GUILTY MO - Bobbi Jo Stinnett, 23, slain, fetus stolen, Skidmore, 16 Dec 2004

[tybee204]

I make a trip 3 times a year back to Buffalo to tend to business. I always go up near Tunas to the Amish store to stock up on spices and teas. My kids all went to high school in Buffalo. I use to sing Chiggers and Ticks Chiggers and Ticks O MY GOD get me out of the sticks!!!!!

 

[CW]

This is just horrible they have arrested a KS woman for this crime.

Posted on Sat, Dec. 18, 2004



R E L A T E D C O N T E N T

WDAF-TV Fox 4 photo
Bobbi Jo Stinnett


R E L A T E D L I N K S
• Baby would need medical help
• Other cases of unborn babies taken from slain mothers
• Case summary




One Charged With Killing Mom, Taking Baby

MARGARET STAFFORD

Associated Press


MARYVILLE, Mo. - A baby girl that had been cut out of her mother's womb was found after a frantic search, and authorities arrested the woman they say strangled the mother and stole the child.

The child was found Friday in seemingly good health in an eastern Kansas home. A red Toyota similar to a description offered earlier by police was in the driveway.

Lisa M. Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan., was arrested later Friday and charged with kidnapping resulting in death.

Authorities say Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, was found Thursday in a pool of blood inside her small white home in Skidmore, a town in northwest Missouri.

Earlier, Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, had been talking with her mother on the phone, and hung up saying a woman she had chatted with online had just arrived at her door, authorities said.

U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said Montgomery contacted Stinnett through an online message board, and authorities zeroed in on her using computer forensics. Montgomery was seeking to buy a dog from Stinnett, who raised rat terriers, he said.

Stinnett, married for little more than a year and expecting her first child, worked at an engine factory in nearby Maryville. Her husband was at work when she was killed, authorities said.

Montgomery is the mother of two high school-age children, but Graves said she had been pregnant with another child that was never born.

It's unclear when she lost the baby or under what circumstances, but the complaint said she had lied to her husband about giving birth. Graves declined to give a motive for the crime.

According to the criminal complaint, Montgomery traveled about 40 miles to Topeka, Kan., on Thursday to go shopping. Her husband received a call from her saying she had gone into labor and given birth.

Kevin Montgomery and the couple's two children met Lisa and the newborn at a parking lot in Topeka and drove home, according to the affidavit.

The next day, authorities say, Montgomery confessed that she strangled Stinnett from behind, laterally cut her open, removed the baby and cut her umbilical cord. She also admitted that she lied to her husband about the ordeal.

DNA tests positively confirming the child was the Stinnetts' were pending Friday.

"We're confident we have the little girl that was taken from Skidmore," Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said.

The grisly slaying shocked neighbors in the towns where the two women lived.

"They're very normal country people," said Sandra Bullock, 45, who lives about a mile down the road from the Montgomerys. "It's too hard to believe."

Stinnetts' neighbor Bill Dragoo was equally surprised.

"It blows my mind that this happened," he said. "She was such a shy person. They didn't deserve this."

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Sheldon Lyon said the investigation was ongoing. He would not say if additional charges might be filed or if there were other suspects.

Several pregnant women have been killed in recent years by attackers who then removed their fetuses, in some cases to pass the children off as their own.

In one of the most recent cases, a 21-year-old woman was shot to death in Oklahoma in December 2003, allegedly by another woman who pretended the 6-month-old fetus was her child. The fetus died and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

 

[CW]

This is the picture of Bobbie Jo, who was murdered she was 8 months preganant and her baby was cut out of her the police put out a amber alert for the baby. They found the baby and is safe with the father now.

 

[kgeaux]

I understand there probably have to be "rules" for everything, but I wish Amber Alert operated under the following rule: a child has gone missing. look for the child. let the public know about the child so that they can look, too.

 

[WasBlind]

The baby was named Victoria Jo and was united with her father, Zeb Stinnett, late Friday, Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in Topeka said in a statement Saturday on its Web site. She was listed in good condition at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.

'A miracle'
Zeb Stinnett called the girl “a miracle.”

“I want to thank family, friends, Amber Alert and law enforcement officials for their support during this time,” Stinnett said in the news release.

Prayers for comfort and justice, Lanie

 

[CozyReader]

I have been very troubled by this murder, especially so because of how the murderer made contact with the victim. Both the murderer and her victim were dog breeders, and both were apparently frequent posters on a Rat Terrier message board:

http://members3.boardhost.com/RATTERRIERS/index.html

Both women were well known and apparently well respected among this group of terrier owners and breeders. A third person who posts at this board apparently introduced the murderer to her victim when the murderer mentioned that she was looking for a puppy. He is reportedly guilt-ridden.

Several other posters on the message board mentioned having been told by the murderer that she was expecting a baby "on Thursday." None of those who "knew" the murderer ever saw this coming, nor did they ever imagine she would be capable of doing this.

I don't know any of these people, I just did a little searching on the internet today when I read that the victim was a Rat Terrier breeder, found the message board, and read some of their messages. I do have dogs though, and am myself a member of numerous dog-related email lists and message boards, and there are many people on these lists who I have never met in person, yet I consider them my friends.

We generally know enough to tell our children what to look out for when they visit different web sites, but unfortunately as adults we may tend to relax a bit when we get to "know" people we frequently chat with. This to me is just a reminder to be more careful.

 

[luvbeaches]

I have been very troubled by this murder, especially so because of how the murderer made contact with the victim. Both the murderer and her victim were dog breeders, and both were apparently frequent posters on a Rat Terrier message board:

http://members3.boardhost.com/RATTERRIERS/index.html

Both women were well known and apparently well respected among this group of terrier owners and breeders. A third person who posts at this board apparently introduced the murderer to her victim when the murderer mentioned that she was looking for a puppy. He is reportedly guilt-ridden.

Several other posters on the message board mentioned having been told by the murderer that she was expecting a baby "on Thursday." None of those who "knew" the murderer ever saw this coming, nor did they ever imagine she would be capable of doing this.

I don't know any of these people, I just did a little searching on the internet today when I read that the victim was a Rat Terrier breeder, found the message board, and read some of their messages. I do have dogs though, and am myself a member of numerous dog-related email lists and message boards, and there are many people on these lists who I have never met in person, yet I consider them my friends.

We generally know enough to tell our children what to look out for when they visit different web sites, but unfortunately as adults we may tend to relax a bit when we get to "know" people we frequently chat with. This to me is just a reminder to be more careful.

Wow, I did not know the killer was also a breeder. The boards provide a wealth of information, but you also have to be careful. When we were looking for our kitties, I found a Ragdoll board and asked about locating good breeders in our area. The posters were a fountain of information, and helped me pick one that turned out to be wonderful.

What I find the most horrifying is the brutal force in which this baby was acquired. From time-to-time I've read where newborns were kidnapped from their homes, or even hospitals, but this is just the worst of the worst. To kill this woman and take her child...is almost unimaginable to me. Why did she do this when if she wanted a baby, there would have been much easier ways to secure one that wouldn't involve killing someone. I find it hard to believe that this woman just went over and strangled this woman, and sliced her baby out and went on her way. There has to be more about this crazy woman than we are hearing.

 

[raisincharlie]

Wow, I did not know the killer was also a breeder. The boards provide a wealth of information, but you also have to be careful. When we were looking for our kitties, I found a Ragdoll board and asked about locating good breeders in our area. The posters were a fountain of information, and helped me pick one that turned out to be wonderful.

What I find the most horrifying is the brutal force in which this baby was acquired. From time-to-time I've read where newborns were kidnapped from their homes, or even hospitals, but this is just the worst of the worst. To kill this woman and take her child...is almost unimaginable to me. Why did she do this when if she wanted a baby, there would have been much easier ways to secure one that wouldn't involve killing someone. I find it hard to believe that this woman just went over and strangled this woman, and sliced her baby out and went on her way. There has to be more about this crazy woman than we are hearing.

luvbeaches - there was just a forensic pshyc guy on that said he believed this was an act of desperation. Apparently this woman (LM) was pregnant and lost her baby a while back. Rather than tell her husband and friends she continued the ruse and fulfilled the destiny so to speak. Quess this is her third marraige. What I don't understand is how the heck does the husband not know that she is no longer pregnant ? How could this guy just drive up to Topeka and pick her up in a restaurant parking lot and not think something ?

FYI - the tip they received came from North Carolina, a lady by the name of Dianne Siktar, apparently a friend or aquaintance who received an email from LM on Friday morning that had had a picture of the baby.

 

[luvbeaches]

luvbeaches - there was just a forensic pshyc guy on that said he believed this was an act of desperation. Apparently this woman (LM) was pregnant and lost her baby a while back. Rather than tell her husband and friends she continued the ruse and fulfilled the destiny so to speak. Quess this is her third marraige. What I don't understand is how the heck does the husband not know that she is no longer pregnant ? How could this guy just drive up to Topeka and pick her up in a restaurant parking lot and not think something ?

FYI - the tip they received came from North Carolina, a lady by the name of Dianne Siktar, apparently a friend or aquaintance who received an email from LM on Friday morning that had had a picture of the baby.

I did hear a bit on tv last night about the pregnancy, and how she lost the baby. I do NOT know how she kept this from her husband. When I was pregnant, there was NO doubt! That is just odd...very odd. Maybe she somehow managed to not let him see her when she was undressed or something like that. Otherwise, I just don't know how she pulled it off, but she certainly did.

It's going to be interesting to see if they use the "insanity defense" for this woman. Did the fs guy say anything about the statistics on this type of thing. Most of these women who seem to do this have suffered the same loss as Lisa, but they only snatch a baby. To stalk Bobbie (and use a fake name), and then kill her and cut the baby out...is gruesome. It takes a sick person to snatch a baby, but it takes a monster to do something like this. I'll bet as time goes on, we're going to hear more about her state of mind.

And she called him from a restaurant???? That's odd...you'd think that would send up red flags all over the place.

I can't believe she could go on with her life (considering what she did), and then out a picture as if nothing was going on. Thank goodness the friend knew what was going on and got in touch with authorities.

Thanks for the information....Please keep us posted if you hear anything else. I tossed and turned all night thinking about this poor woman and her family....

 

[raisincharlie]

I did hear a bit on tv last night about the pregnancy, and how she lost the baby. I do NOT know how she kept this from her husband. When I was pregnant, there was NO doubt! That is just odd...very odd. Maybe she somehow managed to not let him see her when she was undressed or something like that. Otherwise, I just don't know how she pulled it off, but she certainly did.

It's going to be interesting to see if they use the "insanity defense" for this woman. Did the fs guy say anything about the statistics on this type of thing. Most of these women who seem to do this have suffered the same loss as Lisa, but they only snatch a baby. To stalk Bobbie (and use a fake name), and then kill her and cut the baby out...is gruesome. It takes a sick person to snatch a baby, but it takes a monster to do something like this. I'll bet as time goes on, we're going to hear more about her state of mind. Also after the fact actions of caring for the baby shows right and wrong cognizance.

And she called him from a restaurant???? That's odd...you'd think that would send up red flags all over the place.

I can't believe she could go on with her life (considering what she did), and then out a picture as if nothing was going on. Thank goodness the friend knew what was going on and got in touch with authorities.

Thanks for the information....Please keep us posted if you hear anything else. I tossed and turned all night thinking about this poor woman and her family....

The phsyc guy said she planned it and that most likely a lawyer would attempt something of an insanity defense however he believed her actions of basically stalking Bobbie Jo for the baby verified that she was cognizant of what she was doing (premeditation) and knew right from wrong. The insanity defense will be hard to be developed however due to the manipulation of her husband and friends, the PPD might be usable but not necessarily justifiable under Missouri law.

Twas a Long John Silver's...

 

[tybee204]

She will play nut bird crazy, be unable to assist in her own defense and be sipping Thorazine milkshakes in the state hospital for the next 20 years.

 

[luvbeaches]

The phsyc guy said she planned it and that most likely a lawyer would attempt something of an insanity defense however he believed her actions of basically stalking Bobbie Jo for the baby verified that she was cognizant of what she was doing (premeditation) and knew right from wrong. The insanity defense will be hard to be developed however due to the manipulation of her husband and friends, the PPD might be usable but not necessarily justifiable under Missouri law.

Twas a Long John Silver's...

Interesting. Thanks for the information. What you are saying makes sense....So from what you are hearing, did Lisa do this by herself (no one else was with her that day)? So she strangled Bobbi, and cut the baby out all by herself? Ughhh....what a horrible thing.

She called him from a Long John Silver's????? You'd think she would have went to the hospital and met him in the lobby or something. Wow, that's incredible.

 

[CW]

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/index.html

 

[CW]

They met through a message board they lived 2 hours apart.

 

[raisincharlie]

Interesting. Thanks for the information. What you are saying makes sense....So from what you are hearing, did Lisa do this by herself (no one else was with her that day)? So she strangled Bobbi, and cut the baby out all by herself? Ughhh....what a horrible thing.

She called him from a Long John Silver's????? You'd think she would have went to the hospital and met him in the lobby or something. Wow, that's incredible.

luvbeaches, I am not hearing anything about the thoughts of if she was alone and did it by herself, there is still a lot of investigating going on so quite honestly I have not even asked. I am very disturbed by some things however. This is so disturbing but I was told to study on the very question you have posed about LM doing it by herself. I have studied on this a lot and there are two conclusions which I can reach but my medical knowledge is limited, keep that in mind.

One, she had help. Two she did not have help, however for that baby to be in fairly good shape, it would have had to have been removed very very quickly IF the mother was dead, within 5 minutes at the most. I don't know this Montgomery woman's past work history but I am having difficulty accepting that a person could accomplish this in a sufficient amount of time to prevent oxygen depravation and without accidentally harming the baby when cutting through the uterus.

I'm just thinking and having a lot of trouble with the whole scenario. This stuff of her husband not knowing she was not pregnant just boogles my mind, IMO either he is a total idiot or he hadn't seen her for a couple of months, or her confession is covering his butt. Something is not right IMO. She tells him she went into labor, had the baby at a clinic but he picks her up at a fast food parking lot, DUH ? I just don't know, I just have a feeling there is more...

 

[tybee204]

If she were generally overwieght and wore baggy clothes she could fake a pregnancy. I have heard of men not knowing there wifes were pregnant when they gave birth so I guess it could work the other way as well.

 

[raisincharlie]

luvbeaches - here's the affidavit:


http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/kidnap/usmntgmry121704aff.html

 

[luvbeaches]

luvbeaches, I am not hearing anything about the thoughts of if she was alone and did it by herself, there is still a lot of investigating going on so quite honestly I have not even asked. I am very disturbed by some things however. This is so disturbing but I was told to study on the very question you have posed about LM doing it by herself. I have studied on this a lot and there are two conclusions which I can reach but my medical knowledge is limited, keep that in mind.

One, she had help. Two she did not have help, however for that baby to be in fairly good shape, it would have had to have been removed very very quickly IF the mother was dead, within 5 minutes at the most. I don't know this Montgomery woman's past work history but I am having difficulty accepting that a person could accomplish this in a sufficient amount of time to prevent oxygen depravation and without accidentally harming the baby when cutting through the uterus.

I'm just thinking and having a lot of trouble with the whole scenario. This stuff of her husband not knowing she was not pregnant just boogles my mind, IMO either he is a total idiot or he hadn't seen her for a couple of months, or her confession is covering his butt. Something is not right IMO. She tells him she went into labor, had the baby at a clinic but he picks her up at a fast food parking lot, DUH ? I just don't know, I just have a feeling there is more...

I agree, I think more information is coming. So far today, I haven't read the paper, or watched any news, so I don't know what's going on...other than what I have read here. I am also puzzled as to how she pulled this off without any help. Granted, my medical background only comes from watching tv (so it isn't diddly-squat), but when you see the docs do an emergency c-section, they always say it has to be done quickly. My big question is how did she strangle Bobbi, remove the baby, and accomplish this within this small timeframe on her own? I guess anything is possible, but it would make more sense if she had help. When I first head about this, I immediately thought there was more than one involved. I guess time will tell.

It also boggles my mind about the whole pregnancy thing (and her husband not knowing). You do read about things like this happening, and it sounds like she's been quite cunning with the plan, so maybe she managed to keep it from him somehow. The whole Long John Silver's thing is bizarre.

 

[Timex]

ok...here's my confusion. When did she tell hubby she gave birth? I mean was she gone overnight? Did she leave the previous day, and he not know where she was untill she called him saying she had given birth? Im trying to picture my hubby if I simply called him and told him I had given birth, come pick me up.

editted to try to make my question a bit clearer...

When was the last time the husband saw the wife? Did he see her that morning, before she comitted this crime? Or had she left the day before? If she has only been gone a few hours, wouldnt he be wondering how she could get to the hospital, deliver this baby, and be sitting at Long Johns so soon afterwards?

 

[CW]

No she was not gone over night the baby was found 8 or 9 hours after killing Bobbi and she called her husband and she said gave birth at a fast food rest. and even showed the baby off to a few people.