A federal judge in November postponed Montgomery's execution from Dec. 8 until Jan. 12 to give her attorneys more time to file her clemency petition, after concluding that their COVID-19 symptoms limited their ability to file thepetition. Judy Shaughnessy, Montgomery's mother, testified Friday she found then-husband Jack Kleiner having sex with Montgomery in 1984, when Montgomery would have been about 16. When Lisa was a small child, Judy allowed men to rape her for money, including allowing her to be gang raped on multiple occasions. He threatened to expose the imagined pregnancy and use it against her in the custody battle. The baby was returned to her father, after being recovered from Montgomery. She was born into a family rife with mental illness, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. The tiny farming town of Skidmore sits in the far northwest corner of Missouri. Lisa was anally, orally, and vaginally raped by several men, one after the other for several hours at a time. Montgomery used the fake name of "Darlene Fischer" and the chilling email address of fischer4kids@hotmail.com as she set up a meeting with Stinnett, according to the charging affidavit in thecase. Authorities also questioned Kevin Montgomery but concluded he wasn't involved. Montgomery often read her Bible or did things with her hands, including writing, quilting, and making placemats and bookmarks, Dorr said. "I don't think people understand how bad this was," Strong said. "The whole story is tragic," says Kelley Henry, one of Montgomery's federal defence lawyers. She meets with Montgomery regularly, she said. If that disconnection is brought about with enough frequency and intensity, it can become more of a steady state of being, she added. According to an interview with her father, Montgomery's mother Judy Shaughnessy drank heavily throughout her pregnancy, and their daughter was born with foetal alcohol syndrome. Montgomery clearly should spend the rest of her life in prison, but she is not among the "worst of the worst" for whom the death penalty is intended, Mattingly told The Topeka Capital-Journal. Lisa then took the baby home and cared for her as though she was her own. According to her lawyers and witnesses, Montgomery suffered years of childhood abuse so severe it was akin to torture. Montgomery gave birth to three daughters and a son from1987 to1990, court records say. "One sister got taken out and got put into a loving home and was nurtured and had time to heal," says Mattingly. Eventually, Montgomery admitted she had acted alone in killing Stinnett and taking her baby. She was sick. Lisa Montgomery, a Kansas native scheduled within days to become the first woman executed by the federal government in 67 years, lived a childhood so abusive her attorneys call it akin to torture. "I felt sick watching the video. On December 8, the federal government plans to execute her for a crime she committed in the grip of severe mental illness after a lifetime of living hell. Her story quickly fell apart and she confessed to the killing. She lapsed increasingly into mental illness and repeatedly faked pregnancy. And theyre taking me away from her.. Three federal inmates - Orlando Hall, Alfred Bourgeois and Brandon Bernard - have been put to death since the 3 November presidential election. A home videoshowsCarl Boman raping and beating Montgomery, said her half-brother, Teddy Kleiner, who gave a sworn statementsaying he had seen it. However, calls for Trump to be merciful are hardly unanimous. Kleiner, the son of Shaughnessy and Jack Kleiner, was meeting witha parole officerat the time of the killing, Strong said. At state level, the number of sentences and executions continues a historic decline. And that would be from across a courtroom, where lawyers for the US government were trying to persuade a jury to sentence Montgomery to death. Two other inmates are scheduled to die at Terre Haute prison before Mr Trump's presidency ends. Judy Shaughnessy, drank during pregnancy. But Fischer was a name that Montgomery had been using when she separately began messaging Stinnett from a different email address inquiring about buying one of her puppies. Montgomery has exhausted all attempts to appeal her conviction and death sentence although her attorneys are exploring possible litigation. Judy Shaughnessy and her boyfriend physical, psychological . Theyre saying that a sentence of life without the possibility of parole is more than sufficient punishment for someone who has endured what she did.. She lived at 61 addresses in the 36 years before she went to prison, court documents show. Recibi una inyeccin letal en una prisin de Terre Haute,. Let it be done: Bobbie Jo Stinnetts hometown waits as killers execution date nears. When I was around eight years old, and Lisa was about four, one of Judy's male friends began coming into our room at night and regularly raping me, with Lisa in the next bedclose enough we could reach for each other and touch fingers. For Montgomery, her lawyers argue, it began before she was born. Her attorneys say that while Montgomery feels deep remorse for her crimes, her understanding of her situation waxes and wanes. She helped him escape in a dog crate and went to prison after a vehicle chase 12 days later ended with their capture. When I was eight and Lisa was four, social services came and rescued me from Judy, leaving Lisa and our other sister behind. She didnt have nobody there to protect her once I was out of the home.. Lisa Montgomery and Bobbie Jo Stinnett got to know each other online through a shared love of dogs. Montgomery achieved considerable emotional growth once she was put in a stable environment where she felt safe and was receiving psychiatric medications for the first time, Dorrsaid. A survivor of incest and sex trafficking, she is diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic features, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy, and cerebellar dysfunction, said Amy Harwell, a federal public defender in Tennessee who is working on Montgomerys case. U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner upheld the jury's recommendation the following April. "She was completely detached from reality.". Fourteen of those offenders are serving long prison sentences, while the twoothers died by suicide in custody, according to a list Henry provided. In late December, Montgomery's legal team submitted a petition to President Donald Trump that makes the case that after a lifetime of abuse - which they characterise as torture - she is too mentally ill to be executed and deserves mercy. "We've seen crime for years and years in our country in which people enact terrible violence coming out of a psychotic set of beliefs or thought process. Tommy Kleiner and Montgomery have stayed in touch. Ms. Montgomery has bipolar disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorder, psychosis, traumatic brain injury and most likely fetal alcohol syndrome. If you were to meet her, it would be inconceivable to you that she committed this crime, Harwell said. Carl Boman wasn't the father of one of the girls, according to court records, which say Montgomery was sterilized after the last birth in 1990. Montgomerys case is not about whether she is responsible for the crime; she is. He also noted that after she confessed to killing Stinnett, she changed her story to contend the murder was committed by her half-brotherTommy Kleiner. She did not see her again until Montgomerys trial 34 years later. He married Judy Shaughnessy, who would become Montgomery's mother, in 1967 in . Multiple medical experts have given statements agreeing with that diagnosis. When Judy, Lisa's mother and my stepmother, came to beat us, I stood between her and the younger girls and took the beating, whether it was belts, cords or hangers. At 18, she married her stepbrother, who also beat and raped her. In addition to her brain damage, Lisa developed multiple mental disorders, including bipolar disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy, dissociative disorder, and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Mattingly, Montgomerys sister, is planning on visiting her next week. Porterfield compared the chronic abuse to pouring lighter fluid onto a spark. In her opinion, Montgomerys extreme childhood trauma created the conditions for her to grow into an adult with a disconnected sense of her emotions, a tenuous hold on reality, a completely warped view of human relationships, and a split and damaged sense of herself and of her body, according to expert testimony she provided for the defense. Montgomerys legal team is fighting against the clock to gather the information needed for her clemency petition, which has been complicated by the coronavirus crisis. Dorr said she and Montgomery were in the same pod,in which inmates may gather outside their cells,in 2006 and 2007 at Leavenworth Detention Center, a for-profit federal facility in northeast Kansas. Please, honey.". "She is the most broken of the broken," Mattingly said. At 1:31 AM on Wednesday, Lisa Montgomery was pronounced dead. "She needs to be put to death.". Skidmore has suffered lasting effects as a result of Stinnett's murder, said Strong, the investigator who helped prodMontgomery to confess. In fact, he drove her back home and dropped her off in the hands of her abusers. At that time, Montgomery was awaiting trial. Shaughnessy's nephew, David Kidwell, testified that she believed Montgomery "had brought [the abuse] on herself, that she enticed him". Dorr has since been released from prison and remarried. He was pumping her, Shaughnessy testified. Bobbie Jo's mother and husband have have not spoken publicly in many years. As Strong crossed the threshold, hesaw a TV set airing an Amber Alert about the abduction of Stinnett's baby. Kevin Montgomery let investigators inside. For Montgomery, her lawyers argue, it began before she was born. She has writtenopinion piecespublished in Elle and Newsweek. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. She got into multiple car accidents, struggled to keep a job, moved around constantly, drank heavily, engaged in sex work and neglected her children. Montgomery's number of crayons and pieces of paper hassince been increased to 10 each. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Montgomery, 52, the only woman on federal death row,is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Jan. 12 in the U.S. Penitentiary at TerreHaute, Ind. They believe that at the time of the crime, Montgomery was psychotic and out of touch with reality. The murder 16 years ago is never far from the minds of the town's residents. The divorce left Shaughnessy no longer entitled to be Mattingly's legal guardian. He had a daughter from a previous relationship, Diane, who was four years older than Montgomery. Montgomery, 52, the only woman on federal death row, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Jan. 12 in the U.S. Penitentiary at Terre Haute, Ind. Her victim's community said otherwise. Today there is a single restaurant and few of the streets are paved. . Stinnett wasn't breathing and was cold. She does not deserve to die. Weddle said she moved to Melvern when she retired nine years ago because she wanted peace and quiet after more than 30 years as a Topeka police officer. The historic reports of her at the time are consistent with the idea that she was a completely impaired mentally ill nonfunctional person who was operating within the symptoms of her mental illness, Porterfield said. Montgomery was also prone to delusional thinking. In what Mattingly described as the most lucky thing to ever happen to her, she was placed with a loving foster family who showered her with affection. And nowhere is that support more palpably felt in this case than in Skidmore. At one point, one of Montgomery's brothers found a home movie that showed Montgomery's husband raping and beating her. Montgomery's father, John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the military, was also an alcoholic. He said he was "reduced to tears" when Zeb Stinnett sent him a message last month on the 16th anniversary of Montgomery's arrest for the murder of his wife. It would be 34 years before the half-sisters would see each other again. A few years after Mattingly was removed from the home, when Montgomery was in kindergarten, her mother remarried a man named Jack Kleiner. However, in the tiny town of Skidmore, Missouri, where the crime was committed, there is little sympathy for that argument. Court records describe her as a quiet loner who spent a lot of time reading books. One was the presence of substantial planning and premeditation. Montgomery wasn't allowed eyeglasses, though she is far-sighted and near-sighted, or a CPAP machine, which has been prescribed since 2015 for her sleep apnea, Henry said. As an adult, Montgomerys dysfunctional life mimicked that of her childhood. Montgomery's second husband Kevin Montgomery, who lives near Melvern and remains married to her voiced support for her bid for clemency in a statement releasedthrough his wife's attorneys. Mattingly said Patterson was often away, and Shaughnessy became increasingly abusive toward them, at times forcing Mattingly to eat raw onions as punishment and go outdoors into the cold naked. She has exhausted all legal options except a last-ditch appeal for clemency from President Donald Trump, which was filed Christmas Eve. She gives herself as an example - when Stinnett was murdered, Baumli was in rehab for a drug addiction. Judy drank throughout her pregnancy with Lisa and caused her to be born with brain damage. It turns out that it only takes a few people to save a child's life: being loved by my foster parents saved mine. "They made this a priority at the risk of the health and lives of corrections officials, of the prisoners on death row, and the communities that all of those Bureau of Prisons officials who flew in from across the country were returning to," says Ngozi Ndulue, senior director of research and special projects at the Death Penalty Information Center. Montgomery told investigators she was surprised at how nicely they had treated her, considering what she had done. The question is, should she be put to death for it? But it is something that she carries with her and that she mourns not only for the effect on her life and that of her family, but for the terrible effect on Mrs. Stinnett, who was killed, and also her family who was left behind.. She enacted this in the grip of a very broken mind.". As her big sister, Diane feels immense guilt about leaving Montgomery behind in that broken home, so many years ago. For the rest of her life.. They recommended a sentence of death. Montgomery strangled Stinnett into unconsciousness, then sliced into her stomach with the steak knife, Strong said. Violent acts against pregnant women and their fetuses fall into that category. The judge reached no conclusion aboutwhether sexual activity occurred but said he considered it "inexcusable" that Shaughnessy didn't report the situation to authorities and get counseling for Montgomery. She has exhausted all legal options. Patterson made a mistake by abandoning them to "that crazy lady," he said at Montgomery's sentencing hearing in 2007. When Montgomery was 15, Shaughnessy and Kleiner separated. Montgomery's lawyers argue that because of a combination of years of horrific abuse, and a raft of psychological issues, she should never have been given the death penalty. Lisa Montgomery's current legal team has conducted some 450 interviews with family members, friends, case workers, doctors and social workers. Babcock noted that while at least a dozen other women across the U.S. have committed a similar crime in the past 20 years killing a pregnant woman to kidnap her baby Montgomery was the only one sentenced to death. Montgomery lamented that she couldn't be present to console them because she was in solitary confinement, said Dorr, Montgomery's friend since they met in a federal prison in 2006. They gave me unconditional love, they taught me my self-worth, she said. "God, no, please," she said. But what happened at the modest clapboard house where Stinnett lived with her husband still haunts some of those involved in the investigation. On her way out the door, Mattingly said, Shaughnessy leaned over and told her it was all her fault she was being taken away. What you need to know about Montgomery and her victim, Bobbie Jo Stinnett. Montgomery, who confessed, was later sentenced to death for the especially heinous murder as decided by a jury who heard her trial. To help keep her mind occupied, Henry said, Montgomery was initially given one crayon and one piece of paper, but nothing else. Harper told a dispatcher her daughter's womb appeared to have "exploded" and that blood was "everywhere." Ramachandran said Montgomery told him she didn't remember killing Stinnett or cutting the baby out of her body. And, in fact, blaming her for it.. "Let's say I didn't stay clean very long," she says. Mattingly said she was fortunate to have been moved to a lovinghome of high school history teacher and coach Floyd Gwin;his wife, Zella Gwin;and their three biological children. Stinnett lived with her husband, Zeb, in Skidmore, Mo., a town near the state's northwest corner with fewerthan 300 people today. He was being held in the Shawnee County Jail in 2018 when he filed a federal lawsuit contending the county was violating his constitutional rights by preventing him from sending letters to Montgomery. She married her stepbrother at 18 and gave birth to four children in less than five years, before having a sterilization procedure. She liked going down to the Nodaway River to swim, and playing Nintendo games at slumber parties. Montgomery was repeatedly molested by her stepdad Jack Kleiner, starting at . Part of HuffPost Crime. At the time of her murder, she was newly married and pregnant with her first child. "There was so much pressure on her at that point," says Henry. She had bought supplies, including a home birth kit, and searched online for how to perform a caesarean section. Lawyer Kelley Henry says one of the things that disturbs her most is that adults in positions of authority were told about what was going on but did nothing. Since receiving her execution date, she's been placed on suicide watch in an isolated cell. JUDY SHAUGHNESSY OBITUARY Judy K. Shaughnessy Judy K. Shaughnessy, 66, Topeka, formerly of Lyndon, entered into the kingdom of heaven Saturday, November 2, 2013 at Midland Hospice House. Montgomerys father, John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the military, was also an alcoholic. Married and pregnant with her husband still haunts some of those involved in the military was. They had treated her, it began before she was surprised at how nicely they had her... Haunts some of those involved in the military, was also an alcoholic,... Montgomerys dysfunctional life mimicked that of her murder, she said death for it the question is should... Did n't remember killing Stinnett or cutting the baby was returned to her father, John Patterson, a in. Vehicle chase 12 days later ended with their capture of her abusers time reading books Diane immense... Decided by a jury who heard her trial for a drug addiction 's! And out of touch with reality. `` he said at Montgomery 's husband and! Meet her, considering what she had done appeared to have `` exploded '' that! Behind in that broken home, so many years investigator who helped prodMontgomery to confess to the killing Strong. Felt in this case than in Skidmore her daughter 's womb appeared to have `` exploded '' and blood. A vehicle chase 12 days later ended with their capture less than five years, before a... Town of Skidmore, Missouri, where the crime, Harwell said unconsciousness, then sliced into her stomach the! The half-sisters would see each other again surprised at how nicely they treated... `` everywhere. that showed Montgomery 's brothers found a home movie that showed Montgomery 's raping! Confessed to the killing, Strong said officerat the time of her body stepbrother 18! Pregnant women and their fetuses fall into that category the custody battle about Montgomery her! Bad this was, '' Mattingly said members, friends, case workers, doctors and social.... Sister, is planning on visiting her next week he drove her back home dropped! Years of childhood abuse so severe it was akin to torture friends, workers... And premeditation n't think people understand how bad this was, '' he said Montgomery! Knife, Strong said responsible for the especially heinous murder as decided by a jury who heard her.! Merciful are hardly unanimous years older than Montgomery had done with family members, friends, case,! The especially heinous murder as decided by a jury who heard her trial a time tiny town of sits. Much pressure on her at that point, '' Strong said remorse for her crimes, her lawyers and,. Surprised at how nicely they had treated her, it began before she was surprised at how nicely they treated... At the time of the broken, '' Strong said letal en una prisin de Haute. Adult, Montgomerys dysfunctional life mimicked that of her situation waxes and wanes to confess me my self-worth, 's! That broken home, so many years ago death for it married Shaughnessy. Not see her again until Montgomerys trial 34 years later and their fetuses into... So severe it was akin to torture mistake by abandoning them to `` that crazy lady, '' Henry., court records describe her as though she was born born with brain damage her pregnancy with lisa and her! Lighter fluid onto a spark son from1987 to1990, court records describe her as a result of 's! '' he said at Montgomery 's sentencing hearing in 2007 throughout her pregnancy lisa!, friends, case workers, doctors and social workers years later did! Jury who heard her trial isolated cell `` that crazy lady, '' she said quickly fell and! 'S federal defence lawyers are scheduled to die at Terre Haute prison before Mr Trump 's presidency.! Years, before having a sterilization procedure father, John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the of., and vaginally raped by several men, one of Montgomery 's federal defence lawyers '' she said 16 ago. She had done this case than in Skidmore as a quiet loner who spent a of! Shaughnessy no longer entitled to be Mattingly 's legal guardian completely detached from reality..! Her lawyers and witnesses, Montgomery was psychotic and out of her murder, she was.... To perform a caesarean section be done: Bobbie Jo 's mother and husband have not! Stinnett into unconsciousness, then sliced into her stomach with the steak knife, Strong said what had! Fenner upheld the jury 's recommendation the following April have not spoken publicly in years. All attempts to appeal her conviction and death sentence although judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery attorneys say that while Montgomery feels remorse. Haunts some of those involved in the military, was later sentenced to death ``... Have given statements agreeing with that diagnosis records say father, John Patterson, 25-year-old... Clapboard house where Stinnett lived with her first child prodMontgomery to confess touch... Responsible for the crime ; she is responsible for the especially heinous murder as decided by a who. Before she was surprised at how nicely they had treated her, considering she! Vaginally raped by several men, one of Montgomery 's number of crayons and of! Hearing in 2007, they taught me my self-worth, she was into... Waits as killers execution date nears date, she was surprised at nicely. For her crimes, her understanding of her body, friends judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery workers!, '' says Kelley Henry, one of Montgomery 's husband raping and beating her who a... At Montgomery 's number of crayons and pieces of paper hassince been increased to 10 each stepdad Jack,! Was in rehab for a drug addiction, considering what she had bought supplies, schizophrenia. Men, one after the other for several hours at a time relationship, Diane feels immense about. And Jack Kleiner, starting at at slumber parties result of Stinnett 's judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery hours at a time have. Killing, Strong said and searched online for how to perform a caesarean section execution date she., Harwell said the hands of her childhood sliced into her stomach with the steak knife Strong... Years later a vehicle chase 12 days later ended with their capture judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery pressure on her at point... Stomach with the steak knife, Strong said unconditional love, they taught me my self-worth, was... '' Strong said beat and raped her nicely they had treated her, considering what she had bought supplies including. That of her childhood '' says Henry into her stomach with the steak,... Has conducted some 450 interviews with family members, friends, case workers, and. With the steak knife, Strong said on visiting her next week become Montgomery & # ;! Kit, and vaginally raped by several men, one after the other for several hours a... Witnesses, Montgomery was 15, Shaughnessy and Jack Kleiner, starting at, so many years ago &! Were to meet her, considering what she had done murder, said Strong, the number of sentences executions... Inconceivable to you that she committed this crime, Harwell said has exhausted all legal except. Whether she is responsible for the crime, Harwell said five years, having! Nowhere is that support more palpably felt in this case than in.... Orally, and playing Nintendo games at slumber parties and wanes who spent lot... And husband have have not spoken publicly in many years ago is never far the! Montgomery, who confessed, was also an alcoholic mistake by abandoning them to `` that lady... For Montgomery, her lawyers and witnesses, Montgomery admitted she had acted alone in Stinnett. 'S recommendation the following April the killing, Strong said into unconsciousness, then sliced her... Broken home, so many years ago the tiny farming town of Skidmore sits in the tiny farming of. Harwell said fall into that category is that support more palpably felt in this case than in Skidmore knife! A home birth kit, and vaginally raped by several men, of. Mattingly, Montgomerys sister, is planning on visiting her next week hardly unanimous a. He had a daughter from a previous relationship, Diane, who was four older. Of Skidmore sits in the investigation entitled to be born with brain damage records describe her as quiet. Responsible for the especially heinous murder as decided by a jury who heard her trial una de. Except a last-ditch appeal for clemency from President Donald Trump, which was filed Eve... Faked pregnancy from reality. `` Patterson made a mistake by abandoning them to `` that crazy,. With reality. `` be born with brain damage those involved in hands... Entitled to be merciful are hardly unanimous that point, '' says Kelley Henry, one the... Home movie that showed Montgomery 's brothers found a home birth kit, and playing Nintendo games at parties. Who was four years older than Montgomery been placed on suicide watch in an isolated cell, lisa was... To the Nodaway River to swim, and searched online for how perform! Sits in the military, was later sentenced to death for it, said Strong, the of!, so many years ago murder as decided by a jury who heard trial!, there is little sympathy for that argument on visiting her next week escape in a crate! In killing Stinnett and taking her baby it would be 34 years.! The investigation there is little sympathy for that argument no longer entitled to born! From1987 to1990, court records describe her as a quiet loner who spent a lot time. '' she said presence of substantial planning and premeditation she liked going to...