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Stinnett Called 'Beautiful Swan' At Funeral

Suspect, Victim Knew Each Other From Dog Shows

POSTED: 8:53 am EST December 21, 2004
UPDATED: 5:24 pm EST December 21, 2004

Cars filled the parking lot of a Missouri funeral home Tuesday as hundreds gathered to bury a young expectant mother who was strangled to death and whose baby was cut from her womb.

One neighbor remembered 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett as someone who grew into "a beautiful swan."



Stinnett was killed Thursday, left in a pool of blood inside her home. A day later, police found her baby with a Kansas woman who's now been charged in connection with Stinnett's death.

Stinnett's baby, named Victoria Jo, was released to her father Monday after spending the weekend in a hospital.

Victim Knew Attacker

A woman who knew Stinnett from breeding and showing dogs said Stinnett may have known her alleged attacker, Lisa Montgomery, from the dog-show circuit well before the crime.

Nancy Strudl, of Omaha, Neb., told The Kansas City Star that Stinnett and her alleged attacker were both at a dog show in November of last year. The dog trainer said that she, Montgomery and Stinnett all went to a cafe after the outdoor show in chilly weather.

Montgomery, from Kansas, made made her first court appearance Monday and is scheduled to be back in court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday.

Montgomery is accused of killing Stinnett last Thursday, and trying to pass Stinnett's daughter off as her own to family and friends. The baby was later recovered unharmed.

Strudl said Stinnett did not trust Montgomery, reported KETV in Omaha.

She said Stinnett was expecting someone at her door last week to look at a dog, but must have been surprised to find Montgomery at her door instead.

Lisa M. Montgomery
Lisa M. Montgomery

"I honestly don't think Bobbie Jo knew it was going to be her, because I don't believe Bobbie Jo would sell her a puppy, or even let her come to look at a puppy, with that in mind," Strudl said.

Stinnett had also posted pictures on her Web site from a dog show in April in Abilene, Kan. Records from the show indicate both she and Montgomery entered dogs in that competition.

Montgomery's husband has not been charged in the case. Authorities said Montgomery met him at a restaurant with Stinnett's baby after telling him she had gone into labor while shopping. Investigators said she lied about being pregnant.

Authorities said Montgomery is the mother of two high school-age children.

Montgomery had told people in the dog-show community that she was pregnant with twins, but Strudl said, "None of the rat-terrier people believed she was pregnant."

Hospital officials said Victoria Jo "is just a beautiful, beautiful baby girl." A hospital spokeswoman said the baby is "in remarkably good condition" after the ordeal.


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