Mary Orsini

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Snapped: Women Who Murder — “Mary Orsini”

Podcast: Snapped: Women Who Murder
Host: Oxygen
Episode: Mary Orsini
Date: July 26, 2026

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Overview

This episode of Snapped explores the chilling case of Mary Lee Orsini: an Arkansas woman whose manipulative obsession resulted in the murder-for-hire killing of her attorney’s wife, Alice McArthur, and ties to another suspicious death. Through interviews with investigators, family, friends, and legal experts, the episode unpacks Mary Lee’s twisted motives, the tangled investigations, and the devastating consequences for all involved.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Murder of Alice McArthur

• Crime Scene Discovery

  • July 2, 1982, Little Rock: Prominent defense attorney Bill McArthur returns home to find his wife, Alice, shot dead in the closet.
  • “There is a white female in the closet. She was dead, and at her feet was arranged in the flowers.” (Lead Investigator, 00:08)
  • Bizarre evidence: Bouquet at her feet with a note, “Have a nice day.” (03:03)

• Initial Motive Exploration

  • Investigators and those close to the family initially suspect Bill might have been the real target due to his high-profile legal work, which angered unsavory characters.
  • “Doing criminal law work, you anger a lot of people.” (Friend or Neighbor, 00:43)
  • Alice was described as athletic, strong, direct, and a fiercely loyal mother and wife.

Escalation: The Failed Bombing

• Prior Attempted Murder
  • Six weeks before Alice’s murder, a car bomb in Bill’s car nearly killed Alice. The device, though malfunctioning, could have also killed the children.
  • “They had enough explosives to blow her to kingdom come, but it didn't work. It was a miracle the kids weren't in the car.” (Family Member of Bill McArthur, 11:36)
  • Investigators suspected Bill was the initial target.

The Hired Hitmen and the Confession

• Break in the Case
  • Police receive a tip: “There was supposed to be two bad guys in town from Chicago that was supposed to kill a high value target.” (Narrator, 12:58)
  • Forensic evidence: Fingerprints on the flower vase match petty thief Yankee Eugene Hall. He confesses, implicates accomplice Larry McClendon, and reveals a woman hired them for $25,000. (14:13–15:01)
  • “She supposedly, according to Yankee, was going to pay him $25,000.” (Lead Investigator, 15:01)
  • The killers used a flower delivery ruse, chased Alice to her closet where she tried to retrieve her handgun, and shot her. (16:11–16:30)

The Mystery of Mary Lee Orsini

• Who Was Mary Lee Orsini?

  • Background: Middle class upbringing, high school dropout, striking appearance, two marriages. Second husband, Ron Orsini, died a year before Alice, under suspicious circumstances.
  • “She was just a pretty girl, and she had the biggest eyelashes glued on that you’ve ever seen.” (Detective, 17:45)

• Ron Orsini’s Suspicious Death (March 12, 1981)

  • Mary Lee finds Ron dead, claims ignorance of any gunshots, story doesn’t add up, and she has a questionable alibi.
  • “She said, maybe he shot himself, but if he shot himself, then he managed to hide the gun somewhere and they could not find [it].” (Detective, 19:26)
  • Private investigator Fred Myers details Mary Lee’s financial problems, failed attempts to barter for his services, and later, her request for a criminal lawyer—Bill McArthur. (21:32–23:32)
  • Motive for Ron’s death suspected to be financial—he had a life insurance policy.

The Connection: Mary Lee & Bill McArthur

• McArthur Defends Orsini

  • Bill successfully defends Mary Lee against murder charges for her husband’s death; grand jury issues no indictment (“no true bill”).
  • Mary Lee becomes obsessed with Bill, believing he shares her feelings, but there’s no evidence the relationship was reciprocated.
  • “She worshiped him, thinking that he was the greatest attorney ever.” (Family Member of Bill McArthur, 26:11)
  • “She can keep three stories juggling at one time and hardly miss a beat.” (Friend or Neighbor, 01:00)

• Obsession Turns Deadly

  • Motive emerges: Mary Lee wanted Alice out of the picture so she could pursue Bill—her obsession escalates to murder-for-hire.
  • “She thought that in the long run she would have Bill and then that she would have all the social ramifications and all his riches and everything that she was actually desiring.” (Lead Investigator, 27:19)

Building the Case: Evidence & Arrests

• How Mary Lee Orsini Was Caught
  • Investigators find Mary Lee received exactly $25,000—the contracted murder sum—after her mother sold her house. (30:33)
  • She attempts to frame herself as a helpful tipster with a staged tape, but handwriting analysis on the provided script ties her directly to the conspiracy. (31:13–33:12)
  • “He said, she wrote everything she wanted me to say and how she wanted me to say it.” (Lead Investigator, 32:49)
  • Mary Lee, Yankee Hall, and Larry McClendon are all arrested and charged.

Fallout & Legal Battles

• Accusations Against Bill McArthur

  • Mary Lee tries to implicate Bill in the murder plot; no evidence supports her claims, and the grand jury once again refuses to indict ("no true bill").
  • “There's nothing. I mean, absolutely nothing. No physical evidence, nobody's testimony except Mary Lee Orsini's…” (Lead Investigator, 37:04)

• Trial & Aftermath

  • At Mary Lee’s capital murder trial, Yankee Hall testifies against her in exchange for leniency.
  • Mary Lee is convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole; Hall and McClendon also receive lengthy sentences.
  • “Mary Lee Orsini and Yankee hall both got lives in prison without parole. Larry McClindon got 20 years.” (Lead Investigator, 39:04)

• Ron Orsini’s Case

  • Mary Lee is tried and convicted for her husband’s murder, but the conviction is overturned. She is not retried as the evidence is purely circumstantial. (39:26–39:55)

Final Revelations & Legacy

• Mary Lee’s Deathbed Confession

  • In 2003, Mary Lee finally admits to both murders, citing a religious conversion as her reason for coming clean.
  • “She contacted the prosecuting attorney and said she would like to talk to investigators ... She told them that she shot her husband and killed him. To quote her words ... She confessed her sins and Jesus forgave her, and she wanted to clear the record.” (Private Investigator, 40:21)

• Impact on Those Left Behind

  • “I think it’s very possible that people do things that are completely out of character and truly do snap. But I think for her, she was evil.” (Family Member of Bill McArthur, 40:57)
  • “She belonged to jail. Hell, yeah, she belonged to jail for the rest of her life, for sure.” (Friend or Neighbor, 39:13)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The flower bouquet had a note basically attached to it that have a nice day.” (Lead Investigator, 03:03)
• “She was a great mother. She was fiercely loyal to her family.” (Family Member of Bill McArthur, 07:53)
• “If what Hall’s saying is true, police now know the shooter and they have his accomplice in custody.” (Narrator, 16:45)
• “[Mary Lee] had the biggest eyelashes glued on that you’ve ever seen. She looked like Tammy Faye Baker.” (Detective, 17:45)
• “She worshiped him, thinking that he was the greatest attorney ever.” (Family Member of Bill McArthur, 26:11)
• “She can keep three stories juggling at one time and hardly ever miss a beat.” (Friend or Neighbor, 41:11)

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Episode Timestamps for Noteworthy Segments

• 00:03–03:36: Discovery of Alice’s murder and initial investigation
• 09:43–11:36: Discussion of the prior bombing attempt
• 13:11–17:00: Break in the case; hitmen identified; initial confession
• 17:32–23:47: Mary Lee Orsini’s background and financial issues; Ron Orsini’s suspicious death
• 24:59–27:19: Mary Lee’s obsession with Bill McArthur and motive for murder
• 30:33–33:12: Gathering key evidence, handwriting analysis, and Mary Lee’s script
• 34:45–37:20: Arrests and legal complexities, including attempted framing of Bill McArthur
• 38:09–39:13: Trial outcome and sentencing
• 40:02–40:57: Mary Lee’s prison confession and impact on the community

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Tone & Conclusion

The episode maintains a stark, matter-of-fact tone, punctuated by moments of disbelief, personal loss, and indignation from investigators and those affected by Mary Lee Orsini’s manipulations. The story highlights both the cunning and obsession involved in the crime—and the tragic, random victimhood of Alice McArthur. Ultimately, justice prevails, but not without lasting scars for the survivors.

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Transcript

[Narrator]

An Arkansas housewife brutally murdered.

[Lead Investigator]

There is a white female in the closet. She was dead, and at her feet was arranged in the flowers.

[Narrator]

Police learn this wasn't the first attempt on her life.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

They had enough explosives to blow her to kingdom come, but it didn't work. It was a miracle the kids weren't in the car.

[Narrator]

The investigation reveals her husband might have been the real target.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

He was definitely the top criminal attorney in the state of Arkansas.

[Friend or Neighbor]

Doing criminal law work, you anger a lot of people.

[Narrator]

But when detectives uncover the truth, they find a mastermind who's obsessed.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

She worshiped him, thinking that he was the greatest attorney ever.

[Friend or Neighbor]

She can keep three stories juggling at one time and hardly miss a beat. She belonged to jail. Hell, yeah, she belonged to jail for the rest of her life, for sure.

[Narrator]

July 2, 1982. It's late afternoon in Little Rock, Arkansas, when Police receive a 911 call from a prominent defense attorney saying he found his wife murdered.

[Lead Investigator]

The original call came through our communications center, and one of our officers responded to the call, which was the address of Allison Bill McArthur.

[Narrator]

As first responders arrive, they are met by the 911 caller, Bill McArthur. He tells officers he had just returned home from work when he found his wife Alice shot to death inside their bedroom closet.

[Lead Investigator]

I go to my officer to get what he's got, and he kind of walks me back through the hallway toward Alice's. Emil's bedroom. The closet is a walk in, and it's probably 10 by 10, and there's a white female laying in the bottom of the closet. You had to move some clothes out of the way to kind of see her upper torso, and there's blood. Gunshot went to the head. The officer that got there first, he said he had checked her pulse. I went ahead and checked her pulse, too. She was dead.

[Narrator]

There's little evidence to explain why Alice was shot. But on the floor, police find something bizarre.

[Lead Investigator]

At her feet was arranged in her bouquet of flowers. The flower bouquet had a note basically attached to it that have a nice day. Right next to the door facing is a bullet hole in the wall. And down underneath the bullet hole was fire pedals. So it's telling you a story. I think that whoever shot Alex brought the flowers.

[Narrator]

Investigators waste no time scouring the crime scene for more clues.

[Lead Investigator]

We did spin round from the wall. It was.38. As we inventory everything out of the closet, we do find a handgun there, a pistol, and it was from one of the shelves covered up with folded clothes. Bill was there, and he Was asked, I mean, whose gun is it? He said it was Alice's. I didn't think it was the murder weapon because the way it was found, I believe she believes that she could get ahold of that gun and maybe defend herself.

[Narrator]

With no quick answers from the scene, investigators focus on potential motives.

[Friend or Neighbor]

I wondered who in the hell would do this and why.

[Lead Investigator]

Bill was a high profile attorney, so you knew this was going to be a high profile case.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

Alice had a small circle, Friends she kind of kept to herself. But Bill was kind of in the forefront. One might suspect that he would be a target because he was the top criminal attorney in the state of Arkansas. So the investigators and people that were trying to determine what took place, it was more circled around, why would anybody be mad at Alice, you know, or want to do something harmful to. Why Alice?

[Narrator]

Alice Miller was born in southern Louisiana in 1941.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

She was from a small town called Golden Meadow, Louisiana. She had a couple of brothers. The mom and dad were still alive. Alice was a PE or gym teacher for the local high school. So she was very athletic.

[Narrator]

In the mid-1960s, Alice met the love of her life, a young Arkansas lawyer named Bill McArthur.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

They met through mutual friends at a wedding. My brother had got his undergraduate degree, and then he went to the army and served two or three years. He had gone to law school, graduated, and was real early on his journey to be a criminal attorney.

[Friend or Neighbor]

I thought they fit together pretty well. Bill was real laid back, and Alice was. Driven is not the word, but she was kind of, you know, front and center kind of person.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

They were married probably in the late 60s. Bill's practice was just starting out. He was just getting a name for himself, building his practice up.

[Narrator]

With Alice's support, Bill rose to prominence as a defense attorney in the Little Rock court system.

[Friend or Neighbor]

He had natural skills in the courtroom. He was excellent in closing the argument because he would just talk to people. He was just himself. He would point out reasonable doubt.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

It wasn't too long before his practice had really kicked in. They moved out towards the Pleasant Valley area and bought a house out there. They had two children. She stayed home with them. She cared for them. She was very strong, very opinionated. Some would say she probably might have worn the pants in the family.

[Friend or Neighbor]

Alice was about the most direct human being you'd ever meet. You didn't have to worry what was on Alice's mind. She was real direct with me about anything. Bill and Alice, they frequently had neighborhood parties, and they always asked me out over there. I think the Best couples I know, they're different just enough where they kind of pull and push each other where it needs to be done and fill in gaps and support each other. So I thought things were well over there.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

She was a great mother. She was fiercely loyal to her family. And she and Bill, from what I ascertain and when I was around, were happily married.

[Narrator]

Now Alice has been shot to death in their bedroom closet, and Bill has found himself on the other side of a murder investigation.

[Lead Investigator]

Speculation was that she became aware at some point that somebody was going to hurt her and she ran. She was trying to get to the closet because that was how she was going to try to defend herself. There would have been no reason for her to run to the closet except for that gun. We're looking for fingerprints. If you get a fingerprint, if you got a suspect, then you can make a case. I'm in the closet and of course the bouquet is there on the floor. A fingerprint person had an opportunity to fingerprint some of the evidence to come up with a fingerprint.

[Narrator]

The print is sent to the crime lab to see if they can find a match. But as police speak with Bill about possible motives, they begin to suspect Alice might not have been the killer's intended target.

[Friend or Neighbor]

I can't think of any reason anybody want to kill Alice. But in doing criminal law work, you anger a lot of people.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

And his line of work, you don't deal with the a list of humanity, you know, so you know, did he piss somebody off?

[Narrator]

The officer's line of thinking proves correct when Bill brings up another recent attack on his family. Just six weeks earlier, Alice was just

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

jumping in her car and doing mom stuff. She started the car up. It wouldn't start first. Then she recranked it, and that's when it went off.

[Narrator]

Coming up, shocking details of a previous murder attempt.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

The mystery of it was, why would they do that to Alice? Did they make a mistake?

[Narrator]

But new questions arise when another mysterious shooting surfaces.

[Detective or Police Officer]

She said, something's wrong with my husband. He's bleeding.

[Lead Investigator]

Light bulb comes on, oh, she's gonna kill somebody else.

[Narrator]

Arkansas detectives are talking to defense attorney Bill McArthur. In the aftermath of his wife's murder. The officers can't help but wonder if there is a link between Alice's shooting and another attack six weeks earlier.

[Lead Investigator]

We had had an attempted homicide with a pipe bomb under Bill McCarthy's car. It was maybe a couple of weeks before the actual shooting. It was pretty pump bomb. It took the floorboard and pushed it up all the way to the front of the seat. So, I mean, it hit her legs pretty good.

[Narrator]

Even though the bomb failed to fully detonate, it was still destructive.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

They had enough explosives to blow her to kingdom come, but it didn't work. It was a miracle the kids weren't in the car. The mystery of it was, why would they do that to Alice? Did they make a mistake?

[Lead Investigator]

They were working that bombing as if Bill was the actual target because it was his car. Could it be somebody that he just represented and maybe didn't represent to the liking of the individual?

[Narrator]

Investigators questioned anyone with access to Bill's client list.

[Lead Investigator]

We questioned him, we questioned his staff, and I don't think that there was anything discovered that indicated that that was somebody that he had represented.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

Everybody thought it was an odd, crazy thing to happen, but she got back to her routine, you know, so life goes on. Even though it was still an active investigation.

[Narrator]

Though the bombing investigation hit a dead end, it's not long before a new lead in Alice's murder surfaces.

[Lead Investigator]

The Pulaska County Sheriff's Office received the information that there was supposed to be two bad guys in town from Chicago that was supposed to kill a high value target.

[Narrator]

The tipster says the name of one of the hitmen is Larry McClendon. While police are looking into the tip, the fingerprint results come in from the lab. However, they belong to a different man in their system.

[Lead Investigator]

The flowers are particularly important to the case because the fingerprints pulled off the bottom of the vase identified as Yankee Eugene Hall.

[Prosecutor or Legal Expert]

Yankee Eugene hall was a petty theft criminal who had never engaged in any violence prior to this.

[Lead Investigator]

We have warrants obtained from Reiki hall, and he is arrested, brought to Little Rock Police Department, and he was interviewed.

[Narrator]

When detectives put on the pressure in the interrogation room, he could quickly crumbles.

[Lead Investigator]

He kind of spilled his guts. He started talking and did implicate his partner, Larry McClendon. He gave him information that Larry was a shooter.

[Narrator]

Hall's claim lines up exactly with the anonymous tipster, who also named Larry McClendon as the gunman.

[Lead Investigator]

He said, Larry McClendon is just a. He's a jailhouse friend is what he is. Yankee and him, they got to know each other in the jail and penitentiary.

[Narrator]

Neither hall nor McClendon appear to be professional killers, but hall claims the woman who hired them was offering too much money to turn down.

[Lead Investigator]

She supposedly, according to Yankee, Yankee hall was going to pay him $25,000. Yankee was going to pay Larry McLendon $10,000 to murder Alice MacArthur.

[Prosecutor or Legal Expert]

They rented a van, bought some Flowers went to Bill and Alice's house in Pleasant Valley.

[Narrator]

They planned a flower delivery ruse to get inside. However, hall says things didn't go as smoothly as they'd hoped.

[Friend or Neighbor]

Yankee hall and Larry McClendon rang the doorbell at Alice's house with as if they're delivering flowers.

[Detective or Police Officer]

Alice opened the door, he had the gun, and she took off running and headed up the stairs.

[Lead Investigator]

She runs down the hallway and she's being pursued by Larry McLendon. She gets to the bedroom and McLendon fires a shot at her. She runs to the closet, gets in the closet, close the closet door.

[Detective or Police Officer]

She I do not believe was hiding in that closet. She was looking for her gun, which she kept. All her friends knew everybody, that her gun, which she knew how to use, was in like a hat box or something.

[Lead Investigator]

She's rifling through the clothes on the shelf that's right there at her fingertips, basically, and he opens the door and shoots her.

[Narrator]

If what Hall's saying is true, police now know the shooter and they have his accomplice in custody. But investigators are also eager to speak to the woman hall claims hired them.

[Lead Investigator]

He said it was a lady by the name of Mary Lee Orsini. When her name come up, I had never heard it before. I mean, you have to look at everything. It's not hard to kind of take that step and say, what does she think she would gain from it? Why would she have anything to do with this? Why would she be involved in this at all?

[Narrator]

After hearing Yankee Hall's confession, authorities run a background check on the woman he claims hired him, 34 year old Mary Lee Orsini.

[Detective or Police Officer]

Mary Lee lived in Indian Hills, which is almost the border of north Little Rock. She grew up middle class, our middle class. They're just like everybody else. Everybody went to the same school. She did not see the need to go to school, and she dropped out of high school and 10th grade. She was just a pretty girl, and she had the biggest eyelashes glued on that you've ever seen. She looked like Tammy Faye Baker.

[Narrator]

Mary Lee had been married twice. Her first husband was in the Air Force, and they had a daughter together before splitting up. But her second marriage, to a man named Ron Orsini, ended in tragedy almost a year prior to Alice's death. On the morning of March 12, 1981, Mary Lee called 911 in a panic asking for medical assistance.

[Detective or Police Officer]

She said, something's wrong with my husband. He's bleeding. It may be his nose, I'm not sure, but I need an ambulance. The first Police officers got there, they go in the room, pull the sheet back, and then they saw half his head was blown away.

[Narrator]

When officers asked Mary Lee what happened, she claimed Ron went to bed alone around 10pm and she found him that way in the morning.

[Detective or Police Officer]

Her story was, was her daughter was sick, so she slept in the bed with Tiffany across the hall from Ron's bedroom. They said, you sure you didn't hear any gunshots like in Ron's room? And she was, no, I didn't and Tiffany didn't. She was just. Well, I was just really tired. She said to the police, maybe he shot himself, but if he shot himself, then he managed to hide the gun somewhere and they could not find him.

[Narrator]

Mary Lee had a questionable story, but detectives needed more evidence to make an arrest.

[Detective or Police Officer]

When you fire a gun, there's blowout or blow back, depending on how you're holding it. So the shooter gets some of the powder from the force of the bullet going out. She had nothing, which either meant she didn't fire a gun or she did and she had taken a full on shower or bath and scrubbed everything off.

[Narrator]

Investigators were stalled until they got a call from a private investigator named Fred Myers.

[Private Investigator]

After Ron Orsini was killed. Within a couple of days, I called the prosecutor and I told him about my involvement with Mary Lee Orsini. It was in the first week of November 1980. I was told there was a lady on the phone by the name of Mary Lee Orsini that wanted to talk with me. So I spoke with her. She told me she would like to see me about a personal matter.

[Narrator]

Meyers said Mary Lee showed up looking like a femme fatale.

[Private Investigator]

Usually we when people set an appointment with me and came into the office, it might be a business attire. And she came in with a tight fitting silk blouse open down the middle. She had on a skirt and it was split on the side. She told me that her husband was Ron Orsini and she had come to me to do what is commonly known as an activities check on her husband. She told me that she was virtually certain. She said that Ron had become involved in the buying and selling and transporting drugs. I told her that we would have to do a surveillance. We watched them for the next week, starting on Monday morning. We did that every day Monday through Friday and we saw nothing out of the ordinary.

[Narrator]

But Meyers told the prosecutor he did find something of note.

[Private Investigator]

We determined that they were behind on their bills. The credit report told me that, and it had included delinquency on their home

[Narrator]

mortgage in Fact, financial issues made it difficult for Mary Lee to pay pay Meyers for his services.

[Private Investigator]

I was telling her that I cannot keep working unless you can pay me. She made the statement, well, perhaps we could barter. I said, what do you have that you can give me that would compensate for the money that you owe me? She told me, come to my house.

[Narrator]

Uncomfortable with Mary's intention insinuation, Fred quickly rejected the invite.

[Private Investigator]

She said, I'll give you time or we can meet somewhere and we can discuss it. Well, I did not accept the invitation for either one.

[Narrator]

After receiving the tip from Meyers, prosecutors looked into the Orsini's finances and found a motive for murder.

[Detective or Police Officer]

They didn't have any money. She didn't have grounds for divorce. She would lose everything if they got a divorce. But at some point they decided to get life insurance.

[Narrator]

Meyers said. After Ron's death, Mary Lee paid him another visit.

[Private Investigator]

She asked me then if I would refer her to a good criminal lawyer. So I gave her the names of three criminal attorneys that I knew personally that I had done work for. And she chose Bill McArthur.

[Narrator]

Detectives investigating the death of Alice MacArthur have found the connection between her and Mary Lee Orsini. What's still unclear is why Mary Lee would have hired hitmen to kill her lawyer's wife.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

My brother represented Mary Lee Orsini in murder trial. She was accused of murdering her husband and he was able to get her off. He was able to point out investigators took shortcuts or didn't dot their I's and cross their T's.

[Prosecutor or Legal Expert]

The grand jury returned a no true Bill and did not indict her for her husband Ron's death.

[Detective or Police Officer]

That means the grand jury said, yeah, we don't know by the hard true beyond a reasonable doubt that she did this. She was just free, just walk on out.

[Narrator]

Clients usually want to get back at a little lawyer who loses their case, not one who wins it. But when police dig a little further, they discover Mary Lee had different intentions.

[Prosecutor or Legal Expert]

As a result of that representation, Mary Lee Orsini developed the idea that Bill McArthur had romantic interests in her.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

I mean, she worshiped him, thinking that he was the greatest attorney ever.

[Friend or Neighbor]

I could tell she kind of had a thing for Bill. I didn't see that back the other way at all. Bill's is kind of dashing trial lawyer and man, she's not his type.

[Narrator]

After the trial, it seems Mary Lee kept looking for opportunities to see Bill.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

My brother and two other partners opened up BJ star studded honky Tonk. It was a country western bar and it was huge at the time. I was there for a couple of shows and I knew that Mary Lee or Ceni was there and came by the ownership table wanting to make an effort to come over and say hi to Bill. It made sense from her being infatuated, my brother. And in her mind, if Alice was out of the way, maybe, maybe she could have Bill. This was obviously was obsession.

[Lead Investigator]

Light bulb comes on. She thought that in the long run she would have Bill and then that she would have all the social ramifications and all his riches and everything that she was actually desiring. And that's why she went and found Yankee Hall.

[Narrator]

With new understanding of Mary Lee's intent, detectives resume their questioning of the hitman she allegedly hired. Yankee Hall.

[Lead Investigator]

He says they met in like a bowl. You know, I think that she went there to meet not necessarily Yankee hall, but somebody like Yankee Hall.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

She did have an appeal and she knew how to use that.

[Lead Investigator]

He said that they had sex and she was, you know, seductive. She kind of prompted him into a lot of things as she developed the relationship and eventually got off into this, what she wanted to do. At that point, they decided to try the bomb in.

[Prosecutor or Legal Expert]

It'd be difficult, if not impossible to trace it back to anybody, but it didn't work.

[Narrator]

After the failed bombing, hall says Mary Lee asked him to find a shooter. So he called up his old prison mate, Larry McClendon.

[Prosecutor or Legal Expert]

The thing that stands out most in my mind is that he had no remorse emotion whatsoever about killing Alice MacArthur. And as a matter of fact, I remember him stating specifically, we killed that bitch.

[Narrator]

Unfortunately, investigators know Hall's confession won't be enough to convict Mary Lee.

[Lead Investigator]

Yankee hall was implicating Mary Lee orsini and Larry McClendon. But he ain't got no evidence. You're not going to make a case on Capitol felon murder with a co conspirator's testimony. You have to have something to backs it up. And I'll be honest with you, I mean, I was pouring over my case file trying to find something, I mean, anything.

[Narrator]

Coming up, detectives get the break they've been looking for.

[Lead Investigator]

He said she wrote everything she wanted

[Friend or Neighbor]

me to say she giving him a script to read. So the recording was completely bogus and

[Narrator]

the full story is final.

[Detective or Police Officer]

Finally revealed, she said she wanted to come clean.

[Narrator]

While looking for evidence that Mary Lee Orsini paid to have Alice MacArthur murdered, investigators subpoena her bank records. One transaction implies immediately catches their eye.

[Lead Investigator]

She got her mother to Sell her house. She had actually gotten $25,000 over what she owed on the house. So Mary Lee put that in her account.

[Narrator]

It's the exact amount Yankee said she was going to pay for the hit. But detectives still need stronger evidence to make sure Mary can't dodge another. Another murder charge. They get a lead from the suspect herself when Mary brings them a tape with audio of a call she says she recorded while speaking with an anonymous tipster.

[Lead Investigator]

I'm sitting there going over stuff, and assistant chief of police come in and he hands me an audio tape and he said, see if you can identify this guy on this auto audio tape. I get to listening to the tape, and during the conversation, he made a comment talking about his business. And I got the name from that.

[Narrator]

The name they find is Larry Burge.

[Lead Investigator]

I eventually get him on the phone and I tell him I need to talk to him. He said, well, I'll come in. And we get to talking.

[Narrator]

Burge starts by explaining how he is more than just an anonymous tipster to marry.

[Lead Investigator]

He said they met at bars and things like that a couple of times. That's how they ended up having a relationship.

[Narrator]

Burge admits he was the one who called in the tip about the pair of hitmen just a few days into Alice's murder investigation.

[Lead Investigator]

He said that Mary Lee had instructed him to call county sheriff's office and give the information the next day.

[Narrator]

He says Mary convinced him to recreate his previous anonymous tip with more detail so she could take the recording to police.

[Friend or Neighbor]

He, I think gave it up pretty quick that she'd given him a script to read through on the phone, so the recording was completely bogus.

[Lead Investigator]

He said, she wrote everything she wanted me to say and how she wanted me to say it. I said, do you still have them? He said, yeah. He said, I'll go get them, bring them back to you. And sure enough, he had, I think there were three pages, yellow pages, notebook paper.

[Narrator]

The handwritten notes provided by Burge matched the recorded call that Mary Lee brought in.

[Lead Investigator]

I logged it in evidence and then sent it to the state crime lab for handwriting analysis. It was 100%. I mean, it was 100% Marilee Orsini's handwriting. We'd already taken a statement from her, so we had her handwriting to compare it to.

[Narrator]

For investigators, it's strange that Mary Lee provided the real names of her co conspirators, but they suspect she thought it would make the hitmen's story less believable if they gave her up. Instead, her plan has backfired had not

[Lead Investigator]

it been for the Larry Bird's tape, we'd never made a case on Mary or seen. As soon as we kind of got to go ahead on the handwriting analysis, they gave us the arrest warrant, And we went to arrest her. We transported back to the Rock Police Department. Her interview was. It wasn't that long of an interview because she was still denying everything. I mean, she was at the point when we first got her that she didn't know who Larry Birds was. She didn't know who Yankee hall was. After taking a statement, she was charged with capital felony murder.

[Narrator]

Mary Lee isn't the only one facing jail time.

[Lead Investigator]

Yankee hall was arrested first, and I want to say that it was probably within three or four days. We had Larry McClendon. He was charged, and I'm pretty sure it was capital felony murder, same as Yankee Hall.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

The three suspects were arrested, and they had a chance at them. That's kind of when things took a turn.

[Narrator]

Now that the Pulaski County Sheriff has charged Mary Lee orsini for Alice MacArthur's murder, she wants to talk.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

It was in her best interest to tell the sheriff anything he wanted to hear. What he wanted to hear was there was more to this, that Bill was involved with her in this plot. The sheriff didn't like my brother and his department. There were lots of them that didn't like my brother because of simply my brother's tactics in defending clients. Because there's people you know well, did your brother and her have an affair? Because nobody could imagine. How can you build this fantasy up if there wasn't something going on? It didn't make sense for a normal person. There was very little other than he had enough to be able to raise the charge, get it in front of a judge, and arrest my brother.

[Narrator]

Despite Mary Lee's claims that Bill was involved, it's a move investigators at the Little Rock Police Department don't agree with.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

Little Rock City Police and the sheriff's office, Pulaski County Sheriff's Office were at odds.

[Lead Investigator]

There's nothing. I mean, absolutely nothing. No physical evidence, nobody's testimony except Mary Lee Orsini's that ever indicated that Bill was involved having his wife killed.

[Friend or Neighbor]

There wasn't any evidence. And so the grand jury returns a no true bill.

[Detective or Police Officer]

If there's a no true bill, meaning state did not put together enough evidence to convince them beyond a reasonable doubt.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

But, you know, damage was already done at that point in time. Bill's psyche and quality of life was never the same after that.

[Narrator]

Mary Lee orsini's murder trial begins in September 1982. The star witness against her is confessed hitman Yankee Hall.

[Prosecutor or Legal Expert]

Especially in murder cases, the first thing that you want to do is avoid the death sentence. And the best way to do that is to turn yourself in, cooperate. And that's what we did with Yankee Hall.

[Lead Investigator]

Her defenses is that Yankee hall made all this stuff up and that, you know, Larry, birds and all the notes, they don't mean anything because she didn't write them. She denied it, basically. And that's kind of the way the. Her defense attorney went with it, is that we don't have anything.

[Narrator]

The jury sides with prosecutors convicting Mary Lee of capital murder, Yankee hall and Larry McClendon face justice as well.

[Lead Investigator]

Mary Lee Orsini and Yankee hall both got lives in prison without parole. Larry McClindon got 20 years.

[Friend or Neighbor]

She belonged to to jail. Hell, yeah, she belonged to jail for the rest of her life, for sure.

[Narrator]

In 1983, Mary Lee is also found guilty for the murder of her husband, Ron Orsini, but the conviction is overturned.

[Detective or Police Officer]

I charged her with being an accessory to the homicide of her husband, but in the trial, they didn't show anybody else there but her.

[Narrator]

It's not until 2003 that Mary Lee finally comes clean about her role with investigators.

[Lead Investigator]

She ended up dying in prison, and prior to her death, she gave a deathbed confession both to her involvement in Ron Orsini case and her involvement in the Alice McArthur case.

[Private Investigator]

She contacted the prosecuting attorney and said she would like to talk to investigators from his office. He ultimately sent them down. She told him that she shot her husband and killed him, To quote her words in the interview. She found Jesus. She turned to religion. She said she confessed her sins and Jesus forgave her, and she wanted to clear the record.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

I think it's very possible that people do things that are completely out of character and truly do snap. But I think for her, she was evil.

[Friend or Neighbor]

She's manipulative, she's remorseless, she's smart. She can keep three stories juggling at one time and hardly ever miss a beat.

[Family Member of Bill McArthur]

This is all just some deranged woman that had an obsession and decided to act on it. The person that was probably the most innocent out of everybody would have been Alice. She had nothing to do with. She didn't bring any of that on herself. She had nothing to do with Mary Lee or Saini.

[Narrator]

Sam.