TIMELINE ESTABLISHED FOR MURDER
Alleged killer established false identity to lure victim into situation
***WARNING: Disturbing language. Reader discretion advised.***
By MATT KELSEY
Forum Managing Editor
Published December 18, 2004
In a short period of time, it appears that Lisa Montgomery hatched a brutal and calculated plan to murder a pregnant woman, steal the woman’s baby, and keep the child as her own.
Although the suspect was arrested, and the baby girl was recovered, one person is dead, and Northwest Missouri residents are reeling, wondering how something like this could happen in their backyard.
“It’s hard for me to accept this,” Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said at a press conference yesterday. “It’s just inconceivable I’m overwhelmed with the fact that we’re going to get this baby back.”
Based on information from an affidavit released by the U.S. Attorney’s office, from investigator’s statements, and from an interview with a friend of the victim and the suspect, a timeline has been pieced together by the Forum for Montgomery’s planning of the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett and the brutal - but medically correct - removal of the fetus from Stinnett’s womb.
Montgomery and Stinnett were acquaintances through their mutual profession as rat terrier dog breeders. Both women found out they were pregnant at around the same time this summer, but Montgomery apparently lost her baby somewhere during the course of her pregnancy - or possibly was never pregnant at all.
Although Montgomery already has several children, she apparently desired to have one with her third and current husband. She did not tell anyone she allegedly lost the baby and pretended to still be pregnant.
Montgomery allegedly came up with a plan to take Stinnett’s baby.
At some point on Thursday, December 16, Montgomery visited Stinnett’s house, although she was not apparently invited. Instead, a woman named Darlene Fischer was scheduled to come to the house to purchase a rat terrier from Stinnett.
Several reports indicate that Darlene Fischer is a figment of Montgomery’s imagination, made up only to fool Stinnett into thinking she would be selling a dog on Thursday.
Montgomery apparently contacted Stinnett through the email address “fischer4kids@hotmail.com.”
The double meaning of the email address was not lost on investigators.
Montgomery allegedly strangled Stinnett from behind with a rope or line of some kind, and it is unclear whether Stinnett was already dead when the baby was removed. However, health care officials claimed that type of operation is nearly impossible to perform if the mother is dead, indicating Stinnett was unconscious, but alive, when Montgomery cut into her abdomen.
All reports indicated that Montgomery seemed to know how to remove the baby without harming it.
Some have wondered whether Montgomery had any medical training. However, the Forum has learned that emergency Cesarean section procedures can easily be found with a quick search on the internet. On short notice, and without any medical training, Montgomery could have used this technique to cut the baby out of Stinnett’s womb.
At some point, Stinnett was killed, but not before a struggle; the victim was found with a clump of blond hair in her hand. Montgomery’s hair is blond, and Stinnett was a brunette.
Montgomery allegedly left the house and traveled with the baby to Melvern, Kan., where she and her husband lived. She stopped at a fast food restaurant, phoned her husband, and told him she had delivered the baby prematurely at the restaurant.
The husband, Kevin Montgomery, picked her up at the restaurant, and took her and the baby home.
After following two intersecting leads, investigators questioned the Montgomerys, collected the baby girl, and eventually arrested Lisa Montgomery for kidnapping resulting in death.