Murder in the Heartland

by M. William Phelps

  “Dinner is served,” she’d say, kissing him on the cheek.

  Rebecca would be in her crib, happy, playing.

  On the face of it, the perfect life Carl believed he was building with Lisa just kept getting better.

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  As the U.S. Attorney’s Office spoke with witnesses, studied “the mountain” of forensic evidence it had collected, and contemplated how it would go about prosecuting Lisa Montgomery, many close to Lisa questioned her behavior leading up to the day Bobbie Jo Stinnett was murdered. Most believed Lisa was smarter than the crime she was being accused of implied. The fact that she reportedly had left behind so much evidence at the crime scene was astonishing to some in her immediate circle of friends and family. In addition, she seemed to have made several overt mistakes leading up to the crime, which seemed entirely out of character. How could someone spend months planning a crime and ignore such obvious evidence left behind: strands of her hair, DNA, a litany of cyber evidence on her personal computer, and the simple, yet inculpating fact of having Bobbie Jo’s child in her arms when authorities knocked on her door?

  One relative believed that to Lisa, the risk of getting caught was less important than the chance at proving everyone else wrong. “I think Lisa sincerely thought, before embarking on such a terrible crime, it was far better to get caught—if she did—than be labeled a confirmed liar and, essentially, ‘found out.’ So taking the chances she took and leaving behind so much evidence really made little difference to her. She never looked at it that way.”

  In 1941, Dr. Hervey Cleckley published an important book, The Mask of Sanity, which became a pioneering study of the science of psychopathy as it applied to the criminal mind. Years later, Dr. Robert Hare wrote Without Conscience, a book, for the most part, looking at the “psychopath next door.” These experts theorized that any mind holds the potential capacity for psychopathic behavior, although not every human being is capable of flipping on those dark switches. In his book, Hare spoke with respect and admiration of Cleckley. Cleckley’s work was groundbreaking on several fronts; most notably, for the first time an expert had come forth and talked about insanity as a social problem affecting, perhaps, thousands of Americans who didn’t yet know it.

  Through these books, antisocial disorder, a mental diagnosis that is often associated with high-profile criminals today, became part of mainstream American thought. Cleckley used case histories of patients to show, by example, how the mind of a mentally ill person worked in everyday situations; and his book has become a textbook for identifying the antisocial psychopath. Based on the work of both men, a checklist of sixteen characteristics of the sociopath emerged. Speaking of Cleckley’s work, in Without Conscience, Hare wrote, “Half a century ago Cleckley…warned us that our failure to acknowledge the psychopaths among us had already triggered a social crisis….”

  The Hare-Cleckley sociopath checklist includes manipulation, superficial charm, pathological lying, shallow emotions, impulsive nature, as well as “glibness, grandiose sense of self, lack of remorse, shame or guilt, lack of empathy, early behavioral problems, and irresponsibility.” Although only a trained professional is qualified to make a proper diagnosis of Lisa Montgomery, clearly, she exhibited several characteristics on the Cleckley-Hare checklist, throughout her life—most notably, an “incapacity for love, promiscuous sexual behavior, lack of realistic life plan,” and an appearance of being charming, “yet [is] covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used.”

  “Murder became her only option,” stated one relative, “and it was well within any boundaries she put up for her to go through with the crime to get what she wanted.”

  The alias Lisa chose—Darlene Fischer—was an indication of how little thought went into the actual planning of the fictional person she created online. Darlene was the name of Lisa’s favorite aunt, the only member of her extended family who was speaking to her at the time she was arrested; and at one time, she worked with a woman whose last name was Fischer. What’s more, the message behind Fischer4kids was perhaps a subconscious desire on Lisa’s part to fish for and find a baby: fisher for kids.

  There were other warnings. Word was, during the months leading up to Lisa’s arrest, she was looking to buy a child. Carl Boman and Lisa’s sisters heard from different sources Lisa was asking certain people where she could get a baby on the black market. That was why, Carl insisted, Lisa so desperately wanted his wife Vanessa’s $45,000 “inheritance.”

  After Bobbie Jo’s murder, a woman posted a frightening note on an Internet message board Lisa frequented. She related that when she was eight months pregnant, Lisa communicated with her about her child and was still sending her e-mails right up until the time of Bobbie Jo’s murder. The woman had been terrified to learn of Bobbie Jo’s death, sensing Lisa had sought her out for the same purpose, but Lisa had abandoned the idea after meeting Bobbie Jo.

  “Lisa would make friends with people she could get information from and/or use them,” Judy recalled. “How do you think she got her second divorce from Carl? She was in New Mexico and had an affair with the lawyer [involved in the divorce]. He faxed her the papers here, and I saw them, and she sent them back. She made it appear as if she wasn’t in Kansas. I am telling you, Lisa was good. I tried to tell her that wasn’t right, nor did I think it was legal. But she didn’t care.”

  Everything had now changed, however. Lisa was in jail facing murder and kidnapping charges. She could claim to have no memory of the crime, but the evidence would condemn or exonerate her, not her own retelling of what had happened. She could say someone else was at the scene of the crime with her, or that a second person had even committed the crime. But if the evidence didn’t back up her story, even if she dropped a name, her attorneys would have a tough time convincing a jury she was innocent.

  “The forensic evidence against Lisa Montgomery is overwhelming,” a law enforcement official who was deeply engrossed in the case said. “Beyond belief. There is no way she wasn’t at the scene.”

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  Under federal guidelines, for the government to proceed with a felony case of murder against a suspect, a grand jury must first hand down an indictment. An indictment may contain allegations the defendant committed more than one crime, as in Lisa’s case. “The separate allegations,” says the law, “are referred to as the counts of the indictment.”

  Todd Graves would have to conduct a grand jury investigation and indict Lisa on charges of kidnapping resulting in death before he could proceed to trial.

  On January 12, 2005, Graves called a press conference to confirm he had indicted Lisa Montgomery on charges of kidnapping resulting in death.

  The indictment offered little new evidence; however, for the first time, it publicly explained, in graphic detail, what went on inside Bobbie Jo’s house back on December 16: “…[Lisa] Montgomery strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett with a rope and then used a kitchen knife to cut her infant daughter from her womb.”

  Frightening words. People of the heartland now had an image of what Bobbie Jo had gone through as she was being murdered. To think that Bobbie Jo spent her last moments watching a mad-woman cut her open and take her child was too terrifying and heartbreaking for some to consider. According to the indictment, not only did Bobbie Jo know she was being killed, but her last thought could well have been the realization that her attacker wanted to take her child.

  The indictment replaced a federal complaint, Graves added, his office had filed back on December 17.

  Ending the one-page news release accompanying the indictment, the government announced that Graves, “First Assistant U.S. Attorney Roseann Ketchmark, Deputy U.S. Attorney Matt J. Whitworth, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Phillips, and Nodaway County, Missouri, Prosecuting Attorney David Baird, serving as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney,” would all be on board to prosecute the case. The government was compiling its version of a “dream team” of prosecutors, which had, by themselves, tried some of
the most high-profile murder cases the state of Missouri had ever seen.

  As Graves stood at the podium, flanked by Kevin Stafford, SA in charge of the FBI’s regional Missouri office, and FBI SA Mike Saunders, and read from the four-page indictment, it was clear that this was one of the most serious cases the U.S. Attorney’s Office had on its docket. Every resource was going to be used to investigate and prosecute Lisa Montgomery. A list of eight law enforcement investigating agencies was attached to the news release, further proof that an all-out legal effort was being launched.

  Every major news outlet broadcast the press conference live, some breaking from regularly scheduled programming to bring the event into outlets around the world. Graves spoke with a calm cadence, a deep baritone, scratchy and sincere, detailing the government’s case.

  “We’re here today to give you limited information—albeit important information—regarding the Montgomery case. Moments ago, a grand jury in Kansas City issued an indictment charging her with one count Title 18, USC, section 1201, which is the same as the previous complaint she had been charged with.” He let that statement hang for a moment before adding, “That is a capital offense.”

  He explained that the government had only thirty days to indict a suspect once a federal complaint was issued.

  “We are,” Graves said, stopping to look up and around the room, “fulfilling that obligation.”

  Also of importance, Graves wanted to be clear, was that the indictment contained several “special findings,” and was in no way to be considered evidence against Lisa.

  Those special findings, as the indictment read, included that Lisa was “more than eighteen years of age at the time of the offense” that she “intentionally killed Bobbie Jo; intentionally inflicted serious bodily injury, which resulted in the death of Bobbie Jo; intentionally participated in the act,” and so on.

  The indictment said Lisa had “committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death of a person, that is, Bobbie Jo Stinnett,” that Victoria Jo, “the kidnapping victim, was particularly vulnerable due to her young age,” and, surprisingly, “Bobbie Jo, the murder victim, was particularly vulnerable due to her infirmity, that is, at the time of her death [she] was eight months pregnant.”

  In essence, the indictment was saying the evidence against Lisa was insurmountable; and any plan Lisa’s lawyers might have to mount an insanity defense—which, some experts claim, is only successful about 1 percent of the time—was going to be met with a strident, determined clash of legal wits. That is, one cannot plan and premeditatively carry out such a complex act of murder without some sort of knowledge of what one is doing. Lisa, the indictment seemed to insinuate, had acted on her own free will and had gone to great lengths to sketch out and commit the crimes alleged in the indictment.

  After reading through each aggravating factor included, Graves said, “That is all the information we have to share today. An arraignment date has not been scheduled yet. But the arraignment will be the first time the defendant has to plead guilty or not guilty.”

  After a moment, “I’ll take a few questions.”

  Most reporters knew Graves well enough to understand he wasn’t going to budge on any part of his case. Still, after a bit of prodding, he admitted Lisa would “be arraigned sometime during the next week.”

  When asked about the death penalty, Graves said he would “make a recommendation to a Department of Justice committee about whether to pursue the death penalty,” which would then “make its own recommendation to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.”

  “How long will that take?” someone asked.

  “That process usually takes several months.”

  “Will there be any more charges filed against Lisa Montgomery?”

  “I don’t expect to file any more charges…but I won’t rule out charges against other people involved in the case.”

  With that, reporters scribbled in their notebooks. Whispers in the room picked up. It had been on everyone’s mind, of course: would Kevin Montgomery be taken in handcuffs any time soon?

  Graves wouldn’t comment further.

  “Do you think, Mr. Graves, that she’ll try to use an insanity defense?”

  “I can’t discuss or speculate about what her defense will do at trial.”

  After a few more questions, Graves said his good-byes and walked away.

  The case of the United States of America v. Lisa Montgomery was officially set in motion. Lisa was going to get her chance, inside the next eight days, to walk into a federal court and plead her case.

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  Some months after Lisa gave birth to Rebecca, Carl Boman sensed a gradual change in his young bride. It started with subtle things, like breast-feeding. To Lisa, the act became a chore. From there, the normal everyday things most mothers adore doing for their children began to bother Lisa. It was true she loved to dress the kids up and take them out when they were infants, but the older they got, the more she lost interest. In what would soon become a common theme throughout the Boman household—and, later, the Montgomery house in Melvern after Lisa and the kids moved in with Kevin—odd bits of Lisa’s character would surface.

  Later, Kayla Boman explained: “Something that always bothered me was, at least when my mom would get mad at me, I knew she was paying attention to me. When she would be upstairs on the computer, I would try and talk to her just about anything in general: school, dogs, our animals. Stuff like that. And she wouldn’t even look over at me. So I would ask her a question to see if she would respond. Most of the time, I would have to ask the same question about three times before she would finally answer. The only time I can think she would pay attention to me was when she wanted to know something about a dog, if I got a B or C on my report card, or when she wanted something.”

  Lisa rarely applauded the children for their accomplishments, as if they were expected to do well. Kayla said she first became interested in rat terriers and the dog show circuit because she knew it was “something I could share with my mom, and she would actually pay attention to me. I was always trying to get her attention. Good grades didn’t work. Sports didn’t work. Spelling bee didn’t work. Band didn’t work. So ratties it was.”

  On July 7, 1988, Lisa gave birth to her second child, Alicia. Carl and Lisa were still living in Hominy. The only change in their lives—besides another mouth to feed—was that Carl had been promoted to sergeant at Dick Conner Correctional Center, where he had been working with his dad, who had since quit.

  The promotion meant more responsibility—but also more money.

  Throughout both pregnancies, Carl went to every prenatal appointment with Lisa. He and Lisa were again elated they’d had another child. The love they had showered on Rebecca was a sign of how much children were a part of the life they had both wanted. Carl had grown from a raucous, unruly punk coming out of the navy, bouncing through life without any direction, to a responsible father of two healthy baby girls. Lisa was by his side at every work function and party, every outing and family picnic. They were a happily married couple talking about having more children. Rebecca, at age two, had become, Carl proudly said, “a daddy’s girl.”

  Other than a few changes in Lisa’s behavior that Carl attributed to the hormonal imbalances most new mothers go through, their life together could not have been any better.

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  In the middle of January 2005, Carl and two of the children appeared on a major syndicated talk show. It hadn’t turned out the way Carl had hoped; he felt the show’s producers made promises they failed to keep, and, in retrospect, going on the show was a mistake. He had not spoken to many reporters by that point, avoiding the media because he was “too emotional.” His lawyer, James Campbell, was fielding calls from several major media producers and personalities: Bill O’Reilly, Paula Zahn, Larry King, Montel Williams, Hannity & Colmes, Greta Van Susteren, CBS, NBC, ABC. But Carl kept turning them down. He only ended up on that one syndicated show and a net
work morning news show, he insisted, because the producers made it sound as though he would be able to tell his side of the story.

  Do the shows, he thought, and maybe the others will go away.

  Carl wasn’t paid for his appearance. Only travel and hotel accommodations, along with a small allowance for food, were provided. But the lack of monetary compensation didn’t bother him. It wasn’t about “the money,” he claimed; it was about getting the truth out at a time when rumor and speculation were beginning to smother facts.

  Lisa must have seen the show from prison, or been told about it by someone who had, because she was livid. She expressed her anger in a letter written on January 18.

  “Are you making enough money…?” she taunted. After that, she accused him of ignoring the children “for years.” Interestingly to Carl, the next sentence seemed to, in his mind, imply Lisa was to admit her involvement in Bobbie Jo’s murder: “…YOU ARE NO BETTER!” she wrote in capital letters, underlining the sentence. Carl believed it was a reference to a rumor she had spread about him years ago—that he had murdered someone while in the navy. The way Carl read it, Lisa was saying since they had both murdered someone, they were playing now on an equal field.

  “‘You are no better,’” Carl said, “to me, at least, meant she was comparing herself to the rumor she had spread about me killing someone. It’s strange, because she knows the FBI and prison officials read her mail…. In looking back, nothing had changed with Lisa. It was the same old thing. Classic Lisa.”

  Farther along in the one-paragraph letter, written on the type of paper a child in kindergarten might use, with dark upper and lower lines and one lightly dotted line in the center, Lisa threatened to expose Carl by putting the old rumor back out there for the public to digest. It might carry new weight, she intimated, taking into account the events of the past month.