Monday, June 12, 2017

The Reader's Corner #4

"Murder in the Heartland"

*Spoilers*

This is the second M. William Phelps book I have read so far and I really enjoy his writing. I didn't particularly enjoy this book as much as the first one I've read, which was "I'll Be Watching You" about serial killer Ned Snelgrove. Because true crime is based on, well, true crimes, it can get kind of sad while reading these cases. This is one of the more bizarre murder cases I've ever read about.

Though it's shorter than the other book, it felt longer to me due to being busy on other things while trying to finish the book, but it's an unforgettable story. Lisa Montgomery pretended to be pregnant, started conversing with Bobbie Jo Stinnett online under the pseudonym Darlene Fischer, more disturbing, her handle was Fischer4Kids. They conversed on a rat terrier site where "Darlene" planned to meet the 8 months pregnant Bobbie Jo under the pretense of buying one of Bobbie Jo's rat terriers.

Lisa drove over 100 miles from Melvern to the small town of Skidmore, where she murdered Bobbie Jo Stinnett, cut her open, and took the 8 month old baby that was in her womb. She drove all the way back to Melvern, Kansas and pretended the baby was hers and that she had given birth to it. It was only a day later that she was caught by the authorities. The sad part was that Bobbie Jo's mother discovered her body, where she called the police and said it looked like "Her stomach exploded."

This book is unlike other true crime books I've read, where it tells the story, trial and verdict. This didn't have the trial and verdict. I had to do some further reading to learn what happened to Lisa. The sad thing is Lisa knew Bobbie Jo, and Lisa's youngest daughter was her friend, and her daughter felt betrayed by her own mother.

Bobbie Jo's daughter, named Victoria Jo, was reunited with her father Zeb shortly after the crime. It's amazing she survived such an ordeal and is happy and healthy. It was heavily to do with the Amber Alert system that they were able to find the child and bring her home.

In the book, you really fall in love with Bobbie Jo as a person. She was sweet, a dedicated wife, expecting mother, happy and had no enemies. Sometimes, the internet can be a dangerous place. It really broke my heart that Bobbie Jo didn't survive. Lisa was a very controlling and manipulative person, even getting her second husband to believe she was pregnant with a girl, even though after her youngest daughter, she had a tubal ligation. They burned the tubes, so it was impossible for her to be pregnant, and her ex husband knew as much.

M. William Phelps didn't write the book for the trial and verdict. He wrote it to tell the untold story of the people in the story and the families involved and affected. I knew what he was going for, but it would have still been nice to have closure, hence, trial and verdict.

Further reading on my part, Lisa Marie Montgomery was sentenced to death, where she is currently still on death row.

All in all, it was a good book. Not too remarkable. A bizarre story to say the least. I enjoyed reading it, but like I said, I enjoyed the other M. William Phelps title better. So I'll give this one a 3 out of 5 on the Reader Meter! I must say, I'm becoming a fan of Phelps and will be checking out more titles by him in the near future.

The Disgruntled Southerner signing off for now!

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