The FBI has intervened in the murder investigation of former Arkansas state Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, according to federal agents who detailed what the Republican politician was investigating prior to her grisly murder.
Collins-Smith was gunned down and her body was discovered outside her home about two hours northeast of Little Rock on June 4. She suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
A friend of the beloved Arkansas state senator has been formally charged with the murder. Rebecca Lynn O’Donnell, 48, was charged with capital murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence in the death of Collins-Smith. O’Donnell, of Pocahontas, was arrested in the death of Collins-Smith.
Documents in the case have reportedly been sealed and police have released few details about the circumstances surrounding the death of Collins-Smith, who was elected to the state senate as a Republican in 2014 but lost a re-election bid last year. The former senator’s body was found in an “advanced state of decomposition” and it took authorities two days to identify the remains using dental records, the paper reports, citing a statement by prosecuting attorney Henry Boyce.
With a murder suspect already in custody, however, federal law enforcement sources revealed Collins-Smith, at the time of her death, was probing child pornography cases linking to a child trafficking syndicate in Arkansas.
“She had developed this information through contacts and people very close to her,” a law enforcement source said. “The plan was to go public with all of it or hand it to law enforcement outside of Arkansas.”
The FBI sources would not say whether the former senator was working with the FBI prior to her death. But federal insiders said the FBI began interviewing witnesses in the case in recent weeks. Also the Secret Service has taken an interest in the case as well, though FBI sources would not elaborate on the Secret Service’s role.
The revelations of federal intervention into the case were revealed on Thomas Paine’s insider Intel show. Paine has recently broken several exclusive FBI scoops on the Patreon show.
Collins-Smith was a very vocal critic of the Arkansas Department of Human Services and its Child Protective Services unit. In recent months, Collins-Smith was probing the corrupt agency for a pay-to-play adoption scheme with foster parents, federal sources said. According to reports and interviews the Arkansas child protection agency is also missing an estimated $40-$50 million that has reportedly vanished.
Collins-Smith was working to trace these funds, insiders said. One federal source said the Secret Service could be focusing on the missing funds.
Per media reports, the home where Collins-Smith’s body was found is also owned by her ex-husband, described by the newspaper as “Philip Smith, a retired judge whose district covered Randolph County.”
However, according to The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the couple separated in 2016. The home where Collins-Smith’s body was found is also owned by her ex-husband, described by the newspaper as “Philip Smith, a retired judge whose district covered Randolph County.”
The couple separated in 2016 before filing for divorce the following year, according to court records.
The newspaper alleges that the divorce was considered “bitter” and involved disagreements over property and money. The divorce was finalized in 2018.
The divorce led to employment-related problems for Philip Smith. The retired judge was reprimanded by the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, the Arkansas Times reported in February 2019.
The already retired judge, who left the bench in 2017, “agreed not to serve in the judiciary in the future, including by temporary assignment,” the newspaper reported, adding that the complaint “arose from testimony” he provided during his divorce from Collins-Smith. He was accused of using office “computer equipment after hours for ‘extrajudicial activities’” that was not specified, according to The Arkansas Times.
This story is developing. — Thomas Paine