Jan. 15 (UPI) — A woman awaiting trial in the death of former Arkansas state Sen. Linda Collins-Smith faces new charges Tuesday for allegedly attempting to solicit the killing of the senator’s ex-husband.
Rebecca Lynn O’Donnell, 48, faces two counts of soliciting to commit capital murder and two counts of solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence, according to a Jackson County Circuit Court affidavit.
The affidavit states a Jackson County inmate told detectives O’Donnell attempted to hire her and another inmate to kill Phil Smith, Collins-Smith’s ex-husband, and his new wife.
The inmate said O’Donnell asked them to frame the death as a suicide at their home and told them they could take gold and silver believed to be at the home as payment.
Investigators have also alleged O’Donnell wanted to have her former prosecutor, Henry Boyce, and the former judge presiding over her case, Harold Erwin, killed.
Additionally, the inmate said O’Donnell wanted the pair to blow up her car, which is being held at Randolph County Jail, and destroy any evidence that may be inside the vehicle.
O’Donnell, a former campaign employee for the senator, was arrested last June after Collins-Smith was found dead in her home, some 145 miles northeast of Little Rock, on June 4.
