Woman Accused of Killing Pregnant Woman Faked 3 Pregnancies

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Lisa Montgomery announced three fake pregnancies to family and friends after she married Kevin Montgomery in 2000, according to testimony from Kevin Montgomery's former wife.

The testimony came Tuesday in the federal trial of Lisa Montgomery, who is accused of killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, and crudely cutting the baby from her womb on Dec. 16, 2004. Montgomery, 39, was arrested the next day while showing off the baby in her hometown of Melvern, Kan.

Lori Colwell, who had three sons with Kevin Montgomery and divorced him in 1998, testified that when she heard about Lisa Montgomery's pregnancy in 2004, her response was: "Here we go again. I didn't believe her."

Colwell, who said her former husband has poor social skills and is easily manipulated, tried to persuade him to bring Montgomery to a doctor so he would realize she wasn't pregnant. An appointment was set up, Colwell said, but Lisa Montgomery canceled it.

Colwell also testified that she received a voice mail from Lisa Montgomery on Dec. 16 saying she "got the baby."

Colwell said a friend later told her an Amber Alert for a missing baby had been issued.

"I said `That's not funny,"' Colwell testified. "And he said, `No, it's on the news."'

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if Montgomery is convicted of kidnapping resulting in death. She has pleaded not guilty, and her lawyers are pursuing an insanity defense. Besides convicting or acquitting her, jurors have the option of finding her not guilty by reason of insanity.

In testimony last week, a medical examiner testified she believed Stinnett was conscious and trying to defend herself as Montgomery used kitchen knife to cut the baby from her womb.

"The evidence to me shows that she regained consciousness while the incision was being made, a struggle ensued and she was strangled again," said Dr. Mary Case, the St. Louis County medical examiner.

Case testified that she believed Stinnett was coming in and out of consciousness when Montgomery was cutting into her womb. Case, who did not perform Stinnett's autopsy, said the large amount of blood on the bottom of Stinnett's feet showed she had her feet flat on the floor — either standing or sitting with her knees raised — when she was cut.

She said that would not be possible if Stinnett was unconscious.

Coroner Miguel Laboy, who performed the autopsy and showed several graphic autopsy photos, said Stinnett had eight jagged cuts across her abdomen and what he called defensive wounds on her hands, face and elbows. He did not address the question of whether she was conscious when the incisions were made.

The trial, which started Thursday, is expected to last about three weeks.