The Arkansas State Police on Tuesday released portions of the investigative files in the slaying of former state Sen. Linda Collins of Pocahontas after a Pulaski County circuit judge the day before ordered which documents were to be divulged to the media.
The internet link to the electronic files was emailed to the media a little after 3 p.m. Tuesday. The files were organized by folders labeled "a" through "v" and their thousands of files included police reports, photos, videos and text messages.
News agencies requested the materials in August 2020, the day after Collins' killer, Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in exchange for a 50-year prison sentence. The plea agreement spared O'Donnell from facing the death penalty at a capital murder trial.
The files -- ordered opened by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chip Welch -- came after Collins' two children and ex-husband sued the Arkansas State Police and the Randolph County sheriff's office to get the judge to review the investigative files and redact personal materials irrelevant to the investigation.
Collins was found stabbed to death at her Pocahontas home on June 4, 2019. Her body was found in the driveway, wrapped in a blanket and covered by a tarp.
O'Donnell, who was Collins' friend and campaign worker, was arrested less than two weeks later.
Tuesday's file release included hundreds of social media messages as well as emails and text exchanges; phone records; investigative files; evidence from the victim's computers, iPad and numerous other electronic devices; 911 audio recordings; interview recordings; body camera footage from officers at the scene; and crime scene photos.
A cursory search of the voluminous file revealed little new information about the case that had not already been publicly divulged.
It included numerous pages of statements from O'Donnell's fellow inmates.
O'Donnell has never voiced a motive for killing Collins, and prosecutors have said only that the slaying was committed for "pecuniary gain."
The recently released files show that O'Donnell traveled to two different businesses on three separate occasions in 2018 to sell gold and silver that once was stored in Collins' house.
Searches using LeadsOnline conducted by investigators resulted in three sells by O'Donnell -- two at Memphis Gold Buyers in Memphis and one at Gold & Diamond Prospectors in Little Rock -- totaling $15,110.
The items sold included a combination of jewelry and a variety of coins.
Phil Smith, Collins' ex-husband, told investigators that there was about $24,000 worth of gold and silver in Collins' house.
"I don't know whether she told them that she had it in the house," Smith told the investigator, according to the transcript.
The gold and silver owned by the couple is mentioned in couple's divorce decree, dated Sept. 12, 2018, which was included in the investigative file.
The divorce judge -- retired Pulaski County Circuit Judge Ellen Brantley -- ordered Collins to divide equally with Smith the remaining gold and silver valued at $24,000. If Collins was unable to locate the gold and silver, she was to pay Smith $10,000.
The files released Tuesday included only those documents that Collins' family members -- her two children and Smith -- have been able to fully review and access.
There are numerous other files that the family, as well as the Arkansas State Police, have not been able to yet access or review because of their sheer volume.