Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence and sexual abuse that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
Bobbie Jo Stinnett Found Dead in Her Home
Bobbie Jo Stinnett was born on December 4, 1981, in Nodaway County, Missouri. She bred rat terriers and owned a dog breeding business named Happy Haven Farms, which she operated from her home in Skidmore.
Bobbie maintained a website to promote her business that featured her pictures with the dogs. She was also active on internet message boards dedicated to dog breeding.
In spring 2004, Bobbie discovered she was pregnant. She began sharing the news with her family and friends. She also shared this good news with members of a message board in which she actively participated.
On 15 December, a woman named Darlene Fischer reached out to Bobbie via instant message. Fischer claimed she was a resident of Fairfax, Missouri. The message read, “Please get in touch with me soon as we are considering the purchase of one of your puppies.”
Later that night, Bobbie informed her husband, Zeb, and her mother, Becky Harper, that a woman from a nearby town would stop by tomorrow to take a look at the puppies.
On December 16, Fischer arrived at Bobbie’s home around 12.30 pm. Bobbie brought the puppies outside, and the two women played with them for some time. At 2.30 pm, Bobbie received a phone call from her mother, who was at work.
She asked Bobbie if she could give her a ride home after her shift ended. Bobbie confirmed that she would come pick her up. Shortly after 3.30 pm, Harper called Bobbie to check if she was coming, but there was no answer.
Harper assumed her daughter was still engaged with the woman who had come to see the puppies and decided to walk home.
When Harper reached home, she found the front door wide open. She entered the house, calling for her daughter. She reached the dining room and found Bobbie lying on the floor, in a pool of blood.
Bobbie’s mother immediately called 911. When she found Bobbie, she was bleeding profusely from the abdominal area. She told the operator her daughter was eight months pregnant and in need of urgent medical assistance. She said it looked like Bobbie’s stomach had exploded.
Unborn Child: Missing
Paramedics rushed to the scene. Upon arriving, they checked Bobbie for vital signs and tried to revive her. Bobbie’s condition was very delicate, and she was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Maryville, where she was pronounced dead.
Autopsy reports revealed that Bobbie’s unborn baby had been cut from her womb and was missing. The cause of death was determined to be strangulation. Medical professionals who examined the crime scene told the police there was a strong possibility that the missing baby was still alive.
A nationwide Amber alert was put out. The FBI and Highway Patrol joined the search for the missing infant. Investigators found no signs of forced entry in the home, suggesting Bobbie may have known the killer.
Detectives also began asking around the nearby area. They found one witness who reported seeing a dirty red subcompact car parked near Stinnett’s home that had never been in the area before.
Law enforcement interviewed Bobbie’s husband, who was devastated by the loss of his wife and unborn child. He claimed he had left home at 7 am to work at a manufacturing plant and that he had nothing to do with the crime. He had a solid alibi and was cleared of suspicion.
Investigators conducted a forensic search of Bobbie’s personal computer in hopes of finding some clues. They found that the last message Bobbie had received was from Darlene Fischer, who had arranged a meeting with Bobbie earlier that day.
The police also received a tip from a woman in Texas regarding a woman named Lisa M. Montgomery, whom she had met at a dog show. She had also given birth the same day Bobbie was murdered.
The IP address associated with Fischer’s email account was traced to Kevin Montgomery, who lived in Melvern, Kansas. When the police ran a background check, it was revealed that Kevin was married to Lisa Montgomery.
Confronting Montgomery
On December 16, the day Bobbie Jo Stinnett was murdered, Montgomery called her husband around 5.15 pm and told him she had gone into labour while Christmas shopping. She told him she had given birth in a maternal clinic in Topeka, Kansas.
She asked her husband to escort her home. They met in a parking plot near the clinic and drove back to their home in Melvern. Later that evening, the Montgomerys called friends and relatives to announce the birth of their daughter, Abigail.
The next day, Montgomery and her husband went to Whistle Stop Cafe for breakfast. The Montgomerys showed off the baby to customers, who were surprised to learn it was only one day old.
It was abnormal for Montgomery to be up on her feet only a day after she had given birth. After finishing their meal, they left to run daily errands and visited Reverend Mike Wheatly, who was their family pastor.
Investigators had been waiting outside Montgomery’s home in Kansas. They saw a red car parked outside her residence that matched the witness’s description.
The couple returned home around 1 pm. Shortly thereafter, law enforcement knocked on their door. Montgomery’s husband answered the door and invited the officers inside their home. As they entered the living room, they saw Montgomery sitting on the couch, holding a baby.
The infant was sleeping soundly. Sgt. Investigator Randy Strong noted that the infant did not appear to be a newborn. Babies have a soft skull, which is moulded into a conical shape from navigating the birth canal during childbirth.
Over time, the head regains its original shape. Newborn babies often have scratches/scars on their head from childbirth, but the infant Montgomery was holding in her arms had only a scratch above its eye.
Sgt. Strong explained that they were investigating the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett. He inquired about the baby. Montgomery explained that she had given birth the previous day at a maternity clinic in Topeka.
He asked to see Montgomery’s discharge papers. She asked her husband to retrieve the discharge papers from his truck. He searched the truck, but could not find the papers.
When the couple failed to produce the discharge papers, Strong asked to speak to Montgomery outside their home. She allowed a law enforcement officer to hold the baby as she stepped outside.
Montgomery explained that her family was having financial problems. Unbeknownst to her husband, she had given birth at her home with the help of two friends.
When asked to identify the two persons, Montgomery said they were not physically present in the house but were available on a phone line in case she had trouble delivering the baby.
Montgomery said she had given birth in the kitchen. She told Strong that she had disposed of the placenta in a nearby creek. Shortly thereafter, she requested that the questioning be moved to the Sheriff’s office.
Montgomery was taken to the Sheriff’s office for further questioning, where she confessed to killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett. The baby was taken from Montgomery and safely reunited with her family. She was named Victoria Jo Stinnett.
Confession
In spring 2004, around the same time Bobbie had announced her pregnancy, Montgomery began telling her friends and family that she was pregnant. However, Montgomery had undergone a sterilisation procedure more than a decade ago.
This meant she was physically incapable of conceiving a child. Nonetheless, she reported testing positive for pregnancy, began wearing maternity clothes and behaved as if she were pregnant.
Her husband and children, who were unaware of the permanent sterilisation, believed Montgomery was expecting. Those who knew about the sterilisation, including her ex-husband and his wife, accused Montgomery of deceiving her family. Montgomery simply responded that she would prove them wrong.
Montgomery, like Bobbie, was involved in breeding rat terrier dogs. She became acquainted with Bobbie via a message board on the internet called Ratter Chatter. Montgomery used the alias “Darlene Fischer” to navigate the message board.
She had met Bobbie at a dog show in April 2004. Montgomery reached out to Bobbie and arranged a meeting under the pretext of buying one of Bobbie’s puppies.
On 16 December 2004, Montgomery left her home in Melvern, Kansas and drove 170 miles to Bobbie’s home in Skidmore, Missouri. She was carrying a cord and a sharp kitchen knife in her jacket.
Montgomery reached Bobbie’s home sometime after noon. She was let into the home, and the two chatted and played with the puppies for some time. Shortly after Bobbie spoke to her mother on the phone, Montgomery attacked her.
She began strangling Bobbie with a cord until she was unconscious. Montgomery then used the kitchen knife to cut her victim’s abdomen open, performing a crude cesarean section on her.
Bobbie regained consciousness due to the pain of being cut open, and a struggle ensued. She tried to fight off her killer in an attempt to save herself and her unborn child. Montgomery overpowered the pregnant woman and began strangling her a second time, eventually killing her.
“You could see swirls in the floor in the blood, showing there was a struggle. I noticed her stomach had been jaggedly cut open, and some intestines were protruding from the body”
– Ben Espey, Nodaway County Sheriff
Montgomery then extracted the fetus from Bobbie Jo Stinnett’s body, cut the umbilical cord and left with the baby. She entered her car and drove away from Bobbie’s home. All the while, she held the baby in her arms and pinched the umbilical cord.
After driving a short distance from Bobbie’s home, Montgomery stopped to sever the umbilical cord from the newborn’s body and to suction any mucus from the infant’s mouth to prevent her from choking.
The infant was unharmed and healthy, considering she was born prematurely. Montgomery wiped the baby clean and retrieved a car seat from the trunk of her car. Montgomery installed the car seat, placed the baby in it and drove to Topeka, Kansas. Upon arriving, she called her husband and told him she had given birth.
Trial and Sentencing
Lisa M. Montgomery was arrested on 17th December 2004 and charged with kidnapping resulting in death. Since Montgomery had kidnapped and transported the baby between two states, she was tried on federal charges.
Montgomery pleaded guilty to the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnet by reason of insanity. Her defence counsel argued that she had a very traumatic childhood, which had affected her psyche.
She was physically and sexually abused since the age of 11. Her stepfather, Jack, who was a mean drunk, raped her once or twice a week. He would also invite his friends over to gang-rape Montgomery, an ordeal which would last for hours.
Afterwards, they would urinate on Montgomery. Her mother would also contribute to her abuse as she would sell her body to the plumber or the electrician whenever she needed odd jobs done around the house.
On one occasion, Montgomery’s mother happened to walk into the room while she was being raped. Enraged, she put a gun to her daughter’s head and asked her, “How could you do this to me?”
Montgomery’s stepfather continued to rape and sodomise her, often smothering her face with a pillow. If she resisted, he would punish her by slamming her head against the concrete. This gave Montgomery severe brain damage and became the basis of her early defence.
Montgomery’s defence counsel further argued that her actions were consistent with pseudocyesis. Montgomery had been experiencing a false pregnancy and could not discern reality from delusion.
After hearing two days of expert testimony, the court concluded that
Montgomery’s MRI results were not abnormal and thus did not show “any mental
condition or circumstance that would be relevant to matters at issue in this case.”
The court also rejected the defence’s “false pregnancy” argument by pointing out that Montgomery was fully aware of the sterilisation procedure and thus was fully aware that she could not be pregnant.
The trial lasted four weeks. Lisa M Montgomery was found guilty of kidnapping resulting in murder and sentenced to death by a federal jury on 22 October, 2007. Montgomery appealed the decision, arguing that the court had erred in its decision as Bobbie’s death did not result from the kidnapping.
Her defence framed the argument as a challenge to the sufficiency of evidence. They argued that the murder occurred before the kidnapping was legally completed, and therefore, the federal kidnapping statute should not apply
Montgomery’s motion was denied, and the court’s decision to execute her was upheld. She continued to contest the decision until she exhausted all her appeals. Montgomery was executed at the federal death chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana, on 13 January 2021 by the method of lethal injection.
Her execution drew significant attention and criticism from the press and activists as she became the first woman to be executed by the US Federal government in the last 70 years.
Aftermath
“This case has finally come to a close, but we will never stop missing Bobbie Jo. She
was a sweet and loving wife, daughter and sister, and would have been a wonderful
mother.”
– Statement from the family of Bobbie Jo Stinnett
Bobbie’s family, in their final statement to the court, thanked the members of the jury and law enforcement officials who worked tirelessly and found the missing child in less than 24 hours.
They stated that their priority is now Victoria Jo and giving her a normal childhood despite the horrific tragedy she was born into.
