All the while, Lisa's mother was being paid to let strange men rape Lisa. Shaughnessy's nephew, David Kidwell, testified that she believed Montgomery "had brought [the abuse] on herself, that she enticed him". There are things children need to grow into healthy adults, among them love, praise and stability. At the time of her murder, she was newly married and pregnant with her first child. His message contained a "very heartfelt thank you. "Bobbie deserves to be here today. 2023 BBC. The threat of losing her children, combined with the years of untreated trauma and severe mental illness, pushed Lisa over the edge. Its not just the childhood maltreatment and psychological abuse and neglect, or the incredible sexual abuse by her stepfather, or the sex trafficking, Porterfield said. If you or someone you know needs support for issues about emotional distress, these organisations may be able to help. But Lisa was broken. She says it's not as if all the other people of Skidmore lead idyllic lives free from abuse, poverty and other destructive tragedies. 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.. 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. She would tell me I had to leave and I couldnt take anything with me because she bought everything, she recalled. "And then go, 'Look at this body'. Montgomery has exhausted all attempts to appeal her conviction and death sentence although her attorneys are exploring possible litigation. A home videoshowsCarl Boman raping and beating Montgomery, said her half-brother, Teddy Kleiner, who gave a sworn statementsaying he had seen it. 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. At least five of the 12 jurors and three alternate jurorswiped away tears. I didn't know what to do or how to talk to my sister about it.". Even at the age of 8, Mattingly recalled being worried about what would happen to Montgomery without her there. 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. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The family moved from place to place dozens of times, but it was in a trailer in Sperry, Oklahoma, where her lawyers say the abuse turned into something more akin to torture. She had bought supplies, including a home birth kit, and searched online for how to perform a caesarean section. Kleiner and Shaughnessy divorced in 1985, with Shaughnessy contending she once walked in on Kleiner and Montgomery having sex. When Lisa was a small child, Judy allowed men to rape her for money, including allowing her to be gang raped on multiple occasions. "I felt sick watching the video. He thanked the sheriff for recovering his daughter and allowing him to be the parent that his wife couldn't be. 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.. Montgomery also talked about the abuseshe had endured from her stepfather, Jack Kleiner, and the first of her two husbands, Carl Boman, Dorr said. She describes Montgomery's ex-husband as cruel and harassing. 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. Lisa Montgomery has been charged in the December 16 death of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant at the time. Some nights, she said, Shaughnessy would leave them in the house with a male babysitter. For Montgomery, her lawyers argue, it began before she was born. Mental health experts who examined her believe that her history of childhood trauma exacerbated a genetic predisposition to mental illness that ran in her family. On the ride home, she clamped the umbilical cord and cleaned the baby girl with wipes. But they were what we come to understand as neuro-physiological adaptations to survive being constantly under assault.. One theory her lawyers put forward regarding the chain of events that led to the murder, is that Montgomery feared her ex-husband would expose her lies about being pregnant and use it against her as he sought custody of their children. 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. Back home, the couple announced the birth of their daughter to their friends and relatives. They gave me unconditional love, they taught me my self-worth, she said. The six-man, six-woman jury in October 2007 found Montgomery guilty and recommended she be executed. Montgomerys entire life was marked by people who failed to protect her, Babcock said. 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. "She needs to be put to death.". In recommending execution, the jury spelled out six aggravating factors supporting capital punishment. She testified as. She was the first woman executed by the federal government in 67 years. She is the only woman on federal death row. That could change in Terre Haute. The mom, Judy Shaughnessy, was so cruel she once beat the family dog to death in front of her kids, the petition states. 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. "She tried to throw her own brother under the bus for a crime that she committed.". Lisa Montgomery had little if any chance in life. As a result of her sexual torture, Lisa began to dissociate. Kleiner was never charged. As Fritz patted Montgomery on the back of her hand, Strong said he noticed dried blood and tissue embedded beneath her fingernails. She enjoyed torturing the people around her," says Mattingly. When she was 18, Montgomery married her stepbrother. So my letters are important.. And then at the end, she was broken.". According to her lawyers and witnesses, Montgomery suffered years of childhood abuse so severe it was akin to torture. Many of the residents of Skidmore cite the details of the crime, and the amount of planning that went into it, as evidence that Montgomery was a calculating killer. Warnersaid the killinghad left Melvern residents stunned.. As the oldest, I was the protector of Lisa and our baby sister. And theyre taking me away from her.. The couple had three children in rapid succession. Shaughnessy also beat the girls with brooms and belts,Mattingly said. You know, like, that doesn't happen to Bobbie," Morrow says. Its also people hearing it, knowing it and doing nothing about it. 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. Her children were disturbed by it. A sworn statement from David Kidwell Sr. identified as being Montgomery's cousin and a deputy sheriff said shecried as she told him Kleiner and his friends on more than one occasion had raped her for hours, then "urinated on her like trash. Right: This cemetery at Melvern, where Lisa Montgomery formerly lived, has more than 1,800 gravesites, which is nearly five times the city's population. Montgomery's family moved from place to place during her adult years, continuing the pattern she hadknown as a child. Her children even came up with a nickname to pull her out of her trances when she was unresponsive: They called her Martha instead of mom to get her attention. Mattingly and Montgomery lived together until Mattingly was eight and her half-sister was four. "I would say, 'President Trump, I want you to look at the life that Lisa had led, I want to look at all the people that have failed her, I want you to look at the rape, the torture, the mental abuse, the physical abuse that this woman had endured,'" she says. Im not a psychiatrist, so I cant go any further than that.. Shaughnessy knew that Mattingly was sensitive about abandonment due to her severed relationship with her birth mother, and so she would strip Mattingly naked and push her outside the front door, pretending that she was kicked out. Both became infected with COVID-19, believing it to be transmitted duringthe prison visit. Prosecutors, in their closing argument, said that she had a filthy home, that she didnt cook and that she didnt clean, Babcock said. Every time she has a birthday, it will also be the anniversary of the slaughter of her mother, Whitworth said. Mattingly and Montgomery were best friends. Join Facebook to connect with Judy Shaughnessy and others you may know. One of those men started coming into their bedroom and raping Mattingly regularly, Mattingly said. "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.". Mattingly believes that by living with loving adults who nurtured her, she was able to process the trauma of her childhood and become a well-adjusted adult. Montgomery's number of crayons and pieces of paper hassince been increased to 10 each. 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. 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 began prostituting Lisa to older men when Lisa was in her early teens. Montgomery was represented briefly after her arrest by Ron Wurtz, a now-retired attorney who has represented dozens of capital case defendants. The U.S. has not executed a woman in 67 years. Shaughnessy beat her children with belts, cords and hangers, put them in cold showers and put duct tape over Montgomery's mouth to silence her, the attorneys said. When Shaughnessy eventually split from her second husband, she and Montgomery testified in divorce proceedings about the sexual assaults. Those records say questions were raised about her ability to function as an effective parent afterher house was found to be "filthy," her children were seen running naked in her yard and one of her daughters, then 2years old,ingested a bottle of Tylenol in 1993. A few years after Mattingly was removed from the home, when Montgomery was in kindergarten, her mother remarried a man named Jack Kleiner. For Diane Mattingly, there is one moment from her childhood for which she feels both enormous gratitude and guilt. 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. We cant travel to talk to witnesses or to prepare experts at this point, Harwell, Montgomerys lawyer, said. The Trump administration announced it was reinstating executions last summer after an almost 20-year hiatus. The infant found later that day to weigh 5 pounds, 11 ounces was "very still" and didn't cry, which concerned Strong. She missed the funeral because of it. It has been the subject of two books, multiple true crime television shows, documentaries and countless podcast episodes. "I think that in a lot of the opinion pieces that are being posted, in a lot of things that people are sharing, Bobbie Jo and her daughter, and her mother and her husband and other friends and family, are kind of being forgotten," says Tiffany Kirkland, another member of the class of 2000. Dorr's marriage was failing when she fell in love with John Manard, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior. She does not deserve to die. When she called her attorneys that day, she could hardly speak. If you were to meet her, it would be inconceivable to you that she committed this crime, Harwell said. Montgomery's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, drank while Montgomery was in utero, leaving her with brain damage, court documents say. Fourteen of those offenders are serving long prison sentences, while the twoothers died by suicide in custody, according to a list Henry provided. Lisa then took the baby home and cared for her as though she was her own. In the other cases, she said, prosecutors opted not to seek the death penalty or juries did not impose it because it was obvious the women were suffering from profound mental illnesses. After five hours of deliberation, the jury found Montgomery guilty. 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. When Montgomery was in her mid-teens,she was sexually assaulted by Kleiner and three or four of his friends, according to court records. She helped him escape in a dog crate and went to prison after a vehicle chase 12 days later ended with their capture. Judy Shaughnessy had already raised two convicted felons at the time. Melvern residents want that perception to end, she said. Victims of severe childhood sexual abuse can overcome their trauma with certain factors, Porterfield said, such as the presence of a nurturing adult who provides love and connects them to resources to promote healing. 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. At 18, she married her stepbrother, who also beat and raped her. For the rest of her life.. They recommended a sentence of death. Authorities also questioned Kevin Montgomery but concluded he wasn't involved. Lisa Montgomery and her half-sister Diane Mattingly as children, Judy Shaughnessy, Lisa Montgomery's mother, Bobbie Jo Stinnett's home lies empty today, Protest against federal executions of death row inmates - outside the US Justice Department, Washington DC, December 2020. "One sister got taken out and got put into a loving home and was nurtured and had time to heal," says Mattingly. Stinnett lived with her husband, Zeb, in Skidmore, Mo., a town near the state's northwest corner with fewerthan 300 people today. Lisa Montgomery and Bobbie Jo Stinnett got to know each other online through a shared love of dogs. Her mouth was covered with duct tape so frequently that she learned not to cry. 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. 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. Stinnett bled to death. It makes him even angrier that it was Stinnett's mother who discovered her that way. 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