Making a Monster: The Lisa Montgomery Story
Sometimes, there is no justice - only a redistribution of cruelty.
Bobbi Jo Stinnett could have come to life straight from a Norman Rockwell painting. She had wide eyes, a wholesome smile, and an exceptionally kind demeanor. She is remembered by her high school classmates as a soft-spoken girl who loved animals and studied diligently. After graduation, Bobbi Jo married her high school sweetheart and settled down near her hometown to start a family.
At twenty-three years old, Bobbi Jo became pregnant with her first child - a little girl.
She was over the moon.
As a dog breeder, it was not unusual for Bobbi Jo to connect with customers online. She was active in a forum called "Ratter Chatter," where she met a fellow rat-terrier enthusiast named Darlene Fisher. Fisher was expecting, as well. They spoke often. The two swapped pregnancy stories, and over time they developed a warm friendship. Eventually, Darlene asked if she could visit. She wanted to buy one of Bobbi Jo's puppies.
Unfortunately, the woman who showed up that day was not Darlene. She was not pregnant. She was not interested in purchasing a dog.
Lisa Montgomery was there to take Bobbi Jo's unborn child.
What happened next is one of the most gruesome scenes in all of criminal history.
First, Lisa strangled Bobbi Jo. The defensive wounds indicate that she put up the fight of her life. Ultimately, though, the she could not save herself.
Bobbi Jo died in her eighth month of pregnancy.
Next, armed with a sharp kitchen knife and knowledge from watching online videos of cesarean surgeries, Lisa cut open her victim's womb. She removed the unborn baby. Then, she fled.
Bobbi Jo's mother found her body in an unimaginably heartbreaking moment. She called the police immediately. Baby Stinnett made history as the first child to have an Amber Alert put out in her interest before a confirmed birth. The Ratter Chatter forum sprang to action in helping to locate "Darlene".
Lisa claimed the baby as her own until the police tracked her down. She confessed within hours.
Miraculously, the tiny child survived.
The one bright spot in this sickening story is Baby Stinnett's return to her father. He named her Victoria Jo. To this day, she remains healthy and is growing up out of the public eye with her father and other loving family members.
So...what kind of a monster could do something like that?
Only the kind formed by decades of profound abuse.
Lisa Montgomery was born with irreversible brain damage as a result of her mother's alcoholism - and things got worse for her from there.
By the time she turned twelve, Lisa was being repeatedly raped, beaten, and urinated on by her stepfather and his friends. She was forced into prostitution by her own mother. She was made to stand outside in the snow naked. She was threatened with a gun.
Lisa's childhood was, essentially, one horror after another.
Upon reaching adulthood, Lisa was forced to marry her own step-brother. He beat, raped, and tortured her consistently. He videotaped the attacks.
Truly, to glimpse into this woman's past is to look through the gates of hell.
After four children and an involuntary hysterectomy, Lisa divorced her step-brother and remarried. She told her new husband she was pregnant. Her step-brother, in an effort to gain custody of their children, threatened to expose the lie at an upcoming court date.
It was in this scene of desperation that Lisa's plan took shape.
This leads us to the big question: Was Lisa Montgomery responsible for her actions?
The trial provided little clarity on that matter.
Lisa Montgomery's trial and sentencing carried a striking note of sexism. Her actions contradicted our culture's very notion of womanhood - and the prosecution went after that angle in a big way. They detailed her filthy house, poor mothering skills, and other data irrelevant to the nature of her crime. It was presented for no other reason than to show that she was a failure as a woman.
Even more surprisingly, the extent of Lisa's developmental trauma was not revealed until after the trial and sentencing were complete. This led some to question the competence of Lisa's defense team. Although they presented ample evidence of mental instability, they neglected to share the tragic circumstances in which it took root.
In the end, though...does it matter?
After all, this was not a case of an abused woman fighting back against her tormentors. Bobbi Jo was, by all accounts, as gentle and kind as they come. There was no sense of justice in Lisa's actions - only a redistribution of cruelty.
Lisa Montgomery murdered an innocent woman in cold blood, and then she ripped Bobbi Jo's unborn child from her body.
It can not be denied that Lisa Montgomery would likely have killed again.
Still...it's a striking thing, the way our world is so quick to treat a woman in monstrous ways, and then look to her with blame and disgust when she herself becomes a monster.
It's worth noting that her mother, step-father, step-brother, and other abusers were never held accountable for their role in this tragedy.
Due to her fetal alcohol syndrome and profound lifelong abuse, Lisa's brain was undoubtedly damaged. However, her actions were not those of a woman unaware of consequences. For months, she planned Bobbi Jo's murder and Victoria's kidnapping. She drove her route in advance to gauge the timing and distance. She researched cesarean surgeries with chilling detail.
Ultimately, jurors decided that, although Lisa suffered from profound mental health problems, her actions were not a result of delusion. They were not a result of a loss of control or a temporary break with reality. Her plan was too meticulously constructed for that to have been the case.
This was a premeditated murder.
Lisa Montgomery was convicted on all counts.
In the absence of her full story, Lisa was given the death penalty. This sentence was upheld through multiple appeals. The most important of these claimed that her conviction violated the 8th Amendment, which states that a mentally incompetent person can not be executed. This argument escalated all the way up to the Supreme Court.
In the end, though, her conviction was upheld. Lisa Montgomery died by lethal injection on January 13th of this year.
When asked if she had any last words, Lisa simply said "no".
Sources
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/01/08/what-lisa-montgomery-has-in-common-with-many-on-death-row-extensive-trauma
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55587260
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55642177
https://msmagazine.com/2021/01/11/lisa-montgomery-only-woman-on-federal-death-row-death-penalty-execution/
https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/amp34716810/lisa-montgomery-death-row-execution-trump/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw1X5oFPgro
https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/01/reversing-several-lower-courts-justices-allow-execution-of-lisa-montgomery/
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article247677605.html
About the Creator
Robyn Reisch
Robyn Reisch spends her days cooking, writing, and raising three gorgeous little hooligans. She is married to the world's greatest man.
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