Woman Charged in Grisly Theft of Fetus 

By MARGARET STAFFORD, Associated Press Writer 

"...Montgomery confessed that she strangled Stinnett from behind, cut
her open, removed the baby and cut her umbilical cord. She also
admitted that she lied to her husband about what happened. "


MARYVILLE, Mo. - A baby girl who 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 baby was in
good condition Saturday. 

The child was found Friday at an eastern Kansas home. A red Toyota
similar to a description given 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. 

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

Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, had earlier 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. 

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. 

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. 

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, cut her open, removed the baby and cut her
umbilical cord. She also admitted that she lied to her husband about
what happened. 

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

"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 continuing. 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. The woman accused
in the case was found incompetent to stand trial and is undergoing
treatment in a mental hospital.
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