedom. Our lowest cost. To switch our biggest family savings all On America's largest 5G network, visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com FamilyFreedom up to $800 per line via virtual prepaid card typically takes 15 days. Free phones via 24 monthly bill credits with finance agreement eg Apple iPhone 16 128GB8 2,999 eligible trade in eg iPhone 11 Pro for well qualified credits end and balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel contact T Mobile.

[Unknown]

Everyone who knew Linda Collins Smith knew red was her favorite color. She always wore those red outfits. She drove that red pickup truck everywhere she could. And true to form, she wanted to be buried in a red casket.

So many mourners turn out for Linda's viewing that they have to move it to a bigger church.

[Brad Milkey]

The whole town was there at the Sutton Baptist Church paying their respects, you know.

[Unknown]

Among those who are making their way to the viewing is Linda's close friend Becky o', Donnell, who's driving to the church with her now fiance, Tim Loggins. Did you think she was just in shock?

[Brad Milkey]

She seemed in shock, yes. It seemed like a grief process.

[Unknown]

Investigators have told Linda's family that the killer may very well be amongst the mourners.

[Brad Milkey]

And the whole time, you know, you've got police that are literally sitting over your shoulder just watching and looking for everybody, because we didn't know who it was.

[Unknown]

But Linda's family has no idea that at that very moment, investigators are closing in on a suspect, and it's somebody who was never, ever mentioned in all those theories.

[Brad Milkey]

Just right across from these grain bins right here.

[Unknown]

Suddenly, on that highway on the way to the church, flashing lights. Sheriff Bell, along with his partner, is pulling over the suspect.

[Brad Milkey]

We took him out basically at gunpoint, ordered them to get out of the vehicle, and ordered her to walk back to me.

[Unknown]

Of all, all people, it's Linda's close friend Becky.

[Brad Milkey]

I was able to take her in custody right there. At that point, it makes no sense to me.

[Unknown]

And what happens with you at that point?

[Brad Milkey]

Well, I was free to go.

[Unknown]

What are you feeling?

[Brad Milkey]

Yeah, I'm mad, I'm upset. I'm scared. And my fear was that they were trying to cover for. For the judge and trying to depend it on Becky. Hi, Becky. Sit right here.

[Unknown]

Becky, still in the outfit she was wearing to the memorial, is brought into the interrogation room.

[Brad Milkey]

I'm gonna lay it all out there for you, okay? We're here about Linda, about the death of Linda. So tell me what you know. That's your right. That's your right, though. We're gonna respect that. Right. But I want you to know, you realize right now you're under the wrist for the murder of Linda. You understand that? We got you. We got video of you.

[Unknown]

Looking at that interrogation tape. It's not clear what they have, but they have something. They have something in crime. They have some sort of evidence, and they want to show it to Becky.

[Brad Milkey]

You can quit playing stupid now. We got you. You're not free to go. You're gonna go to sheriff. Stand up.

[Unknown]

This is Channel 7 news at 10.

Arkansas State Police, along with the Randolph County Sheriff's Department, arrest a woman in connection to the murder of former state senator Linda Collins, her best friend in.

[Brad Milkey]

Politics, her best friend in life that took this story and absolutely blew it sky high.

[Unknown]

Well, I immediately went to Facebook. Her profile picture has Linda in it, and they were so close, their heads.

Touched in the picture. I don't think you can get any closer than that. But Becky doesn't admit anything. On. On the day of Becky's arraignment, there are no cameras allowed inside. And the gag order issued after Linda's murder is still in effect. So there are no details about the investigation or what was found on that video from the home security system.

[Brad Milkey]

It was a big deal. I mean, the court room was packed.

[Unknown]

Rebecca o' Donnell was charged with capital.

Murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. O' Donnell's attorney entered a not guilty.

Plea to the charges during her arraignment.

And the state of Arkansas is seeking the death penalty.

[Brad Milkey]

Becky.

[Unknown]

Did you visit Becky?

[Brad Milkey]

Sure. This is so frustrating.

[Unknown]

Think about how it is for me.

[Brad Milkey]

Stay strong, Benny. Becky. That's all I can do. I love you. I believe in you.

[Unknown]

What does she say to you?

[Brad Milkey]

She maintained that she was being set up. She maintained that they were covering for the ex husband. It was remarkable how bold the supporters of Becky were in speaking about how she's absolutely not guilty. There's nothing but support for you on social media.

[Unknown]

I'm just gonna tell you one thing. If I was on the outside looking.

In, I would say, oh, wow.

[Brad Milkey]

He was her biggest supporter. He just said there was no way, you know, she could have done it.

[Unknown]

We'll talk later, okay?

[Brad Milkey]

Okay, baby. I love you.

[Unknown]

Same you.

Tim goes on Good Morning America to talk about his fiance Becky, and breaking the news to her about Linda's murder.

[Brad Milkey]

This is Good Morning America. Gonna go now to that ABC News exclusive and the mystery surrounding the death of a former Arkansas state senator. A shocking mystery that turned heads. I just told her they found Linda dead and she collapsed. How did Becky react? Two or three minutes of just tears and, oh, my God, I can't believe it. He was focused on the idea that Becky was innocent. I mean, either she is a best actress in the world and a sociopath and completely fooled me. Well, there's not a chance she did this. And I'm going with there's not a chance she did this.

[Unknown]

What was your hope? By going public and speaking nationally about.

[Brad Milkey]

Stopping the COVID up.

[Unknown]

But when it comes to this supposed cover up, there's something that Tim Loggins and other people supporting Becky just don't know. A very dark secret from Becky's past.

[Brad Milkey]

I just couldn't believe she was trying to have me killed.

[Unknown]

A woman arrested in the killing of former senator Linda Collins has been charged with capital murder. Rebecca o' Donnell appeared before a judge this morning.

After her arrest. Becky is being Held in a local jail. And with the case still under seal, there are a lot of unanswered questions.

[Brad Milkey]

It was basically, you know, no questions, no answers, no nothing.

[Unknown]

And rumors only grow when three judges and prosecutors handling the case recuse themselves.

[Brad Milkey]

Well, the Arkansas supreme court is assigning a new judge to preside over the trial of the woman accused. Accused of murdering former state senator Linda Collins. Why would a judge be appointed to this case and then suddenly jump off? What's going on there?

[Unknown]

Are people recusing themselves? Do you think it's falling apart?

[Brad Milkey]

I thought they were getting desperate. Sure.

[Unknown]

The murder trial involving former state senator Linda Collins will get a new prosecutor.

[Brad Milkey]

It seemed to me like, you know what, They've overreached. They wanted a patsy and they can't prove it.

[Unknown]

Of course, Tim and the general public as well know nothing about what the sheriff has found out about something that went on in the past between Becky and her former husband, Jeff O'.

[Brad Milkey]

Donnell. In 2007, I was working in little rock When I found out that Becky had a hit out for me for my life insurance. I was shocked.

[Unknown]

Jeff and Becky were married for 20 years. They had two children. And up until this moment, Jeff says though they had problems, he thought they had a pretty good relationship.

[Brad Milkey]

I just couldn't believe she was trying to have me killed.

[Unknown]

It was investigated by the asp.

She met with the investigators, and they.

Asked her, on a scale of 1 to 10, how serious were you about killing your husband?

And she said, I was a five.

Or six, but I was drunk.

[Brad Milkey]

There was never any charges filed. I don't think they had enough evidence. I didn't press charges myself. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. Our first priority in investigation is to stop the murder from happening. We just had to go straight to Becky and explain to her that if anything happened to her then husband, she would obviously be top of our list of suspects that ended our marriage. Becky and I had to stay in contact. We had a couple kids still in school. I doubt if anybody really knew issues of Becky's past.

[Unknown]

You don't always see that side of people, especially when they're as good at it as Becky o'.

[Brad Milkey]

Donnell.

[Unknown]

She is very good at her manipulation.

But investigators are starting to see through that manipulation from long ago. And they're starting to suspect that recently Becky's been stealing money from Linda. And if Linda had figured that out, could Becky have killed her to keep that secret safe?

That's what it appears is that it was about the money.

[Brad Milkey]

Linda had discovered that there were Some discrepancies in her father's checking account. When I looked at the deposit and how much was in the bank, it didn't jab. Okay.

[Unknown]

Why would Becky come to mind?

[Brad Milkey]

Becky is the person that handled all of Linda's money. I believe Linda caught Becky taking money from her and finally started asking questions. And knowing Linda's personality probably wasn't a pretty conversation. I think that Becky reached a point to where she decided there was no.

[Unknown]

Other way out other than to kill her friend.

[Brad Milkey]

Correct.

[Unknown]

Becky's son still admitting nothing. She's standing behind her not guilty plea. Now, she may be silent on the outside, but inside the local jail where she's awaiting trial, she's doing a lot of talking.

[Brad Milkey]

She was talking to all of her cellmates and she was telling them that she's not guilty. She didn't, didn't do anything. I think it was very clear that Rebecca o' Donnell did not want to go down for this killing without a fight.

[Unknown]

And what Becky tries to do behind bars is even more unthinkable. A brutal murder and then a plot while inside jail to commit more murder. That's mind blowing stuff that.

[Brad Milkey]

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[Unknown]

It's summer 2019 and Becky O' Donnell is charged with first degree capital murder. She's in jail at the Jackson County Detention center in Newport, Arkansas.

[Brad Milkey]

A lot of people there for drugs.

[Unknown]

And like robberies and just stuff like that, really.

[Brad Milkey]

Becky o' Donnell looks very put together. Usually when you're put together and you're.

[Unknown]

In prison and you're not on drugs or anything like that, then you've done.

[Brad Milkey]

Something like harm somebody.

[Unknown]

We talked to two of Becky's fellow inmates, Melissa and Cassandra.

She had pictures of Ms. Linda on her wall in her cell. That was her best friend and she didn't do this to her.

[Brad Milkey]

Her.

[Unknown]

So sad.

[Brad Milkey]

I really didn't talk to her for probably about the first month or so. Something was off about her, and I felt she was manipulative, and I didn't even know she was in there for what she was in there for.

[Unknown]

Melissa and Cassandra tell us that Becky seemed to have more commissary money than the rest of the inmates and that she would spread the wealth around.

She had a lot of commissary, so.

[Brad Milkey]

She gave it away to everybody. We had coffee and noodles and honey.

[Unknown]

Buns and Cokes and candy bars and soap and shampoo. You know, just everything.

[Brad Milkey]

She just wanted to buy friendship.

[Unknown]

I would ask questions, as in, like, I mean, well, why are you a suspect anyway?

[Brad Milkey]

She said it was a whole government thing.

[Unknown]

She said that Phil Smith, he's the one that had killed her, and that.

[Brad Milkey]

He was trying to frame her for it.

[Unknown]

Every day it became frantically trying to get out of there in some way, shape, form, or fashion.

But Melissa and Cassandra say one day Becky came to them with a plan of her own to get out of the mess she was in. She comes up with this plan that.

She approaches another inmate and asks her to help her because she wants to.

Have Phil Smith killed.

This just gets bigger and bigger, and.

It doesn't just start and end with killing Phil. She tells them that Phil is remarried, that his new wife's name is Mary, and that if she's there when you do it, that you should kill her, too.

For Phil's wife, Mary, she said to.

[Brad Milkey]

Pack a bag and make it look like she had just left town. And if she was there, just go ahead and get rid of her, too.

[Unknown]

Like, she doesn't take anybody's life for. Like it's valuable at all.

Wait a minute. So she is colluding with inmates while in jail.

[Brad Milkey]

Yes.

[Unknown]

To go out and murder people on her behalf?

[Brad Milkey]

Yes, that's correct.

[Unknown]

And Rebecca also asked these inmates, she.

Wanted retribution against the prosecutor, Henry Boyce. It went from talking about Linda, her best friend, to who do you know that can get rid of Judge Irwin and Henry Boyce and Phil Smith and then Phil Smith's wife. It went from nothing to just this big, that quick.

[Brad Milkey]

It shows her personality. She's homicidal, you know, from the very beginning.

[Unknown]

And how were these inmates supposed to get out of jail to go do this?

[Brad Milkey]

It was my understanding that the inmates were soon to be released. And then once they got out, she had set it up for them to help her commit this murder.

[Unknown]

And just how Was Becky gonna pay for this murder for hire plot with all that silver and gold? That was part of Linda and Phil's nasty divorce settlement.

[Brad Milkey]

She had said at Phil's house, he had a bunch of gold and silver, and we could take that and we could just keep it.

[Unknown]

And over at Linda's house, Becky says there's more where that came from.

She had sent me a note.

[Brad Milkey]

She made it look like it was Phil that wrote the note and said how he was sorry, and sorry Becky had to deal with anything that she had to deal with, that it was all his fault. And she actually had written a suicide note in her handwriting portraying herself to be Phil Smith and claiming that Phil Smith had killed Linda Collins and then killed himself and set it up as a suicide. We've all dealt with jailhouse snitches, right? And you've got to vet them, too.

[Unknown]

Now, inmates have been known to snitch on other inmates to get a lighter sentence. Did it occur to you that maybe these women could have been lying?

[Brad Milkey]

It's always a possibility, and you have to investigate it. But the inmates actually brought us proof and they brought us evidence in this note. We were able to prove from handwriting analysis that Becky wrote that note.

[Unknown]

When she asked me to do this.

[Brad Milkey]

I felt like she thought that I.

[Unknown]

Was just a low life scum, really. Like, I felt like she stereotyped me.

[Brad Milkey]

And that she was better than me.

[Unknown]

The reason I said something was because I felt like somebody else might actually.

Go through the plan.

[Brad Milkey]

And I care about other people's lives.

[Unknown]

I kind of feel as if it.

[Brad Milkey]

Needed to be told.

[Unknown]

But at the same time, I do feel sorry for her family because, you know, her family had a lot of support for her and they really believed her. And like her kids, nobody deserves that. I feel for them. I just do. I'm a mother, and I would not.

[Brad Milkey]

Ever want to put my children through something like that, ever.

[Unknown]

On top of the charges she's already facing in the death of Linda Collins, Becky o' Donnell is now charged with criminal solicitation to commit capital murder.

[Brad Milkey]

All the times you spend in your career saying, look, all that stuff on tv, it doesn't happen. Except in this case, it pretty much all happened.

[Unknown]

When the gag order on the case is finally lifted, there was one more shocking revelation to come.

[Brad Milkey]

We got you.

[Unknown]

It just felt like a bombshell, and.

It just came out of nowhere.

[Brad Milkey]

We got you.

[Unknown]

At some point, you hear that Becky has been talking to fellow inmates, plotting to have other people killed. What did you make of this?

[Brad Milkey]

That sounded Like a bad Hollywood script to me in the moment. I felt like it was a sign of desperation from the investigators.

[Unknown]

Even at this stage in the investigation, Becky's fiance, Tim Loggins, is continuing to support her, and police are getting a little frustrated that he's doing more talking to the media than he is to them.

[Brad Milkey]

We had reached out to Tim Loggins several times in an attempt to sit down with him and to explain exactly what we knew about this case, and he refused to do so. I believe you cooperate with law enforcement, and I had completely. But they were trying to get me to interact more and more, and I had to reach out and find an attorney to make sure that I wasn't in trapped in any kind of way.

[Unknown]

He had a lot of valuable information for their investigation that could appear to incriminate him.

And what about Tim? Why would you suspect him?

[Brad Milkey]

Tim and Becky were fiance, so they were close.

[Unknown]

Were you worried that at some point police may think that you were involved in it too? That you two did it together?

[Brad Milkey]

I knew it was a possibility, but I knew I could prove my whereabouts.

[Unknown]

Eventually, Tim would be ruled out as having had anything to do with the murder or the alleged theft of money from Linda. But when the pandemic hits in the spring of 2020 and Becky's murder trial is subsequently pushed back, something really huge happens behind the scenes. Tim and his lawyer get a phone call from Becky's defense team, and it's a stunner.

I got a call from her attorneys asking for a meeting, and it was a meeting I won't forget.

What did they say to you?

That they had discussed it with Becky, and Becky wanted them to tell Tim that Becky had killed Linda.

Her lawyers revealed to you that she was the murderer. It just felt like a bombshell, and.

It just came out of nowhere.

Your fiance, the woman you loved, the woman who you thought was best friends with Linda now you realize killed her.

[Brad Milkey]

I was mad. I was hurt. I felt used. I felt stupid.

[Unknown]

I remember not knowing if he was going to explode or break down. It was the most intense moment that you could possibly imagine.

Did you feel betrayed?

[Brad Milkey]

Absolutely. I can't think of a worse betrayal. She murdered my friend and lied about it.

[Unknown]

How do you process that?

[Brad Milkey]

I felt guilty that I had introduced Becky to Linda, and without me, Linda would probably still be alive.

[Unknown]

It's now clear those wild rumors surrounding the case were all false. There was no cover up to hide someone else's involvement. Phil Smith is totally clear, cleared, and Becky alone is admitting to the killing. Just moments ago, Rebecca o' Donnell entered guilty pleas here at the Randolph County.

Courthouse in the murder of Linda Collins.

[Brad Milkey]

So Rebecca o', Donnell, in what turned out to be a very dramatic move, decided to change her plea in this case from not guilty to guilty. And that was a shock that no one really saw coming.

[Unknown]

That plea is one sentence long. She says, I went over to Linda's.

House and I intentionally killed her and concealed her body. That's the only time you heard her say anything in the courtroom.

And that is also when the.

The death penalty came off the table. It still definitely hurt hearing her say, you know, I killed her and I moved her body.

Was there emotion attached to her when she said that?

[Brad Milkey]

No.

[Unknown]

No.

[Brad Milkey]

She said it just because she was told she had to say it. And she would have. She didn't care.

[Unknown]

While authorities don't charge Becky with the alleged theft of Linda's money, they do charge her with conspiracy stemming from the murder for hire plot, which she tried to hatch while in the county. J. Becky also pleads no contest to those charges.

[Brad Milkey]

Do you have anything to say to the public?

[Unknown]

Rebecca O' Donnell will spend 50 years in jail for the murder of Senator Linda Collins. But for the family of Senator Linda Collins, it wasn't the justice they wanted to see done.

[Brad Milkey]

None of the punishments allowed per Arkansas state law will come close to what I feel right now. And as a right and equal punishment.

[Unknown]

For her, it will never bring my grandpa's daughter back or our mother back or our children's grandmother back. No amount of punishment will ever fill that void that Rebecca o' Donnell made in our lives the day she killed our mother.

But with a resolution in this case also comes something else, and it's big. A judge agrees with ABC News and the Arkansas Press association that the gag order was too broad and fully lifts it, allowing all of the evidence to finally come out. And that's when people finally get to see all of the incriminating evidence that investigators had against Becky all along.

It turns out there are more breathtaking videos from those security cameras. In one of them, Becky is clearly putting one of the cameras in her bag.

[Brad Milkey]

You could see Becky o' Donnell placing that camera in a handbag. And just as luck would have it, when she placed that camera inside that handbag, the camera was pointing up toward the ceiling.

[Unknown]

What are the odds that this shot would be recorded? She is not only putting the camera in her bag, but it's still rolling and at the perfect angle to capture her holding a bloody knife.

[Brad Milkey]

So you could clearly see Becky with blood on her Hands with a large kitchen knife in her hand. The video pointing up towards Becky. We can't explain it. I'm sure if it happened again, we would never have gotten that footage.

[Unknown]

Was that your smoking gun?

[Brad Milkey]

Absolutely.

[Unknown]

You know, it is.

That money shot that you hope to.

Get in those cases. It's amazing how lucky we get sometimes.

It kind of goes back to where.

The criminals aren't always as smart as.

They think they are.

As for that ghost like figure captured on camera, investigators say that's Becky too.

[Brad Milkey]

You're under the wrist for the murderer, Linda. You understand that? We got you. We got you.

[Unknown]

Once the public sees that damning video, you would think all the questions around this case would be put to rest. They aren't.

She is not in Arkansas. We do not know her exact whereabouts.

And another one of the questions people are still asking. Did Becky o' Donnell act alone?

[Brad Milkey]

There's no doubt that the story of Linda Collins Smith is a tragedy from start to finish.

[Unknown]

In a case that's already full of unusual twists, it turns out that Becky is is now being held secretly in a prison that the Arkansas Department of Corrections will not publicly identify. Just that she's out of state and they won't say why she was moved there.

We do not know her exact whereabouts.

Except to say that she is eight hours away.

[Brad Milkey]

There's something not being told. This is the product of not allowing sunshine into our judicial system.

[Unknown]

Investigators have acknowledged to us that the early secrecy, the gag order, the recusals, that all of that are contributing factors as to why some in the public are skeptical that we have all the facts or that Becky actually did act alone.

[Brad Milkey]

You know, I do wonder how someone as tiny as Becky moved Linda's body outside. His adrenaline only lasts so long.

[Unknown]

You're convinced Becky O' Donnell killed Linda Collins?

[Brad Milkey]

Absolutely. Alone? Yes. Alone. 100% confident.

[Unknown]

Becky, how are you feeling today?

I think the evidence was very clear.

Who committed the murder.

The person's guilty and sitting in jail now. So to me, the case is closed.

Police have officially cleared Tim Loggins and Phil Smith. And Phil Smith provided a statement to us. My family and I are grateful that justice has been done. My request is to be left in peace and that Linda be allowed to rest in peace.

In the end, Linda stood. Children and grandchildren won't have that precious time with her.

[Brad Milkey]

A video here.

[Unknown]

You just think it could have been prevented.

Why did one friend take another friend's life? What do you most want people to remember about Linda Collins Smith?

She did so much in her life. She is so much more than just her murder, just how she died.

[Brad Milkey]

She was a real person. You know, she wasn't just a politician. She was a grandmother. She was a mother. She was a daughter.

[Unknown]

She was always so good at making you feel so special and so loved. And I think that's what I miss the most.

[Brad Milkey]

She just loved people and she just wanted the best. She's wanted the best for everybody. It's just senseless.

[Unknown]

That's our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Deborah Roberts.

[Brad Milkey]

And I'm David Muir. From all of us here at Twitter 2020 and ABC News, good night. Good liberty. Our WNBA champion.

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[Brad Milkey]

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[Brad Milkey]

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