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Pregnant Woman Was Killed and Baby Was Taken from Womb in 2004 — as Killer's Execution Is Scheduled

Bobbie Jo Stinnett

A Kansas woman convicted of killing an expectant mother after cutting the woman's fetus from her womb to claim it as her own has been scheduled to die by lethal injection.

The murder, according to prosecutors, unfolded after Lisa Montgomery proposed to drive to Bobbi Jo Stinnett's home in Missouri to pick up a puppy in 2004.

In reality, Montgomery had planned the attack on the Missouri woman, with the intent to cut out Stinnett's eight-month-old fetus with a knife and return to Kansas with the child.

In 2007, Montgomery was convicted by a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri of federal kidnapping resulting in death. Jurors unanimously recommended a death sentence.

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The judge agreed. And on Friday, Montgomery was scheduled by the U.S. Justice Department to be the first female put to death by the U.S. government in more than six decades, reports USA Today.

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Her execution by lethal injection is set for Dec. 8 at U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute in Indiana.

According to the Justice Department, Montgomery attacked and strangled Stinnett in Stinnett's home until the victim lost consciousness.

With a kitchen knife, Montgomery then cut into Stinnett’s abdomen, causing the victim to regain consciousness.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPAR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstoc Lisa Montgomery

During the resulting struggle, Montgomery strangled Stinnett to death, prosecutors said.

Montgomery removed the baby from Stinnett’s body, took it with her back to Kansas, and attempted to pass it off as her own.

Montgomery later confessed to murdering Stinnett and abducting the child.

Montgomery's death was scheduled after her conviction and sentence were upheld on appeal.