Murder in the Heartland Author:M. William Phelps AN UNIMAGINABLE CRIME. AN UNLIKELY PLACE. AN UNRELENTING KILLER. — On December 16, 2004, a Nodaway County, Missouri, 9-1-1 operator received a frantic call from the mother of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett. The eight-months-pregnant mom-to-be, Bobbie Jo, had been found lying on her family room floor bleeding profusely and barely breathing. Most d... more »isturbing of all, her baby was gone.
Only 187 miles away in Melvern, Kansas, Bobbie Jo’s killer, Lisa Montgomery, dressed the baby she’d brutally kidnapped in a Winnie-the-Pooh outfit and called her husband to say that she’d given birth to a baby girl she called Abigail. While televisions blared the nation’s first Amber Alert for an unborn child, Lisa proudly showed off "her" new baby at church and a local diner, duping many while arousing the suspicions of others. And that was only the beginning of one of the most unthinkable events in American history, one that shocked the nation and left two Midwestern communities reeling in the crime’s aftermath.
Now, investigative journalist and acclaimed author M. William Phelps delivers a definitive literary investigation of this compelling story, one that is as suspenseful as it is heartbreaking. Working with the exclusive cooperation of Lisa Montgomery’s ex-husband, Carl Boman, Lisa’s children and mother, law enforcement officials, friends, relatives, and neighbors, Phelps reveals what really happened that fateful day in December and traces the tortured history of sexual abuse, abandonment, and desperation that planted the seeds of a potential sociopath destined for "moral insanity." Here is the true story of the frantic search for a baby born under the most horrific conditions imaginable, of the lucky break that led to the killer, of Lisa’s family’s fears about her mental health, and of the shock waves that still linger in two small American towns that will never be the same again.
Like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Murder in the Heartland takes an unflinching look at an American tragedy, exploring its terrible trajectory with unparalleled courage, insight, and compassion.« less
Very good book. Sad story, but unlike the other book on this same crime, "Baby Be Mine", it doesnt have all the horrible details of the murder, and focuses more on the people involved.
This book was just ok, it focused in my opinion too much on the suspect's life and very little about the victims. At one point the author went from current day to flashbacks to the suspects childhood and marriages and divorces to her first husband in movies thats a interesting turn in books it just confuses the reader. Also there was alot of stories about the history of the town and things that didn't have to do with this case. Its written alot with the suspects children's help and not much of Bobbi Jo is written about, if you want a good book about this case go read Baby Be Mine.
The part about the actual murder was pretty gruesome, but i found the rest of the book pretty interesting!!!! I had to look up the outcome of the trial online, but it is supposed to be in the paperback version!!!!!
Lisa Montgomery took an alias before she took a woman's life and her baby. A habitual liar, Lisa had to find a child to prove that she had been pregnant...her husband and children believed it and she was running out of options. Phelps' book focuses on the people around Lisa, her husband and ex-husband, her children, her mother, to tell the story and try to explain why a woman might commit such a horrible crime.
Like many true crime stories set in the heartland, this story makes you wonder how pathological the seemingly normal people we interact with everyday really are.
A well-written book covering the Lisa Montgomery-Bobbie Jo Stinnett-Victoria Jo Stinnett murder-kidnapping case. Timely since Montgomery's trial is due to start later in 2007. Reads like "In Cold Blood."
I've read hundreds of true crime books, but this one is the most horrid of all. In the afterword M. William Phelps said he took some rather scathing reviews from some of Lisa Montgomery's allies that he didn't get the entire truth. Phelps said he asked anyone who had any information to get in touch with him when he was writing the book. Those that took issue with him did not do so.
However, it doesn't matter what happened in Lisa's life before she committed that horrid act .... she did what she did and no excuse(s) in the world can could ever be understood nor condoned. This was a well thought out premeditated act of murder, period. She got what she deserved with the death penalty.
As far as the author .... it seemed at times he was regurgitating information (as many true crime writers will do), but if you simply bypass that process the book is well written.
WOW! Unbelieveable what some depraved people are capable of. To pick a victim, kill her and perform a crude c-section is terrible. Worse is that she has 4 children already so it is not like she was one of those crazy barren women who scheme to do the same. (not that they are any more deserving of someone else's baby) I can't imagine how the family could cope with such a brutal crime.
*Spoiler alert* (kinda)
She was sentenced to the death penalty after the book was published.
