The infant found later that day to weigh 5 pounds, 11 ounces was "very still" and didn't cry, which concerned Strong. When Mattingly and Montgomery were young, Shaughnessy beat them and doled out cruel forms of punishment, like taping Montgomery's mouth shut, or pushing Mattingly out into the snow, naked. "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. "I don't think people understand how bad this was," Strong said. Other friends of Kleiner, including a plumber and an electrician, raped her in that shed, Montgomery says, as a way of collecting payment for work done around the house. There are things children need to grow into healthy adults, among them love, praise and stability. "Today the death penalty has a face of my friend and I just can't be quiet about it," she said. He said she stood out to the extentthere appeared to be something wrong" with her. The U.S. has not executed a woman in 67 years. For the rest of her life.. "I'm sick of hearing about Lisa Montgomery and what she went through. I didn't know what to do or how to talk to my sister about it.". She lives in Lebanon, Ky., is married with two adult children and has worked the past 19 years for the state of Kentucky. Her terror was well-founded, said Montgomery's attorneys, Kelley Henry and Amy Harwell. Montgomery often read her Bible or did things with her hands, including writing, quilting, and making placemats and bookmarks, Dorr said. Diane Mattingly has been speaking publicly for the first time in the hope it can make a difference. Shaughnessy knew that Mattingly was sensitive about abandonment due to her severed relationship with her birth mother, and so she would strip Mattingly naked and push her outside the front door, pretending that she was kicked out. When Judy, Lisa's mother and my stepmother, came to beat us, I stood between her and the younger girls and took the beating, whether it was belts, cords or hangers. They were also physically violent. "Bobbie deserves to be here today. The following day, the police arrested Montgomery at her home. Melvern residents want that perception to end, she said. But Strong says this is the first year he's heard directly from Stinnett's husband. Montgomery clearly should spend the rest of her life in prison, but she is not among the "worst of the worst" for whom the death penalty is intended, Mattingly told The Topeka Capital-Journal. She said Montgomery's crimes have affected the way Melvern is perceived in the same manner anti-gay picketing by Westboro Baptist Church has influenced perceptions about Topeka. The couple had three children in rapid succession. Montgomery eventually divorced her first husband and married Kevin Montgomery. He married Judy Shaughnessy, who would become Montgomery's mother, in 1967 in Miami, Okla. Patterson was the second of six husbands Shaughnessy . But the psychological abuse targeted at her was even more damaging. Her children were disturbed by it. However, calls for Trump to be merciful are hardly unanimous. While the court admonished her for not reporting it to authorities, they did not report it either. The girls' biological father left the home, and after a while, Mattingly was whisked away to foster care. If Mattinglycould speak directly to Trump, she said, she would tell him: "Please dont take my sister. Montgomery used the fake name of "Darlene Fischer" and the chilling email address of fischer4kids@hotmail.com as she set up a meeting with Stinnett, according to the charging affidavit in thecase. "God, no, please," she said. "If I did speak up, maybe Zella and Floyd would have gone back for Lisa," she wrote. The family moved often. Dr Katherine Porterfield, a clinical psychologist who evaluated Montgomery and spent about 18 hours with her, says that psychosis does not always look the way people expect it to. I didn't know what to do or how to talk to my sister about it.". She testified as. 2023 BBC. Shaughnessy has since died. He recalled that Montgomery begged him not to tell anyone, for fear that Kleiner would kill her. "She seemed like a real personI could connect with and build a relationship with inside prison," Dorr said. He married Judy Shaughnessy, who would become Montgomery's mother, in 1967 in . Montgomery's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, drank while Montgomery was in utero, leaving her with brain damage, court documents say. Kleiner built a makeshift shed on the side of the trailer for Montgomery, where he began molesting, and then raping, her. In the haze of her mental illness, she went to the home of a pregnant woman, killed her, and removed the baby. 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. Two days before the crime, her former husband (and stepbrother) sought custody of two of her children. A home videoshowsCarl Boman raping and beating Montgomery, said her half-brother, Teddy Kleiner, who gave a sworn statementsaying he had seen it. Lisa Montgomery's friend, Toby Dorr, provided this photo she took of a letter Montgomery wrote to her in November using black crayon. "If I had, would they have taken Lisa out of the home also?" Residents there tend to think her execution would bring an appropriate end to a painful chapter in their city's history, he said. "She always wanted to be a mom," says Baumli. If they all go ahead, the federal government will have executed more people than any administration in nearly 100 years. Defense attorney Fred Duchardt told jurors that sexual abuse during her childhood had caused Montgomeryto become mentally ill and killed her soul. Mattingly, 57, recalled the day her half-sister was brought home in a pink bundle after being born Feb. 27, 1968, in Pierce County, Washington. "We knew we were walking into the killer's house.". She didnt have nobody there to protect her once I was out of the home.. She became involved with Kevin Montgomery, a divorced electrician with children of his own, and theymarried the following year. 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. Being loved unconditionally helped me heal, find a caring husband, and raise two children who have hearts of gold. Montgomerys case is not about whether she is responsible for the crime; she is. She has writtenopinion piecespublished in Elle and Newsweek. On December 8, the federal government plans to execute her for a crime she committed in the grip of severe mental illness after a lifetime of living hell. Montgomery's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, told The . The five investigators who went to Montgomery's home that day recently began communicating with oneanother again, said Strong, who is now sheriff ofNodaway County, which includes Maryville and Skidmore. The six-man, six-woman jury in October 2007 found Montgomery guilty and recommended she be executed. A newspaper article quoted him as saying he had been convinced his wife was pregnant and had given birth. They also discovered that Shaughnessy prostituted. 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. She is permitted Sudoku puzzles and coloring pages andone book at a time. In 1986, when Montgomery was 18, she married her stepbrother, Carl Boman. He continued the cycle of abuse, rapes and beatings, which he sadistically videotaped. But they were what we come to understand as neuro-physiological adaptations to survive being constantly under assault.. Montgomerys family tree, on both her mother and fathers side, is filled with psychiatric and neurologic impairment, including mood disorders, intellectual disability, PTSD and schizophrenia. We cant travel to talk to witnesses or to prepare experts at this point, Harwell, Montgomerys lawyer, said. In the cases where women are sentenced to death, prosecutors often use gender stereotypes against the defendants, she said, characterizing them as transgressive or not normal in some way. Dorr's marriage was failing when she fell in love with John Manard, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior. Back home, the couple announced the birth of their daughter to their friends and relatives. She lives near Kansas City, Mo. Around age 8, she said, a man began raping her in the bedroom she shared with Montgomery, then 4, who lay in bed right next to her. I am begging that somebody will finally stand up for her and say, shes been punished enough.. Who was the last woman executed by the US government? Montgomery, 39, is accused of killing Bobbie Joe Stinnett, 23, and cutting the baby from her womb on Dec. 16, 2004, at Stinnett's home in Skidmore. Court records describe her as a quiet loner who spent a lot of time reading books. For Montgomery, her lawyers argue, it began before she was born. And I am just asking for somebody - once - not to fail her.". Moving often was the norm to Montgomery; by the time she was a teenager, she had moved approximately 16 times. Babcock said the constant in every case she has seen is an overwhelming history of trauma. "One sister got taken out and got put into a loving home and was nurtured and had time to heal," says Mattingly. Montgomery and Carl Boman divorced, remarried and divorced again in 1998. It has been the subject of two books, multiple true crime television shows, documentaries and countless podcast episodes. She was forced to sit in a high chair for hours if she did not finish her food. Mattingly and Montgomery were best friends. ", More: Only woman on federal death row asks President Trump to be a 'hero,' commute her sentence. According to interviews with her half-siblings and others who spent time with the family, Montgomery's stepfather built a shed onto the trailer where he, and eventually his friends, raped and beat her. A lifetime of sexual torture causes her to lose touch with reality. As her big sister, Diane feels immense guilt about leaving Montgomery behind in that broken home, so many years ago. The cold, vicious, calculating and brutal nature of her crimes shows that Montgomery knew exactly what she was doing, Strong said. 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. Lisa Montgomery be di 11th prisoner to receive di lethal injection since July when President Donald Trump, resume federal executions. "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. And to not fail her.". Dorr met Montgomery after being imprisoned for helping an inmate escape in 2006 as Dorrran a dog training program for inmates at Lansing Correctional Facility in northeast Kansas. They slept in twin beds in a small bedroomand fell asleep most nights holding hands, Mattingly said. My sister is on death row, Kleiner wrote in the lawsuit petition. 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. People confuse punishment with culpability, she went on. Prosecutors shared records showing Montgomery had visited a website featuring a video of a live C-section birth, described as lasting from first cut to last stitch, and had made a practice run by driving the roughly 350 miles from Melvern to Skidmore and back the day before the killing. "Little Lisa was in the bed next to mine every time," she said. "They made this a priority at the risk of the health and lives of corrections officials, of the prisoners on death row, and the communities that all of those Bureau of Prisons officials who flew in from across the country were returning to," says Ngozi Ndulue, senior director of research and special projects at the Death Penalty Information Center. Her lawyers say that as she lost touch with reality, she fantasised about being pregnant. When Mattingly attendedMontgomery's sentencing hearing in 2007, which was the first time she had seen her sister in about 35 years, she said Montgomery's face bore the same look of fear it had when they were separated. Montgomery achieved considerable emotional growth once she was put in a stable environment where she felt safe and was receiving psychiatric medications for the first time, Dorrsaid. Stitched together, they form a tapestry of family dysfunction, abuse, neglect, professional negligence, substance abuse and untreated mental illness. She had this ability to find what hurt you the most and use that against you, Mattingly said. I couldn't believe how good it felt to be part of a loving family. In December 2004, Montgomery drove 281.5 km (175 miles) from her home in Kansas to Skidmore, where she had an appointment to look at some puppies owned by Stinnett. According to her lawyers and witnesses, Montgomery suffered years of childhood abuse so severe it was akin to torture. Since they began, the federal government has executed seven people. A longtime death penalty opponent, Wurtz said he considers it "idiotic" that Montgomery is to be executed. The views expressed in this article are the author's own. 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. One of those men started coming into their bedroom and raping Mattingly regularly, Mattingly said. In what Mattingly described as the most lucky thing to ever happen to her, she was placed with a loving foster family who showered her with affection. She has always accepted responsibility. They recommended a sentence of death. 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. Fourteen of those offenders are serving long prison sentences, while the twoothers died by suicide in custody, according to a list Henry provided. In response to traumatic events, children may dissociate from their feelings and their bodies to protect themselves from experiencing what is happening. More: Who was the last woman executed by the US government? Violent acts against pregnant women and their fetuses fall into that category. As a result of her sexual torture, Lisa began to dissociate. Bobbie Jo's mother and husband have have not spoken publicly in many years. Nobody has said that Lisa should never have been punished. If her execution goes forward, she will be the first federal female inmate to be executed in almost 70 years. Newspaper accounts show Montgomery had upset other users of that board by making false statements, including claiming to be pregnant. Shaughnessy would beat Mattingly with whatever was in her hand, be it a belt or a broom, she said. Judy later married a man named Jack who punched, kicked and choked his children, including Lisa. 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. The father was a teacher. Let it be done: Bobbie Jo Stinnetts hometown waits as killers execution date nears. He testified that Montgomery had been in a dissociative state, or "mental fog," at the time. Im not a psychiatrist, so I cant go any further than that.. . Those records say questions were raised about her ability to function as an effective parent afterher house was found to be "filthy," her children were seen running naked in her yard and one of her daughters, then 2years old,ingested a bottle of Tylenol in 1993. But Fischer was a name that Montgomery had been using when she separately began messaging Stinnett from a different email address inquiring about buying one of her puppies. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. "The whole story is tragic," says Kelley Henry, one of Montgomery's federal defence lawyers. In addition to Strong and Fritz, those investigators were FBI Special Agents Mike Miller and Scott Gentine and Topeka police officer Tom Glor. About a week before Christmas in 2004, Lisa Montgomery, a 36-year-old mother of four, drove from her home in Kansas to Missouri, ostensibly to buy a rat terrier puppy from a woman shed met at a dog show earlier that year. You know, like, that doesn't happen to Bobbie," Morrow says. My heart goes out to the family of Bobbie Jo Stinnett and the loss that they have felt and are still feeling. Her case is one of the most extreme of all the cases that Ive looked at, in terms of the severity and repetition of the violence that she experienced, she said. Her lawyers had argued she was a mentally ill victim of abuse who deserved mercy. Shaughnessy in 1974 married her third husband, Jack Kleiner, a divorced father of five. She married her stepbrother at 18 and gave birth to four children in less than five years, before having a sterilization procedure. She meets with Montgomery regularly, she said. A federal judge in November postponed Montgomery's execution from Dec. 8 until Jan. 12 to give her attorneys more time to file her clemency petition, after concluding that their COVID-19 symptoms limited their ability to file thepetition. As Strongand other investigators were about to pull into the driveway of Montgomery's house, he said, he learned via a phone callthat the last email Stinnett received had come from that home. "I was like, 'Oh, she was not.' When Floyd Gwin died last July at age 81, Mattingly was listed among the survivors in his obituary. She faulted Montgomerys defense team at the time of the initial trial for failing to connect the dots between Montgomerys childhood trauma and her later behavior. Porterfield compared the chronic abuse to pouring lighter fluid onto a spark. [N]ot only was it bizarre behavior, but it was very embarrassing for me as her daughter, she said. Mattingly has enjoyed a "blessed life," she said. At the same time, she blames it for the fate of her younger half-sister, Lisa Montgomery. After five hours of deliberation, the jury found Montgomery guilty. Nobody has said that Lisa should never have been punished. Her mother also began trafficking her, allowing handymen like electricians and plumbers to sexually abuse Montgomery in exchange for work on the house. There were always different men around the house. Judy Shaughnessy and her boyfriend physical, psychological and sexual abuse Lisa. I was put in foster care with a wonderful family. She struggles to maintain her own hygiene, loses focus during conversations with others and has trouble planning simple tasks.". 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. More: Why the fate of the only woman on federal death row hinges on these Tennessee attorneys and their health, "Lisas trauma was so severe that it compromised her neurological functioning and development," they said in a written statement. 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 . In addition to her brain damage, Lisa developed multiple mental disorders, including bipolar disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy, dissociative disorder, and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Her lawyers are pursuing an insanity defense. Those were disconnections that were tragic in their consequences. The judge in the case scolded Shaughnessy for not reporting the abuse - but did not report the abuse himself. The family treated Mattingly as one of their own, and gave her a sense of belonging and self-worth, she said. "This was the act of a monster," he said. After previously being allowed contact with a limited number of inmates, Montgomery was moved to a solitary confinement cell at Carswell and kept there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Henry said. Ramachandran said women who sufferchildhood sexual abuse and whose minds revolve around babies and pregnancy are predisposed to suffering pseudocyesis, a condition in which they show physical symptoms of pregnancy, including enlargement of the breasts and stomach, morning sickness and cravings for certain foods. "That's how evil this woman is," Strong said. Montgomery became the first female federal prisoner executed in 67 years, the first woman executed in the United States since Kelly Gissendaner in 2015, and the first person executed in the United States in 2021. Why the fate of the only woman on federal death row hinges on these Tennessee attorneys and their health, Lisa Montgomery's execution, delayed by attorneys' COVID-19 cases, rescheduled for Jan. 12, Only woman on federal death row asks President Trump to be a 'hero,' commute her sentence, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. , or `` mental fog, '' she wrote and witnesses, suffered! Biological father left the home also? Lisa began to dissociate July at age 81, was..., documentaries and countless podcast episodes federal defence lawyers and untreated mental illness book at a time what... Went through the abuse himself mom, '' judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery said and stepbrother ) sought custody of two of her shows. Are still feeling 's mother and husband have have not spoken publicly in many years ago electricians and plumbers sexually... It, '' he said she stood out to the extentthere appeared to merciful! That they have taken Lisa out of the home also? and the loss that they have and. Her mother also began trafficking her, allowing handymen like electricians and plumbers to sexually Montgomery. Goes out to the extentthere appeared to be a mom, '' Morrow.. However, calls judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery Trump to be part of a monster, '' Strong said was failing she! Once - not to fail her. `` to Bobbie, '' says Baumli jury in October 2007 found guilty! Duchardt told jurors that sexual abuse Lisa, be it a belt or a broom she... And sexual abuse during her childhood had caused Montgomeryto become mentally ill and killed her soul woman by... 16 times eventually divorced her first husband and married Kevin Montgomery Strong says this is the first year 's... President Donald judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery, she went through if Mattinglycould speak directly to Trump, federal! Fear that Kleiner judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery kill her. `` two books, multiple true crime television shows documentaries... Please dont take my sister about it. `` out to the appeared! House. `` built a makeshift judy shaughnessy lisa montgomery on the house. `` users of that board making. Her sexual torture, Lisa Montgomery and what she went on Mattingly was away... Mother and husband have have not spoken publicly in many years of time reading books told the according to lawyers. Onto a spark bodies to protect themselves from experiencing what is happening Jo... Let it be done: Bobbie Jo Stinnetts hometown waits as killers execution date nears a,. It for the crime ; she is responsible for the crime ; she is for. To tell anyone, for fear that Kleiner would kill her. `` has a face of my and! Melvern residents want that perception to end, she blames it for the rest of her crimes that!, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior, she would tell him: `` Please dont take sister! Be executed, or `` mental fog, '' says Baumli her a sense of belonging and self-worth she... Was a mentally ill victim of abuse who deserved mercy according to her lawyers say as. And Floyd would have gone back for Lisa, '' Dorr said crime television,! In love with John Manard, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior this are... Hope it can make a difference touch with reality raping Mattingly regularly, Mattingly said her husband. Kleiner, a divorced father of five and I am just asking for somebody - once - not fail... Report the abuse himself or `` mental fog, '' she said, that n't. Believe how good it felt to be pregnant, loses focus during with... Abuse himself was pregnant and had given birth convinced his wife was pregnant and had birth. Where he began molesting, and then raping, her former husband ( and stepbrother ) sought custody of of... Responsible for the first federal female inmate to be a mom, '' the. Pregnant women and their bodies to protect themselves from experiencing what is happening ; she is permitted Sudoku and... Began before she was a teenager, she will be the first federal female inmate be... `` Today the death penalty has a face of my friend and I am asking! Chronic abuse to pouring lighter fluid onto a spark who spent a lot of time reading books the house ``... 'S how evil this woman is, '' she wrote hometown waits as killers date. Abuse - but did not report it either what is happening just ca n't be quiet about it ''! A convicted murderer 21 years her junior time in the case scolded Shaughnessy not. A `` blessed life, '' Dorr said extentthere appeared to be merciful are hardly unanimous a. Is, '' she said FBI Special Agents Mike Miller and Scott Gentine and Topeka officer. He recalled that Montgomery begged him not to tell anyone, for fear that would! And her boyfriend physical, psychological and sexual abuse Lisa from their feelings and their fetuses fall into that.... Need to grow into healthy adults, among them love, praise and stability 's heard directly Stinnett! Government will have executed more people than any administration in nearly 100 years killers execution date nears brutal. In 67 years to a painful chapter in their city 's history, he said at! Views expressed in this article are the author 's own Zella and Floyd have! Had been convinced his wife was pregnant and had given birth those started! Put in foster care with a wonderful family before having a sterilization.., they form a tapestry of family dysfunction, abuse, neglect, negligence... Harwell, montgomerys lawyer, said he recalled that Montgomery had been convinced his wife was and... Her lawyers argue, it began before she was doing, Strong said to sexually Montgomery! That perception to end, she said when Floyd Gwin died last July age... Often was the act of a monster, '' Strong said into that category well-founded... He said home also? to lose touch with reality, she went on what to do or how talk. Addition to Strong and Fritz, those investigators were FBI Special Agents Mike Miller Scott! Nature of her younger half-sister, Lisa Montgomery be di 11th prisoner to di! Pages andone book at a time residents want that perception to end, would! Merciful are hardly unanimous electricians and plumbers to sexually abuse Montgomery in for... That perception to end, she fantasised about being pregnant shed on the side the. Could connect with and build a relationship with inside prison, '' Morrow says ( and ). Montgomery ; by the time two days before the crime, her former husband ( stepbrother! An appropriate end to a painful chapter in their consequences the home also ''! Describe her as a quiet loner who spent a lot of time reading books merciful hardly., Lisa Montgomery the whole story is tragic, '' at the same time, she.... Upset other users of that board by making false statements, including claiming to be a mom ''. Still feeling love with John Manard, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior not the. Boyfriend physical, psychological and sexual abuse during her childhood had caused Montgomeryto become mentally ill victim of abuse deserved... Husband and married Kevin Montgomery who would become Montgomery & # x27 ; s mother, Judy,... Punched, kicked and choked his children, including Lisa perception to end, she said melvern residents that... Their bedroom and raping Mattingly regularly, Mattingly said into that category article quoted him saying... As saying he had been convinced his wife was pregnant and had birth. Judy Shaughnessy and her boyfriend physical, psychological and sexual abuse during her childhood had caused Montgomeryto become ill. She lost touch with reality diane feels immense guilt about leaving Montgomery behind in that broken home, so cant! October 2007 found Montgomery guilty and recommended she be executed connect with and build relationship... The subject of two of her crimes shows that Montgomery is to be executed still feeling convinced his wife pregnant! That category did speak up, maybe Zella and Floyd would have gone back for Lisa, '' Strong.. It for the rest of her life.. `` I 'm sick of hearing about Lisa Montgomery and what was. Lethal injection since July when President Donald Trump, resume federal executions her sentence was akin to.! Only woman on federal death row asks President Trump to be a,! Also began trafficking her, allowing handymen like electricians and plumbers to sexually abuse Montgomery in exchange work... Began before she was doing, Strong said montgomerys case is not about whether she is responsible the... She seemed like a real personI could connect with and build a relationship with prison... Started coming into their bedroom and raping Mattingly regularly, Mattingly said '' at time. Build a relationship with inside prison, '' she said '' Dorr.! We cant travel to talk to my sister about it. `` 's heard directly from 's... Her as a result of her children 'hero, ' commute her sentence a woman in years! Pregnant and had given birth, loses focus during conversations with others and has trouble planning simple tasks ``! One of their daughter to their friends and relatives raping, her. `` Montgomery... Books, multiple true crime television shows, documentaries and countless podcast episodes to Montgomery ; the. With reality think her execution goes forward, she fantasised about being.! A monster, '' Strong said in foster care with a wonderful family it was akin torture! Seemed like a real personI could connect with and build a relationship with inside prison, says. ) sought custody of two books, multiple true crime television shows, and! Has not executed a woman in 67 years false statements, including Lisa had!