Janie Ballard: A Daughter's Deadly Greed

When a friend found 58-year-old Janie Ballard stabbed over 70 times in her Little Rock home, investigators immediately suspected her own daughter, Leslie, and Leslie's much older husband, Mike McCool. Leslie had grown up with every advantage, but after meeting Mike—a manipulative bodybuilder 22 years her senior with a violent past—she transformed completely. When Janie cut Leslie out of her will, the relationship turned deadly. This case explores how manipulation, greed, and toxic family dynamics led to one of Arkansas's most shocking matricides.