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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn bombshell plea, close friend admits to murdering former Arkansas state senator
(ABC News) In a surprise twist to a baffling Southern murder mystery, the main suspect in the June 2019 murder of former Arkansas state Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, will spend 54 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder in court this morning.
"I went to Linda's house, and I intentionally killed her and then hid the body," Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell, 49, told the judge, according to ABC News affiliate KATV in Little Rock.
The bombshell plea change follows one year after prosecutors in the case announced their intention to seek the death penalty against O'Donnell, who worked as both an aide to the senator, and later an employee of Collins-Smith's business. The two were considered close friends.
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Smith said in the statement that he believes O'Donnell was stealing money from his mother and when she confronted O'Donnell, she was stabbed to death. The initial judge overseeing the case sealed the records of the investigation before recusing himself, leaving many in the small Arkansas community wondering what could have prompted such a heinous homicide. All prosecutors have revealed to date is that the motive for the murder appeared to be financial in nature.(Read More)
https://abcnews.go.com/US/bombshell-plea-close-friend-admits-murdering-arkansas-state/story?id=72214576
marble falls
(56,358 posts)FM123
(10,050 posts)Following her arrest, ODonnell was housed for a time in the Jackson County jail, where police later accused her of attempting to recruit several other inmates in a plot to kill Collins ex-husband, Phil Smith, and frame him for the senators murder.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/aug/06/odonnell-pleads-guilty-gets-50-years-death-former-/