Funeral Held for Slain Pregnant Woman

Hundreds of mourners gathered Tuesday in this small northwestern Missouri farming community for the funeral of a young pregnant woman who was strangled and whose baby girl was cut from her womb.

The crowd filled the Price Funeral Home and overflowed into the entrance for the service for Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23.

Many mourners were unable to get into the service, and cars lined the streets on a bitterly cold day.

“I’ve known her since she was a baby,” said family friend Carl Montgomery. “She grew up into a beautiful swan.”

Stinnett’s mother found her eight-months-pregnant daughter in a pool of blood in her small home Thursday, the baby she was carrying missing.

Lisa M. Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan. -- a woman Stinnett knew from breeding and dog shows, and no relation to the family friend -- has been charged with kidnapping resulting in death.

Family and friends said Montgomery, arrested Friday, tried to pass off Stinnett’s baby as her own.

The child, who has been named Victoria Jo Stinnett, spent the weekend in a Topeka, Kan., hospital before going home Monday afternoon with her father, Zeb Stinnett, and another relative.

The Rev. Harold Hamon, who married the Stinnetts in spring 2003 at the Skidmore Christian Church, spoke at the funeral; burial followed at a cemetery in Skidmore.

Mourners, some crying and exchanging hugs, took turns letting each other get closer to the sanctuary.

One tearful mourner carried a dozen pink roses, but became so distraught she had to be taken outside.