Arkansas

LiberalArkie

(16,743 posts) Sat Jun 15, 2019, 02:57 PM Jun 2019

Suspect arrested in Linda Collins death

State Police announced tonight that they believed they’d solved the killing of Linda Collins, the former Republican senator from Pocahontas, who was found dead in the driveway of her home outside Pocahontas the night of June 4.

The release:

Special Agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division and Deputies of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department, in coordination with the Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, have arrested one person in connection with the homicide of former Arkansas State Senator Linda Collins-Smith.
Rebecca Lynn O’Donnell, 48, of Pocahontas is currently in custody. Criminal charges are pending.
The investigation is presently at a critical juncture and no further information will be released at this hour until authorities are confident it will not comprise the integrity of the criminal case.

Collins, known as Linda Collins-Smith until her divorce in the fall from retired Circuit Judge Phil Smith, was identified from the beginning as a homicide victim, but the cause of death has not been revealed. Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce of Newport got a court order sealing documents about the case. Police weren’t barred from talking, but comments have been few.

Collins, who originally ran for office as a Democrat, was among the most conservative members of the Senate, so conservative that a Republican who defeated her for re-election in 2018 ran slightly to her left, being open particularly to the state’s Medicaid expansion. She was pro-gun, anti-abortion and supported laws to limit rights of LGBT people.

Snip

https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2019/06/14/suspect-identified-in-linda-collins-death