Womb-baby case shocks US

2004-12-19 17:39

St Louia - Television viewers in the US were bombarded on Sunday by the image of the 36-year-old Kansas woman who confessed to the bizarre crime of strangling a pregnant woman before cutting an eight-month old baby from the womb and taking the child home.

The baby girl was found alive and taken to a Topeka, Kansas, hospital, where she was "doing great", US attorney Todd Graves told CNN news television.

The baby's father had visited her, he said.

Lisa Montgomery confessed to strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, in her home in Skidmore, Missouri, on Thursday and then cutting the baby from Stinnett's womb, according to an FBI affidavit.

Montgomery had been arrested in Kansas on Friday.

Montgomery was charged with kidnapping resulting in death and was expected to appear in court on Monday.

According to the Kansas City Star newspaper, Montgomery had paraded the baby around her home, taking her into a local cafe along with her unsuspecting husband, Kevin, where she told stories about a successful pregnancy.

Authorities said Montgomery had a miscarriage six months into a pregnancy earlier this year, a development her husband apparently was unaware of.

Tip

Computer forensics and an anonymous tipster helped police find the baby, CNN reported.

The FBI alleges that Montgomery contacted Stinnett, a dog breeder, through a chat room and the two agreed to meet on Thursday at Stinnett's home to talk about Montgomery's wish to buy a dog.

Graves said Montgomery contacted Stinnett after seeing a website about the dogs that Stinnett bred. The site included a picture of Stinnett, showing she was pregnant.

After Stinnett was found dead with her stomach cut open, a search for the baby began.

Computer investigators gathered information from her computer and internet providers and got their first leads on Montgomery, the affidavit says, according to CNN.

After uncovering the link to Montgomery, authorities immediately began surveillance of Montgomery's home about 208km away in the neighbouring state of Missouri and saw her on Friday with a baby.

They also saw a red car matching the description of one seen outside Stinnett's house.

Montgomery told her husband she had gone shopping in Topeka, and went into labour there.

Residents of Skidmore and relatives of the murdered woman expressed shock over the crime.

Stunned

"Everyone's pretty well stunned by everything," the Reverend Harold Hammond told Iowa's Des Moines Register.

Hammond - who presided over the victim's wedding - is expected to lead Stinnett's funeral service, the paper's website reported.

"The only one who can figure this one out is God. You can't explain it.

"You can't understand it. The funeral is going to be a tough one," he told the paper.

Montgtomery faces a maximum of life in prison or the death penalty, and a maximum $250 000 fine. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA