Post by Cassie on Oct 14, 2005 1:06:58 GMT -5
Fate deals an evil hand
Two women whose destinies met in one shocking crime
By MAKI BECKER and NICOLE BODE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Bobby Jo (l.), a fresh-faced cheerleader and honors student, was popular with schoolmates in Graham, Mo.
Lisa Boman
They were two women from two completely different worlds until their paths collided, ending with an almost unfathomable crime.
Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, a fresh-faced mother-to-be who was a high school cheerleader and honors student adored by her Missouri community, was building an ideal life with her childhood sweetheart.
Lisa Montgomery, 36, was a twisted drifter and pathological liar who constantly claimed to be pregnant despite having had her tubes tied, neglected her four teenaged children and frightened Kansas neighbors and family members with her bizarre ways.
Stinnett's short life was snuffed out Dec. 16 by baby-snatching psycho Montgomery, who posed as a dog buyer to enter Stinnett's Skidmore, Mo., home, strangle her and cut her 8-month-old fetus from her womb.
The next day, police caught Montgomery trying to pass the preemie off as her own in her hometown of Melvern, Kansas.
Here's a look at the lives of these two women - whose unlikely encounter ended in tragedy:
Stinnett's gruesome slaying was the last thing anyone in her close-knit town could imagine for the bright, caring young woman beloved for her beaming smile and cheerful demeanor.
During her years at the tiny Nodaway-Holt school in neighboring Graham, Mo., she endeared herself to classmates and teachers alike as she matured from a shy child into a vivacious, popular high schooler.
She dove into after-school activities - trying her hand at everything from the cheerleading team to 4-H Club to the school newspaper and the yearbook.
"She kind of blossomed in high school," said Stinnett's former math teacher Bill Baldwin, 71. "She started to come out of her shell and got active in things - gained in popularity and friends."
After high school she got a job working at a pet store, where everyone marveled about her love for the animals.
"She was such a nice person," said her old boss Chuck Ellis, 51, manager of the Earl May Garden Center, a pet store and plant nursery in Maryville, Mo.
"This girl was exceptionally sweet. Never had a bad thing to say about anyone. Just bright and cheerful. She loved to work with pets. She had a knack for them."
Winter Owens, 23, another worker at the store, agreed: "She loved animals. The fish and the birds - she really took care of our pet department here."
In high school, the dark-haired beauty had caught the eye of handsome upperclassman Zeb Stinnett, who would soon ask for her hand in marriage.
"They knew each other from when they were little, just from around the neighborhood," Jo Ann Stinnett, 69, a relative of Bobbie Jo's, said. "But they didn't get serious until later." Soon after Bobbie Jo graduated in May of 2000, the sweethearts became inseparable.
She eventually quit her job at the pet store to start working in the same Kawasaki motorcycle plant as Zeb in Maryville.
Owens recalled that Stinnett told her she wanted to go to Kawasaki because the pay was better. "They were going to get married," Owens said. "She wanted to make more money."
In April 2003 Bobbie Jo and Zeb married, and less than a year later she was pregnant with their first child.
"They were thrilled that they were going to have the baby," Jo Ann Stinnett said.
In anticipation of the bundle of joy, Stinnett started saving up to buy a home, so she and Zeb could leave behind their small cottage.
"That was her dream: to own her own home," Jo Ann Stinnett said.
She recalled how Bobbie Jo was as caring and loving with people as she was with animals.
Bobbie Jo was especially protective of younger brother Tyler, who had a four-wheel
motorcycle-type vehicle he liked to ride down a gravel road. "She told me ‘I will not let him ride without a helmet,'" Jo Ann Stinnett said. "‘And he gets so mad.'"
Another time, when Bobbie Jo's husband got a new blue Mustang with a big woofer so that he could play music very loud, she made him turn it off when they visited Jo Ann Stinnett.
Bobbie Jo said she didn't want Stinnett's elderly husband to be disturbed by the amped-up sound system.
Meanwhile, Bobbie Jo Stinnett was also cultivating a passion: breeding and showing rat terrier dogs.
She became a regular on the dog show circuit, netting top prizes across the country with her show dogs.
She also frequented online chat rooms to share friendly tips with other breeders on everything from breeding to training.
Little did Stinnett know that her passion for the pups would lead her into the steely death trap of her killer.
"[Bobbie Jo's] dogs were her life and that was what took her life," Jo Ann Stinnett told the Daily News as she choked back tears.
The young woman - who seemed to have it all - had no inkling of the terrible fate that awaited her.
Her former co-workers at the pet store said she was in great spirits when she dropped in just a few weeks before her horrific murder to shop and say hello.
"She was beaming. She was talking about her pregnancy," store manager Ellis recalled. "She was very happy with where her life was at."
***
Some 175 miles away in Kansas, Lisa Montgomery was hatching her macabre plot to butcher Bobbie Jo Stinnett to steal her baby from her womb.
The mother of four had already earned a sordid reputation for all sorts of deceit.
She was constantly on the move - hopping from Oklahoma to New Mexico to Kansas - because she couldn't stop lying. Or so claims her ex-husband, Carl Boman.
At the center of her truth-twisting tales was her constant claim that she was pregnant, despite having had her tubes tied in 1990, Boman told a Kansas City, Mo., television station.
"It's all a lie," he told WDAF. "She never was pregnant. Anything they're buying about a lost baby, a miscarriage, all of it's a lie."
Neighbors also said Montgomery was a neglectful mother - that her children were often left dirty and in old, tattered clothing.
"She'd be laying on the couch reading while the kids were running around crazy," said a former acquaintance of Boman, Bill Boomhower Jr., 40.
After Boman divorced her for the second time in 1998 after a tumultuous 14-year relationship, she took their four kids and moved in with Kevin Montgomery, a quiet electrician and father of three from Melvern, Kan. The pair were married in 2000, and soon Montgomery was up to her old antics.
A full year before the Dec. 16 slaying, she fabricated yet another pregnancy and cavorted around Melvern in maternity wear, neighbors said. As the supposed due date drew near, Montgomery said she had miscarried.
A few months later she claimed she was pregnant again - this time with a December 2004 due date, neighbors said.
"Everyone was doubtful that she was pregnant in the first place," said Montgomery's preacher, the Rev. Mike Wheatly of the First Church of God.
Montgomery's due date was nearly the same as Stinnett's.
And some speculate that was no coincidence.
For at least the last year, both women had posted messages on rat terrier chat boards mentioning they were expecting.
Pictures of Bobbie Jo and her expanding belly even made their way online.
And the two had crossed paths at a dog show on the weekend of April 10 in Abilene, Kan. Days before, on the "Ratter Chatter" Web site, Stinnett messaged Internet pal Montgomery: "Lisa, I will be at the show. Cannot wait to meet you."
As the months went forward, Montgomery and Stinnett stayed in contact, chatted about the pups and gushed about the life growing inside them.
Except, now it's known that Montgomery's tale was diabolically false - and that she may well have plotted the unthinkable for months.
On Dec. 15, Montgomery sent Stinnett another E-mail, this time using an alias. She said her name was Darlene Fischer. The E-mail address was fischer4kids@hotmail.com.
"Please get in touch with me soon, as we are considering the purchase of one of your puppies," the message said.
Bobbie Jo, coming from a world of trust and love, likely thought she had no reason to be afraid. Trusting to the very end, she replied hours later:
"Darlene, I've E-mailed you with the directions so we can meet. I do so hope the E-mail reaches you ... look forward to chatting with you tomorrow a.m. ... talk to you soon, Darlene!"
Originally published on December 25, 2004
Two women whose destinies met in one shocking crime
By MAKI BECKER and NICOLE BODE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Bobby Jo (l.), a fresh-faced cheerleader and honors student, was popular with schoolmates in Graham, Mo.
Lisa Boman
They were two women from two completely different worlds until their paths collided, ending with an almost unfathomable crime.
Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, a fresh-faced mother-to-be who was a high school cheerleader and honors student adored by her Missouri community, was building an ideal life with her childhood sweetheart.
Lisa Montgomery, 36, was a twisted drifter and pathological liar who constantly claimed to be pregnant despite having had her tubes tied, neglected her four teenaged children and frightened Kansas neighbors and family members with her bizarre ways.
Stinnett's short life was snuffed out Dec. 16 by baby-snatching psycho Montgomery, who posed as a dog buyer to enter Stinnett's Skidmore, Mo., home, strangle her and cut her 8-month-old fetus from her womb.
The next day, police caught Montgomery trying to pass the preemie off as her own in her hometown of Melvern, Kansas.
Here's a look at the lives of these two women - whose unlikely encounter ended in tragedy:
Stinnett's gruesome slaying was the last thing anyone in her close-knit town could imagine for the bright, caring young woman beloved for her beaming smile and cheerful demeanor.
During her years at the tiny Nodaway-Holt school in neighboring Graham, Mo., she endeared herself to classmates and teachers alike as she matured from a shy child into a vivacious, popular high schooler.
She dove into after-school activities - trying her hand at everything from the cheerleading team to 4-H Club to the school newspaper and the yearbook.
"She kind of blossomed in high school," said Stinnett's former math teacher Bill Baldwin, 71. "She started to come out of her shell and got active in things - gained in popularity and friends."
After high school she got a job working at a pet store, where everyone marveled about her love for the animals.
"She was such a nice person," said her old boss Chuck Ellis, 51, manager of the Earl May Garden Center, a pet store and plant nursery in Maryville, Mo.
"This girl was exceptionally sweet. Never had a bad thing to say about anyone. Just bright and cheerful. She loved to work with pets. She had a knack for them."
Winter Owens, 23, another worker at the store, agreed: "She loved animals. The fish and the birds - she really took care of our pet department here."
In high school, the dark-haired beauty had caught the eye of handsome upperclassman Zeb Stinnett, who would soon ask for her hand in marriage.
"They knew each other from when they were little, just from around the neighborhood," Jo Ann Stinnett, 69, a relative of Bobbie Jo's, said. "But they didn't get serious until later." Soon after Bobbie Jo graduated in May of 2000, the sweethearts became inseparable.
She eventually quit her job at the pet store to start working in the same Kawasaki motorcycle plant as Zeb in Maryville.
Owens recalled that Stinnett told her she wanted to go to Kawasaki because the pay was better. "They were going to get married," Owens said. "She wanted to make more money."
In April 2003 Bobbie Jo and Zeb married, and less than a year later she was pregnant with their first child.
"They were thrilled that they were going to have the baby," Jo Ann Stinnett said.
In anticipation of the bundle of joy, Stinnett started saving up to buy a home, so she and Zeb could leave behind their small cottage.
"That was her dream: to own her own home," Jo Ann Stinnett said.
She recalled how Bobbie Jo was as caring and loving with people as she was with animals.
Bobbie Jo was especially protective of younger brother Tyler, who had a four-wheel
motorcycle-type vehicle he liked to ride down a gravel road. "She told me ‘I will not let him ride without a helmet,'" Jo Ann Stinnett said. "‘And he gets so mad.'"
Another time, when Bobbie Jo's husband got a new blue Mustang with a big woofer so that he could play music very loud, she made him turn it off when they visited Jo Ann Stinnett.
Bobbie Jo said she didn't want Stinnett's elderly husband to be disturbed by the amped-up sound system.
Meanwhile, Bobbie Jo Stinnett was also cultivating a passion: breeding and showing rat terrier dogs.
She became a regular on the dog show circuit, netting top prizes across the country with her show dogs.
She also frequented online chat rooms to share friendly tips with other breeders on everything from breeding to training.
Little did Stinnett know that her passion for the pups would lead her into the steely death trap of her killer.
"[Bobbie Jo's] dogs were her life and that was what took her life," Jo Ann Stinnett told the Daily News as she choked back tears.
The young woman - who seemed to have it all - had no inkling of the terrible fate that awaited her.
Her former co-workers at the pet store said she was in great spirits when she dropped in just a few weeks before her horrific murder to shop and say hello.
"She was beaming. She was talking about her pregnancy," store manager Ellis recalled. "She was very happy with where her life was at."
***
Some 175 miles away in Kansas, Lisa Montgomery was hatching her macabre plot to butcher Bobbie Jo Stinnett to steal her baby from her womb.
The mother of four had already earned a sordid reputation for all sorts of deceit.
She was constantly on the move - hopping from Oklahoma to New Mexico to Kansas - because she couldn't stop lying. Or so claims her ex-husband, Carl Boman.
At the center of her truth-twisting tales was her constant claim that she was pregnant, despite having had her tubes tied in 1990, Boman told a Kansas City, Mo., television station.
"It's all a lie," he told WDAF. "She never was pregnant. Anything they're buying about a lost baby, a miscarriage, all of it's a lie."
Neighbors also said Montgomery was a neglectful mother - that her children were often left dirty and in old, tattered clothing.
"She'd be laying on the couch reading while the kids were running around crazy," said a former acquaintance of Boman, Bill Boomhower Jr., 40.
After Boman divorced her for the second time in 1998 after a tumultuous 14-year relationship, she took their four kids and moved in with Kevin Montgomery, a quiet electrician and father of three from Melvern, Kan. The pair were married in 2000, and soon Montgomery was up to her old antics.
A full year before the Dec. 16 slaying, she fabricated yet another pregnancy and cavorted around Melvern in maternity wear, neighbors said. As the supposed due date drew near, Montgomery said she had miscarried.
A few months later she claimed she was pregnant again - this time with a December 2004 due date, neighbors said.
"Everyone was doubtful that she was pregnant in the first place," said Montgomery's preacher, the Rev. Mike Wheatly of the First Church of God.
Montgomery's due date was nearly the same as Stinnett's.
And some speculate that was no coincidence.
For at least the last year, both women had posted messages on rat terrier chat boards mentioning they were expecting.
Pictures of Bobbie Jo and her expanding belly even made their way online.
And the two had crossed paths at a dog show on the weekend of April 10 in Abilene, Kan. Days before, on the "Ratter Chatter" Web site, Stinnett messaged Internet pal Montgomery: "Lisa, I will be at the show. Cannot wait to meet you."
As the months went forward, Montgomery and Stinnett stayed in contact, chatted about the pups and gushed about the life growing inside them.
Except, now it's known that Montgomery's tale was diabolically false - and that she may well have plotted the unthinkable for months.
On Dec. 15, Montgomery sent Stinnett another E-mail, this time using an alias. She said her name was Darlene Fischer. The E-mail address was fischer4kids@hotmail.com.
"Please get in touch with me soon, as we are considering the purchase of one of your puppies," the message said.
Bobbie Jo, coming from a world of trust and love, likely thought she had no reason to be afraid. Trusting to the very end, she replied hours later:
"Darlene, I've E-mailed you with the directions so we can meet. I do so hope the E-mail reaches you ... look forward to chatting with you tomorrow a.m. ... talk to you soon, Darlene!"
Originally published on December 25, 2004