"She tried to throw her own brother under the bus for a crime that she committed.". I cant understand why they have to kill this woman, knowing her background and everything that happened, he said. Being loved unconditionally helped me heal, find a caring husband, and raise two children who have hearts of gold. Lisa Montgomery has been charged in the December 16 death of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant at the time. 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. She struggles to maintain her own hygiene, loses focus during conversations with others and has trouble planning simple tasks.". A generation ago, it was the kind of place where you could "get your hair cut, see a show, buy rabbit feed and eat dinner" - but those days are long gone. Shaughnessy would beat Mattingly with whatever was in her hand, be it a belt or a broom, she said. "That's how evil this woman is," Strong said. Her terror was well-founded, said Montgomery's attorneys, Kelley Henry and Amy Harwell. 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. Lisa Montgomery's friend, Toby Dorr, provided this photo she took of a letter Montgomery wrote to her in November using black crayon. But none of those other victims responded by killing a woman and cutting her baby out of her stomach, hesaid. "It was violent and like a scene out of a horror movie," he said in a statement. View the profiles of people named Judy Shaughnessy. For the rest of her life.. We lived in a house of horrors. He married Judy Shaughnessy, who would become Montgomery's mother, in 1967 in . What you need to know about Montgomery and her victim, Bobbie Jo Stinnett. "They put her on suicide watch to keep her from killing herself, so that they can execute her," she said. There is a decision that has to be made, separate from guilt, about whether someones behavior is so morally reprehensible that they deserve the death penalty, she said. For Montgomery, her lawyers argue, it began before she was born. 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. Montgomery's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, who was 20 at the time of her birth in 1968, drank heavily while pregnant with her daughter. She told Lisa she had to "earn her keep." Judy later. Montgomery is worried that her fellow inmates will have trouble coping with her upcoming execution, said her friendToby Dorr. 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. Montgomery, who confessed, was later sentenced to death for the especially heinous murder as decided by a jury who heard her trial. The couple returned to their home near Melvern, which was being watched by investigators working to identify the woman who had told Stinnett she was Darlene Fischer. Several high-profile figures had appealed for clemency in Brandon's case but Mr Trump did not heed those calls. Recibi una inyeccin letal en una prisin de Terre Haute,. Lisa's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, abused her "in extreme and sadistic ways," according to interviews with nearly 450 family members, neighbors, lawyers, social workers, and teachers. The counselor noted that her mother appeared to have a lack of empathy for Montgomery, who was left with the distinct impression that the sexual abuse was her fault. Ive always said that I am bruised, but not broken, Mattingly said, her voice choked with tears. For one thing, the wider world won't let them forget. Montgomery first claimed to have had the baby at a Topeka birthing center but began changing her story after investigatorsseparated her from her husband and the infant, Strong said. For Montgomery, her lawyers argue, it began before she was born. For months, Montgomery had told her husband she was pregnant, even though she couldnt have any more children she had undergone a sterilization procedure before they met. "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. 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 Terre Haute, Ind. Nodaway County Sheriff Randy Strong says that the scene that he and his four colleagues found that day was so bloody, they are still traumatised by it. President-elect Joe Biden has already pledged to end death penalty proceedings, although he hasn't said when. Mattingly said she was fortunate to have been moved to a lovinghome of high school history teacher and coach Floyd Gwin;his wife, Zella Gwin;and their three biological children. She does not deserve to die. A survivor of incest and sex trafficking, she is diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic features, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy, and cerebellar dysfunction, said Amy Harwell, a federal public defender in Tennessee who is working on Montgomerys case. More: Who was the last woman executed by the US government? Montgomery has exhausted all attempts to appeal her conviction and death sentence although her attorneys are exploring possible litigation. [N]ot only was it bizarre behavior, but it was very embarrassing for me as her daughter, she said. Montgomerys case is not about whether she is responsible for the crime; she is. He was being held in the Shawnee County Jail in 2018 when he filed a federal lawsuit contending the county was violating his constitutional rights by preventing him from sending letters to Montgomery. 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. "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. The judge in the case scolded Shaughnessy for not reporting the abuse - but did not report the abuse himself. "I get these images in my head of [Bobbie Jo's mother] finding her daughter that way.". They introduced her as their daughter, Abigail, and made multiple other stops. A former paramedic who had watched the births of all three of his children, Strong also considered the baby's head to be unusually round. 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. "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. And then go, 'Stand there and listen to the 911 call of [Stinnett's mother]. Tommy Kleiner and Montgomery have stayed in touch. Montgomery's father, John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the military, was also an alcoholic. 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. Her mother, Judy Shaughnessy, beat and tormented all of her children, proudly telling an investigator that her daughter's first sentence was "Don't spank me, it hurts." Montgomery's first stepfather . But it wasn't Montgomery that Stinnett was expecting, it was a woman who went by the name of Darlene Fischer. 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. Often the woman, now 52 and a grandmother of 12, is knitting or doing needlepoint. Strong was a police detective in Maryville, Mo., 14 miles northeast of Skidmore, and Fritz was a detective at Cameron, also in northwest Missouri. Stinnett's husband was at work, andStinnett was on the phone with her mother, Becky Harper, when Montgomery's dirty red Toyota pulled upon the afternoon of Dec. 16. She lived with her children in poverty, without running water and other basic necessities, while her mental health deteriorated. ", More: Only woman on federal death row asks President Trump to be a 'hero,' commute her sentence. She went home with a newborn, one she acquired by murdering the babys pregnant mother. 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. Another case with Missouri ties. Montgomery told investigators she was surprised at how nicely they had treated her, considering what she had done. Lisa Montgomery lived a tortured life, from the day she was born in a small Washington town till the day she became the first woman in 67 years to be executed by the U.S. government. Family members have claimed that Shaughnessy blamed Montgomery for the abuse and the divorce. Shaughnessy also beat the girls with brooms and belts,Mattingly said. The family treated Mattingly as one of their own, and gave her a sense of belonging and self-worth, she said. Montgomery strangled Stinnett into unconsciousness, then sliced into her stomach with the steak knife, Strong said. For Diane Mattingly, there is one moment from her childhood for which she feels both enormous gratitude and guilt. "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.". Zella Gwin survives. 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. Nobody has said that Lisa should never have been punished. The question is, should she be put to death for it. Montgomery's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, drank while Montgomery was in utero, leaving her with brain damage, court documents say. One was the presence of substantial planning and premeditation. Fourteen of those offenders are serving long prison sentences, while the twoothers died by suicide in custody, according to a list Henry provided. He continued the cycle of abuse, rapes and beatings, which he sadistically videotaped. She was forced to sit in a high chair for hours if she did not finish her food. Montgomery often read her Bible or did things with her hands, including writing, quilting, and making placemats and bookmarks, Dorr said. Shaughnessy forced Montgomery to have sex with men in exchange for money and services, and also punished her children by killing the family dog in front of them,smashing its head with a shovel, the attorneys said. Today there is a single restaurant and few of the streets are paved. U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner upheld the jury's recommendation the following April. 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. Kleiner built a makeshift shed on the side of the trailer for Montgomery, where he began molesting, and then raping, her. 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.. It was clear that she was traumatized, that she was somewhere else, he 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. By multiple accounts, Kleiner was an erratic, violent man who beat the kids and his wife regularly. But the cousin, a sheriff's deputy, confessed to Montgomery's current legal team that he did nothing. It was a terrifying household, she says, where physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of Judy Shaughnessy, Montgomery's mother, and her boyfriends was routine. The baby girl survived, andMontgomery took her home and briefly passed her off as her own until investigators arrested her the next day. Prosecutors said Montgomery was faking mental illness, notingthat many people are sexually abused, but few go on to kill. Judy ultimately married six times, and had multiple partners throughout Lisa's childhood. . Patterson and Shaughnessy divorced in 1971, and Shaughnessy took custody of the girls. "I looked to my right and there was Lisa Montgomery on the sofa, holding the baby," he said. Her lawyers had argued she was a mentally ill victim of abuse who. Montgomery was put on suicide watch as soon as her execution date was set, Henry said, adding thatMontgomery had previously attempted suicide but not since 2012. Montgomery lived during her childhood in Washington, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, California and Texas. Lawyer Kelley Henry says one of the things that disturbs her most is that adults in positions of authority were told about what was going on but did nothing. "I fell in love immediately.". Her mother and father, teachers at school who suspected abuse, and the courts who learned of her victimization when she was a teen and did nothing. My sister, Lisa Montgomery, is broken. School friend Baumli says she's read the descriptions of Montgomery's abuse, but it mostly just makes her angry. Since receiving her execution date, she's been placed on suicide watch in an isolated cell. "Maybe she could have been saved, too. Likewise, that jury wasn't directed to consider whether Montgomery was severely mentally ill, which Montgomery's attorneys are asking the president to take into account. Shaughnessy's nephew, David Kidwell, testified that she believed Montgomery "had brought [the abuse] on herself, that she enticed him". Lisa Montgomery, a federal prisoner, is now slated to be executed on Jan. 12. "We've seen crime for years and years in our country in which people enact terrible violence coming out of a psychotic set of beliefs or thought process. When children grow up in a chronic state of fear and terror, their brains adapt to survive, explained Katherine Porterfield, a clinical psychologist at the Bellevue/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture, who has evaluated Montgomery in prison. At 18, she married her stepbrother, who also beat and raped her. At the time of her murder, she was newly married and pregnant with her first child. And to not fail her.". But Lisa was broken. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. 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