Skidmore, Mo. ? The Christmas lights are back on in this northwest Missouri town, but Skidmore remains scarred by the killing of an expectant mother whose baby was stolen from her womb.

“The most sacred thing to any of us was trampled underfoot,” said Rev. Harold Hamon of Skidmore Christian Church. “There is no way for us to comprehend it.”

And 175 miles away, Melvern is also spending its holiday season under a cloud, with residents stunned by the arrest of the woman charged with strangling 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett and taking her baby, named Victoria Jo by her widowed father.

“It’s a terrible thing on both sides of the border,” said Gary Deskins, a longtime Melvern resident. “We feel for those people in Missouri. We’d like Melvern to be in the newspaper, but not for this.”

Lisa Montgomery, 36, is charged in federal court with kidnaping resulting in death. She will make an initial appearance Tuesday before a federal judge in Missouri.

Authorities say Montgomery strangled the eight-months-pregnant Stinnett on Dec. 16, and then cut her baby from her womb. The infant girl was found the next day with Montgomery and her husband, Kevin, in Melvern. The infant was in good health and went home with her father after spending the weekend in a Topeka hospital.

Some in Melvern say Montgomery moved there from Oklahoma, making it easier for residents of the Kansas town to play down the impact of her arrest. Few people there knew her well; she had only lived in Melvern for a few years and has been described as quiet.

“This is the kind of town where people look after each other,” said Rev. Mike Wheatly of Melvern’s First Church of God, where Montgomery attended church. “I just hope we can get back to that. I hope we can get past this.”