By The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patsy Hughes felt sick when she learned a pregnant friend was killed and her baby was cut from her womb on the same day another friend claimed to have given birth under strange circumstances.
''Of course I was shocked,’' Hughes testified Wednesday in the federal trial of Lisa Montgomery. ''Then I had a really uneasy feeling. My stomach was hurting.’'
Prosecutors allege Montgomery, 39, had been faking a pregnancy for about nine months when she drove to Bobbie Jo Stinnett’s home in Skidmore on Dec. 16., 2004, and strangled the 23-year-old dog breeder.
Montgomery has pleaded not guilty, and her lawyers are pursuing an insanity defense.
Hughes, of Ozark, Ala., shared an interest in dog breeding with Montgomery. Montgomery’s 14-year-old daughter, Kayla Boman, was staying at Hughes’ home to learn about dog breeding when Stinnett was killed.
Hughes testified that Montgomery had sent her an e-mail on Dec. 13, 2004, saying one of the twins she was expecting had died, but that she planned to give birth to the other baby that week.
Three days later, Kayla’s brother called and said the baby had arrived. He said the family was going to pick up Montgomery at a Long John Silver’s restaurant in Topeka, near the birthing center where she claimed she had delivered.
Hughes said she eventually called northwest Missouri authorities to report her concerns.
Around the same time, FBI agent Kurt Lipanovich was getting a crucial tip from another dog breeder.
On the day before Stinnett was killed, someone identifying herself as Darlene Fischer had posted a message to the victim on an Internet rat terrier message board asking about buying one of Stinnett’s puppies, Lipanovich testified.
About an hour after the initial message was posted, Stinnett replied with a message telling Fischer she had e-mailed directions to her home.
Authorities were searching for a Darlene Fischer when North Carolina dog breeder Dyanne Siktar called Lipanovich. Siktar said she had been reviewing the message board traffic and gave the agent the e-mail address Fischer had used in the exchange.
The address, fischer4kids@hotmail.com, immediately struck Lipanovich as ''strange.’'
''The first thing I thought was, ‘Hunting for kids,’'' Lipanovich testified.
Authorities culled another important clue from the message traffic, an 11-digit computer code called an IP address. With the baby still missing, there was a hurried search to track Fischer’s IP address back to a dial-up connection at Montgomery’s Melvern home. Authorities found the baby in Montgomery’s arms.
Lipanovich also testified Wednesday that a search of Montgomery’s computer, cell phone and bank records further linked her to Stinnett’s death. Those records show she bought gas at a station in Maryville, which is near Skidmore, the day before the killing.
On the day of Stinnett’s death, Montgomery borrowed one of her daughter’s cell phones, Lipanovich said, and records show calls from the phone bounced off cell towers located progressively closer to Skidmore in the hours leading up to the killing.