Murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett

Montgomery was tried and found guilty in 2007. She was executed by lethal injection shortly after midnight on January 13, 2021, having exhausted the appeals process. Montgomery became the first female federal inmate since 1953 to be executed by the United States federal government, and the fourth overall.

Montgomery was executed by lethal injection on January 13, 2021, at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. When asked if she had any last words, she replied: "No." She was pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m. EST.

Experts who examined Montgomery after conviction concluded that by the time of her crime she had long been living with psychosis, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorders. She was said to be often disassociated from reality and to have permanent brain damage from numerous beatings at the hands of her parents and spouses. The case of Atkins v. Virginia ruled that executing individuals with intellectual disability violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution regarding cruel and unusual punishments. Given this ruling, it could be expected that Montgomery was ineligible for a death sentence. Very strong and undisputed evidence can lead to a withdrawal of the death sentence or a further enquiry into it. Montgomery was scheduled for execution on December 8, 2020, by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, but this was delayed following her attorneys contracting COVID-19. On December 23, 2020, Montgomery was given a new execution date of January 12, 2021. U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss found that "the director's order setting a new execution date while the Court's stay was in effect was 'not in accordance with law'", prohibiting the re-scheduling of the execution before January 1, 2022.

The case was described in author Diane Fanning's Baby Be Mine books, and M. William Phelps's Murder in the Heartland. The case featured in an episode of the true crime series Deadly Women titled "Fatal Obsession", in an episode of the true crime series Solved titled "Life and Death", and in the fifth episode of the documentary series No One Saw a Thing that aired on the Sundance Channel on August 29, 2019.

Duchardt's pseudocyesis defense, Montgomery's past trauma and separate diagnosis of mental illness were not fully revealed until after her conviction. This led critics including Guardian journalist David Rose to argue that Duchardt provided an incompetent legal defense for Montgomery. Fenner required Duchardt to be cross-examined in November 2016. Duchardt rejected all criticism and defended his conduct.

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. Only three other women have been executed by the U.S. federal government: Mary Surratt, by hanging in 1865; Ethel Rosenberg by electric chair in 1953; and Bonnie Heady by gas chamber, also in 1953. Montgomery's execution was followed a day later by Corey Johnson, and three days later by Dustin Higgs. They were the last three executions under the presidency of Donald Trump, occurring in a lame-duck period. All three were carried out by the United States federal government, each being controversial for a variety of reasons.

On March 19, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Montgomery's certiorari petition. Montgomery, who was registered for the Federal Bureau of Prisons under number 11072-031, was incarcerated at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where she remained until she was transferred to the site of her execution. For a long time, she was the only woman with a federal death sentence at Federal Medical Center, Carswell (FMC Carswell).

On October 22, 2007, jurors found Montgomery guilty, rejecting the defense claim that Montgomery was delusional. On October 26, the jury recommended the death sentence. Judge Gary A. Fenner formally sentenced Montgomery to death on April 4, 2008.

On December 16, 2004, Montgomery entered Stinnett's house and murdered her by strangulation. Montgomery then cut Stinnett's unborn child from her womb and fled the scene. There was no sign of forced entry; authorities believe that Montgomery, posing as customer "Darlene Fischer", had arranged to visit Stinnett's house on that day. It is known that Stinnett was expecting the arrival in Skidmore of prospective buyers for a terrier at about the time of her murder.

Members of the Nodaway-Holt High Class of 2000 have a yearly memorial donation drive for Stinnett.

Montgomery had four children before she underwent a tubal ligation in 1990. She falsely claimed to be pregnant several times after the procedure, according to both her first and second spouses.

Bobbie Jo Stinnett (December 4, 1981 – December 16, 2004) was an American 23-year-old pregnant woman who was murdered in Skidmore, Missouri in December 2004. The perpetrator, Lisa Marie Montgomery, then aged 36-years-old, strangled Stinnett to death and cut her fetus (eight months into gestation) from her womb. Montgomery was arrested in Kansas the next day and charged with kidnapping resulting in death – a federal crime. Stinnett's baby was safely recovered by authorities and returned to the father.

Bobbie Jo Stinnett was born on December 4, 1981 and graduated from Nodaway-Holt High School in Graham, Missouri, in 2000. Stinnett and her husband ran a dog-breeding business from their residence in Skidmore.

Lisa Marie Montgomery (February 27, 1968 – January 13, 2021) resided in Melvern, Kansas, at the time of the murder. Montgomery's mother's alcohol addiction led to Lisa being born with permanent brain damage. She was raised in a physically, emotionally, and sexually abusive home where she was allegedly raped by her stepfather and his friends, and beaten, from the age of 11. She sought mental escape through drinking alcohol. When Montgomery was 14, her mother discovered the abuse and reacted by threatening her daughter with a gun. Montgomery tried to escape by marrying at the age of 18, but both her first marriage and a second marriage resulted in further abuse.

Montgomery was charged with the federal offense of "kidnapping resulting in death", a crime established by the Federal Kidnapping Act of 1932, and described in Title 18 of the United States Code. If convicted, she faced a sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty.