The Gruesome Murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett and Kidnapping of Her Unborn Baby

Trigger warning: descriptions of death, violence, sexual abuse.

In this article:

• On December 16, 2004, Bobbi Jo Stinnett was found dead on her dining room floor by her mother. At the time of Stinnett’s death, she had been eight months pregnant. But there was no baby in sight.
• The investigation was short and quickly led to identifying Lisa Montgomery as Bobbi Jo’s murderer and the kidnapper of her unborn child.
• Lisa Montgomery was soon convicted and given the death penalty. On January 13, 2021, she became the first woman executed in the United States in 67 years.
• But the details of the case and Montgomery’s traumatic upbringing have many questioning whether her sentence was truly just.

It’s devastating for any parent to outlive their child, even more so when that child is the victim of a brutal and senseless killing. Unfortunately for Missouri woman Becky Harper, that nightmare became reality in 2004. 

On the afternoon of December 16, Becky visited the home of her daughter Bobbie Jo Stinnett. The door was unlocked but that was not uncommon in a small town like Skidmore, which has a population of about 250. 

However, Becky sensed something was amiss when Bobbie Jo, who ran a small business from her home, didn’t greet her at the door. Becky let herself in and found her daughter in the dining room lying in a pool of her own blood. 

At approximately 3:00 P.M., 911 operators received a distress call from Becky, who described her daughter’s state, “It’s like she exploded or something. There’s blood everywhere.” 

To anyone who witnessed the scene, it was clear that most of Bobbie Jo’s bleeding came from her stomach, which had been cut open. The paramedics arrived but they were unable to revive the victim of the attack. She was already dead by the time her mother discovered her body.

And here’s the kicker: Eight months pregnant at the time of her death, Bobbie Jo’s fetus was missing.

To this day, the violent and fatal attack on Bobbie Jo Stinnett — and the snatching of her fetus — remains the most heinous crime in Skidmore’s history. This is the kind of true crime tale you don’t forget after you’ve read about it. I know I couldn’t sleep soundly after. 

It’s simply hard to understand how someone could end the life of another, especially in such a violent manner. Everyone would agree that the murder is unjustifiable but those who learn about the case always leave with a nagging question: Was the killer a victim herself? Judge for yourself.

Who Was Bobbie Jo Stinnett?

Bobbie Jo Stinnett’s murder was a real shock and loss to the small town of Skidmore. One of her high school friends described Bobbie Jo as “one of the sweetest people you’d ever meet.”

She was born on December 4, 1981, and had just turned 23 weeks before her death. She married her high school sweetheart, Zeb, and the young couple was expecting their first child.

Together, they operated a rat terrier breeding business called Happy Haven Farms. She also had a part-time job at Kawasaki Motors’ nearby manufacturing plant, but Bobbie Jo’s passion was raising dogs. Most of her free time was spent raising the rat terriers and entering them into dog show events.

The soon-to-be mom was also active in online forums on rat terriers, particularly a group called Ratter Chatter.

Unlike today’s crowded Facebook groups and subreddits, Ratter Chatter was more tight-nit. Through the group, she met lots of fellow rat terrier enthusiasts, with whom she exchanged useful information and personal experiences with the breed.

She also met a woman named Darlene Fischer who was interested in purchasing a dog from one of her litters. They arranged to meet at the Stinnetts’ residence on the day of her murder. That was the last time anyone from the online community heard from Bobbie Jo. 

The Investigation That Led to Bobbie Jo’s Killer and Her Missing Baby

When news of her death reached Ratter Chatter, members immediately notified the police of Bobbie Jo’s scheduled meeting with Darlene Fischer. At this point, the authorities welcomed any clues. The only lead they had was a red Toyota Corolla that neighbors spotted in the Stinnetts’ driveway.

Police also concluded that there were no signs of forced entry at Bobbie Jo’s house. Any true crime fan knows that to investigators, this is an indication that a victim either knew their attacker or used a ruse to get in. So to them, the tip from the Ratter Chatter group was worth looking into.

Investigators searched Bobbie Jo’s online messaging history and found an email from Darlene. When they traced the IP address of the sender, it led them to the home of another couple, Lisa and Kevin Montgomery, who lived in Kansas. 

The authorities drove to the neighboring state to question the Montgomeries. They needed any information they could get, especially if it would lead them to the whereabouts of Bobbie Jo’s baby and Darlene, the authorities’ only real suspect at this time.

When they arrived at the Montgomery residence, they noticed a Toyota that matched the description of the vehicle seen at the Stinnetts’. Lisa Montgomery, holding a newborn child in her arms, invited the investigators inside. The officers quickly noticed that the baby looked premature and had wounds on her face. 

What were the odds that Lisa would have a newborn child with her — let alone one that looked prematurely born with some lacerations on her face? If you weren’t a medical professional and you cut out a baby from a mother’s womb, it’s likely that you’d hurt the baby in the process as well.

Lisa claimed she had just given birth but could not produce any paperwork to verify it. To investigators, that was an obvious red flag and it became clear to them that her story didn’t add up.

Their investigation took a shift. They no longer believed Darlene Fischer was a real person, and they were aware that they might be talking to the actual killer of Bobbie Jo Stinnett.

The Murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett

Lisa Montgomery was another rat terrier enthusiast. Like Bobbie Jo, she regularly participated in dog events and was active in Ratter Chatter. According to other members of the group, the two met online and bonded not only over their obsession with dogs but also over their pregnancies. 

Little did Bobbie Jo know, Lisa was not actually pregnant. Of course, Bobbie Jo also did not suspect that Darlene and Lisa were the same person. It was a fake persona Lisa created to get to Bobbie Jo, most likely because she did not want to be tied to the murder and kidnapping she was planning.

No one really knows what happened when Lisa, aka Darlene, arrived at Bobbie Jo’s home. Did Bobbie Jo recognize her? It was likely since they had already met through dog events and Ratter Chatter. 

Regardless, Lisa was able to enter the Stinnetts’ home, at which point, she attacked Bobbie Jo and strangled her until she fell unconscious. The autopsy concluded that she was still alive when Lisa tried to cut her open.

Though autopsy results suggest she woke up in the middle of Lisa’s improvised C-section, but the pregnant Bobbie Jo was already too weak and wounded at that point. Lisa subdued her victim, continued to slice her open, and then ran off with her daughter.

Despite being too weak to escape, Bobbie Jo did manage to scratch her attacker, which left some of Lisa’s DNA under her nails. That DNA evidence added to the mounting evidence the FBI collected from Lisa’s car and was ultimately used to cement the case against Lisa Montgomery.

Who Was Lisa Montgomery? Was She a Victim, Too?

How could anyone empathize with a person like Lisa Montgomery knowing what she had done? It is, indeed, unfathomable, but if you’ve ever watched shows like Criminal Minds, you’ll know that it’s important to understand the mind of a killer.

More often than not, there is past trauma or mental illness that could explain their state of mind and, ultimately, their crimes. 

Lisa Montgomery’s life might as well be ripped off from an episode of Criminal Minds. She was born on February 27, 1968 with permanent brain damage. This was a result of her mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy.

This brain damage made her an easy target for constant abuse from her family. Her stepfather began molesting her when she was 11 years old. Her mother, Judy Shaughnessy, later testified to the rape of her own child at the hands of her husband.

Knowing that Lisa’s own mother was aware of the abuse of her daughter and didn’t do anything about it is enough to boil anyone’s blood. But she was also an abuser herself. Throughout Lisa’s adolescent years, Judy prostituted her own child for money.

It was around this time that they observed Lisa begin to dissociate from reality. She began drinking and fell into her own world of make-believe. The school she went to suspected that there was abuse in her home but didn’t do anything to check up on their student. 

When she was seventeen, Judy prodded Lisa to get together with her own stepbrother, Carl Boman. It’s unclear why Judy would even set the two up together. Perhaps she just wanted to get rid of Lisa once and for all?

Even though marriage meant she was free of her mother and stepfather, Lisa’s life didn’t change much. Carl, her stepbrother and husband, only continued the cycle of abuse that Lisa was subjected to by everyone else in her family.

During their marriage, Lisa became pregnant four times. Though this didn’t change her abusive relationship with Carl, she did find solace in her pregnancies.

Contrary to the rest of her upbringing, the attention she received while pregnant was positive and Lisa loved it. But after her fourth and final pregnancy, Carl and Judy forced Lisa to get her tubes tied upon the advice of her doctor. 

It was at this time that Lisa started developing pseudocyesis, or phantom pregnancy. A phantom pregnancy is a rare disorder in which a woman truly believes she is with child. During this time, the woman may even experience pregnancy symptoms, such as developing a baby bump and morning sickness. 

Experts believe that one of the causes of phantom pregnancy is the extreme desire to be pregnant, which was true in Lisa’s case. She craved that positive attention that came with carrying a baby so much that she physically manifested the symptoms. But Carl, her husband, knew it was impossible. They fought over Lisa’s false pregnancies to the point of divorce. 

Lisa eventually got remarried to a man named Kevin Montgomery. He wasn’t aware that his new wife underwent tubal sterilization and had no reason to doubt Lisa when she claimed she was pregnant. Twice prior to Bobbie Jo’s murder, Lisa claimed to be pregnant with Kevin’s baby only to later say that she’d had an abortion or miscarriage.

That is, until December of 2004, when she called Kevin to let him know that she had just given birth to a baby girl named Abigail.

It’s strange to think that Kevin never realized Lisa wasn’t really pregnant. But according to reports, the couple’s work schedules didn’t match, so they rarely slept in the same bed. Plus, Kevin was described as lacking in social skills so he could have just as easily been manipulated by anyone, including his own wife. 

After the two previous unsuccessful pregnancies, Kevin was just happy to finally have a baby girl to show off to everyone. Why would he question his little miracle? He was even quoted saying, “I held that baby proudly.” It was indeed not their baby but the kidnapped daughter of Bobbie Jo Stinnett.

But why did she do it? 

Although Lisa never revealed her motive, investigators believe that Lisa felt pressure from her ex-husband Carl Boman.

He was threatening to go to court to gain full custody of their children, and was going to use Lisa’s phantom pregnancies against her. That meant that Carl was going to reveal that Lisa habitually lied about being pregnant.

Not only would Lisa lose custody of her children, the revelation of her phantom pregnancies could also ruin her current marriage.

Perhaps Lisa thought that if she could prove that she wasn’t lying about being pregnant this time, she wouldn’t lose to Carl in court or betray Kevin’s trust. Strangely, the solution Lisa Montgomery came up with was to brutally murder an innocent woman, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, and steal her baby from her womb. 

Lisa Montgomery: The First Woman To Be Executed Under the Death Penalty in 68 years

With a mountain of evidence against her, Lisa Montgomery confessed to the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett. She was charged with kidnapping resulting in death. 

During her trial, expert witnesses testified that Lisa was born with brain damage and had suffered a traumatic childhood. They argued that these circumstances led Lisa to develop a mental illness and triggered her violent crime against Bobbie Jo Stinnett.

However, it was revealed after the trial that Lisa’s legal counsel originally planned to shift the blame to Lisa’s brother, Tommy, in a not guilty plea. But when Tommy’s alibi was verified, her counsel had to develop a new line of defense just one week before the trial.

The rushed defense team was later criticized for being incompetent and failing to paint a complete picture of Lisa’s traumatic upbringing and brain damage. On October 22, 2007, she was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death and sentenced to death.

Despite numerous appeals, Lisa Montgomery remained on death row. On January 13, 2021, she receive the lethal injection at 52 years old. This made her the first woman to be executed by the United States federal government since 1953. 

Up to this day, many, including myself, argue that while Lisa’s crimes are appalling and that Bobbi Jo Stinnett deserved justice, Lisa was a victim of life-long abuse just as much as she was a perpetrator of violence. 

Lisa grew up under the worst circumstances anyone could imagine. Her entire family was abusive, leaving her with no support system. Even after she moved out of her childhood home, the abuse continued in her marriage.

The constant pain and suffering of her real life led her to find an escape in her pregnancies. Those were the only times Lisa ever felt valued in life. This is not to say that the trauma she lived was a justification for her crimes. But her experiences do shed a light on how a person like Lisa Montgomery ended up committing the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett. 

There is an ongoing debate among legal scholars and the general public about whether or not the death penalty should exist, especially for those with mental illness or impairment. As of today, Ohio is the only state that shields mentally ill defendants from capital punishment. If that had been in place at the time of her trial, there is a chance Lisa Montgomery’s life could have been spared.

If there’s a happy update to this story, it’s that Victoria Jo Stinnett, the kidnapped baby of Bobbie Jo, was eventually reunited with her father Zeb. Miraculously, she didn’t suffer any life-long injuries and should now be 17 years old. Her mother, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, would have been 40.