FORMER Arkansas state senator, Linda Collins, was found dead outside her home on June 4, 2019.
The 57-year-old's murder was perpetrated by an unlikely suspect.
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What happened to Linda Collins?
Linda Collins was a former state senator, who had just returned to her home in Arkansas after a visit to Washington DC in June 2019.
A week after her return, Collins' family started to get worried as she had been nonresponsive to texts and oddly quiet on social media.
Collins's father and son, Butch Smith, visited the home hoping to get in contact with her, but ultimately found her body covered by a tarp in the driveway.
There was blood in the kitchen and the security cameras installed throughout her home had been removed.
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Less than two weeks into their murder investigation, authorities arrested a suspect, Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell, one of Collins' best friends.
O'Donnell had worked on Collins' political campaigns for state senator of Arkansas and helped her in her business ventures.
Her motive, according to prosecutors, was money.
O'Donnell had allegedly been stealing from Collins. The former senator's children believe that a confrontation may have led to their mother's death.
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Collins was recently divorced, and her ex-husband Judge Phil Smith owned several gold and silver coins, which Collins reportedly couldn't find in her home.
These same coins were later discovered to have been sold by O'Donnell in Memphis and Little Rock, about half a year before the murder, for $15,000.
But it was ultimately O'Donnell's removal of security cameras from Collins' home that broke the case.
She forgot one of the cameras and couldn't entirely delete the footage from the others, which show her standing over Collins' body with a knife and covered in blood.
What has O'Donnell been charged with?
In the death of former senator Collins, O'Donnell has been charged with capital murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.
However, she also attempted to solicit murders for hire while in jail awaiting trial: those of Collins' ex-husband, Judge Phil Smith, prosecutor Henry Boyce, and Judge Harold Erwin.
These landed her with additional charges of soliciting murder.
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Ultimately, O'Donnell took a plea deal on August 6, 2020, admitting that she had gone to Linda’s house "and intentionally killed her and then hid the body,”
Had she not taken the deal, O'Donnell would have been up for a potential death sentence if the case had gone to trial.
O'Donnell is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence, as per ABC News.
How did the Collins family react to O'Donnell's confession?
Collins' former communications director told PEOPLE that the family "was shocked and saddened that someone who was supposed to be so close to Linda would possibly be involved in something this egregious, horrible and awful."
Her daughter said in a statement following O'Donnell's plea deal:
"We know that there will be some who are not satisfied with the outcome today. We realize that no matter what punishment Rebecca O’Donnell receives, it will never be enough."
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However, she said it brings some “shred of peace that Rebecca O’Donnell will be put away in prison for a very long time, unable to hurt anyone else.”
Collins’s son called the murder of his mother “an awful deed, carried out of hate, jealousy, and greed.”
