Naman Shrestha
When the former Arkansas State Senator, Linda Collins-Smith, was found dead in the driveway of her home in Pocahontas, Arkansas, in the spring of 2019, the entire community was left shell-shocked. With suspicions raised against her family members, including her former husband, Philip Smith, the investigation soon turned on its head when the detectives got hold of a critical piece of evidence that implicated Linda’s best friend, Rebecca “Becky” O’Donnell. ABC’s ’20/20: Red Handed’ explores the entire case, filled with twists and turns, and how the investigators brought the perpetrator to justice. The documentary also contains exclusive interviews with a couple of jailhouse informants and Becky’s long-time partner, Tim Loggains.
Rebecca “Becky” O’Donnell Backstabbed Her Best Friend Linda Collins-Smith
Born on September 28, 1970, Rebecca “Becky” O’Donnell was first married to Jeff O’Donnell for about two decades. The couple welcomed two children into the world, but their marriage soon deteriorated, and they parted ways. Becky then reconnected with Tim Loggains, a law enforcement officer with whom she attended grade school and high school. As they got closer, they started living together and got engaged. Through Tim, she met Linda Collins-Smith and formed a close friendship with her. In fact, Becky served as her right hand during her time as an Arkansas state senator.
In addition, she also worked with Linda during her unsuccessful re-election campaign. While the latter was going through divorce proceedings with Philip Smith, Becky was there for her. When the former state senator felt scared for her safety, she also helped her install CCTV cameras in different corners of her property along with her fiancé, Tim. On the fateful day of May 28, 2019, Becky went to Linda’s residence in Pocahontas, Arkansas, and stabbed her multiple times before removing all the security cameras from inside the house, unaware of the fact that one of them had captured her holding a bloody knife after the murder. She then proceeded to move the remains to outside, where she covered them with a tarp.
When Linda’s loved ones discovered her remains underneath the tarp on June 4, the investigators swarmed the area and launched a homicide investigation. Although the CCTV cameras had been removed, the authorities managed to obtain the footage of the fateful day from the security company. That’s when they came across the horrific recording of Becky with a blood-stained knife in her hand. Nearly three weeks after the former senator’s death, on June 17, the authorities pulled over Becky while she was driving to the funeral memorial service with Tim and arrested her for the murder. She was charged with capital murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse. Meanwhile, she maintained her innocence, and her fiancé supported her. According to the investigators, the motive for her was financial.
Rebecca “Becky” O’Donnell Has Been Serving Her Sentence Outside of Arkansas
While she was in jail awaiting her trial, Rebecca “Becky” O’Donnell emphasized her innocence to her cellmates and claimed that Phil Smith was allegedly responsible for Linda’s murder. Later, she also approached two cellmates, Cassandra Geoffrion and Melissa Duede, with a murder plot to kill Phil Smith and his new wife. In order to stage the murders as suicide, she even wrote a suicide note pretending to be Phil. The two cellmates later told the authorities about her plan. By June 2020, Becky’s defense counsel had filed numerous motions and requested that her capital murder charge and death penalty be dismissed. However, the judge denied those requests.
On August 6 of the same year, in order to avoid the death penalty, Becky then pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in connection with Linda Collins-Smith’s killing. Moreover, she pleaded no-contest to two counts of solicitation to commit capital murder in Jackson County for plotting the murder-for-hire schemes against Phil Smith and his new wife. She took the stand and confessed, “I went to Linda’s house, and intentionally killed her and then hid the body.” Finally, Becky was sentenced to 50 years in prison for her crimes. Soon after her sentencing, in October 2020, she was transferred from the McPherson Unit in Newport, Arkansas, to an out-of-state agency for security reasons. As of today, she is serving her sentence in another state with her parole eligibility date scheduled for September 2049.
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