A woman has been charged with the murder of former Arkansas state Sen. Linda Collins-Smith (R).
Rebecca Lynn O’Donnell, a friend of and former campaign staffer for Collins-Smith, was charged Monday with capital murder. The 48-year-old was arrested last week in connection with the June 4 killing.
O’Donnell, a resident of Pocahontas, Arkansas, was also brought up on charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence in a brief court appearance Monday, where she donned handcuffs and a bulletproof vest. She was ordered held without bond, and no plea was entered.
Staffer charged with murder
Sen. Collins-Smith was found dead and in an “advanced state of decomposition” at her home in Pocahontas on June 4, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. It took authorities two days to identify Collins-Smith as the victim using dental records.
Much remains unclear about the case, including the motive and the timeline of the killing. Authorities have ordered the police records sealed to protect the ongoing homicide investigation, which officials said is at a “critical juncture.”
But O’Donnell was a “good friend” of Collins-Smith and a staffer on the slain lawmaker’s most recent campaign, according to Ken Yang, a spokesman for the victim’s family. “They traveled together and did grassroots stuff, even after Linda lost her re-election,” he told CBS.
Yang also released a statement from Collins-Smith’s family after O’Donnell was taken into custody Friday. The statement read:
This evening, our family received news that an arrest was made in connection to the ongoing investigation. We are sickened and upset that someone so close to Linda, would be involved in such a terrible, heartless crime. The family is confident that the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department and the Arkansas State Police will continue to work diligently to bring justice to this case. We would like to thank everyone for their continued prayers and thoughts for our family during this difficult time.
More questions
Adding to the mystery, O’Donnell was one of a few witnesses in divorce proceedings between Collins-Smith and her ex-husband former circuit judge Phil Smith, according to divorce records. O’Donnell’s fiancé, Tim Loggains, was listed as having power of attorney for Collins-Smith.
Loggains said that he and O’Donnell “loved Linda and tirelessly gave our time and energy to support her, in every way.”
“Although Becky and I are devastated by the current accusations, we are trying to trust the judicial process and we hope that every possible suspect is being looked into,” Loggains said in a statement. “A lot of hurtful things are being printed and we ask that people please show us mercy while the police investigate every possibility.”
Leaving a legacy
Collins-Smith was elected to the Arkansas state House as a Democrat in 2010 before changing parties. She was elected to the Arkansas state Senate in 2014, where she served until her ouster in 2018.
Her official website described Collins-Smith as a native of rural Arkansas and a “tireless advocate” for conservative values:
She is a tireless advocate for conservative principles and traditional values. She believes in limited government, lower taxes, and ending burdensome regulations. She stands for a child’s right to life from conception, for religious freedom, for our Second Amendment rights, for individual individual liberty, and for greater personal responsibility.
Collins-Smith is the second former state lawmaker to have been found murdered within a week. Oklahoma state Sen. Jonathan Nichols (R) was discovered dead from gunshot wounds earlier this month.
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