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FM123

(10,050 posts)
Thu Aug 6, 2020, 05:54 PM Aug 2020

In 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.

Snip

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

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In bombshell plea, close friend admits to murdering former Arkansas state senator (Original Post) FM123 Aug 2020 OP
Damn soothsayer Aug 2020 #1
This sounds like the case Jessical Fletcher solved last night. marble falls Aug 2020 #2
Additional info: FM123 Aug 2020 #3

FM123

(10,050 posts)
3. Additional info:
Thu Aug 6, 2020, 07:35 PM
Aug 2020

Following her arrest, O’Donnell 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 senator’s murder.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/aug/06/odonnell-pleads-guilty-gets-50-years-death-former-/

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