", Strong said he arranged for that message to be shared with the four others, "because we were all a part of that.". This story was first published on 11 January - before Lisa Montgomery's execution on 13 January. She liked to take her finger and poke it hard into her chest, over and over in the same spot. Judy Shaughnessy had already raised two convicted felons at the time. I was thinking, shes still back there. When Shaughnessy eventually split from her second husband, she and Montgomery testified in divorce proceedings about the sexual assaults. Mattingly says looking back to the moment life changed for her as an eight-year-old, she feels guilty that when the social workers came for her, she didn't tell them what was going on in that house. After their biological father left the home, Mattingly says they were left alone with Shaughnessy's boyfriends, at least one of whom started raping Mattingly. The girls father was often away from the house for long periods, and Shaughnessy would have other men over. Emotions ran high in 2007 as Montgomery was tried in federal court for kidnapping resulting in death. And that would be from across a courtroom, where lawyers for the US government were trying to persuade a jury to sentence Montgomery to death. Montgomery was repeatedly molested by her stepdad Jack Kleiner, starting at . 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. When Floyd Gwin died last July at age 81, Mattingly was listed among the survivors in his obituary. Mattingly, Montgomerys sister, is planning on visiting her next week. "We knew we were walking into the killer's house.". The couple had three children in rapid succession. The question is, should she be put to death for it? People confuse punishment with culpability, she went on. Babcock noted that while at least a dozen other women across the U.S. have committed a similar crime in the past 20 years killing a pregnant woman to kidnap her baby Montgomery was the only one sentenced to death. Montgomerys father, John Patterson, a 25-year-old in the military, was also an alcoholic. "And Lisa deserves to pay.". More: Lisa Montgomery's execution, delayed by attorneys' COVID-19 cases, rescheduled for Jan. 12. Dorr's marriage was failing when she fell in love with John Manard, a convicted murderer 21 years her junior. It was clear that she was traumatized, that she was somewhere else, he said. She missed the funeral because of it. Babies born naturally tend to have misshapen heads initially because of the pressure experienced as they go through the birth canal, he said. Judy drank throughout her pregnancy with Lisa and caused her to be born with brain damage. For the rest of her life.. It would be 34 years before the half-sisters would see each other again. Residents of Melvern, where Montgomery lived, have beendivided about whether she shouldpay for her crimes with her life, said Joe Warner, who was mayor of Melvern at the time of the murder. Back home, the couple announced the birth of their daughter to their friends and relatives. After five hours of deliberation, the jury found Montgomery guilty. Lisa Montgomery strangle one pregnant woman for Missouri before cutting and kidnapping her baby in 2004. . Montgomery's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, told The . It has been the subject of two books, multiple true crime television shows, documentaries and countless podcast episodes. Montgomery described feeling that she was unsure whether her environment was real, and confided that she used a strategy to ground herself in reality: She would look at a tree out the window and tell herself that the tree was real if she could see it. Lisa Montgomery, who endured years of sexual and physical abuse, murdered an expectant mother and took the baby. Around this time, she repeatedly claimed to be pregnant again, although she had undergone sterilisation after her fourth baby was born. Mrs. I didn't know what to do or how to talk to my sister about it.". "That sent a chill up my spine," Strong said. Two other inmates are scheduled to die at Terre Haute prison before Mr Trump's presidency ends. 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. It turns out that it only takes a few people to save a child's life: being loved by my foster parents saved mine. A lifetime of sexual torture causes her to lose touch with reality. 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. Bobbie Jo's mother and husband have have not spoken publicly in many years. Who was the last woman executed by the US government? She has always accepted responsibility. "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. Several high-profile figures had appealed for clemency in Brandon's case but Mr Trump did not heed those calls. "There was so much pressure on her at that point," says Henry. That could change in Terre Haute. She has writtenopinion piecespublished in Elle and Newsweek. After playing with the dogs in the backyard that day, Montgomery strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, who was pregnant, and cut open her abdomen to remove her 8-month-old fetus. All the while, Lisa's mother was being paid to let strange men rape Lisa. Thats happened since Montgomery's childhood, when theterror she experienced while being raped forced her to retreat emotionally into an imaginary house,where everything is fine, Henry said. 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. 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. JUDY SHAUGHNESSY OBITUARY Judy K. Shaughnessy Judy K. Shaughnessy, 66, Topeka, formerly of Lyndon, entered into the kingdom of heaven Saturday, November 2, 2013 at Midland Hospice House. In recommending execution, the jury spelled out six aggravating factors supporting capital punishment. She was quiet and kind, they say. 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. View the profiles of people named Judy Shaughnessy. She faked pregnancies several times during her marriages to Carl Boman and Kevin Montgomery, court records say. 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. "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. Court records describe her as a quiet loner who spent a lot of time reading books. Tommy Kleiner and Montgomery have stayed in touch. I support my wife and her request for clemency, but because I am sick with COVID and am caring for my parents who are also sick with COVID, I ask the media to respect our need for rest and privacy," he said. Montgomery lived during her childhood in Washington, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, California and Texas. 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. And then at the end, she was broken.". We cant travel to talk to witnesses or to prepare experts at this point, Harwell, Montgomerys lawyer, said. They had been called in as part of the Northwest Missouri Major Case Squad, which was workingwith the FBI to identify Stinnett's killer and find the missing child. It is extremely rare for women to be sentenced to death, said Sandra Babcock, faculty director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide and an expert on women and the death penalty. But my hope is President Trump will stop Lisa's execution and commute her sentence to life in prison. Patterson and Shaughnessy divorced in 1971, and Shaughnessy took custody of the girls. 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. They were also physically violent. The nature and circumstances of Montgomerys crime show she had lost touch with reality, says her half-sister, Diane Mattingly. The only woman on federal death row, Montgomery is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 8 at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. She credits this moment for her "fairly normal" life - a house on eight peaceful acres, a loving relationship with her children, nearly two decades at a job working for the state of Kentucky. Bobbie Jo Stinnetts hometown waits as killers execution date nears. As Strong crossed the threshold, hesaw a TV set airing an Amber Alert about the abduction of Stinnett's baby. The clemency process enables convicted criminals to request mercy and ask the nation's executive branch to step in, Henry said. 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. 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. The infant found later that day to weigh 5 pounds, 11 ounces was "very still" and didn't cry, which concerned Strong. "She was really the first one to have a decent marriage, you know, and I guess looking at Bobbie Jo was like, what your dreams were when you were younger.". "I looked to my right and there was Lisa Montgomery on the sofa, holding the baby," he said. She does not deserve to die. Carl Boman wasn't the father of one of the girls, according to court records, which say Montgomery was sterilized after the last birth in 1990. One of those men started coming into their bedroom and raping Mattingly regularly, Mattingly said. Stinnett lived with her husband, Zeb, in Skidmore, Mo., a town near the state's northwest corner with fewerthan 300 people today. Melvern residents want that perception to end, she said. When Lisa Montgomery murdered pregnant Bobbie Jo Stinnett and ripped her unborn baby from her womb, the whole world reeled in horror. Montgomery was left behind with her mother. Until July 2020, there had been no federal executions for 17 years. Her lawyers had argued she was a mentally ill victim of abuse who. He stressed that the juryheard testimony about her mental illness and her history of being abused, yet still unanimously recommended her execution. 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 Diane Mattingly, there is one moment from her childhood for which she feels both enormous gratitude and guilt. At one point, one of Montgomery's brothers found a home movie that showed Montgomery's husband raping and beating her. Montgomery claimed to live in northwest Missouri. Bobbie's family deserves her," says Meagan Morrow, a high school classmate of Stinnett's. . She is the only woman on federal death row. Since they began, the federal government has executed seven people. "It was pretty awful.". As her attorneys fight for her life, Montgomery has at times seemed out of touch with reality,Henry said:Hermental illness causesher to disconnectwhen life becomes too terrible to endure. She said it was over and over, one man right after the other, and went on for hours, her cousin said in a sworn statement. Montgomery told Stinnett that she was also expecting, and the pair shared pregnancy stories. 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. Ramachandran said Montgomery told him she didn't remember killing Stinnett or cutting the baby out of her body. Diane Mattingly has been speaking publicly for the first time in the hope it can make a difference. 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. According to sworn statements from her family, her mental health declined rapidly after that. 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. The judge reached no conclusion aboutwhether sexual activity occurred but said he considered it "inexcusable" that Shaughnessy didn't report the situation to authorities and get counseling for Montgomery. 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. As a result of her sexual torture, Lisa began to dissociate. Nobody has said that Lisa should never have been punished. 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. Her lawyers had argued she was a mentally ill victim of abuse who. Lisa told me that when these men raped her, she would go away in her mind and try not to be present, the brother said in a court declaration. "Judy was manipulative and - I hate to use this word, but - evil. By multiple accounts, Kleiner was an erratic, violent man who beat the kids and his wife regularly. 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. Lisa Montgomery had little if any chance in life. When she called her attorneys that day, she could hardly speak. As one family story goes, Montgomerys first words as a toddler were, dont spank me.. . That could change in Terre Haute. She was broken by people who were supposed to be her caregivers. She is permitted Sudoku puzzles and coloring pages andone book at a time. Lisa Montgomery, a federal prisoner, is now slated to be executed on Jan. 12. Kleiner built a makeshift shed on the side of the trailer for Montgomery, where he began molesting, and then raping, her. Montgomery and Carl Boman divorced, remarried and divorced again in 1998. 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. 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 baby, who was uninjured, was returned to her father. 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. They have been joined by a chorus of supportive voices from the legal field, including 41 former and current prosecutors, as well as human rights entities like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 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. However, in the tiny town of Skidmore, Missouri, where the crime was committed, there is little sympathy for that argument. And then there is the life that Montgomery and her siblings inhabited, one of domestic violence, dysfunction, humiliation, fear and pain. Many of the residents of Skidmore cite the details of the crime, and the amount of planning that went into it, as evidence that Montgomery was a calculating killer. Henry says Montgomery's original legal defence after she was arrested and charged with murder was woefully inadequate, and presented few of the details about her abuse, trauma and mental illness. Judy was an alcoholic with mental illness who married six times over the course of her life. In Montgomerys early childhood, her older sister, Diane, suffered the worst of the violence. 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