Woman in fetus kidnapping case transferred to Missouri
Suspect accused of killing pregnant woman, taking baby
 |  Bobbie Jo Stinnett was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. |
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|  VIDEO |
 Suspect's ex-husband's attorney talks about faked pregnancies.
 Bobbie Jo Stinnet is buried in Missouri.
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) -- The U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri said Thursday that Lisa Montgomery -- the woman charged with strangling a pregnant woman, cutting the near-term fetus from her womb and kidnapping the baby -- will make an initial court appearance Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri.
Thursday morning, Montgomery, 36, waived her preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court in Kansas, and the court transferred federal custody from the District of Kansas to the Missouri district, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Todd P. Graves said in a written statement. The reason is that the crime occurred in Missouri.
The Melvern, Kansas, woman's initial court appearance is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Western Missouri U.S. District Court, the spokesman said.
Montgomery is to appear before U.S. Chief Magistrate John T. Maughmer in the federal courthouse. Her detention hearing is scheduled before Maughmer two days later, at 2 p.m.
She is being held in a detention facility in Leavenworth, Kansas.
The scheduling announcements came two days after Bobbie Jo Stinnett, the 23-year-old victim, was buried in her hometown of Skidmore, Missouri, after a private ceremony attended by most of the town's 300 residents.
The baby, Victoria Jo Stinnett, was recovered last Friday, a day after the killing, in Kansas. She is in good condition.
The FBI said Montgomery has confessed to the crime.
If convicted, she could face the death penalty or life in prison.
Authorities say Montgomery met Stinnett through an online chat room using a fictitious name and expressed interest in a rat terrier dog, a type the Stinnetts bred and sold. Montgomery allegedly obtained directions to Stinnett's home and visited her there Thursday. Hours later, officials said, Stinnett's mother found her body.
