The Murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett
On December 16th, 2004, a 23 year old woman who was 8 months pregnant was found dead in her Missouri home, with her baby being ripped out of her womb. There’s been some controversy regarding the outcome of this case and whether or not the woman responsible should’ve received the death penalty.
Bobbie Jo Stinnett and her husband ran a dog breeding business out of their home, and often attended dog show events, where she met 36 year-old, Lisa Marie Montgomery. The two women talked often online in a Rat Terrier chatroom called “Ratter Tatter,” where they also discussed their pregnancies. However, Lisa’s pregnancy wasn’t real, and received a tubal ligation in 1990, after having four children. Lisa falsely claimed to be pregnant multiple times after her procedure, according to both of her ex-husbands. Something snapped inside of Lisa’s brain, and she made arrangements under the false name “Darlene Fischer” to meet Bobbi at her home, as she was expecting potential buyers for her terrier at that time. When Bobbi answered the door, Lisa forced her way into her home and murdered Bobbi by strangulation, and then proceeded to surgically remove her baby from the womb, and taking off. Bobbi’s body was found an hour later by her mother who called the police, but unfortunately the paramedics weren’t able to revive her, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Lisa allegedly called her husband around 5:15 on that same day to inform him that she had gone into labor during her shopping trip in Topeka. Witnesses state that they saw her, her husband, the children, and the infant at a restaurant having breakfast on December 17th. Not too long after returning home from breakfast Lisa’s home was visited by police who had tracked her address using her IP address from the chatroom messages. They were only going there to question her as a potential witness, but when they got there, they saw Lisa in the living-room with an infant in her arms. DNA testing was ran and they soon learned that this baby was the missing baby from the murder victim, Bobbi Jo Stinnett. Baby Victoria was soon placed back into custody of her father.
Lisa Montgomery was charged with “kidnapping resulting in death,” and if she were to be convicted she would either serve a life-sentence, or receive the death penalty. On October 22nd, 2007, Lisa was found guilty and sentenced to death. The reason this case is so controversial is due to the long history of mental disabilities that resulted from years of abuse at the hands of not only her parents, but from both of her husbands. Lisa’s mother had an alcohol addiction, which caused her to be born with permanent brain damage. She was forced to be raised in a home where she was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. Lisa was allegedly raped and beaten by her step-father since the young age of 11. This caused Lisa to start turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism, and when her mother found out about it, she threatened her with a gun. When Lisa turned 18, she attempted to flee her toxic home by getting married, but she ended up just getting herself into another abusive situation.
Lisa also suffered with depression, borderline personality disorder, bi-polar disorder, psychosis, and post-traumatic stress disorder for years, and was often disassociated from reality. A neuropsychologist stated at her pre-trial hearing that she also had severe brain injuries from the years of beatings she endured, which damaged the part of her brain that controls aggression. It was also argued that she had pseudocyesis, which is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy, even though the woman is not actually pregnant. It’s argued that when she realized she wasn’t pregnant, she may have had felt like she had a miscarriage, and that’s what triggered her to commit the murder and kidnap the infant. However, it’s also argued that she did not have this disorder, and some people believe that her ex-husband was going to take her to court and use her lies about pregnancy in order to get custody of their children, so Lisa needed to produce a child in order to keep her children.
Lisa’s attorneys fought tooth and nail for many years to try and rid her of the death penalty, even using the case of Atkins vs Virginia which ruled that executing individuals with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution regarding cruel and unusual punishments. Lisa did receive a stay of execution a few times, but always having her death penalty reinstated, and she exhausted all of her appeals. Lisa Marie Montgomery was put to death by lethal injection on January 13th, 2021.
