Free Republic

Attorney General William P. Barr today directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions of two federal death-row inmates, both of whom were convicted of especially heinous murders at least 13 years ago. Lisa Montgomery fatally strangled a pregnant woman, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, cut open her body, and kidnapped her baby. In December 2004, as part of a premeditated murder-kidnap scheme, Montgomery drove from her home in Kansas to Stinnett’s home in Missouri, purportedly to purchase a puppy.  Once inside the residence, Montgomery attacked and strangled Stinnett—who was eight months pregnant—until the victim lost consciousness.  Using a...

Jurors unanimously agreed today that Lisa Montgomery should be put to death for killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett and stealing her unborn daughter nearly three years ago. Before the decision ending the four-week trial was announced about 12:35 p.m., the federal judge ordered spectators to control their emotions or leave the Kansas City courtroom. - - - The jurors convicted Montgomery late Monday afternoon of kidnapping resulting in death. After taking a break Tuesday, they returned Wednesday to begin the penalty phase. They deliberated about an hour Thursday before breaking for the night and returning this morning. Montgomery tried to claim...

Jurors unanimously agreed today that Lisa Montgomery be put to death for killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett and stealing her unborn daughter nearly three years ago. The federal jury deliberated about five hours. If jurors had not reached a unanimous decision in favor of the death penalty, Montgomery would have received life in prison without the possibility of parole. Before the decision was announced, the judge ordered spectators to control their emotions or leave the courtroom.

Woman Accused of Killing Expectant Mom, Cutting Baby From Womb, Found Guilty Monday, October 22, 2007 Family photo released by family spokesman Daniel Madden shows Zeb Stinnett holding his infant daughter, Victoria Jo Stinnett, during Easter 2005. Family photo released by family spokesman Daniel Madden shows Zeb Stinnett holding his infant daughter, Victoria Jo Stinnett, during Easter 2005. KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A woman whose attorneys had argued that she was suffering from delusions when she killed an expectant mother and cut the baby from her womb was found guilty Monday. Jurors convicted Lisa Montgomery, 39, of kidnapping resulting in...

For the first time publicly, family members of Bobbie Jo Stinnett relived the horror Thursday of learning someone had strangled her and cut her baby from her womb. They did it from the witness stand, in a packed federal courtroom where emotional memories and grisly photographs marked the opening day of testimony in the kidnapping trial against Lisa Montgomery, 39. The Melvern, Kan., housewife and dog breeder took the baby because her ex-husband had threatened to expose her faked pregnancy and use it against her in a custody dispute, prosecutors contended Thursday. Her defense attorneys conceded in their opening statement...

KANSAS CITY (AP) - A Kansas woman accused of cutting an unborn baby from her victim’s womb could face the death penalty if convicted of the crimes, federal prosecutors announced yesterday. Lisa Montgomery, 37, of Melvern, Kan., faces trial in April for allegedly strangling 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett with a rope at her Skidmore home, using a kitchen knife for a crude Caesarean section, then parading the infant around as her own. U.S. Attorney Todd Graves had long hinted he would seek death for the defendant, but it was made official yesterday with a court filing outlining aggravating circumstances. The...

The alleged evil "womb raider" who butchered a Missouri mom-to-be and stole her baby reportedly demanded $45,000 from her ex-hubby's new wife in a desperate bid to buy a child on the black market. Lisa Montgomery threatened and harassed Vanessa Boman, who is married to the Montgomery's former hubby, Carl Boman, before her alleged crime, the woman told a London newspaper. Montgomery allegedly told Vanessa Boman that she was going to "destroy" her if she didn't fork over the funds — and that made Boman fear that the unhinged sicko would do something brutal. "We were really concerned about what...

It was a crime so horrible people find it hard to imagine -- the theft of a fetus cut from its dying mother's womb. Last week's slaying of Bobbie Jo Stinnett by a woman who pretended to befriend her over their mutual love of pedigreed dogs has captured world attention. "Womb-snatch killer," blared a headline in Australia. "Womb-theft baby home" said a headline in South Africa. But as grisly as the slaying of the pregnant 23-year-old woman and kidnapping of her unborn baby was, it's not the first such crime. Two people were sentenced to death in Illinois for the...

In a spectacular murder case in Missouri, Lisa Montgomery strangled to death Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant. Montgomery cut open Stinnett's womb and kidnapped her child. This is a horrific crime that, like the Scott Peterson case, opens an uncomfortable window into our culture's tortured reasoning on anything related to unborn life. During the coverage of the crime, the status of the Bobbie Jo Stinnett's unborn girl steadily changed. All at once on AOL News during the weekend, there were headlines tracking events in the case: "Woman Slain, Fetus Stolen"; "Woman Arrested, Baby Returned in Bizarre Murder";...

America yesterday got this first look at the miracle baby who survived being ripped from her mother's womb, as the tragic mom was laid to rest. The rites took place amid new reports that Bobbie Jo Stinnett's suspected killer not only faked her pregnancy, but was unable to have any more children. [snip] Montgomery had told friends and family, including her husband that she was expecting to give birth this month. But her ex-husband, Carl Boman, told a television station that Montgomery had undergone a tubal litigation after their last child together more than a decade ago. "It's all...

Kan. Woman Said to Show Off Stolen Baby 24 minutes ago By JOHN MILBURN, Associated Press Writer MELVERN, Kan. - A woman charged with killing an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb was showing the child off 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. Hours before her arrest, Montgomery and her husband showed...

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...

This is an undated photo showing Lisa M. Montgomery, a resident of Melvern, Kan. Montgomery was arrested late Friday, Dec. 17, 2004, and charged with kidnapping resulting in death in a case of a woman being murdered and her 8-month-old fetus cut out of her womb. The baby of Bobbie Jo Stinnett was recovered and was reported in good condition on Saturday. (AP Photo/Maryville Daily Forum)

MELVERN, Kan. — The woman accused of slaying an eight-months-pregnant mom-to-be and stealing her fetus showed the baby off around town just hours before cops caught up to her, residents said Saturday. Authorities charged Lisa M. Montgomery with kidnapping resulting in murder, and she is expected to appear in court Monday. The baby girl was in good condition after being returned to her father. Montgomery, 36, and her husband brought the infant to a restaurant, said Kathy Sage, owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe. The couple showed the baby to several customers, who were surprised to hear the infant was...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The father of a baby girl snatched from the womb of her strangled mother greeted the infant as a miracle as the two were united after a grisly murder that gripped the United States, a Kansas hospital said on Saturday. The girl, Victoria Jo Stinnett, was healthy and "a miracle," the Stormont-Vail hospital in Topeka, Kansas, quoted the girl's father, Zebulon Stinnett, as saying after the two were united late on Friday. The girl's mother, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, had been found strangled in her Missouri home on Thursday with her abdomen sliced open, the baby gone...

MARYVILLE, Mo. - Authorities Friday arrested a woman they allege came to the home of an eight-months-pregnant woman — purportedly to buy a dog — then strangled her and cut the baby from her womb. Authorities found the abducted infant in good health, ending a day of frantic searching. AP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Baby Taken from Slain Mother's Body Police Find Baby That May be Child of Slain Mom (AP Video) According to a criminal complaint, Lisa M. Montgomery admitted she strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett and took her baby. The complaint also said Montgomery lied to her husband about...

he little girl, prematurely ripped from her mother's womb, survived because of "divine intervention," a leading obstetrician said yesterday, calling the survival of the 8-month-old fetus a "miracle." "Certainly this is one of these miracles where God protects a child no matter what happens," said Dr. Manuel Alvarez, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J. "Obviously, this was an extremely stressful birth, and we won't know what the ultimate outcome of this child will be as she gets older," he added. The 23-year-old mother of the infant, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, had apparently been strangled...

(CNN) -- Authorities believe an infant girl found at the home of a Kansas woman is the same baby taken from her mother's womb Thursday after the mother was killed in Missouri. Lisa Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kansas, confessed to strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, and then "removing the fetus," according to an FBI affidavit filed Friday. Stinnett was killed at about 3 p.m. Thursday (4 p.m. ET) in her house in Skidmore in northwest Missouri. Montgomery, whom authorities say had a miscarriage earlier this year, was arrested and charged with kidnapping resulting in death. If convicted, Montgomery could receive...

An 8-month-old fetus — savagely ripped from her mother's womb while the woman was being murdered — turned up alive and healthy yesterday in Kansas, where police arrested a woman for kidnapping the newborn. [snip] Lisa Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan., who posed on the Internet as a customer for Stinnett's dog-breeding business, killed her for her baby, authorities said. [snip] Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said Montgomery had some medical knowledge to be able to pull off the grisly delivery and abduction. "We have no indications that the child was hurt in any way," Espey said. "The child's...

In mid-afternoon I saw the spectacular news that the baby cut out of her murdered mother in Missouri was found alive in Kansas. Naturally I assumed it would be top news in the evening news. However when I turned on ABC at 6:30 PM no mention was made of this admitedly gruesome but very newsworthy story--especially since at least there was some good news that the child was found alive. Only on Fox news was I able to find the news conference by the law enforcement officers about this story. Did I just miss the mainline networks' coverage of this--or...