Lisa Montgomery and the Murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett

Did a Lifetime of Torture and Abuse Lead Lisa Montgomery to Slaughter Bobbie Jo Stinnett and Steal Her Unborn Child or Was Lisa Just Evil?  

Bobbie Jo Stinnett (photo source)

Bobbie Jo 

In December of 2004, Skidmore, Missouri was a quiet farm town south of Omaha and north of Kansas City, with its less than 300 residents working mostly in farming and in nearby factories.  Throughout the twentieth century, Skidmore saw half its population depart for the draw of bigger, more exciting cities.  The only "excitement" that Skidmore could boast was the infamous 1982 murder of Ken Rex McElroy, a town bully who had been shot to death in broad daylight by an unknown number of Skidmore residents.

Thursday, December 16 began like any other for Zeb and Bobbie Jo Stinnett.  The couple, childhood sweethearts, had recently celebrated two important dates:  their first wedding anniversary and Bobbie Jo's twenty-third birthday.  They had an even greater event to look forward to:  Bobbie Jo was expecting their first child in January and the two were talking of upgrading from their current small, cottage-style home to a larger one to accommodate their growing family.

Zeb and Bobbie Jo bred rat terriers from their Skidmore home, a business called Happy Haven Farms, and supplemented their income by working at the Kawasaki Motors plant in nearby Maryville.   On this Thursday, Zeb left to go to work in Marysville while Bobbie Jo, who had a litter of puppies for sale, prepared to meet a prospective buyer.  A woman named Darlene Fischer had contacted her the day before through instant message on a rat terrier enthusiast chat board called Ratter Chatter.  She said she was from Fairfax, about 25 minutes from Skidmore, and anxious to purchase a pup as a Christmas gift for her kids.  The two women agreed that Fischer could drop by the following day and take a look at the Stinnetts' litter.  

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, Bobbie Jo's mother, Becky Harper, called and Bobbie Jo confirmed that she would give Becky a ride home from work around 3:30.  Becky would have no way of knowing this would be the last time she would talk to her daughter.      

As 3:30 came and went, Becky Harper was puzzled that her daughter had not arrived to pick her up and so she walked the two blocks to the Stinnett home.  She found the front door open and so she went inside, calling Bobbie Jo's name.  When she got to the dining room, she was greeted by the horrific sight of her daughter lying on the floor and covered in blood.  To Becky, as she told the 911 operator, it appeared as though her daughter's stomach had simply exploded.  There was no sign of the baby Bobbie Jo had been carrying.  

Although the paramedics arrived quickly to the Stinnett home, they were unable to save Bobbie Jo.  She was pronounced dead at 4:27 p.m.   

(photo source)

The Investigation

The investigation into who had killed Bobbie Jo Stinnett began almost immediately.  Police knocked on doors throughout Skidmore, searching out any potential witnesses or residents who might have seen something unusual or off.  One mentioned seeing a dirty, red car parked in the Stinnetts' driveway around 2:30 p.m. and it stuck out because they had never seen it before.   

Blonde hairs had been found clutched in Bobbie Jo's hand, a sign that she had fought her attacker.  Although it would be determined that she had been strangled with a cord, that had not killed her.  Blood found on the bottoms of her feet suggested that after her killer had cut into her womb with a knife, Bobbie Jo had regained consciousness and stood up, even briefly, in an attempt to save herself and her unborn child.  

The child, doctors believed, would likely be alive, given that he or she had been carried to almost full term, but probably small.  Their greatest worry was that the infant would be in distress from his or her traumatic birth.

It was Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey who insisted and got an AMBER alert issued for the kidnapped Stinnett newborn shortly after midnight.  He was met with much resistance as an AMBER alert for a newly born, unseen infant had never before been issued.  They didn't know whether Bobbie Jo's child was a boy or girl or what he or she looked like.   

Zeb and Bobbie Jo (photo source)

  

Zeb Stinnett's whereabouts were routinely verified.  His solid alibi and genuine grief over his wife's brutal death had him quickly dismissed as a suspect.  Authorities then focused on Darlene Fischer, whom Bobbie Jo had mentioned to both her husband and her mother.  At the same time, another member of the Ratter Chatter forum saw the messages between Bobbie Jo and Darlene Fischer on December 15, the day before Bobbie Jo was killed, and Darlene Fischer's email address led her to contact the FBI.  The FBI did their own investigation into the emails between Bobbie Jo and Fischer and found that there was no Darlene Fischer from Fairfax, Missouri.  Their computer forensic analysis was able to trace the emails to a modem hooked into a telephone line in Melvern, Kansas.  The line belonged to Kevin and Lisa Montgomery.

On December 17, Kevin and Lisa Montgomery were at the Whistle Stop Café in Melvern showing off their newborn daughter, Abigail.  Thirty-six year old Lisa had been shopping in Topeka the day before, she told friends and family, when she went into labor and was taken to a birthing center where she delivered the baby girl.  She had then called Kevin, who, along with his two teenage children, drove to Topeka, picking her and the baby up.  The baby was small but she otherwise appeared healthy.

When Kevin and Lisa left the Whistle Stop Café, they had no way of knowing that FBI agents were parked outside their home on South Adams Road.  The agents had learned, just before pulling up to the house, that the last email Bobbie Jo had received had come from the Montgomery home.   The agents watched as the Montgomerys pulled up in a dirty red Toyota Corolla, Lisa holding the newborn baby.  After Kevin and Lisa went inside the house, they walked up the driveway and were greeted by many rat terriers.  Kevin answered the knock at the front door; Lisa was on the sofa, still holding the infant, and watching an AMBER alert for the Stinnett baby on the television.

Sergeant Investigator Randy Strong explained to the couple that he was investigating Bobbie Jo Stinnett's murder and asked about the baby.  Lisa explained how she had given birth the day before at the birthing center in Topeka; she asked Kevin to retrieve her discharge papers from his truck.  He returned empty-handed, stating that he couldn't find them.   While waiting, Strong noticed that there was dried blood and tissue around Lisa's fingernails.  DNA testing would later show it to be from Bobbie Jo Stinnett.  

SI Strong asked to speak to Lisa outside the house and she agreed, giving the baby to a law enforcement officer.  Once outside, Lisa told Strong that her family was suffering with financial problems and unbeknownst to Kevin, she had given birth at home with two friends assisting her.  When pressed for names of the friends, Lisa said they weren't actually in the house with her but assisted over the phone.  She said she had given birth in the kitchen and disposed of the placenta in a nearby creek.  It was at that point that Lisa requested the interview continue at the nearby sheriff's office.

After arriving at the sheriff's office, Lisa broke down and confessed to having strangled the baby's mother, cutting the baby from the womb, and then kidnapping the infant.  According to Lisa, she arrived at the Stinnett home around 12:30 in the afternoon, armed with a sharp kitchen knife and white cord.  She and Bobbie Jo had played with the puppies outside until Becky Harper had called around 2:15 or 2:30.  After Bobbie Jo hung up the phone, Lisa attacked her, strangling her with the cord.  When Lisa had begun cutting the baby out, Bobbie Jo had regained consciousness and the result was a struggle.  Lisa strangled her a second time and removed the baby from her body.  

Lisa Montgomery was arrested and charged with the federal offense of kidnapping resulting in death.  Agents did not believe that Kevin was aware of what his wife did, nor had anything to do with the crime.  Kevin himself was shocked, so convinced was he that his wife had been pregnant and that the baby he had held proudly was his.  

SI Strong, a former paramedic, had noticed that the baby girl, only 5 pounds, 11 ounces, had been very still and quiet in the Montgomery home.  He also considered the baby's head to be unusually round.  She was taken to a hospital to be checked out, where although small, she was indeed healthy.  Her round head came from the lack of pressure as she did not pass through the birth canal.  

Bobbie Jo is laid to rest (photo source)

On December 21, a bitterly cold day in Skidmore, Bobbie Jo Stinnett was laid to rest at Hillcrest Cemetery.  More than 400 mourners turned up to pay their final respects to her.  The next day, the baby was discharged from the hospital and returned to her father.  Zeb named her Victoria Jo and said she was "a miracle." 

Lisa as a child (photo source)

All About Lisa

Lisa was born prematurely in February of 1968 to an alcohol-addicted mother named Judy.  Her early birth, along with an alcoholic mother, contributed to what was later diagnosed as permanent brain damage.  Lisa's father also suffered with mental illness and the family lived in poverty.  The only bright spot in her world, it seemed, was Lisa's older half-sister, Diane, who was four at the time Lisa entered the world, and her younger half-sister Patty, who was born when Lisa was two and Diane was six.  

Lisa's father abandoned the family when Lisa was very small, leaving her and Diane (who was his biological daughter with another woman) to endure Judy's negligence and violence; she beat her children with belts, cords, and hangers and punished them with cold showers and forced feeding of raw onions.  If the infant and toddler Lisa didn't eat every bit of food given to her, Judy would leave her strapped into her high chair for hours.  Reportedly, Lisa's first words were "Don't spank me.  It hurts."    As she grew, Lisa would have her mouth duct-taped shut when Judy decided she didn't want to hear her child speaking.  In one incident, Judy punished Lisa and Diane by beating the family dog to death in front of them.  In another, Lisa was encouraged and forced to hit Patty with a board until the little girl bled.   

Throughout Lisa's childhood, and in between her six marriages, Judy had multiple relationships.  During this period, she would often leave her daughters with a male babysitter while she went out barhopping.  Lisa, only three at the time, would later recall lying next to Diane, who was then seven, in their bed while the babysitter raped Diane in what would, sadly, become a regular occurrence when he was in the house.  Judy either didn't know or didn't care; she had taken to punishing Diane by stripping her naked and then locking her outside.  

Social services was notified and they took Diane away, putting her into a foster home, where she would be safe and would flourish.  Unfortunately, Lisa was left behind.  Years later, Diane, as an adult, would bemoan that, as a child, she had never spoken up to either social services or her foster family about the full extent of the abuse and the rape she had suffered, as well as to what abuse Lisa had also endured.  

Without Diane in the home, all of Judy's abusive rages turned to Lisa.  Worse was when Judy married a man by the name of Jack.  Jack was a mean drunk who would often beat, punch, kick and choke not only Judy but Lisa as well.  He took it a step further with Lisa, making her remove all her clothing before he would beat her.  When Lisa was 11, Jack began raping her, with the assaults occurring once or twice a week for the next four years.  He went so far as to build a room for Lisa on the side of a trailer he had moved the family into, deep in the woods of Oklahoma (Lisa was moved 17 times during the first 14 years of her life).  This "special" room had a separate entrance so that he could come and go as he pleased as well as a hole in the closet so he could watch her.  When Lisa resisted the rapes, he would either attempt to smother her with a pillow or smash her head into the concrete floor.  In later years, an MRI would show that one of the times Jack had bashed her head into the floor caused a traumatic brain injury.

On another occasion, Judy walked into the room while Jack was raping Lisa.  Judy grabbed a gun and rather than confronting Jack, held the firearm to Lisa's head, screaming that Lisa had betrayed her.

Eventually, Lisa's stepfather began inviting friends over to the trailer to gang rape her, assaults that often ended with the men urinating on her.  This was ostensibly done with Judy's consent, as she would sell Lisa out to the local plumber or electrician in exchange for whatever work needed to be done on the trailer and to male friends who were willing to pay Judy for time with Lisa.   Judy told Lisa that she had to "pay" for her room and for the new plumbing being installed by submitting to oral, vaginal and anal rape.  That was when Lisa began drinking wine as a means of coping.

Lisa at the time the rapes began (photo source)

At school, it was noticed that Lisa was dirty, wore ill-fitting and obviously used, hand-me-down clothing.  She would often space out and lose her train of thought.  It wasn't uncommon for her to speak of herself in the third person.  Her teachers knew there were problems at home but had no idea how serious and horrific they were.  Her grades rapidly declined and she was placed into a special needs class.  Although the school administration wisely suspected abuse, they apparently took no steps on Lisa's behalf.  

Judy and Jack eventually divorced in 1985, with Lisa testifying about the abuse and rapes she routinely suffered.  The judge in the divorce case scolded Judy for neglecting to report the abuse her daughter had suffered but then did not report it himself even though the statute of limitations had not run out.  Lisa was allowed to return back home with Judy, who continued to abuse her.   (Jack would tell a reporter in 2005 that he never touched Lisa and that the entire thing was made up by Judy to support her divorce action.  He died in 2009; Judy died in 2013.)

Lisa told a male cousin of hers about the abuse she was suffering at Judy's hands and the men her mother routinely brought around who would rape Lisa, one after the other, as well as beat her.  He was horrified and disgusted but he too told no one and did nothing.  Like so many others, in later years he would speak of the regret of staying quiet and wonder if things would have turned out differently if he had only spoken out.

Lisa as a bride (photo source)

 When she was seventeen, Lisa took an Air Force summer program that   she excelled in and decided she wanted to apply to enlist, believing not   only that enlistment would get her out of her mother's house but the   strictly regimented lifestyle would be good for her.  It was not to be.     Shortly after her divorce from Jack, Judy married a man by the name of   Richard Boman.  Boman's son Carl either got Lisa pregnant and/or Judy   instigated an engagement but by August of 1986, when Lisa was 18 and   shortly after graduating from high school, she and Carl were married.     Her new married life mirrored her life up to that point:  Carl was abusive  and would beat and rape Lisa, filming it, along with her cries of pain, so that he could view it later.  Lisa's half-brother Teddy Kleiner later gave a sworn statement attesting that he had viewed a homemade video made by Carl Boman of Lisa being beaten and then raped.  Kleiner said that at the time he had no idea what to do or how to approach Lisa about the video and so did nothing at the time.  (In 2019, Teddy Kleiner was shot to death in Topeka in a still-unsolved homicide.) 

Lisa and Boman lived in abject poverty, with their home missing walls and floors, had no running water or plumbing, with loose wires and devoid of furniture.  Lisa gave birth to four children during the marriage; the first was born in January of 1987, with three following over the next three years.  Due to the lack of beds, the children had to sleep on the floor.  In 1990, following the birth of her fourth child, Lisa underwent a tubal ligation, which she said was forced upon her by Boman and Judy.  About 12 weeks after the sterilization, a hysterosalpingo-foam sonogram was performed on Lisa, which verified the sterilization was successful and she would no longer be able to have children.

Despite her mental and emotional issues that included being emotionally absent at times throughout her children's childhoods, Lisa was never abusive to them although her parental fitness was called into question when her young children were seen running naked in the yard and one of her daughters, not quite three years old, ingested a bottle of Tylenol.

In 1994, while separated from Carl Boman, Lisa had an affair and claimed that it resulted in pregnancy.  She and Boman would divorce, reconcile and remarry and then divorce for a second and final time in 1998.    

In 1999, Lisa moved to Melvern, Kansas, a tiny town roughly 40 miles south of Topeka.  Less than 500 residents called Melvern home, among them a divorced electrician named Kevin Montgomery whom she soon began dating.  

Before their marriage in 2000, Lisa informed Kevin she was pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.  Kevin gave her the money for the procedure and neither spoke of that alleged pregnancy again.  Two years later, now married, Lisa told Kevin she was again pregnant but she would not allow him to attend what she said were prenatal visits with her doctor; that doctor would later testify that despite Lisa's claims, he treated her for a cold and for ankle pain.  When the supposed due date came and went, Lisa told Kevin that the baby had died and she had donated its body to science.  

In February of 2004, Lisa turned 36 years old.  By that time, she had moved 61 times in her life. 

April 2004.  Bobbie Jo and Zeb are on the far right; Lisa is second from the left
(photo source)

In April of 2004, Lisa met Bobbie Jo Stinnett at a dog show in Abilene, Kansas.  Both women were breeders of rat terriers and both were members of the Ratter Chatter online forum.  Bobbie Jo was known to be a sweet and caring person and so when she shared news of her pregnancy to the forum group, all were happy for her.  During that same spring, Lisa too began to tell friends and family that she was pregnant and she too shared the happy news with the online Ratter Chatter group, claiming she was due in December, a month ahead of Bobbie Jo.   She and Bobbie Jo exchanged messages about pregnancy cravings, maternity wear and baby names.  Bobbie Jo had no idea that it was impossible for Lisa to conceive.  

Lisa's husband Kevin and her children also had no idea that she wasn't truly pregnant.  She wore maternity clothing, appeared to gain weight and have other pregnancy-related effects and symptoms.   

In the fall of 2004, as both the Stinnett and Montgomery households were preparing for the upcoming arrival of a baby, Lisa's first husband, Carl Boman, began legal proceedings to get custody of their two minor children who lived with Lisa and Kevin.  He and his current wife emailed Lisa, saying they knew she could not possibly be pregnant and they were going to expose her lies and use them against her in Boman's quest for custody.  Lisa asserted that she would prove them both wrong.

On December 10, 2004, six days before Bobbie Jo Stinnett's cruel end and Victoria Jo Stinnett's violent and premature delivery, Carl Boman filed a motion for change of custody of the two minor children. 

(photo source)

Trial

After the initial indictment against Lisa Montgomery was filed for kidnapping resulting in death, statutory aggregating factors were included that mentioned Bobbie Jo's death as being especially cruel, heinous and depraved and involved serious physical abuse against Bobbie Jo.  As  a result, the government noted its intent to seek the death penalty against Lisa.  

The first motion Lisa's legal team filed was to attempt to prohibit the sentence of death being an option; she said there was no proof that the kidnapping of a person resulted in Bobbie Jo's death.  That motion was denied.

The defense then filed its notice of its intent to assert insanity due to mental disease or defect.  The two medical doctors that the defense engaged diagnosed Lisa with depression, borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and pseudocyesis (false pregnancy).  The government brought their own expert in, Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist well known for testifying in many high profile cases.  Dr. Dietz agreed that Lisa suffered with depression, borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder but disagreed on the diagnosis of pseudocyesis.   In turn, the defense had Lisa submit to an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and a PET (positron emission tomography).  Following two days of expert testimony from both sides, the court found that the MRI did not show any abnormalities, although the PET scan indicated abnormalities on the somatomotor region of Lisa's brain; such abnormalities were indicative of pseudocyesis. 

During her sessions with her experts and interviews with the government, Lisa claimed that her half-brother Tommy had accompanied her to the Stinnett home on December 16, 2004.  Her attorneys arranged for her to undergo a polygraph examination in which the operator found that Lisa's statements "were not indicative of deception."   Despite this, the court granted the government's motion to exclude any evidence regarding the polygraph examination.  (Tommy was later found to have a solid alibi during the hours that Bobbie Jo Stinnett was murdered; he had been with his parole officer.)  

The defense took another hit when, before opening statements were made, the court ruled that testimony on Lisa's PET scan and its analysis would be excluded as it believed the evidence would have minimal impact in the case and that the findings could be indicative of many disorders, including pseudocyesis. 

Lisa's defense team was primarily male and one of her attorneys, Dave Owen, had never before defended a capital case.  Some of the experts hired by the defense suggested that Judy Clarke be appointed to help represent Lisa.  Clarke was a seasoned defense attorney who had experience working with victims of abuse and trauma.  While Lisa worked well with Clarke, the other attorneys did not and began actively working to get her off the case.  Even the chief investigator made comments along the line that he was "not going to take any orders from any damn woman."   Without informing Clarke or Lisa, Owen asked the judge to remove Clarke from the case, claiming there was "friction" between Clarke and the rest of the defense team and that Clarke was "obstructive," "abusive," and "non-productive."  Without any input from Clarke, or giving her a chance to speak for herself, the judge removed her from the case and ordered that all contact between Lisa and Clarke be cut off.  The forced departure of Clarke left Lisa with insomnia, an inability to eat, uncontrolled crying and, reportedly, suicidal.   

Trial testimony would stretch for eleven days, during which a defense expert stated that Lisa suffered from severe pseudocyesis delusion and was in a disassociative state when she murdered Bobbie Jo Stinnett and stole her baby.  It was this doctor's belief that Lisa's childhood sexual abuse and resulting post-traumatic stress disorder that predisposed her to pseudocyesis.  He cited Lisa buying maternity clothing, a home birthing kit and items for a baby nursery as facts consistent with pseudocyesis.

Dr. Dietz testified that in his opinion, Lisa did not suffer with pseudocyesis, as evidenced by her knowledge that she had undergone sterilization (despite her claims it had been reversed).  He did not think that she truly believed she were pregnant.  The government presented a September 2004 insurance application that Lisa had filled out as evidence; she had indicated she was not pregnant on that form.   The jury was also told of the time that Lisa informed Kevin she had had a stillborn baby and donated the infant's body to science.  Then, she had gone so far as to forge a letter from a research institution as "proof" she had indeed given birth and had donated the infant's body.   They also introduced internet searches Lisa had conducted before killing Bobbie Jo on how to perform a Caesarian (C-section) delivery.   

Ultimately, Dr. Dietz found that Lisa did not suffer from any mental illness or defect and that she could appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions.  

Lisa's attorneys failed to present testimony and evidence of the abuse, torture and sexual exploitation she had been subjected to for the majority of her life, much less how it had affected her.  Their only mention of any kind of rape was during the closing argument, when a poem about rape was read.  By  comparison, the prosecution rolled their eyes at rape and called it nothing but an "abuse excuse."    

Victoria Jo (photo source)

The Sentence

On October 22, 2007, after five hours of deliberation, the jury found Lisa guilty, rejecting her claim that she suffered with mental illness and defect.  During the two-day penalty phase of the trial, Lisa's friends, family, coworkers and doctors testified on her behalf.  The defense hoped for life imprisonment, citing to Lisa's ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct, her remorse over her actions, the emotional support she received and would continue to receive from her four children, as well as her husband, Kevin.  Her attorneys stressed that she was and always had been a loving mother who had a harmonious relationship with her children. 

Even Lisa's biological father, who had not been in her life since 1971, when he and her mother Judy divorced, testified, saying he had made a mistake leaving Lisa and Diane in the custody of "that crazy lady." 

The prosecution struck back, stating that Lisa was not and had never been a good mother; the fact she had asked her children to testify on her behalf demonstrated that.  Over objections from the defense, the prosecution went so far as to ask Lisa's daughter if Lisa had ever apologized to her children and family for the suffering she had caused them.

Lisa's attorneys requested that the jury be instructed that it was not required to return a sentence of death.  The court denied her request and instructed the jury that if it unanimously concluded the death penalty was the appropriate sentence, it must be imposed.

On October 26, the jury returned with a death penalty verdict.  Lisa's sister, Diane, who had not seen Lisa since she was four years old, had been reunited with her following her arrest.  Upon hearing the verdict handed down in the courtroom, she screamed.  

Ironically, once on federal death row in Fort Worth, Texas, Lisa began to see psychiatrists and receive treatment she had never gotten while free.  The doctors she saw concluded she suffered with psychosis, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder and were suffering with all three at the time she murdered Bobbie Jo Stinnett.  They also felt she had permanent brain damage from the repeated beatings inflicted by her mother, her stepfathers, and her first husband.  She was put on a variety of psychotropic medications that controlled many of her symptoms.  

On April 4, 2008, Lisa's death sentence was affirmed.  

Almost exactly three years later, on April 5, 2011, her attorneys filed an appeal with the Eighth Circuit arguing, among other things, that the government failed to prove that death resulted from a kidnapping, that the court erred in excluding certain evidence, and the jury was not properly instructed.   On March 19, 2012, her petition was denied.   

Her legal team worked feverishly to keep her from her date with the executioner, claiming that carrying out a death sentence on her violated her Eighth Amendment rights regarding cruel and unusual punishment and citing the case of Atkins v. Virginia, in which it was ruled unconstitutional to execute individuals with mental disabilities.  

Lisa on death row (photo source)

The Sentence is Carried Out

Lisa was scheduled to be executed on December 8, 2020.   However, when at least one attorney on her legal team was diagnosed with COVID-19, the execution was delayed.  On December 23, a new execution date of January 12, 2021 was announced.  

On January 1, 2021, a stay was granted by federal judge Patrick Hanlon, stating that her mental competence needed to be tested as it could feasibly be argued that she did not understand the grounds for her execution.  In a 6 to 3 vote, the Supreme Court vacated that stay and the January 12 execution date was ordered to be carried out.

On January 12, Lisa was moved from Texas, where she had requested to be executed, to the death row of an almost all-male federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.  When asked if she had any last words before the lethal injection was administered, she said only, "No."    At 1:31 a.m. on January 13, 2021 Lisa Montgomery was pronounced dead, becoming the third woman to be executed by the U.S. federal government, the first female federal prisoner executed in 67 years, and the first woman executed in the United States since 2015.  At the time of her death, she was still married to Kevin Montgomery.   

Reportedly, the majority of Skidmore, Missouri residents supported the execution while the town of Melvern, where the Montgomerys had resided, were divided.

Sergeant Investigator Randy Strong, who had interviewed and interrogated Lisa back on December 17, 2004, believed the cold and calculating nature of her crime demonstrated that she knew exactly what she was doing.  "That was the act of a monster," he said, "she needs to be put to death."   

Zeb and Victoria Jo (photo source) 

Remembering Bobbie Jo

Since her brutal and untimely murder, Bobbie Jo has not been forgotten in Skidmore.   Members of her high school graduating class have an annual memorial donation in her memory.    

Off Walnut Street, a brick memorial was erected in her memory, inscribed with "Loving Wife and Mother."  

Her greatest legacy has, and always will be, her daughter, Victoria Jo, whom Zeb raised with support and help from his family and Bobbie Jo's.  On December 16, 2021 she will turn 17 years old.  

Bobbie Jo's final resting place (photo source) 

Sources:

Associated Press (01/11/21).  Woman Set to Die For Killing Woman, Cutting Baby From Womb.

Cornell Law School Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide (2021).  The Case of Lisa Montgomery.  

The Guardian (01/05/21).  A Lifetime of Torture. 

Ms. Magazine (01/11/21).  A Prisoner of War Story: The Life and Captivity of Lisa Montgomery.

The Scotsman (01/21/21). Lisa Montgomery Execution.

Talk Murder with Me (10/04/19), Skidmore Part One, The Murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett.

Topeka Capital-Journal (01/07/21).  Who is Lisa Montgomery? 

United States v. Montgomery, 635 F. 3d 1074 (8th Cir. 2011).

Wikipedia (2021), Murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett.

The 2004 Napa Murders

Before November 1, 2004, Napa, California was known for its temperate weather, gorgeous scenery, plethora of local vineyards and quality of life for its residents, including being a very safe community.  Despite the many tourists who flocked from other parts of California, as well as throughout the United States and Europe, crime was not a common occurrence.  In fact, Napa had not seen a homicide in over two years as Halloween of 2004 rolled around.

On that last day of October, roommates Adriane Insogna, Leslie Mazzara and Lauren Meanza spent the evening handing out candy to trick-or-treaters that rang the bell at their Dorset Street home.  By 11 p.m., the lights were out and all three had turned in; Adriane and Leslie to their upstairs bedrooms and Lauren to her downstairs bedroom.  All would be quiet until around 2 a.m.

At that time, Lauren was awakened by the sound of breaking glass and what she would describe as "a blood curdling, terrified scream."  She cautiously crept from her bed, to head upstairs to investigate.  She was stopped when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs toward her.  Terrified, she ran out the back door and into the yard, where she hid, perfectly still.  She would hear the sounds of someone climbing out of the basement window and running off into the night before she would regain her courage and reenter the house.  She climbed the stairs and, hearing crying coming from Adriane's room, headed that way.  She never could have been prepared for what sight met her.

Leslie

Leslie was face down, in a pool of blood.  Adriane was crouched down behind the bed, still alive, but having sustained many, many stab wounds from which she was bleeding heavily.  There was so much blood in the room that Lauren slipped.

She tried to call 911 on the house phone but the line was dead. She retrieved her mobile phone and called for help, while running out to her own car and driving away.  She was petrified that the person who attacked her roommates was still in the house or the area.

Paramedics arrived on Dorset Street quickly.  Leslie was dead.  Adriane would die very soon after the paramedics' arrival.  Both of them had been stabbed repeatedly.  Lauren had not seen anyone, although she had heard the attacks.

The local authorities began their investigation.  They combed the crime scene and found cigarette butts outside the home. As neither Lauren, Leslie nor Adriane smoked, they believed the attacker had lain in wait, biding his time and smoking,, before entering the home on his murderous errand.  They would also find blood at the scene that was not Leslie's or Adriane's.  Clearly their killer had cut himself.  DNA tests, though, would take time.

Napa reeled from the savage murders. Because a suspect wasn't caught immediately, residents were terrified and rumors began to swirl.  One of the more repeated ones was that Lauren, Leslie and Adriane were mixed up with drugs and the murders were a hit.  Another one was that Leslie's employer, Francis Ford Coppola, who owned the winery Leslie worked at, had mob ties and the ladies were collateral damage.  Neither rumor had any basis in truth and fact.

The local police believed that Leslie was the intended victim.  She had been attacked first and very viciously.  The evidence indicated that she had been sleeping when she was first stabbed and had attempted to run away from her killer, headed toward Adriane's room.  Adriane, it seems, had heard the attack on Leslie and run to her friend's defense, sustaining fatal stab wounds herself in the process.

Police began to check into the backgrounds of Adriane and Leslie, looking for a killer.

Adriane and Lily

Adriane Insogna had cheated death at 16, surviving a near fatal car crash.  The car had rolled three times, Adriane striking her head on the pavement through the open window.  Always scrappy, she had survived -  a miracle - and returned to school within a few months, although she did suffer with some memory loss as a result of the temporary brain damage caused by the accident.  She would heal and excel in school, earning a scholarship to California Polytechnic State University. She pursued her dream of becoming an engineer, successfully.  Hired on by the City of Napa after she graduated, Adriane was working there at the time of her murder.  Just four months before her death, she would celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the car accident, the time when she was granted a miracle and cheated death, with one of her closest friends, Lily Prudhomme. 

Shortly after being hired by the city, she started dating Christian Lee.   Their relationship would be rocky, on again and off again.  She wanted a serious commitment; he wasn't ready.  Adriane had seen Christian on Halloween night, when she dropped by after handing out candy to the kids.  She left his place around 10 p.m. and that was the last time he saw her.   They had been arguing, about her desire for a commitment and about the fact that she had gone to a party recently and met a guy, something that made Christian jealous.

Other than the quasi-drama with Christian, Adriane led a quiet life.  She had a circle of friends, including Lily, that she had known for years.  She did not have a high risk lifestyle.

Leslie

Leslie Mazzara, unlike Adriane, had a huge circle of friends and was extremely outgoing.  She was the new girl on the block, having moved to California from Anderson, South Carolina only months earlier.  A former beauty queen, Leslie had given consideration to becoming a teacher or an attorney but seemed stuck. Her mother Cathy had gone to Berkeley and had invited her daughter out for the summer, to work in one of the wineries and gather her thoughts.  From the moment that Leslie arrived in Napa, she seemed to love it.  She went to director Francis Ford Coppola's winery and was hired on the spot. The stunning and outgoing young lady was the perfect fit for the winery. What began as a summer job turned into a passion.  She decided that she wanted to make the wine business her career. Even when her mother relocated to Michigan, Leslie stayed behind in Napa.  For Leslie's family, there seemed little cause for concern.  She was well liked, a smart girl, and Napa was a safe, homey community.

Leslie was popular, especially so with men.  She didn't appear to be a player or user; in fact, she remained on good terms with everyone she dated.  Two of her South Carolina friends who had visited Leslie only weeks before the murders said that she was dating two men at the time.  One man was older and the other, they said, Leslie was quite serious about.  The two friends had been there when the older man came by and spotted flowers the younger man had sent and was "furious."

Multiple friends of Leslie's said she was a heartbreaker, but an unintentional one.  She was a sweet girl who made everyone feel as though he or she was Leslie's best friend.

Leslie's computer was searched and an email from an ex was discovered. The two had broken up years earlier, after he proposed and she turned him down, but he reached out to her not long before her murder.  The family of another man had sent her on a cruise and she received a car as a gift from another man.  A month before her death, Leslie had returned to South Carolina for a friend's wedding, toting a new set of luggage she received from another admirer.  This same friend would report that the night Leslie was murdered, the father of a man Leslie had broken up with had tried repeatedly to reach her by telephone.

Between Adriane and Leslie, Leslie seemed more likely in the cops' eyes to be the intended target. They felt that she may have crossed paths with someone who grew obsessed with her.  The murders were clearly not random; the killer had waited outside and then, upon gaining entry to the house, headed straight upstairs.

Police would interview more than 1,500 people, obtaining DNA samples, with no matches or further leads.  They interrogated Christian Lee the day that Adriane was murdered, even getting a DNA sample.  They interviewed and obtained samples from the men Leslie had dated.  No luck. The lack of any suspects or arrests frustrated the victims' families and friends, who felt they had to defend their reputations and fight to keep the investigation going.

Time passed and went on for others.  Lily Prudhomme, Adriane's best friend, decided after Adriane's murder that life was too short and after putting it off the year before, married her boyfriend Eric Copple. Adriane's mother Arlene attended the wedding, where the song "She Will Be Loved" (Adriane's favorite song) was played in her honor. It was a joyous occasion and yet still sad, as someone was clearly missing from the Prudhomme-Copple wedding party.

In South Carolina, a fundraiser called "The Raising Race" was organized in Leslie's memory, to raise funds for Calvary Home for Children, a charity Leslie worked closely with when she was a beauty queen and living in the area. The Raising Race is a South Carolina version of The Amazing Race and helmed by Survivor contestants Rob and Amber, who met Leslie's friend Kelly while competing on The Amazing Race.

In September of 2005, almost a year after the murders, the local police decided to publicly release the evidence about the cigarette butts and the fact they were Turkish Gold, a variation of Camels, that had only been on the market for a very short period of time and were unusual.  DNA tests revealed that the DNA on the cigarettes matched the blood DNA in the upstairs bedroom.  The police felt that revealing the brand of cigarettes would result in someone knowing who the killer was. They had no idea the killer would contact them himself.

It was a Tuesday night.  All the detectives working the case had left for the day.  Eric Copple showed up at the station with his wife, Lily, and other family members.  Like other Napa residents, he had heard about the Turkish Gold cigarettes being found at the crime scene and believing he was about to be caught, confessed to having killed Adriane and Leslie.

Eric Copple's arrest was both a relief and devastating.  Adriane's mother was shocked and horrified that the husband of Adriane's best friend, the wedding she herself had attended in place of Adriane, had murdered her daughter.  For Leslie's family, there was a sense of relief that Leslie was not the sole target but equal confusion as Eric had never met her.

The police came under scrutiny with Copple's arrest.  They had never interviewed him nor taken a DNA sample, despite being in Adriane's inner circle and having been to the Dorset Street home. They had apparently called him at the beginning of the investigation and left messages (which Copple did not return) but never followed up.  The police chief, after the arrest, said they would have eventually spoken to Eric and obtained a DNA sample.  Eric provided one after his arrest and, to no surprise, his DNA matched that on the cigarettes and in the blood found in the house.

In January 2007, Eric Copple was sentenced to life in prison, after a plea deal was agreed upon by Copple, the DA and the victims' families taking the death penalty off the table.  The mothers of both Leslie and Adriane addressed Copple and the court.  Arlene, Adriane's mother, recounted that her daughter never wore turtlenecks in life but was buried in one to attempt to cover the wounds Copple left on her body. She counted out the number of stab wounds he had delivered to Adriane's body.  Leslie's mother Cathy read a 13 page letter.  As he had done with Arlene, Copple did not look at Cathy during her statement.

Copple's wife, and Adriane's best friend, Lily spoke.  She admitted to grieving with Adriane's mother but said that she knew a "gentler Eric" than the Eric that murdered her friend.  She publicly proclaimed support for her husband, going so far as to tell him that there was "nothing in this world that you could do that would make me love you less."

Before he was sentenced, Copple himself spoke.  He apologized to the Insogna and Mazzara families, even crying. He blamed the murders on the death of his grandfather, that sent him into a depression, and the alcohol he was using in an attempt to cope with the depression.  He said that he was going to kill himself but decided instead to turn himself in, so there would be closure to the case.

Lily herself would say that Eric killed because of his depression.  Despite her claim that he could do nothing to change her love for her, she later divorced him but, inexplicably, kept his name.

Why did Eric Copple kill?  The Napa police never publicly stated a motive for the murders.  Do I think he killed because his grandfather died?  Absolutely not.  Do I think it was depression?  Hell, no.

It was not a coincidence that November 1, 2004 was the date that he and Lily Prudhomme had initially planned to marry.  She had backed out.  Lily later said that she and Adriane would discuss their relationships with each other, as girlfriends do. I think Lily may have decided to call off the wedding after one of these discussions.  Maybe she told Eric, maybe not.  But Eric's decision to murder her best friend was one of extreme passive-aggressiveness toward Lily.  He couldn't kill her, didn't want to kill her, so he could do the next best thing to punish Lily.  Heck, he may have even been attracted to Adriane.

He had been to the house before.  He likely knew that Adriane slept upstairs.  I don't think he knew Lauren slept downstairs, which spared her life.  He had never met Leslie and it's probably he didn't know that there were three women living in the home.  In all likelihood, he only expected two women.  Adriane, always the scrappy one, had attacked him after he stabbed Leslie.  She had drawn blood, leaving behind more DNA evidence.  Good for her.

Adriane

It's unusual that Eric Copple had no record when he murdered Adriane and Leslie. He was on no one's radar.  Lily herself had told the television program 48 Hours that someone surely had noticed something, the killer must have been acting strangely - - how could it not be noticed? She also had said she hoped that Adriane had injured her killer.  All the while, Eric Copple was sitting beside her.

Had she not known?  How had she not known?  They are questions that seem puzzling . . .but Ted Bundy too had friends and family that never suspected he was abducting and murdering young women.  Would Lily have figured it out had the police released the info about the Turkish Gold cigarettes any earlier?

Lauren Meanza, the roommate who survived that brutal night, left Napa and relocated to L.A. She would say she felt safer in a larger city where violence was the norm.

Eric Copple remains behind bars, where he is serving two life sentences with no possibility of parole.

The Murderous Assaults of Peter and Joan Porco

In the gruesome world of murder, there is nothing worse than family members who turn on each other and kill.  For family members who do so over greed, it's even more repulsive.

The Porco case is a particularly disgusting one, not just in how the victims were attacked but also in what the assumed motive was.

In November of 2004, Peter and Joan Porco were like so many other middle aged, middle class Americans. They lived in Delmar, New York in a comfortable two-story home and worked for a living. Peter was an appellate court clerk and Joan worked as a speech pathologist.  They had been married for thirty years and had two sons.  Peter was very responsible and reliable so when he did not show up for work on Monday, November 15, 2004, a court officer was dispatched to the Porco residence on Brockley Drive to check on his welfare.

The Porco family in the 1980s; Christopher is on the left

The officer was horrified to discover Peter by the front door, where he had apparently collapsed.  He lay in a huge pool of blood and had endured a vicious assault to his head.  A blood trail was noticeable from where Peter had died to the front door, the kitchen, the hallway and up the stairs.

The local police were notified immediately and searched the home. They found Joan in the blood drenched bedroom, lying in bed and, remarkably, still alive.  She too suffered the same grievous injuries to her face and head that her husband had endured - - a portion of her brain was actually exposed - - but she was conscious.  Detective Christopher Bowdish of the Bethlehem Police Department worried, and even expected, that Joan Porco would not survive her injuries and asked her if she knew who had attacked her. Using a nodding or shaking motion of her head, along with moving her hands, she indicated that a family member had attacked her.  She shook her head "no" when asked if it was son Johnathon; she nodded her head "yes" when asked if it was son Christopher.  This exchange occurred in front of the paramedics, as they would later testify.

Once Joan Porco was taken to the hospital, where she would undergo emergency surgery and then be placed into a medically induced coma, the police began their investigation. They quickly discovered that the home's alarm system had been smashed, the telephone landline had been cut and a screen to one of the windows had been slashed.  However, nothing appeared to have been stolen from the residence. Neither Peter's wallet nor Joan's had been taken nor rifled. Joan was still wearing jewelry. None of the electronics had been touched.  They also found a fireman's axe in the bedroom; the weapon belonged to the Porcos.

The blood patterns and trail from the master bedroom to and through the downstairs and out the front door indicated that, unbelievably, after suffering his wounds, Peter had risen from the bed in shock and had moved about, getting ready for his work day, as he often did - - from stepping into the bathroom to starting the coffee in the kitchen, preparing his lunch and beginning to unload the dishwasher. Only after stepping at or briefly out the front door - - either to check for a paper or leave - - did his wounds overtake him and he collapsed.

With his father dead and his mother terribly injured, Christopher Porco received a call from a newspaper reporter, looking for a comment about the murder. Chris was then a twenty-one year old student at the University of Rochester, some 230 miles from Bethlehem. He called police to inquire what had happened at his parents' home and was informed that his father had been killed but his mother was still clinging to life.  If you can listen to the recording, I suggest that you do. Chris is so detached, so emotionally cut off from what has happened, the guy might as well be calling to order a pizza.  Heck, I think most people have more emotion doing that.  I also think it's interesting that, at least from the portions I heard, that Chris doesn't ask how his parents were attacked or anything like that - he's very controlled.

Meantime, the Bethlehem Police had issued an all-points bulletin for Chris Porco.  This would later be criticized by the defense as the police having tunnel vision (but remember that Joan did identify Chris as her attacker.)

However, the police were checking out other leads as well. A tip came in that an unhappy litigant may have taken issue with the outcome of a custody case and had threatened Peter; the investigation into that was a dead end as the man had a solid alibi.  Peter's great uncle Frank had ties to the Mob and was known as "the Fireman."  Detectives wondered if Frank had threatened to talk to authorities and his associates had sent a message to him by killing Peter - - and with a fireman's axe.  That theory fizzled though when they discovered Frank incarcerated specifically because he refused to cooperate with authorities and rat.

One person they couldn't seem to clear, though, was Chris Porco.

For years Chris had been telling friends and classmates that he came from a wealthy family. He spoke of real estate holdings and vacation homes, something the Porcos did not have.  When the same friends would ask to see this magnificent home or one of the vacation homes, Chris would always have an excuse as to why they could accompany to him to one of the properties.

There had also been tension between Chris and his parents with regard to finances and Chris' tendency to lie.  He had taken out a loan, ostensibly to pay for his tuition at Rochester, but had used nearly $17,000 of the loan to finance a new Jeep Wrangler.  He had also done poorly at school, resulting in the University suspending him.  He went to a local community college but fared no better there.  He was touring Europe with friends when his parents found out he was flunking out of community college as well. He managed to get readmitted to Rochester the following year - - the fall of 2004 - - by forging transcripts from the community college.  He told his parents that he was readmitted because a professor had misplaced his final exam from the previous year and because of the University's mistake, his tuition would be covered.  Chris covered that lie by forging his father's signature on loan documents.  He also opened a line of credit with the bank, again forging his father's signature as co-signer, in order to go toward the financing of his Wrangler.

In addition to the acts above, Chris was also stealing property. His roommate's laptop was stolen and Chris suddenly turned up with the exact same make and model of computer. His parents' home had computers and cameras stolen from it in the summer of 2003 and they suspected that Chris was involved.

Chris had devised a scheme on eBay to scam persons out of money.  He listed the very computers and cameras he had filched from his parents for sale and collected payment for them but had no intention of mailing the items out. When he received emails about the items not being shipped, he posed as his older brother Johnathon, and stated that his younger brother Chris, who had listed the items for sale, had died and he did not know where the items were nor did he have any way to refund the purchaser their money.  Johnathon, a Naval officer whose career could be impacted by this type of behavior, attempted to reach his younger brother by phone more than 40 times. Chris did not bother returning a single call.

Chris with his infamous Jeep

Things came to a head around two weeks before the murder, when Peter Porco was notified that the loan Chris had taken out was delinquent. It was then he found out that Chris had forged his signature, not just on the loan for tuition but also on a line of credit.  He also found out that Chris had not been his tuition with the ill-gotten loan proceeds. Both Peter and Joan attempted to contact Chris by phone; their various phone calls were not returned by him.  Peter sent his son an email in which he berated him for the dishonesty and told him that if Chris were to do any more such things, Peter would be forced to file forgery affidavits with the bank.  He also told his son that Chris was welcome back into the family home to resolve the matter and while he and Joan were disappointed with Chris' actions, they still loved him and cared about his future.

It was also around this time that Chris met with an investment professional, seeking financial advice.  He told the counselor that he was coming into some money.

With no other legitimate suspects, the police zeroed in on Chris.  His alibi was that he had been at school in Rochester, sleeping on the evening of November 14 and waking November 15 to find out about the attack on his parents by the phone call from the reporter.  The police believed that he had driven the three hours to his parents' home, attacked them and then returned back to school, without anyone in the dorm being the wiser. They obtained surveillance video that showed a yellow Jeep leaving the University dorm area around 10:30 p.m. on November 14 and returning at 8:30 a.m. on November 15.  They also discovered that while the Porcos' burglar alarm had been smashed, it was broken after it had been manually deactivated.  Given this information, they believed that Chris had left Rochester around 10:30, driven to Delmar, deactivated the burglar alarm at 2:14 a.m., attacked his parents, cut the phone line at 4:59 a.m. and headed back to school, returning at 8:30 a.m.  At some point either before or after attacking his parents, he cut the window screen to make it appear as though there was a break-in. With a three hour travel time each way, this was absolutely doable.

Chris' brother Johnathon, an officer in the U.S. Navy who was in South Carolina at the time of his father's murder, said only a few people knew the code for the burglar alarm system and Chris was one of them.  The police theorized that Chris smashed the alarm panel, hoping that would obliterate the fact that the code had been entered (it obviously did not.)

To no one's surprise, Chris Porco was arrested for the murder of his father and the attempted murder of his mother.  The trial took place in July 2006 with the defense arguing that the prosecution had no forensic evidence linking Chris to the crime, save a tollway ticket with his DNA on it. They asserted that whoever attacked the Porcos would be bloody and no blood was found in Chris' vehicle, nor were any bloody clothing recovered.  No fingerprints were found on the axe used to bludgeon Peter and Joan.

Some of Chris' fraternity brothers testified that he was not asleep in the dorm lounge as he had stated and a neighbor testified that he saw a bright yellow Jeep in the Porco driveway on the evening/early morning of the murder. Toll booth attendants that had worked in the "cash only" lanes said they recalled seeing a yellow Jeep like Chris' passing through that evening with who they thought was Chris Porco in the driver's seat.

Although there was no direct evidence putting the axe in Chris' hands or putting him in the Delmar home during the time of the attacks, the jury found him guilty of second degree murder and attempted murder.  He was sentenced fifty years to life on each count, which was a minimum of fifty years in prison.

Chris Porco showed no outward reaction during the verdict or the sentencing, although some said that his neck flushed red.  He said nothing but in the recording of the verdict the sound of the handcuffs being locked on his wrists is very audible.

Joan and Chris, heading into court together

One of the more surprising and heart wrenching aspects of this case was that Joan Porco stood by her youngest son during the investigation and trial.  She had survived the brutal assault that killed her husband; she lost her left eye and a portion of her skull but she had survived. After she awoke from her medically induced coma, she claimed to have no memory of the attack nor of telling Detective Bowdish that Chris was responsible. She asked the detectives and investigators to leave her son alone and accused them of botching the investigation. She got together the $250,000 needed for his bail when he was first arrested and the two attended the trial together, walking into the courtroom hand in hand.  She spent six hours in the witness box, recanting the twisted path of Chris' lies and actions, the childhood he had with his brother Johnathon and denied that he was mentally ill.  She also testified that she had been frightened on two occasions in the month or so prior to the attack by the presence of a stranger in her driveway; one time at night and once during the day.  She stated that the police never followed up on this or questioned her about it.

I think Christopher Porco did it.  I think he killed his father and meant to kill his mother. Peter Porco sustained sixteen blows from that fireman's axe; blows that penetrated his skull and took off part of his jaw. He bled for hours after he was attacked before he succumbed. Joan Porco's skull was split open, her left eye was lost and her right so damaged that she required a magnifying glass in order to read following the assault. That is tremendous rage and resentment.

It's clear that Peter and Joan were attacked in their bed. That fact, along with nothing being stolen from the house, seems to discount a burglary gone bad.

Chris' attorney would argue that Peter would often turn off the alarm late at night to let the dog out and forget to turn it back on and that it may very well have been Peter who disabled the alarm that murder morning.  That could be true.  But no burglar would smash an alarm box or touch it if there was no reason to.  And why wouldn't the dog bark or give an alert if a stranger were in the house?

Why would Chris Porco's toll road transponder be found under the front passenger seat when authorities searched his vehicle?  Possibly because he thought if he put it away or covered it, it wouldn't "ping" going through the toll booths and provide proof that he was not in Rochester during the crucial hours?

August 10, 2006.  Guilty.

I think the time frame is of crucial importance. Just that two weeks prior to the murder Chris Porco's house of cards came tumbling down.  He had screwed over his parents and his brother. They had all reached out to him but he had cut himself off.  It was November. The school semester would be ending shortly and surely Chris would be kicked out of the University.  He had not paid his tuition and he was flunking out. He would have to explain this to his parents, the one thing they may not have yet been aware of  - - that his tuition was not covered by the school and had not been paid.

What did Chris do with the money?  He used a portion of the funds to purchase the Jeep but I have to wonder if he was using drugs. He appeared to be partying and drinking.  Before the attacks, Joan had found out that Chris was using a Mobil card for snacks and food instead of gasoline, which was what the card was for.

I think Chris wanted to remain at the University of Rochester, not because he was an outstanding student but because he had freedom there he didn't have at home and he was partying. His parents reportedly had a two million dollar life insurance policy that would pay out if both of them were dead.

I believe that Chris decided to do away with his parents before the end of the semester. He expected to collect that life insurance policy, at least half of it (as the other half would have gone to his brother.)  He also would have been free to sell the family home and collect half the proceeds on that.

As a killer, Chris was about as adept as he was a student. He didn't manage to kill his mother and his father lived for several hours after the attack, even getting up and stumbling about the house.  He also used a brutal, unwieldy weapon that belonged to the Porcos.  Something a burglar likely would not know they owned.  He smashed the alarm box after the alarm was disabled. He cut the screen, despite the killer entering the home through the front door and with a key. (The key was found by the front door, likely dropped in error and without the killer's knowledge.)  He didn't expect the toll booth operators to remember him, nor for a neighbor to notice his Jeep. He didn't expect for nine of his dorm mates to recognize that he was not in the dorm that evening or early morning.

While no blood was found in Chris' Jeep or on any clothing he had at the dorm, I agree with the prosecution's theory that Chris was probably wearing scrubs from the veterinary office he worked at during the assaults. It would have been easy for him to take those off and dispose of them somewhere along his route back to Rochester, leaving his clothing underneath unsoiled.

As an interesting footnote to this case, Lifetime TV put a made for television movie into production on the Porco case.  Surprisingly called Romeo Killer: The Christopher Porco Story, Lifetime portrayed Chris Porco as a ladies man who was as sociopathic in his romantic relationships as he was in everything else.  Chris had not seen the movie but sued Lifetime.  A judge issued a ban on the movie days before it was to premiere. An appellate court, however, issued a stay on that order and the movie was allowed to be broadcast.  Eventually Chris' case was dismissed.  Not so fast!  In March of this year, a New York Court of Appeals judge reversed the dismissal.  Is your head spinning yet?  And Lifetime is arguing that their program is a fictionalized account of Christopher Porco and so his argument that his privacy has been violated does not stick.  It's an interesting argument from Lifetime's perspective as the movie could hardly be subtitled The Christopher Porco Story if it's a fictionalized account.

In the meantime, Christopher Porco remains incarcerated at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. He will be eligible for parole in 2052.  His mother still believes in his innocence.

The murder weapon