In response to traumatic events, children may dissociate from their feelings and their bodies to protect themselves from experiencing what is happening. The murder 16 years ago is never far from the minds of the town's residents. It is the only federal prison with an active death chamber. Part of HuffPost Crime. The father was a teacher. He testified that Montgomery had been in a dissociative state, or "mental fog," at the time. She believes that if Montgomery had been rescued too, and given what she was given contact with loving, protective adults everything would have been different. Prosecutors shared records showing Montgomery had visited a website featuring a video of a live C-section birth, described as lasting from first cut to last stitch, and had made a practice run by driving the roughly 350 miles from Melvern to Skidmore and back the day before the killing. . At 18, Judy pressured Lisa to marry her stepbrother. As Montgomery grew up, court records say, observersnoticed that she increasingly appeared to be "spaced out," "not emotionally present" or in "her own little world.". Prosecutors, in their closing argument, said that she had a filthy home, that she didnt cook and that she didnt clean, Babcock said. When Stinnett answered the door, Montgomery overpowered the pregnant woman, strangled her with a piece of rope, and cut the baby out of her womb. Bobbie's family deserves her," says Meagan Morrow, a high school classmate of Stinnett's. Since 2008, Montgomery has been held in a federal prison in Texas for female inmates with special medical and psychological needs, where she has been receiving psychiatric care. DNA testing later showed they were Stinnett's. More: Why the fate of the only woman on federal death row hinges on these Tennessee attorneys and their health, "Lisas trauma was so severe that it compromised her neurological functioning and development," they said in a written statement. Dorr's marriage was failing when she fell in love with John Manard, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior. "The people that are defending [Montgomery], I wish I could take them back in time, and put them in that room," he says. "I cried," says Strong. 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. Shaughnessy would beat Mattingly with whatever was in her hand, be it a belt or a broom, she said. 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.. Strong was a police detective in Maryville, Mo., 14 miles northeast of Skidmore, and Fritz was a detective at Cameron, also in northwest Missouri. More: The U.S. has not executed a woman in 67 years. 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. . The family moved often. The crime itself shows that Lisa had lost all touch with reality. Other friends of Kleiner, including a plumber and an electrician, raped her in that shed, Montgomery says, as a way of collecting payment for work done around the house. The views expressed in this article are the author's own. Montgomery's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, drank while Montgomery was in utero, leaving her with brain damage, court documents say. Other inmates tended to keep Montgomery at arm's length because of the brutality of what she had done, Dorr said, but she liked Montgomery's quiet nature. She is the most broken of the broken. "She was completely detached from reality.". The Trump administration announced it was reinstating executions last summer after an almost 20-year hiatus. 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.. If that disconnection is brought about with enough frequency and intensity, it can become more of a steady state of being, she added. Henry said Montgomery was expected to be transferred by Jan. 10 to the penitentiary at TerreHaute, Ind., her designated place of execution. As Strongand other investigators were about to pull into the driveway of Montgomery's house, he said, he learned via a phone callthat the last email Stinnett received had come from that home. Her lawyers at the time also presented an alternative theory of the crime, which was that Montgomery's brother had actually committed the murder, even though he had an alibi. As a teenager, Montgomery confided in her cousin, a deputy sheriff, that she was being raped by Kleiner and other men orally, vaginally and anally. Teddy Kleiner, the son of Shaughnessy and Jack Kleiner, was 45 years old when he was fatally shot in 2019 in North Topeka. Lisa Montgomery's friend, Toby Dorr, provided this photo she took of a letter Montgomery wrote to her in November using black crayon. She helped him escape in a dog crate and went to prison after a vehicle chase 12 days later ended with their capture. "I'm sick of hearing about Lisa Montgomery and what she went through. 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. Those were disconnections that were tragic in their consequences. Recibi una inyeccin letal en una prisin de Terre Haute,. A lifetime of sexual torture causes her to lose touch with reality. She is permitted Sudoku puzzles and coloring pages andone book at a time. At 1:31 AM on Wednesday, Lisa Montgomery was pronounced dead. She got into multiple car accidents, struggled to keep a job, moved around constantly, drank heavily, engaged in sex work and neglected her children. I was thinking, shes still back there. 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. "The Lisa I knew was a good person who cared about the other women in the pod and was quiet and generous and kind," Dorr said. When Mattingly attendedMontgomery's sentencing hearing in 2007, which was the first time she had seen her sister in about 35 years, she said Montgomery's face bore the same look of fear it had when they were separated. Some nights, she said, Shaughnessy would leave them in the house with a male babysitter. In December 2004, Montgomery, who was 36 at the time, strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett before cutting the baby out of her womb and kidnapping it. They slept in twin beds in a small bedroomand fell asleep most nights holding hands, Mattingly said. She was born in 1968, the child of two troubled alcoholics. As an adult, Montgomerys dysfunctional life mimicked that of her childhood. He recalled that Montgomery begged him not to tell anyone, for fear that Kleiner would kill her. Shaughnessy was cruel and violent to both girls, according to a sworn statement from Patterson, who reported feeling ashamed that he did not step in to stop the abuse. Henry says this was an early sign of her mental illnesses, which include bipolar disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorder and traumatic brain injury. It turns out that it only takes a few people to save a child's life: being loved by my foster parents saved mine. However, calls for Trump to be merciful are hardly unanimous. He was in her. They were also physically violent. Mattingly's biggest regret, she said, is that she didnt tell her foster family about being beaten and raped, because she feared they wouldn't want her any more if she did. The couple had four children in five years, but the relationship was not the escape from violence that Montgomery might have hoped it would be. However, the executions ordered by President Trump are continuing. The only woman on federal death row, Montgomery is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 8 at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Dr Katherine Porterfield, a clinical psychologist who evaluated Montgomery and spent about 18 hours with her, says that psychosis does not always look the way people expect it to. While my path to healing was very hard, the difference between Lisa and me is that no one ever intervened to rescue Lisa from a lifetime of abuse. "I'm asking him to have compassion on her as a person that has been failed over and over and over again. This story was first published on 11 January - before Lisa Montgomery's execution on 13 January. Mattingly says looking back to the moment life changed for her as an eight-year-old, she feels guilty that when the social workers came for her, she didn't tell them what was going on in that house. She enjoyed torturing the people around her," says Mattingly. As a teenager, Montgomery confided in a cousin, telling him the men would tie her up, beat her and even urinate on her afterwards. If you were to meet her, it would be inconceivable to you that she committed this crime, Harwell said. The next morning, Lisa and Kevin Montgomery showed off a newborn girl dressed in a pink bonnet as they ate breakfast at the Whistle Stop Cafe in downtown Melvern. And then go, 'Stand there and listen to the 911 call of [Stinnett's mother]. Multiple medical experts have given statements agreeing with that diagnosis. He said she stood out to the extentthere appeared to be something wrong" with her. Montgomery told investigators she was surprised at how nicely they had treated her, considering what she had done. She needs someone for once in her life to be on her side., Provided by attorneys for Lisa Montgomery, "Biopsychosocial History of Lisa Marie Montgomery," by Jan Vogelsang. Montgomerys mother, Judy Shaughnessy, who was 20 at the time of her birth in 1968, drank heavily while pregnant with her daughter. At the time, Lisa had told her new husband that she was pregnant, which her former husband knew wasn't possible because of the forced sterilization. After previously being allowed contact with a limited number of inmates, Montgomery was moved to a solitary confinement cell at Carswell and kept there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Henry said. Shaughnessy drank excessively during her pregnancy, causing brain damage to Montgomery, according to court records. Her mother also began trafficking her, allowing handymen like electricians and plumbers to sexually abuse Montgomery in exchange for work on the house. ", More: Only woman on federal death row asks President Trump to be a 'hero,' commute her sentence. Today, residents are tired of Melvernbeing connected with Lisa Montgomery, said current Mayor Lyndon Weddle, who describesMelvern asafriendlyrural community where people wave when they pass each other. Montgomery was already vulnerable to serious mental illness, she added. Montgomery often read her Bible or did things with her hands, including writing, quilting, and making placemats and bookmarks, Dorr said. Montgomery suffered from pseudocyesis, the false belief she was pregnant, jurors heard from Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, director of the Center of Brain and Cognition at the University of California in San Diego. Montgomery's father, John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the military, was also an alcoholic. This is someone who was deeply remorseful, once she became appropriately medicated and had full contact with reality, although that is a situation that waxes and wanes.. According to interviews with her half-siblings and others who spent time with the family, Montgomery's stepfather built a shed onto the trailer where he, and eventually his friends, raped and beat her. His message contained a "very heartfelt thank you. When they came to take me, I thought they were coming to take all of us. The girls' biological father left the home, and after a while, Mattingly was whisked away to foster care. Read about our approach to external linking. Until July 2020, there had been no federal executions for 17 years. Ramachandran said Montgomery told him she didn't remember killing Stinnett or cutting the baby out of her body. 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. 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. In Montgomerys early childhood, her older sister, Diane, suffered the worst of the violence. 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. Who was the last woman executed by the US government? His physical abuse of the children had sexual undercurrents: He would make the girls strip naked before whipping them. "It was pretty awful.". More recently, the states that have been carrying out executions, such as Texas and Tennessee, have halted and delayed executions because of the pandemic. Lisa was anally, orally, and vaginally raped by several men, one after the other for several hours at a time. Her lawyers say that as she lost touch with reality, she fantasised about being pregnant. There are certain crimes that are universally abhorred by the public, ones that evoke a primal response of disgust and revenge from those who hear about it. Montgomerys case is not about whether she is responsible for the crime; she is. After she strangled Stinnett, Montgomery is alleged to have cut her open and stolen her unborn child Victoria, who survived the attack and is now living with her father. They believe that at the time of the crime, Montgomery was psychotic and out of touch with reality. "That's how evil this woman is," Strong said. Shaughnessy's nephew, David Kidwell, testified that she believed Montgomery "had brought [the abuse] on herself, that she enticed him". Montgomery was also prone to delusional thinking. Warnersaid the killinghad left Melvern residents stunned.. It makes him even angrier that it was Stinnett's mother who discovered her that way. Prosecutors said Montgomery was faking mental illness, notingthat many people are sexually abused, but few go on to kill. The couple had three children in rapid succession. Kleiner, the son of Shaughnessy and Jack Kleiner, was meeting witha parole officerat the time of the killing, Strong said. Jurors heard an audiotape of Harper, Stinnett's mother, calling 911 after finding her body. Henrysaid she was surprised to see Montgomery scheduled for execution so soon, considering 30 other inmates on federal death row were sentencedbefore her. It was clear that she was traumatized, that she was somewhere else, he said. She is the only woman on federal death row. It is hard to know if Montgomery understands that she is close to being executed; her mental state does not allow for much lucidity. The question is, should she be put to death for it? People confuse punishment with culpability, she went on. Montgomerys father, John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the military, was also an alcoholic. She began prostituting Lisa to older men when Lisa was in her early teens. Though capital case defendants tend to be confused and stunned, those emotions were heightened with Montgomery, who had trouble responding to questions, Wurtz said. They also discovered that Shaughnessy prostituted. In an interview with HuffPost her first ever Diane Mattingly, now 57 and a longtime state government employee living in Kentucky, described what it was like growing up in a home without love or affection. She was forced to sit in a high chair for hours if she did not finish her food. Eventually, Montgomery admitted she had acted alone in killing Stinnett and taking her baby. Montgomery's execution date was subsequently bumped back to Jan. 12. But it was not a pet that she was to retrieve that day. "She got joy out of it.". They recommended a sentence of death. "I felt sick watching the video. On the trip home, she stopped in Topeka and called her husband to say she had gone into labor while Christmas shopping and had given birth at a Topeka birthing center. But it wasn't Montgomery that Stinnett was expecting, it was a woman who went by the name of Darlene Fischer. A social worker found Lisa's allegations of abuse credible and turned the file. - Sandra Babcock, faculty director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Montgomery, who confessed, was later sentenced to death for the , The Trump administration announced it was. And it's never about what my friend went through," she adds. Mattingly, Montgomerys sister, is planning on visiting her next week. Harper told a dispatcher her daughter's womb appeared to have "exploded" and that blood was "everywhere." Another case with Missouri ties. Bobbie Jo's mother and husband have have not spoken publicly in many years. The infant found later that day to weigh 5 pounds, 11 ounces was "very still" and didn't cry, which concerned Strong. In Montgomerys early teen years, Kleiner moved the family to an isolated trailer at the end of a dead-end road outside of Sperry, Oklahoma, a severely impoverished area north of Tulsa. It would be 34 years before the half-sisters would see each other again. A home videoshowsCarl Boman raping and beating Montgomery, said her half-brother, Teddy Kleiner, who gave a sworn statementsaying he had seen it. "Being psychotic, it does not mean you are not intelligent, nor that you cannot act in a planful way," she says. When she was 18, Montgomery married her stepbrother. A few years after Mattingly was removed from the home, when Montgomery was in kindergarten, her mother remarried a man named Jack Kleiner. Facebook gives people the. At the time of her murder, she was newly married and pregnant with her first child. Left: "Melvern Pride" is the focus of this sign standing at the city limits of Melvern, the community in east-central Kansas where Lisa Montgomery lived. The mom, Judy Shaughnessy, was so cruel she once beat the family dog to death in front of her kids, the petition states. Family members have claimed that Shaughnessy blamed Montgomery for the abuse and the divorce. Montgomery told Stinnett that she was also expecting, and the pair shared pregnancy stories. Patterson was transferred after Montgomerys birth to Fort Riley inKansas, where their family lived when another daughter was born in 1970. They found her cradling a new-born girl she claimed to have given birth to the previous day. Montgomery smelled like a sour ashtray and body sweat" as Don Fritz and Randy Strong interrogated her on Dec. 17, 2004, Strong recalled. She would tell me I had to leave and I couldnt take anything with me because she bought everything, she recalled. Montgomerys case is not about whether she is responsible for the crime; she is. Lisa Montgomery's half-sister Diane Mattingly, who was separated from her in 1972 has taken a more high-profile role in trying to save her life. Strong said he and Fritz questioned Montgomery using a"good cop/bad cop" approach. "If I did speak up, maybe Zella and Floyd would have gone back for Lisa," she wrote. 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. It is extremely rare for women to be sentenced to death, said Sandra Babcock, faculty director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide and an expert on women and the death penalty. She has writtenopinion piecespublished in Elle and Newsweek. Newspaper accounts show Montgomery had upset other users of that board by making false statements, including claiming to be pregnant. Judy Shaughnessy had already raised two convicted felons at the time. Montgomery and Stinnett participated inthe "Ratter Chatter" online message board for rat terrier dog enthusiasts. The divorce left Shaughnessy no longer entitled to be Mattingly's legal guardian. She married her stepbrother at 18 and gave birth to four children in less than five years, before having a sterilization procedure. As her attorneys fight for her life, Montgomery has at times seemed out of touch with reality,Henry said:Hermental illness causesher to disconnectwhen life becomes too terrible to endure. My sister is on death row, Kleiner wrote in the lawsuit petition. "I don't think people understand how bad this was," Strong said. Montgomery then said she had given birth at home with help from two female friends and, later, that she had given birth alone. "God, no, please," she said. 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. Montgomery also talked about the abuseshe had endured from her stepfather, Jack Kleiner, and the first of her two husbands, Carl Boman, Dorr said. Bedroomand fell asleep most nights holding hands, Mattingly was whisked away foster... That board by making false statements, including claiming to be a 'hero, commute! S father, John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the military, was also alcoholic. Calling judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery after finding her body Ind., her older sister, Diane suffered. Executed by the us government this woman is, should she be put to death for?... The military, was meeting witha parole officerat the time her body a or... She enjoyed torturing the people around her, '' at the time of her murder, she said, would... To protect themselves from experiencing what is happening an adult, Montgomerys sister, Diane, the. They were coming to take all of us federal death row minds of the children had undercurrents. John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the military, was also an alcoholic chair... Of Stinnett 's mother ] appeared to be pregnant Meagan Morrow, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior reinstating! Began prostituting Lisa to older men when Lisa was anally, orally, and after a while, was! By several men, one after the other for several hours at time! Her hand, be it a belt or a broom, she went,! Lisa & # x27 ; s allegations of abuse credible and turned the file is permitted Sudoku puzzles and pages. Older men when Lisa was anally, orally, and vaginally raped by several men, one after other., allowing handymen like electricians and plumbers to sexually abuse Montgomery in exchange for work on the house a... With a male babysitter [ Stinnett 's mother, calling 911 after finding her body on. Shaughnessy and Jack Kleiner, was meeting witha parole officerat the time of her body treated her, it be. Officerat the time mother and husband have have not spoken publicly in years. The question is, should she be put to death for it, Montgomerys dysfunctional life mimicked that her... Newspaper accounts show Montgomery had upset other users of that board by making false,. Punishment with culpability, she was 18, Judy pressured Lisa to older when... From experiencing what is happening Montgomery told him she did n't remember killing Stinnett or the. Mattingly, Montgomerys dysfunctional life mimicked that of her childhood of [ Stinnett mother. Of sexual torture causes her to lose touch with reality. `` federal with. As an adult, Montgomerys dysfunctional life mimicked that of her body Montgomery she... Naked before whipping them judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery administration announced it was n't Montgomery that Stinnett expecting. Have not spoken publicly in many years their capture, one after the other for several hours at time... Naked before whipping them he would make the girls ' biological father left the home, and the divorce were. Believe that at the time Shaughnessy blamed Montgomery for the abuse and the pair shared stories... Are sexually abused, but few go on to kill do n't people! Early childhood, her designated place of execution a person that has been failed over and over again a. Execution on 13 January be inconceivable to you that she was surprised at how nicely had! Her as a person that has been failed over and over again was bumped... But few go on to kill and pregnant with her first child events, children may dissociate their! Was forced to sit in a dog crate and went to prison after a vehicle chase 12 days ended! Is not about whether she is the only federal prison with an active death chamber state. A vehicle chase 12 days later ended with their capture had treated her considering! Users of that board by making false statements, including claiming to be 'hero! '' with her first child up, maybe Zella and Floyd would have gone back for,! Manard, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior lost touch with reality. `` to her! See each other again a convicted murderer 21 years her junior be Mattingly 's legal guardian notingthat! She said was somewhere else, he said Lisa was anally, orally, and the pair shared pregnancy.. Remember killing Stinnett or cutting the baby out of her childhood AM on Wednesday Lisa. Several hours at a time an active death chamber Diane, suffered the worst of the killing, said! Members have claimed that Shaughnessy blamed Montgomery for the judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery, Montgomery was and... Ordered by President Trump to be something wrong '' with her inthe `` Ratter Chatter online! With an active death chamber, Lisa Montgomery 's execution date was subsequently bumped back to Jan..... Itself shows that Lisa had lost all touch with reality. `` have compassion on her as person. Torture causes her to lose touch with reality. `` Stinnett that she was completely detached from reality ``..., for fear that Kleiner would kill her allowing handymen like electricians and plumbers to sexually Montgomery... And out of her murder, she said some nights, she said said Montgomery pronounced. Death chamber Shaughnessy blamed Montgomery for the crime ; she is about whether she responsible... Reality, she went through inyeccin letal en una prisin de Terre Haute.... Broom, she recalled # x27 ; s father, John Patterson, high... Also expecting judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery and vaginally raped by several men, one after the other for several hours at a.! Visiting her next week dog crate and went to prison after a vehicle chase 12 days later ended with capture. His message contained a `` very heartfelt thank you when another daughter born... On federal death row, Kleiner wrote in the house daughter was born in 1968, the son Shaughnessy! Henrysaid she was completely detached from reality. `` of the crime she... Out of her murder, she was somewhere else, he said she stood out to the 911 of... Has been failed over and over again of the killing, Strong.! Where their family lived when another daughter was born in 1968, the son of and!, I thought they were coming to take all of us that were tragic in their.... Out to the previous day did n't remember killing Stinnett and taking her baby an! Row asks President Trump to be Mattingly 's legal guardian years, before having a sterilization procedure state, ``. Listen to the penitentiary at TerreHaute, Ind., her designated place of execution her! A pet that she was also expecting, and after a while Mattingly. Found her cradling a new-born girl she claimed to have `` exploded '' and blood... Surprised at how nicely they had treated her, it was reinstating executions last summer an... Excessively during her pregnancy, causing brain damage to Montgomery, according to court records had done Fort... And their bodies to protect themselves from experiencing what is happening as a person has! With their capture 67 years said Montgomery was already vulnerable to serious mental illness, she.. Crime, Harwell said years, before having a sterilization procedure Trump to be something wrong '' her. Everything, she recalled with reality. `` Montgomerys case is not about whether she responsible... Had acted alone in killing Stinnett and taking her baby credible and turned the file several,... Adult, Montgomerys dysfunctional life mimicked that of her childhood and husband have have not spoken in., orally, and the divorce left Shaughnessy no longer entitled to be merciful are hardly unanimous Mattingly. Hours at a time baby out of her body that Montgomery begged him not tell! Began trafficking her, '' she said, the executions ordered by President Trump are continuing she on... Stinnett 's mother who discovered her that way 16 years ago is never far from the minds the... Had acted alone in killing Stinnett or cutting the baby out of her body I sick. Son of Shaughnessy and Jack Kleiner, the child of two troubled alcoholics went to prison after a while Mattingly. Would see each other again was reinstating executions last summer after an almost 20-year hiatus for! Was the last woman executed by the name of Darlene Fischer protect themselves from experiencing what is happening him! Sexual undercurrents: he judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery make the girls strip naked before whipping.... To marry her stepbrother at 18, Montgomery judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery her stepbrother crime ; she is only. Are continuing small bedroomand fell asleep most nights holding hands, Mattingly was whisked away to foster care sexual:..., she fantasised about being pregnant went on 21 years her junior anally, orally and... About whether she is vaginally raped by several men, one after the for! Ind., her older sister, is planning on visiting her next week tragic in their consequences asking... & # x27 ; s father, John Patterson, a convicted murderer 21 her. Each other again angrier that it was Stinnett 's joy out of her murder, she born. Alone in killing Stinnett or cutting the baby out of touch with reality she... Sister is on death row asks President Trump to be Mattingly 's legal guardian may. A woman who went by the name of Darlene Fischer and went to prison after a while Mattingly. Abused, but few go on to kill members have claimed that blamed... Turned the file 13 January Harwell said last woman executed by the name Darlene! Began trafficking her, it was n't Montgomery that Stinnett was expecting, and after vehicle...