Mary Orsini

Snapped: Women Who Murder

In 1982, Arkansas defense attorney Bill MacArthur discovered his wife Alice murdered in their closet, a crime scene marked by a flower arrangement and a gunshot to the head. Investigators initially suspected Alice was th

Key takeaways

• Mary Lee Orsini orchestrated the murder of Alice MacArthur out of romantic obsession with defense attorney Bill MacArthur.

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:03) An Arkansas housewife brutally murdered. There is a white female in the closet. She was dead, and at her feet was an arrangement of flowers. Police learn this wasn't the first attempt on her life. They had enough explosives to blow her to kingdom come, but it didn't work. It was a miracle the kids weren't in the car. The investigation reveals her husband might have been the real target. He was definitely the top criminal attorney in the state of Arkansas. Doing criminal law work, you anger a lot of people. But when detectives uncover the truth, they find a mastermind who's obsessed with him. She worshipped him thinking that he was the greatest attorney ever. She can keep three stories juggling at one time and hardly ever miss a beat. She belonged in jail, hell yeah. She belonged to jail for the rest of her life, for sure. July 2nd, 1982. It's late afternoon in Little Rock, Arkansas, when police receive a 911 call from a prominent defense attorney, saying he found his wife murdered. The original call came through our communications center, and one of our officers responded to the call, which was the address of Alice MacArthur. As first responders arrive, they are met by the 911 caller Bill MacArthur. He tells officers he had just returned home from work when he found his wife Alice shot to death inside their bedroom closet. I go to my officer to get what he's got, and he kind of walks me back through the hallway toward Alice's MacArthur's bedroom. The closet is a walk-in, and it's a walk-in, and it's a way. It's probably 10 by 10, and there is a white female laying in the bottom of the closet. You had to move some clothes out of the way to kind of see her her upper torso in place. There's blood. Gunshot went to the head. The officers that got there first, he said he'd checked her pulse. I went ahead and checked her pulse too. She was dead. There's little evidence to explain why Alice was shot, but on the floor, police find something bizarre. At her feet was an arrangement or a pokey of flowers. The flower bouquet had a note basically attached to it that said, have a nice day. Right next to the door facing is a bullet hole in a wall. And down underneath the bullet hole was fire pellets. So it's telling you a story. I think that who ever shot Alex. brought the flowers. Investigators waste no time scouring the crime scene for more clues. We did get spent casing from the wall. It was 38. As we inventory everything out of the closet, we do find a handgun there, a pistol. And it was when one of the shelves, covered with folded clothes. Bill was there, and he was asked, I mean, whose gun is it? He said it was Alice's. I didn't think it was the murder weapon because the way it was found. I believe she believed that she could get a hold of that gun and maybe defend herself. With no quick answers from the scene, investigators focus on potential motives. I wonder who the hell would do this and why. Bill was a high-profile attorney, so you knew this is going to be a high-profile case. Alice had a small circle of friends. She kind of kept to herself, but Bill was in the forefront. One might suspect that she would be a target because he was the top criminal attorney in the state of Arkansas. So the investigators and people that were trying to determine what took place, it was more circled around why would anybody be mad at Alice, you know, or want to do something harmful. Why Alice? Miss Miller was born in southern Louisiana in 1941. She was from a small town called Golden Meadow, Louisiana. She had a couple of brothers. The mom and dad were still alive. Alice was a physical education teacher for the local high school. So she was very athletic. In the mid-1960s, Alice met the love of her life. young Arkansas lawyer named Bill MacArthur. They met through mutual friends at a wedding. My brother had obtained his undergraduate degree, and then he went to the Army and served two or three years. He had gone to law school, graduated, and was real early on his journey to be a criminal attorney. I thought they'd fit together pretty well. Bill was real laid back. and Alice was, driven's not the word, but she was kind of, you know, front and center kind of person. They were married probably in the late 60s. Bill's practice was starting out. He was just getting a name for himself, building his practice up. With Alice's support, Bill rose to prominence as a defense attorney in the Little Rock court system. He had natural skills in the courtroom. It was excellent in closing the argument because he spoke directly to people. He was just himself. He would point out reasonable doubt. It wasn't too long before. His practice had really kicked in. They moved toward the Pleasant Valley area and bought a house out there. They had two children. She stayed home with them. She cared for them. She was very strong, very opinionated. Some would say she probably might have worn the pants family. Alice was about the most direct human being you'd ever meet. You'd have to worry what was on Alice's mind. She was real direct with me about anything. Bill and Alice, they frequently had neighborhood parties and they always asked me out over there. I think the best couples I know, they're different just enough where they kind of pull and push each other, where it needs to be done, and fill in gaps and support each other. So I thought things were well over there. She was a great mother. She was fiercely loyal to her family. And she and Bill, from what I ascertained and when I was around, were happily married. Now, Alice has been shot to death in their bedroom closet. And Bill has found himself on the other side of a murder investigation. Speculation was that she became a woman. at some point that somebody was going to hurt her and she ran. She was trying to get to the closet because that was how she was going to try to defend herself. There would have been no reason for her to run to the closet except for that gun. We're looking for fingerprints. If you get a fingerprint, if you got a suspect, then you can make a case. I'm in the closet and of course the bouquet is there on the floor. A fingerprint person had an opportunity to fingerprint some of the evidence to come up with a fingerprint. The print is sent to the crime lab to see if they can find a match. But as police speak with Bill about possible motives, they begin to suspect Alice might not have been the killer's intended target. I can't think of any reason anybody would want to kill Alice. But in doing criminal law work, you anger a lot of people. In his line of work, you don't deal with the A-list of humanity, you know? So, you know, did he piss somebody off? The officer's line of thinking proves correct when Bill brings up another recent attack on his family just six weeks earlier. Alice was just