Linda Collins-Smith, who used to be a state senator, just got back from a trip to Washington. Back to her home in the Arkansas town of Pocahontas. She hoped that the trip would help her get back into politics after she lost her seat, but her hopes were dashed when her family thought she was missing.
Butch Smith, her son, told 20/20, “I know she’s home.” “But that’s the last thing I heard,” he said. That was in June. Tate Williams, Collins-daughter, Smith’s said that her text message to her mother hadn’t gone through yet and that her mother wasn’t on social media. Linda hasn’t talked to her family in a week.
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When Collins-father Smith’s and son Butch walked to their house, their car was already in the driveway. The mansion’s door was locked, and when they knocked, no one answered, so they went in. “Her bag was marked, so I knew where it was,” Butch Smith said. But they couldn’t find her wallet, phone, or any clues about where she might have gone.
The “20/20” special will air at 9pm on Friday, October 28. ET looks into the murder of Linda Collins-Smith and how home security cameras caught the person who did it. They found a black spot on the floor of the kitchen. Butchsmith said, “It looks like someone dropped a coffee pot and the coffee spilled out in a half-circle.” After a while, the family found out it was blood.
Smith looked through the house and found his mother’s body in the driveway, covered with a tarp. “I was kind of surprised,” he said. “That’s where I saw my mother.” Sheriff Kevin Bell, one of the officers on the case, told 20/20 special anchor Deborah Roberts, “Butch found his mother’s body in a very bad way.”
“It’s pretty clear that it was a murder if you look at the crime scene and what’s around it,” he said. “Are you wondering who the hell could do that?” Smith said. “My first thought was that it was my dad.”
Williams said yes. She said, “You always think about who wins the most.”
“When the divorce was disputed, I said, ‘You know, it’s my dad.'” Recently, Linda Collins Smith and her ex-husband, Phil Smith, got a divorce that was a lot of trouble.
