MELVERN, Kan. -- People in Melvern, Kan., are stunned by the gruesome kidnap and murder case that's unfolded in their small town in recent days.
Many in the town of 420 apparently believed for months that Lisa Montgomery was pregnant. Investigators say she's confessed to strangling an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb.
Witnesses say the woman charged with killing an expectant mother and cutting out the woman's fetus was seen showing off a tiny baby girl as her own.
A few hours later, police arrested Lisa Montgomery for the crime. Authorities said she soon confessed to strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett (pictured, left), 23, a Missouri woman she'd met on the Internet, cutting open her womb and stealing her fetus. Stinnett had been 8-months pregnant.
The owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe in Melvern said, "This stuff is supposed to be in New York City or Los Angeles" and it "blows you away when it's here."
The FBI still isn't discussing a motive.
U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said that Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, was charged with kidnapping resulting in death. It is a federal charge and, if convicted, Montgomery could be sentenced to life without parole. Graves said the death penalty was also an option under the statute.
Montgomery is due in federal court Monday.
Authorities said Montgomery is the mother of two high school-age children, and had recently been pregnant -- though the outcome of that pregnancy is unclear. They said she admitted lying to her husband about what had happened.
Witnesses report Montgomery had shown patrons of a local cafe the baby, then took the child to visit a pastor. The infant, named Victoria Jo, is in good condition and has been returned to her family.
The father called her "a miracle." He also thanked everyone for their help and support.
Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said that it was an anonymous tip that led investigators to the baby. But he credited the Amber Alert system for helping bring in that call. Authorities also say they used computer forensics to zero in on the Kansas woman.
Montgomery was the only person charged. A motive remained unclear to investigators.
"Someone was wanting a baby awful bad," Espey said earlier.
A federal prosecutor said Montgomery contacted Bobbie Jo Stinnett, through an online message board. Montgomery was seeking to buy a dog from Stinnett, who raised rat terriers.
Stinett's mother, who called police at 3:38 p.m. Thursday, found her strangled to death inside her home, Kansas City, Mo., TV station KMBC reported. Paramedics tried to revive her, but she was later pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital in Maryville, Mo.
Espey said it appeared the victim was killed no more than an hour before she was found. He said the woman may have struggled with her killer and that blonde hair was found in Stinnett's hand.
An autopsy was to be conducted by the Jackson County medical examiner. There were no visible signs of forced entry into her small home, Espey said.
Stinnett was a
dog breeder and reportedly sold rat terrier dogs over the Internet. One neighbor said he saw a red, two-door vehicle outside the home and assumed it was someone picking up a dog.
Apparently, someone was coming to look at one of the dogs Thursday afternoon.
"At 2:30 p.m., the mother called her daughter to have her come and get her at work and there were also some people from Fairfax that were going to come and look at a dog, and that's what that conversation was going to end up being about. 'They're here, mom to look at this dog,'" Espey said at a news conference Friday.
Espey offered piecemeal information about the victim. She was white, worked at Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing in Maryville, was married a little more than a year and was pregnant with her first child.
"She was a sweet lady. I don't know that she really bothered anybody. She just always stayed to herself. You know, she was real nice, real quiet," said a woman who lived nearby. "They were very excited about the family they were about to have."
A neighbor, Bill Dragoo, said Stinnett and her husband "didn't bother anybody. It blows my mind that this happened. She was such a shy person. They didn't deserve this."
Skidmore is a small community of 500 in the northwest corner of Missouri, about 100 miles northwest of Kansas City.
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Slideshow: See Pictures From Skidmore
Court Record: FBI Affidavit
Sheriff Thanks Media, Law Enforcement 
