Expert: Killer Believed She Was Pregnant

Oct 16, 09:07 PM

Current Headlines: A psychiatrist testified Tuesday an unstable Kansas woman believed she was pregnant when she killed an acquaintance and cut the woman's baby from her womb.

Vilayanur Ramachandran said Lisa Montgomery is delusional and suffered from pseudocyesis, The Kansas City (Mo.) Star reported.

Montgomery could face the death penalty if convicted of strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Skidmore, Mo., and cutting her fetus from her womb. The defense does not deny the killing but says Montgomery, who lived in Kansas and knew Stinnett through their mutual interest in dog breeding, was deranged at the time and did not understand what she was doing.

Ramachandran told the jury in federal court in Kansas City that Montgomery was vulnerable to pseudocyesis because of her abusive childhood, including an alleged rape by her stepfather when she was 14. He said the condition can cause a dissociative state.

Earlier, a psychiatrist who has been treating Montgomery testified the defendant told her she believes she was actually pregnant and had a baby in 2004. Tests have confirmed Montgomery is incapable of bearing children, the newspaper said.