Posted on 12/19/2004 9:19:36 AM PST by rushfreedom
Woman paraded abducted baby
By John Milburn
The Associated Press
MELVERN, Kan. - A woman charged with killing an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb was showing off the child to people at a cafe and to her pastor hours before she was arrested, residents said Saturday.
Lisa M. Montgomery, 36, was charged Friday with kidnapping resulting in murder and was expected to appear in federal court Monday. The baby, whose mother had been eight months pregnant, was in good condition.
After eating at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Melvern, a small eastern Kansas town, Montgomery and her husband visited pastor Mike Wheatley.
"It was a beautiful baby," Wheatley said. "Absolutely beautiful."
Wheatley and his wife commented that the baby, whom the couple called Abigail, did not look like a newborn because her head was not misshapen from passing through the birth canal, a common result of childbirth that soon goes away. The only marks she had were a small scratch on her head and a slight bruise on her hand.
The pastor had not seen the couple since October, and everyone in the congregation expected her to give birth around Dec. 12.
Montgomery was arrested later in the death of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was found Thursday in a pool of blood inside her small white home in the northwest Missouri town of Skidmore.
Montgomery's husband, Kevin, has not been charged in the case.
The arrest stunned many in this community of about 420 residents who apparently had believed for months that Lisa Montgomery was pregnant.
U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said Lisa Montgomery contacted Stinnett through an online message board after seeing a Web site about the rat terriers Stinnett bred and raised. The Web site included a picture of Stinnett, showing she was pregnant. The message board also led authorities back to Montgomery.
Investigators said Lisa Montgomery confessed to the crimes during questioning on Friday.
Jeff Lanza, an FBI spokesman in Kansas City, Mo., said that Montgomery was expected to make her first appearance in federal court Monday.
The baby's father and several other relatives saw the infant, named Victoria Jo, for the first time Friday night at Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in Topeka.
The infant was in an intensive care unit. Hospital officials said she was responding normally for a baby taken from the womb one month prematurely.
"She's doing well," hospital spokeswoman Carol Wheeler said.
Victoria Jo's father, Zeb Stinnett, issued a brief statement calling her "a miracle."
"I want to thank family, friends, Amber Alert and law enforcement officials for their support during this time," he said.
Montgomery is the mother of two high-school-age children. Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said Saturday that Montgomery had told people she was pregnant with twins, though investigators were still trying to determine whether that was true.
"She told people she was pregnant and had a miscarriage and lost one of the twins," Espey said. "We're thinking she never was pregnant."
According to court documents, Montgomery traveled to Topeka, about 30 miles north of Melvern, on Thursday to go shopping. She called her husband from there, saying she had gone into labor and given birth.
Kevin Montgomery and the couple's two children met Lisa and the newborn in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant in Topeka and drove home, according to an affidavit.
There was also a case in New Mexico a few years ago.
Wow I just can not believe it. Great post. Thanks fo sharing.
Thank you. I do appreciate it. It happened to many women my age, not just me, so please do keep us all in your prayers as well. This time of year is the worst fir all of us , and for women like me whose children were born near Christmas ( mid-December in my case) the memories can be overwhelming.
Reading about the way that woman was brutally murdered and harvested has added to everyone's burden this year.
My heart goes out to her family.
Seems to me I heard an FBI profiler on one of the talking head shows saying this happens about 100 times a year in this country.
I could be wrong, but I think that's what she said.
Common misconception for your babies... Mine, on the other hand, was born with a head that looked just like those SNL cone heads... He's fine now, I'm happy to say. :)
This article seems legit...have been doing some sleuthing and
noticed a picture on Bobbie's website that appears to have her and the woman held for murder in the same picture.
Look at picture number 30 on the Abilene 4-2004 file at
http://imageevent.com/happyhaven/ukcshows/abilene42004?n=25&z=2&w=0&x=1&c=4&m=24&p=24
Bobbie is second from the right, Lisa Montgomery is second from the left as it appears to me.
Ping ...
See also post 29.
Wow, you are good--that really does look like the woman. The one picture I have seen of the killer through the media, she is holding a little dog so maybe she and the victim were in the same circles and she had been stalking her for some time.
Oops, just read the above article in post #29 after I saw the picture you posted--looks like they did know each other. That Bobbie Jo was a little gal--too bad she didn't have some way to kill that maniac. She probably didn't know anything was up until it was too late. I really hope they fry this demon. Very sad. Other than the beheadings in Iraq, this is one of the most evil things I have heard of lately.
These are very insecure women with an overdose of motherhood obsession. Some are also like Mrs Montgomery. They feel the need to have a baby with their 2nd or 3rd husbands to tie them and if they are unable they fake it by stealing one. It is not normal. The ladies are nuts but the obsession is real in those that have it.
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