20/20 - Red-Handed (Rebroadcast)

Episode Date: August 2, 2025

Video evidence leads police to learn the shocking identity of a former Arkansas senator's killer. Originally broadcast 10/27/22 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum Points on your first five orders. Shop now at NoFriills.ca. 2020 starts right now. It's an otherwise typical spring day in rural Arkansas. As 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. 911, what is your emergency?

I believe somebody's died. You believe somebody's died? Where at? We came to do a wellness check at her house. Stuff like this doesn't happen here. You know, we're still a safe community. Under this one? Yeah.

She's wrapped up in a blanket. Looking at the scene and the circumstances around it, it was obvious that it was a murder. No question in your mind. No, ma'am. The body found Tuesday night at a home in Pocahontas is that of former state Senator Linda Collins-Smith. Just collapsed.

You know, my world just crumbled in that moment. 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? That's how humble I am to be your senator. Do you think her politics might have created enemies for her? Oh, I'm sure it did

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 back. She had cameras inside. The video cameras were motion activated. It's almost like something out of that show, Ghost Hunters. Is that actually the killer? 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 until the streetlights come on.

That was Pocahontas. 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. Everybody knows everyone, everybody knows if you're doing good or if you're doing bad. It's a very tight community. For better or for worse, everybody knows your business. That's right. 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 a lot of cousins come to visit. His 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. 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. 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, 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. She just always wanted us to have better than what she had. And that was her goal, whatever it took to get there. But Linda's early marriage doesn't last. It 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. Linda wasn't trained to work. She worked very hard. She started selling Tupperware. to 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 lipstick. Nails, purse, truck, shoes. Anything that she could get it red, 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? Yeah. Absolutely. Very much a church family. We were there Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday. Dad led worship services.

They were involved in choir, singing group. Went to church with him, Phil was always a fair, level headed, even tempered, very intelligent person and a nice guy. 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. They really were.

They worked very well together. She very much loved Pocahontas. She wanted to see it prosper. Linda helped get the highway name, the Rock and Roll Highway. She named her hotel the Rock and Roll Inn. 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. MUSIC First time I'd ever seen her, She is a hometown favorite. First time I've 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. In 2010, running as a Democrat, Linda wins a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Linda ran as Democrat.

She was elected and she did not fit in with the Democrat majority at that time with her views. 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. Linda Collins-Smith decided to switch parties from Democrat to Republican. I'm here today to announce that I have joined the Republican Party of Arkansas.

It was a significant move, but there's no lawmaker who 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. She's elected as a Democrat, and then she changed her affiliation to Republican. Was that controversial? 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 destroyer. 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? Oh, I'm sure it did. 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. In 2014, she was running for state senate. She called me to ask if I would be part of her team and help her get elected for state senate.

She had her friends actively campaigning for her with signs and standing out by the road. We were balling told 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. The parades. In November 2014, she wins a seat in the Arkansas State Senate, taking 58% of the vote. 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. Linda is so tough, she earns a nickname among her colleagues as the Bulldog. She was very strong on the life issue. She was very strong on reducing taxes. I mean 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 Vaughn. Great to be here. On the transgender issue she did run a so-called bathroom bill. 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 bill 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. 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. 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 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 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. 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. Enter Tim Loggins. Like Linda, he also grew up in Arkansas and he soon becomes one of her staunchest supporters. 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. 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. She writes 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? 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. 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. Becky O'Donnell is Tim's long-time live-in girlfriend. Becky also grew up in Pocahontas. We went to grade school and high school together. So we knew each other basically our whole lives.

Tim and Becky agreed to help Linda beef up the security at her home. They changed 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 to decide to go ahead and install some cameras. You can actually hear Linda and Becky's voices on the security video. They're dead. Why they're not working. These two are not working.

Yeah. And the fence isn't working. The fence doesn't work. 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 ten cameras we bought that covered all angles, all windows, all entrances to give her a sense of security. And they were motion sensitive? Yes. Look, they finally came on. Did it? Look. And did you feel then that she would be pretty safe from what you could tell? I felt like the cameras would help her and certainly give her a sense of, hey, there's

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

Wherever Linda needed her, that's where Rebecca was. And Linda would really come to depend on Becky after she files for divorce from Phil Smith. It was a nasty divorce. There's hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line and multiple properties. It isn't just money at stake. Phil's career as a judge is also on the line.

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. One thing that Linda would reveal about Phil would almost certainly threaten his career as a judge. I'm going to ask you a sticky question only because it's been presented to me,

and I believe it's an issue. That's fine. 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. At the time, it just sounded like someone who was in a very acrimonious divorce. According to court documents, Linda and Phil have about $2 million in assets. 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. So they had gone from being this power couple to being this angry couple. 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. And that's why she did some things like putting up cameras. Things get so acrimonious that Linda and Phil file a mutual restraining order against each other. Going to the Rock and Roll Inn to make contact with the manager. 97 Central. A year to the day after Linda files for divorce, the police are called to one of their motels. And what's your name?

I'm Becky O'Donnell. Oh, OK. Yes. 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. He's gone?

Yeah, he left. He knows he's not supposed to be on this property. I've got the restraining order. He needs 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. I appreciate it.

Uh-huh, 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 you didn't know? It was basically in a box locked up somewhere And that was just put aside someplace you didn't know?

It was 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, you know, be adults, and you know, get through this. Tensions between the couple are at their highest when Linda and Phil meet in divorce court. Phil's like the picture of the Southern gentleman and judge.

Linda can't finish a sentence without going to the next subject. In a courtroom, that's not acceptable behavior. 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. And they had 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. 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. 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 day-to-day dealings and stuff so that he could go ahead and still make sure that the business would operate. And then as the divorce is going on, Becky even testifies in the divorce trial.

She did. So you were both in her corner. Oh, absolutely, yes. We were friends, yeah. Do you sell me square oil from you to tell the truth the whole week and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you.

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. I'm going to ask you a sticky question only because it's been presented to me and I believe it's an issue. It's fine. Have you ever viewed pornography on that computer in your office? Yes. You have.

You asked the question have you ever and the answer to that is yes. Okay. 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. 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. 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.

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 that JDDC did its job and I agreed with and accepted its determination. What were her feelings about her divorce and moving on from that? 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. 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. 2018 rolled around and Linda Collins-Smith had to

stand for reelection as a Republican to the Senate. I need your vote. Tell everyone, go to the polls. We still have time. 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. 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 other opportunities, like spending time with her grandkids. Flaming Bernard, go! Three knee-butt! I'm not a knee-butt!

I think she was starting to see that there were other paths, that she was still going to 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 you know you can go give DC 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 DC but then somehow she vanishes into thin air. She had disappeared, kind of dropped off the radar. The family could not get a hold of her. What's going on? 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 floor. In the video, that looks like blood. and I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute.

I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. I'm going to be back in a minute. Linda Collins-Smith is at a crossroads. She's just lost her senancy 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 gonna 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. I told her, I said, go do something exciting, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Well, she came home on a Monday, which was also Memorial Day. I talked to mom, knew the plan was that Becky was going to 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? I knew that she had made it home, but past that, that was the last time I had heard. Tate keeps texting and texting her mom, but she's getting no response. And even more mysterious, her texts don't 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 post?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, she was very active on social media. 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. 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. Becky said that Linda was going to stay with a boyfriend. And where that boyfriend lived at, there was no cell service.

Did that seem plausible to you? Yes. I mean, I had no reason to doubt that. 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 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 gotta go fill a shift at the motel and I'll go by. So I had text Butch and I was like,

you've gotta go over to mom's house, you know, and just check things out. And 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 enter Linda's house, her red pickup truck is there. But the front door is locked, and she's not answering. Becky told me, well, I went by Linda's today to check on her.

She's not there, she's not answering the door. 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. 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 anything.

They get into Linda's kitchen and it's a mess, but it's a mess because the house is undergoing massive renovations. The house was under renovation. There's holes in the floor, there was electrical hanging from the ceiling, and in the kitchen there was only a few cabinets that were still left, bare wood flooring. And it's in that kitchen on the bare wood floor that they see something that grabs their attention.

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 sprayed out from just in a sort of semi-circular path out from there. Some dark splatter. It's dark splatter just everywhere. Butcher takes out his phone and starts shooting video

of this really strange large stain on the kitchen floor. The lights are out and it was so dark, it was just kind of hard to just, you know, just to figure out what it is. 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 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. 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.

Butch is horrified, shaken to the core by what he finds under that tarp. We have to call the police. 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. for a week after returning home from a trip on Memorial Day. Linda's father and her son, Butch Smith, had went over to her house to do a wellness check, try to locate her, find out what was going on. Her family finds a strange dark stain on the kitchen floor.

There is no sign of Linda. 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. I saw my mom there, and she was wrapped up in one of my blankets from whenever I was young. Butch found his mother's body in an advanced state of decomposition. So she had been dead several days? Yes. An emotional Butch now calls his sister Tate to break the devastating news. It just collapsed. My world just crumbled in that moment. We have to call the police. 911, what is your emergency?

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. What is your name, honey? It's Bootsmith. I'm her son. I'm here with my grandpa and 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 the body. As I can remember, it was late in the afternoon. A lot out still. It was warm. In that area, there's not a whole lot of crime. We hardly ever get any calls out there.

I received a call from dispatch, and I went to the scene. When I pulled up to Linda Collins-Smith out in the yard wrapped in a blanket under a tarp. When I pulled up to Linda Collins-Smith's house, I noticed some vehicles in the yard. Then I seen some building materials up here that have a tarp over it. Secure that main vest, Ken. 101, I've already got it secured. 10-4. There's gonna be something up with this. I've already got it secured.

There's going to be something up with this. We are going to need CID out here. A possible murder up here. Looking at the scene and the circumstances around it, it was obvious that it was a murder. No question in your mind. No, ma'am. I've got a lady, Linda Collins Smith. She's out here in a big, long, I mean, probably, I'm going to say 10, 12 foot tarp over it all, and she's wrapped up in a blanket and 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 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 had found. All right sir, everybody's on their way due to the fact that we're going to look into this. I'm going to have you 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. A homicide investigation underway after human remains were found outside the home. 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? It's a pretty bizarre crime scene. Why would someone kill Linda inside the house but then decide to hide her body outside?

You start thinking, well, who the heck could have done this? And my first answer was that my dad did it. 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. Absolutely. 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. or something where all this was happening, but it wasn't really your life. MUSIC

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. I told Becky that they had found Linda's body. And how did Becky react? She started crying immediately. I mean, we both knew who had killed Linda, I thought. You were sure you knew who the murderer was?

Linda told me he was going to murder her anyway, so I believed it. So your thoughts went right to her ex-husband. 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 seriously.

You know, you don't think she's going to be killed. But again, she said it, so... 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 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? I gathered a small team of deputies and state troopers, and we immediately set up surveillance.

You were working feverishly against the clock at that point. Absolutely, because Linda's 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 gonna shake hands with the killer. 101, I've already got it secured. We are gonna need CID out here. It's a possible murder up here. It was a nasty divorce.

There's hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. 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. Then there's another bombshell, completely out of left field, and no suspects. Two Republican state legislators found dead within days of each other? People were like, is this some sort of national killing? Is this a political assassination?

That took this story and absolutely blew its sky high. Investigators are closing in on a suspect and it's somebody who was never ever mentioned in all those theories. You can hear the audio of the murder. It's almost like something out of that show Ghost Hunters. Is this the killer? All that stuff on TV, it doesn't happen. Except in this case, it pretty much all happened.

We got you. We got you. You can quit playing stupid now. We got you. Developing news out of northeast Arkansas tonight. As we come on the air, a former state senator is found dead. Her death is being investigated as a murder. Investigators learned that Linda Collin 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. 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. So you could see what appeared to be foul play

and someone who was trying to cover their tracks. Yes, it was obvious. 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. When did you all ever follow him out? Well, he's been out there a couple of years ago.

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 divorce. And it's still bad, yeah. And it was not settled yet. Investigators, of course, that's one of the questions

they ask you is, who do you think could have done it? What's your get-fit about this? What are you trying to come up with beyond this? Immediately, it was that my dad hired Linda Smith. Because she had said several times that she was working. And that was what was going to happen. 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? Everything that Linda had ever told me. She was afraid of her husband. She feared that he might kill her. And what did you say to the state police? Everything that Linda had ever told me. She was afraid of her husband.

She feared that he might kill her. 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? 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. We're in our county, sir, dispatch. Yes, ma'am, this is Phil Smith, and I need to talk to the sheriff. In reference to what? Very personal matter. Let's do this. You ask the sheriff to call Phil Smith.

I sure will. 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. Did you believe him? Yes.

But investigators aren't ruling anyone out. And we have this saying at police work, one thing you learn to do is you always follow the evidence. And that's what we're looking to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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 two be related? Two 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. 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. And then, you know, there was a gag order that was put on the case. No suspects have been named and an extraordinary gag order imposed in the cases preventing the release of any information And so that didn't help with all the rumors 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. 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. 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. We need to see those videos as we believe that those videos hold evidence on who was there and who murdered Linda Collins-Smith. There's only one little problem. While those brackets are still there, the cameras are not. 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. 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. 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 tire up and kicked the camera off. And you can't see it, but you can hear the audio of the murder. The audio is so graphic and so disturbing that 2020 has decided not to play it.

I mean as bad as it is to listen to it was huge as far as an investigative team to have that. Could you hear anybody else's voice? You could hear the second voice and you could not really make out exactly who it was. And then another clue captured on video. It's almost like something out of that show, Ghost Hunters. There was actually a video that showed a person coming into the house that was covering themselves in a bed sheet.

Is this the killer? As investigators keep watching, they can't believe what they see next. What went through your mind? Immediately what went through my mind was, we've got her. We've got her. We've got her? 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 move it to a bigger church. The whole town was there at the Sutton Baptist Church paying their respects, you know. 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? She seemed in shock, yes.

It seemed like a grief process. Investigators have told Lindas' family that the killer may very well be amongst the mourners. 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.

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. Just right across from these green bins right here. Suddenly, on that highway, on the way to the church, flashing lights. Sheriff Bell, along with his partner,

is pulling over the suspect. We took him out basically at gunpoint, ordered him to get out of the vehicle and ordered her to walk back to me. Of all people, it's Linda's close friend, Becky. I was able to take her in custody right there at that point. It makes no sense to me. And what happens with you at that point?

Well, I was free to go. What are you feeling? Yeah, I'm mad. I'm upset. I'm scared. And my fear was that they were trying to cover for the judge and trying to pin it on Becky. Hi, Becky. Sit right here. Becky, still in the outfit she was wearing to the memorial, is brought into the interrogation room.

I'm gonna lay it all out there for you, okay? We're here about Linden. About the death of Linden. So tell me what you know. I'm not gonna lie. That's your right. That's your right, though. We're gonna respect that right. But I want you to. 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 risk of the murder, Lyndon. You understand that? We got you. We got you. We got video of you.

Looking at that interrogation tape, it's not clear what they have, but they have something. They have something incriminating. They have some sort of evidence and they want to show it to Becky. You can quit playing stupid now. We got you. You're not free to go. You're going to go to jail. Stand up.

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 politics, her best friend in life that took this story and absolutely blew it sky high. 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 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. It was a big deal. I mean, the court room was packed.

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. Pass the book, Becky. Did you visit Becky? Sure.

This is so frustrating. Think about how it is for me. Stay strong, baby. Becky, that's all I can do. I love you. I believe in you. What did she say to you? 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. Let me tell you. I'm just going to tell you one thing. If I was on the outside looking in, I would say, oh, wow. He was her biggest supporter.

He just said there was no way, you know, she could have done it. We'll talk later, okay? Okay, baby. I love you. Tim goes on Good Morning America to talk about his fiance, Becky, and breaking the news to her about Linda's murder. 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 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 or

there's not a chance she did this and I'm going with there's not a chance she did this. What was your hope by going public and speaking nationally about it? Stopping the cover-up. But when it comes to this supposed cover-up, there's something that Tim Wagens and other people supporting Becky just don't know. A very dark secret from Becky's past. I just couldn't believe she was trying to have me killed. 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. 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. It was basically, you know, no questions, no answers, no nothing. And rumors only grow when three judges and prosecutors handling the case recuse themselves. The Arkansas Supreme Court is assigning a new judge to preside over the trial of the

woman 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 are people recusing themselves. Do you think it's falling apart? I thought they were getting desperate, sure. The murder trial involving former state senator Linda Collins will get a new prosecutor. It seemed to me like, you know what, they've overreached.

They wanted a Patsy and they can't prove it. 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'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. Jeff and Becky were married for 20 years. for me for my life insurance. I was shocked.

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. I just couldn't believe she was trying to have me killed. 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 5 or 6, but I was drunk. 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 think they had enough evidence. I didn't press charges myself. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. Our first priority in the 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 of kids still in school. I doubt if anybody really knew issues of Becky's past.

You don't always see that side of people, especially when they're as good at it as Becky O'Donnell. She was 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. 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 jive. That's OK. Why would Becky come to mind?

Becky is the person that handled all of Linda's money. But 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 other way out. Other than to kill her friend.

Correct. Becky's still admitting nothing. She's standing behind her, not guilty plea. Becky's 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. She was talking to all of her cellmates,

and she was telling them that she's not guilty. She 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. 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. Absolutely. 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. A lot of people there are for drugs and like robberies and just stuff like that really. Becky O'Donnell looks very put together. Usually when you're put together and you're in prison and you're not on drugs or anything like that, then you've done something like harm somebody. We talked to two of Becky's fellow inmates, Melissa and Cassandra. She had pictures of Miss Linda on her wall in her cell. That was her best friend.

And she didn't do this to her, so sad. 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. 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 she gave it away to everybody. We had coffee and noodles and honey buns. And cokes and candy bars and soap and shampoo, you know, just... everything. She just wanted to buy a friendship. I would ask questions as in, like, I mean, well, why are you a suspect anyway? She said it was a whole government thing.

She said that Phil Smith, he's the one that had killed her, and that he was trying to frame her for it. 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 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. 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? Yes. To go out and murder people on her behalf? Yes, that's correct. 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 Erwin and Henry Boyce and Phil Smith and then Phil Smith's wife. It went from nothing to just this big, that quick. It shows her personality. She's a homicidal, you know, from the very beginning. And how were these inmates supposed to get out of jail to go do this? 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.

And just how was Becky going to pay for this murder for hire plot? With all that silver and gold that was part of Linda and Phil's nasty divorce settlement. 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. And over at Linda's house, Becky says there's more where that came from. She had sent me a note. 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.

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? 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. When she asked me to do this, I felt like she thought that I was just a lowlife scum, really. Like, I felt like she stereotyped me

and that she was better than me. The reason I said something was because I felt like somebody else might actually go through the plan and I care about other people's lives. I kind of feel as if it needed to be told, but at the same time, I do feel sorry for her family, because 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 ever want to put my children through something like that, ever. 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. 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. When the gag order on the case is finally lifted there was one more

shocking revelation to come. We got you. We got you. It just felt like a bombshell and it just came out of nowhere. We got you. 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? That sounded like a bad Hollywood script to me. In the moment, I felt like it was a sign of desperation from the investigators. 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. 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 entrapped in any kind of way. 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? Tim and Becky were fiancé, so they were close. Were you worried that at some point police may think that you were involved in it too, that you two did it together? I knew it was a possibility but I knew I could prove my whereabouts. 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, 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. I was mad, I was hurt, I felt used. I felt stupid. 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? Absolutely. I can't think of a worse betrayal.

She murdered my friend and lied about it. How do you process that? I felt guilty that I had introduced Becky to Linda. And without me, Linda would probably still be alive. 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 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.

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. 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 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? No. No. She said it just because she was told she had to say it, and she would have, she didn't care.

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 jail. Becky also pleads no contest to those charges. Do you have anything to say to the public? 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.

None of the punishments allowed for Arkansas state law will come close to what I feel right now, and as a right and equal punishment 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. You can 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. 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. 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. Was that your smoking gun? Absolutely. 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. You're under the risk of the murder, Linda. You understand that? We got you. We got you.

Linda, you understand that? We got you. We got you. 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?

There's no doubt that the story of Linda Collins-Smith is a tragedy from start to finish. The story of Linda Collins Smith is a tragedy from start to finish. In a case that's already full of unusual twists, it turns out that Becky 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. 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.

There's something not being told. This is the product of not allowing sunshine into our judicial system. 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. You know, I do wonder how someone as tiny as Becky moved Linda's body outside.

His adrenaline only lasts so long. You're convinced Becky O'Donnell killed Linda Collins? Absolutely. Alone? Yes, alone, 100% confident. Becky, how are you feeling today? I think the evidence is 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's children and grandchildren won't have that precious time with her. precious time with her. I'll be over here!

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 Collin-Smith? She did so much in her life. She is so much more than just her murder, just how she died. She is a real person, you know, she wasn't just a politician, she was a grandmother, she was a mother, she was a daughter. She was always so good at making you feel so special and so loved and I think that's

what I miss the most. She just loved the people and she just wanted the best. She just wanted the best for everybody. It's just senseless. ["Fantastic Four Theme"] That's our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Deborah Roberts. And I'm David Muir from all of us here at 20-20 in ABC News. Good night.

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