Credit: Jan Vogelsang
The Little Girl In This Photo Became One Of The Most Evil Women On The Planet
This little girl grew up to be one of the most evil women, described by some as a ‘monster.’
At first glance, she looks like any other smiling schoolgirl. Dressed neatly for a class photo, she appears shy, innocent, and unremarkable.
Few could have imagined that decades later, this little girl would become one of the most notorious killers in modern American history, committing a crime so shocking it horrified the entire country and ultimately led to her becoming the first woman executed by the US federal government in nearly 70 years.
Yet behind that childhood photograph lay a life marked by unimaginable abuse, severe mental illness, and a crime so brutal it continues to divide opinion more than two decades later.
A childhood described as years of torture
Long before her name became synonymous with one of America’s most disturbing murder cases, her early life was defined by extreme violence, per the Marshall Project.
During court proceedings and later appeals, her lawyers argued she endured relentless physical, psychological and s**ual abuse throughout her childhood.
According to court filings and interviews with family members, she was allegedly abused by her mother, s**ually assaulted by multiple men from a young age and subjected to years of horrific trauma.
Her half-sister, Diane Mattingly, later told Vice News that authorities removed her from the abusive household but left her younger sister behind.
“I couldn’t understand why I was being taken out of the home and Lisa was being left behind,” she said.
“I thought they knew about the rape. I thought they knew about the beatings. I thought they knew about the torture.”
Mattingly believes that if someone had intervened earlier, history could have been very different.
“If somebody would have intervened way back when she was young, this would have never happened,” she said.
“You wouldn’t know Lisa’s name.”
Her defence team later claimed she suffered brain damage before birth, developed complex PTSD and dissociative disorders, and had experienced almost continuous abuse from childhood into adulthood.
More than 1,000 advocates, including mental health experts, anti-violence organisations and former prosecutors, later urged President Donald Trump to commute her death sentence, arguing her mental illness and trauma were inseparable from the crime she eventually committed.
The horrifying crime that stunned America
Despite the abuse she endured, prosecutors argued she carefully planned one of the most disturbing murders in recent US history, Time reports.
In December 2004, she travelled around 175 miles from Kansas to Skidmore, Missouri, posing online as a fellow dog breeder interested in buying a puppy from 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett.
The two women had communicated through rat terrier breeding forums.
When she arrived at Stinnett’s home, prosecutors said she attacked the eight-months-pregnant woman, strangling her before using a kitchen knife to cut her unborn daughter from her womb.
She then fled with the baby, later claiming the newborn as her own.
The following day, investigators traced emails sent through the fake identity she’d created and arrived at her home.
There, they discovered her sitting on the sofa holding the baby while an Amber Alert about the missing infant played on television.
Remarkably, the child survived and was safely returned to her family.
Stinnett, however, died from her injuries.
The murder devastated the tiny community of Skidmore, where fewer than 300 people lived.
Years later, city clerk Meagan Morrow, who had attended school with Stinnett, told the Springfield News-Leader: “Bobbie deserves to be here today. Bobbie’s family deserves her. And Lisa deserves to pay.”
A case that divided America
In 2007, a federal jury convicted her of kidnapping resulting in death and recommended the death penalty.
For years, appeals focused less on whether she committed the murder and more on whether someone with such profound trauma and mental illness should be executed.
Her attorney, Kelley Henry, argued her life had been one of almost unimaginable abuse.
“The government stopped at nothing in its zeal to kill this damaged and delusional woman,” Henry said after her execution.
“Lisa Montgomery’s execution was far from justice.”
She added: “Everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame.”
Mental health organisations, human trafficking charities and dozens of current and former prosecutors all appealed for clemency, arguing that her severe psychiatric disorders should have been considered more heavily during sentencing.
But others insisted the brutality of the crime outweighed every mitigating factor.
Among them was veteran investigator Randy Strong, one of the first officers to question her after the murder.
Recalling the hours spent interviewing her, he delivered one of the most chilling assessments ever made about the case.
“After the next couple of hours, I realized that I was probably talking to the devil that had come back on Earth disguised as Lisa Montgomery. She’s a monster.”
Strong also said: “She’s evil and she needs to die. The town of Skidmore wants her dead.”
Her final moments
After years of legal battles, the US Supreme Court lifted the final stays blocking her execution.
In January 2021 she received a lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.
She became the first woman executed by the federal government since 1953.
Witnesses reported that moments before the execution began, officials removed her face mask and asked whether she wished to make a final statement.
Her answer consisted of just one word.
“No.”
She was pronounced dead at 1:31am.
More than four years later, the case remains one of the most controversial in modern American criminal justice.
For some, it represents one of the clearest examples of why the death penalty should remain available for especially horrific crimes.
For others, it serves as a tragic reminder of how severe childhood abuse and untreated mental illness can shape a life long before someone commits an unthinkable act.
The little girl smiling in that school photograph would eventually become Lisa Montgomery.
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