I am not pregnant after all... :o
Jeesh, reading this freaks me out. She met the person online in a dog forum.
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SKIDMORE, Mo. - A 36-year-old Melvern, Kan., woman was charged Friday in the death of a pregnant northwest Missouri woman Thursday whose baby was removed from her womb.
U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said Lisa M. Montgomery, 36, was charged with the federal crime of kidnapping resulting in death. Graves said Montgomery could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.
Twenty-three-year-old Bobbi Stinnett of Skidmore was eight months pregnant when her body was found Thursday in her home, her fetus surgically removed. Paramedics tried to revive her, but she was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The baby was found in good health Friday, bringing relief to authorities who had spent the last day frantically searching for the baby girl. A tip resulting from an Amber Alert led officials to a home in Kansas where a baby was found. She was taken to a hospital in Topeka, Kan., authorities said.
"We're confident we have the little girl that was taken from Skidmore," Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said during a news conference in Maryville, noting that the Amber Alert issued for the baby had been canceled. The authorities were running a DNA check to verify the identity of the baby.
On-line acquaintance
Graves said Montgomery met Stinnett — who bred rat terrier dogs — through an Internet message board. He said Montgomery was apparently seeking to buy a dog from Stinnett. The message board led officials to Montgomery's home about 30 miles southwest of Topeka.
Graves would not give a motive for the crime.
Earlier, Espey said he believed Stinnett was strangled and resisted the attack, and authorities hoped that strands of hair found in her hands would help identify the killer. They were awaiting DNA testing to confirm the newborn is Stinnett’s child, a factory worker.
“The autopsy is going to show us there was some blond hair probably found in her hands,” the sheriff said. “That would also help us with the DNA.”
Authorities had been questioning a man and a woman who were in the same place as where the baby was found in eastern Kansas. A red Honda hatchback matching a description offered earlier by police was in the driveway of the home.
Graves said the investigation was ongoing but would not say if additional charges might be filed or if there was another suspect.
Espey said there was no indication of forced entry into Stinnett's small white home in this community of about 500, located north of St. Joseph in the extreme northwest corner of Missouri.
A neighbor, Bill Dragoo, said Stinnett and her husband raised dogs and “didn’t bother anybody. It blows my mind that this happened. She was such a shy person. They didn’t deserve this.”
Baby expected to do well
Doctors said the baby could have suffered a variety of traumas during the assault, including a lack of oxygen, but could likely survive if treated.
“Ninety-five percent are going to do pretty well given a modest amount of medical attention,” said Dr. Perry Clark, medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at The University of Kansas Hospital.
Stinnett, married for little more than a year and expecting her first child, worked at an engine factory in nearby Maryville. Her husband was at work at the time she was killed, authorities said.
Several pregnant women have been killed in recent years by attackers who then removed their fetuses, in some cases to pass the children off as their own.
In the most recent case, a 21-year-old woman was shot to death in Oklahoma in December 2003, allegedly by another woman who pretended the 6-month-old fetus was her child. The fetus died and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
© 2004 The Associated Press.
