Ex-husband says suspect faked pregnancies in past

? In the community of dog breeders where Bobbie Jo Stinnett was well-liked and respected for her knowledge of rat terriers, the opinions about Lisa Montgomery were quite different.

People were skeptical about some of the things Montgomery said in her postings on Internet message boards, including claims she was pregnant. Jason Dawson, a 29-year-old dog breeder from Kansas City, said Montgomery “made some enemies with her lies.

“She had burned some bridges, lying about some of the stuff she was doing with her breeding,” he said.

The lies went deeper, according to her ex-husband. Montgomery often faked being pregnant to get attention, even though she had a tubal ligation 14 years ago. His attorney said she made a similar claim in a custody case years ago.

“She didn’t seem like she was all there,” said attorney James R. Campbell, of Burlington.

Federal prosecutors have charged Montgomery, 36, with strangling 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett, eight months pregnant with her first child, and cutting the baby from her womb in an attack last week at Stinnett’s home in Skidmore. The baby, named Victoria Jo Stinnett by her father, Zeb, was found in good health Friday in Melvern and left the hospital Monday.

Investigators have said Montgomery confessed to the crime, and she is scheduled to make a second appearance in a federal court today. A message left Wednesday with Montgomery’s public defender was not immediately returned.

Baby said to be twin

Montgomery and her current husband, Kevin, spent part of Friday morning showing the baby off as their own at a diner in Melvern and at the home of their minister. Dawson said Montgomery had posted computer messages claiming she was due in December with twins. Later, she said she lost one of the babies.

Such news would have come as a surprise to Montgomery’s former husband, Carl Boman, of Bartlesville, Okla. He told Kansas City television station WDAF-TV that Montgomery had been incapable of having a baby since having her tubes tied in 1990 after delivering the couple’s youngest daughter.

“She never was pregnant,” Boman told WDAF. “Anything they’re buying about a lost baby, a miscarriage, all of it’s a lie. Since 1990, she has never been pregnant.”

Personality disorder?

John H. Wisner, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., said on the surface it sounded like Montgomery has mental health issues.

“Stealing other people’s children is common enough that it’s in the Bible,” he said. “Usually people who do it have a personality disorder and a need to have the kinds of psychological goodies they perceive as going along with pregnancy.”

In psychology, he said, there’s not much difference between stealing a person’s child and killing that person.

“The baby is not important,” Wisner said. “They want an accessory, like a car, and don’t care who they hurt to get it. Legally, there’s a big difference, but psychologically there’s a fairly small difference between the two things.”

Posed as a puppy buyer

Dawson said a woman who identified herself as Darlene Fischer contacted him the day before Stinnett’s death, asking him where in northern Missouri she could find someone who raises rat terriers. He said the woman claimed to be from England and was now living in Missouri with her husband.

“She asked me a ton of questions about puppies and played along like a regular puppy buyer,” Dawson said. “She knew I would refer her to Bobbie. She said she had two kids who would love a puppy for Christmas. I was trying to help her out.”

Investigators traced Fischer’s message to Montgomery’s computer in Kansas. They said Montgomery used the fake name when she got directions from Stinnett on how to get to her Skidmore home.

“She was one of the few people who didn’t have any grudges against anybody,” Dawson said of Stinnett. “She was a real down-to-earth, great young lady.”