Читать книгу Murder In The Heartland - M. William Phelps - Страница 20

Two key factors would emerge later regarding Lisa Montgomery’s visit to Bobbie Jo’s home under the subterfuge of buying one of her rat terrier puppies: one, Lisa had made a promise to herself she wasn’t leaving Bobbie Jo’s house without her baby; two, that Bobbie Jo wasn’t going to stop her.

The blood–soaked wood-grain floors left behind in the den of Bobbie Jo and Zeb’s house were an indication of the horror that took place in Skidmore that afternoon. The house Bobbie Jo and Zeb rented had a tiny living room off to the right side as soon as you walked in, which was directly across from their bedroom. If you walked toward the back of the house, there was a kitchen with a small dining room attached to it, which led into the den on the left. Bobbie Jo had fixed up this room—where, law enforcement later said, she and Lisa ended up—for her dogs. It had two black metal dog cages on the floor and an old dresser in the corner, where Bobbie groomed the dogs.

Bobbie Jo and Lisa must have talked for a time about rat terriers. They’d had several discussions online about the canines and here they were now face-to-face, brought together—albeit by a lie—because of the dogs.

Being eight months pregnant, Bobbie Jo was, of course, clearly showing. Photographs from the time prove she wore her extra weight well and had a lovely expectant-mother glow.

Bobbie Jo was under the impression that Lisa, too, was in the final stages of pregnancy. Lisa had told Bobbie Jo via e-mail and instant messages that she was carrying twins. Still, why wasn’t Lisa showing? She wasn’t overweight, nor was she trying to hide the fact that she wasn’t pregnant. Wasn’t she worried about what Bobbie Jo might say when they met in person?

Crime-scene photographs give clues as to what happened. In those photographs, blood is spread from one end of the room to the other; heel marks and palm prints were fused with several units of blood and smudged all over, as if a child had gone wild on the floor with red finger paint, proving there was movement in the room after Bobbie Jo had been cut open. Moreover, authorities would later discover evidence on Lisa Montgomery’s personal computer proving she had downloaded an Internet video of how to perform a Caesarean section.

“They struggled,” said one official. “You can see, from the photographs, that Bobbie Jo didn’t die immediately. Or you wouldn’t have blood or blood clots spread all over the room like it was.”

Because of the blood spread all over the floor, law enforcement believed there had been a violent struggle for life and death. Bobbie Jo fought for her child. That much was clear.

“What [happened] was that she [Lisa] took a quarter-inch rope and choked Bobbie Jo out with it.”

The theory was that Lisa talked Bobbie Jo into bending down to open one of the dog cages on the floor, so she could pick up a terrier to show it to Lisa. The position made her vulnerable because she had to turn her back to Lisa while she was doing it.

“When Bobbie Jo bent over, Lisa came up from behind and choked her out. So she [Bobbie Jo] passes out, and Lisa starts cutting her open with a four-inch serrated paring knife she brought from her home.”

Unlike the way it plays out in movies, choking a human being to death is not easy. It takes several minutes to cut off someone’s oxygen enough to cause death. Yet, within a matter of seconds, the person being choked loses consciousness—as Bobbie Jo did. If the person doing the choking doesn’t continue, the victim will regain consciousness at some point.

“After Bobbie Jo passed out, Lisa started cutting her open and…that’s when Bobbie Jo came back to life.”

Blood clots scattered around the floor in different areas of the room provide clues to a struggle that resulted after Bobbie Jo regained consciousness. While bleeding profusely from her abdomen, she fought for her and her child’s lives.

“Well, the struggle was then back on…. Then Lisa managed to get Bobbie Jo choked out for a second time. By then, she had lost enough blood and was being choked to where she…well…she died.”

During the fight for life and death, Bobbie Jo grabbed her assailant’s hair and ended up with strands of it in both her hands. DNA testing later proved the hair to be Lisa Montgomery’s.

Graphic doesn’t even begin to describe the scene in Bobbie Jo’s den when Becky Harper decided to walk over to the house and find out why Bobbie Jo wasn’t answering her telephone.