Letter of the Week Times Two: Lisa and David
It was hard to come up with one comment/letter of the week…so we’re publishing two today. The first one is from the sister of Death Row’s newest tennant, Lisa Montgomery. The second came from someone who had an encounter with magician David Copperfield. Read ‘em and be sure to weigh in.
Here’s what Diane posted:
At first I was not ever going to come on any site and talk about this. I want to keep who I am and where I live very quiet because I am Lisa’s older sister. But I feel that I need to speak up. I have only meet Carl once in passing. I had heard the same story about the GMA deal but now that it has been addressed I personally believe he did not get any money. The thing is this…I was ready to judge someone. I was wrong for that. I have read too many blogs where people have been judged. By the way they look and things that people have heard. I understand people hating what had been done. But some of you also went to far with how Lisa looked in the picture. Lisa was being judged for how she looked. I hurt for everyone. For Bobbi Jo’s family…For Lisa’s family. I want you all to understand…I loved Lisa…She is my little sister. I still see her as that little girl I was forced to leave behind. Never did I forget her and always wanted to know how her life was going. I feel strongly that if I had been in her life all the time…things would have been diffrent. She would have known acceptance. I know many of you agree with her sentence. I personally do not. Like someone said recently…”if we all went around…an eye for an eye…we would all be blind” But I also understand everyone is entitled to their opinions and I will not judge anyone for feeling differently than I do. Now all I want to do is be the aunt to Carl and Lisa’s kids. They are wonderful kids. They still have a long road ahead of them. They need all the support they can get. We need to pray for Bobbi Jo’s family as well as for Lisa’s family. Thank you for hearing me out, Diane.
Here’s the second comment from CR reader, Brad, on Copperfield:
A year and a half ago, I was in an outside flea market in Budapest up near the Hilton. Some loudmouth asshole was arguing with a girl about how much cheaper stuff was in NYC and how vendors would barter. Being a real jerk.
Later, one of our group, a little old lady about 70 asked me if I had seen DC. Apparently the jerk.. one and the same. She told me she had approached him for a photo. He had a cap on and she asked him to push it back so his face would come out in the pic. His remark to her was “Why don’t YOU open your blouse and show me your tits.”
She was extremely upset and had been crying. I’ve thought ever since this idiot needs to be knocked down a notch or two.
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:24 am
He asked a 70 year old woman to show her tits? Gimme a break. Those posters on the Copperfield thread are going out of line. The one girl reports her rape on Crimerant and then a mysterious other poster knows who she is and knows she is telling the truth when only a post before she said she never told anyone? I dont know if David Copperfield did it or not, rich people rape too. And I agree from my own experience knowing him that he is an asshole. But I dont think he would want to see 70 y/o boobage. I have seen the type of girls he likes.
As for Diane, its a little too little a little too late. I agree that Lisa had a shitty life, and a lot of that from what I understand from her daughter was brought on by her sisters. And I will not apologize for calling butt ugly for what it is. She is a murdering butt ugly person. Inside and out.
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:04 am
Teacher of the week
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21588500/
This one ran off with the boy and they are looking for her.
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:46 am
Melissa,
I don’t understand the remarks about the sisters, but I do agree with you, ugly is ugly and Lisa’s inside and outside mirror each other.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:16 am
Melissa:
If Copperfield said that, it wasn’t because he actually wanted to see the lady’s breasts. He said it to humiliate her.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:25 am
I guess when we’re on here chatting, we don’t stop to think that someone involved in that case could happen upon this site also. I always try to put myself in someone’s shoes when I read a remark like Diane left. That being said, to Diane, I’m sorry the memories of your little sister are now overshadowed by her crime. Should we have made remarks about her looks? Probably not, but we do it about everyone here on crimerant, it’s a bit of release. If it was my sister and I read that, I’d probably be pissed off too.
However you remember her, what she did was horribly heinous, and she does deserve to die. Maybe if you’d found Bobbi Jo’s body you’d agree with Lisa’s sentence. Putting myself in your shoes, I don’t care if it was my sister, my mother, or my daughter, a crime of this horrendous nature deserves the DP. It would be hard as hell to know my sister was going to die, but I wouldn’t for a second find pity on her and disagree with the verdict.
Now to digress to the David C topic, what Brad said may be a lie Melissa, but it made me chuckle. It would be like a scene out of a Will Farrell movie, come on, now that’s just funny.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:47 am
Did I miss something? I didn’t see one person here say that Lisa Montgomery was a murderer, or a bad mother, or a bad person simply because of her face. THAT would have been judging her according to her face, which none of us did.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:59 am
I’d have to blame the crime-committing relative for the rude remarks made against her. Nobody made any rude remarks against any of Lisa Montgomery’s relatives.
I know we can’t imagine what it would be like to have a sibling who carved the unborn baby out of a living mother in order to steal the baby. It’s a crime so heinous and rare that it couldn’t have happened very many times in the history of the world. I can’t imagine what would top it. I feel sorry for you Diane, but I don’t feel sorry for, and I don’t apologize for any of the remarks I made about Lisa Montgomery.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Look, whether we agree or disagree on the DP, Diane & Carl need to be supported, as do the kids, in that both have been willing to publicly, at least here, address certain aspects of their relationships with THEN-Lisa. Its OK for them to speak in those ways to themselves and others.
Its part of the grieving process for them individually because what they really know is the THEN-Lisa, not the NOW-Lisa. The alienness of the NOW-Lisa to them is palpable. How they move forward, either in relationship with Lisa or not, is up to them and whatever decision they make should be supported because its THEIR need to do so. Because they have normal consciences, how could they be otherwise but conflicted. We are our memories, and they consist equally of “my little sister” and b&w crime scene photos. While the latter were determinative to the jury–of necessity, yet the former are the actively human connected ones we all relate to. To deny or put down Diane’s right to express her true memory, to cherish it even, is to deny our own humanity.
I wrote here that true crime comes in many flavors like ice cream. The one least sampled is the real Truth of a crime — what comes after for the living. I know of no American novel writer who’s addressed THAT as has Brit author McEwan in ATONEMENT; Reynolds Price tried and floped recently (still mentally-whacked Mom comes home after 20 years and the book ends). And certainly no True Crime writer has, except sections of IN COLD BLOOD. For everyone else, its all Epilogue. Can’t imagine such a work being a good seller–an AFTER-dun’it, and yet, really, for all personally involved, it may be the ONLY part of the story that matters. The crime’s ripple over time-space-psyche, though it could be any action.
So lay off the negativity for Carl & Diane and the others in the family (geez, the kids!). The HARDEST part, whether Lisa lives or dies, lies ahead for them.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Robert, Diane hasnt seen her sister in years. If you look at the original Montgomery threads you will see posts from Kayla, who clearly says that her Aunts were nothing but nasty to Lisa her whole life, so for her to come here looking for support that Carl is getting is pathetic IMO.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:52 pm
And Kim, I agree, that is kinda funny. I am just picturing someone saying that to my Mom and its giving me giggles.
She sure wouldnt cry, it would be a topic of humor at the dinner table for years.
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:12 pm
With respect to David C., I wish that old lady had replied by asking him to show her his shrinky dink. Lol
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Melissa,
Kayla wasn’t referring to Diane as one of the “aunts” that were nasty…..Diane was sent away to foster homes when she was young by Lisa’s mother….not even Diane’s dad knew where she was…..so she grew up in foster homes. Diane is a wonderful lady….and sister.
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Wendy, whoever you are, why is this so mysterious after all this time anyway? I would imagine that Diane would have had the chance to be in Lisa’s life after she turned 18 if thats the case. No? How does that a wonderful sister make?
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Bottom line, Lisa was found guilty for her crime and then she was sentenced to death. Which(as Melissa stated on an earlier post) will probably never happen.
Justice was served. All of these haters, do you know the family personally? Reading a book doesn’t count, people lie. Nobody but the family knows what happened during there childhood.
Let’s move on and let a family grieve for all that they have lost.
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Well, maybe Diane could have…maybe she tried. I only know that she was sent away without the knowledge of her father (he was away in Vietnam)…Lisa might have been around 4 years old at the time. When Diane turned eighteen, Judy (Lisa’s mom) was a Kleiner in Oklahoma…not a Hedberg in Kansas. Would have been a tough one for an eighteen year old. And, of course, Lisa became a Boman…..and then a Montgomery….and lots of addresses.
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Diane, I am sorry for your loss and for your pain, however, Lisa brought all this on herself and her family. Your little sister has MANY victims first and foremost: Bobbie Jo, then the Stinnett family, Skidmore community, Carl’s children, Carl himself, her own family, her own community.
The Guilty verdict was a just one, a verdict that the majority agreed with. The insanity defense was ridiculous to begin with! Lisa Montgomery does not suffer from a severe mental illness and she knew darn well that what she had done was wrong. Having said that, I don’t know how you can disagree with the verdict, Diane.
Equally ridicuous was the pseudocyesis claim that the defense could not prove. The defense really didn’t have anything to work with because they didn’t have a case.
The Death sentence was a just one as well. The heinousness/brutality of this particular crime cried out for the DP. The DP is usually handed out for the worst of the worst and the most heinous of crimes and Lisa Montgomery met the criteria for both.
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:02 am
Diane–that had to be tough stuff for you to read. I’ll just say that I’m sorry for your pain and loss and leave it at that.
As for Copperfield–what a pig!
November 10th, 2007 at 6:55 am
I do happen to know Lisa’s family for several years now. Lisa made her own choices for her own reasons and was given her punishment for it. Regardless of how she may have grown up or if she got along with her siblings, she is a grown woman who made grown decsions. I don’t think its fair to blame her family for her choices. There are too many people out there that had horrible childhoods and were able to grow up to be good people who doesn’t commit horrible crimes. Lay off her family.
And for the record, just because a foster kid (Like Diane) turned 18 doesn’t mean she has the resources to find family. She was a victim in her own right so who are we to judge?