Baby Be Mine (26 page)

Katie pulled the knife back over her head and slashed down at Sarah. Sarah backed up and Katie slashed at her again. Sarah stumbled out through the apartment door. Katie grabbed her by the hair and dragged her back inside.

Sarah grabbed a heavy ashtray and slammed it into the side of Katie's head. Katie dropped the knife. Sarah scrambled after it. They fought for control of the weapon. Then it was in Sarah's hand.

Sarah stabbed Katie in the right shoulder blade. All she could think of was saving her baby and saving her own life. She stabbed Katie in her left shoulder. Still Katie struggled to reclaim the knife. Katie bit. She scratched. She clawed at Sarah like a cornered animal.

Sarah stabbed Katie again. This time, the blade went into Katie's chest. It passed through skin, fat and muscles until it reached a major blood vessel, the superior vena cava. That injury was mortal—the bleeding would not stop.

Still clutching the knife, Sarah staggered out of the apartment building and toward Dixie Highway. Her clothes were covered in blood. She waved the knife in the air trying to flag down someone for help. She collapsed in the grass on the side of the road. Her appearance scared the motorists on the crowded highway more than it compelled them to come to her aid. But one driver did call and report the unusual circumstances.

Inside the apartment, Katie pulled off the padding that made her appear pregnant. She grabbed the phone and punched in 9-1-1. She talked to dispatchers until extreme blood loss caused her to lose consciousness.

Six police cars and four ambulances screeched to a stop in front of the apartment building, their sirens resonating in the
air. The lights continued flashing as police and paramedics fanned out to care for the two injured women. Other tenants thought Katie was having her baby.

In one ambulance, Sarah was rushed to the hospital, where she was treated for bites and stab wounds on her hands and arms and then released. Katie arrived in another ambulance. She was declared dead on arrival—she lost too much blood. When Katie's family members arrived at the hospital, their first question was: “How's the baby?”

However, the autopsy performed on Katie Smith uncovered her ruse. Katie Smith was not pregnant. In fact, she had never been pregnant in her life.

Sarah had a professional caesarean section at St. Elizabeth Medical Center on February 16. Her daughter, McKaila Grace Hutton, weighed seven pounds and four ounces.

Authorities verified Sarah's version of the events the afternoon of the attack and believed her claims of self-defense against a woman determined to kill her and steal her baby. No charges were filed against Sarah Brady.

The story of the incident made an impact in the courts just the same. It drew the attention of the Kentucky Innocence Project, who looked into the conviction of Katie's father. They concluded that Katie's history of deception and the dubious reliability of recovered memory called Timothy Smith's verdict into question.

It also captured the imagination of attorney Patrick Lamb of a law firm in Chicago. He was convinced of Smith's innocence in the sexual abuse accusations. He offered the
pro bono
services of his firm to the incarcerated man. Smith accepted his offer.

Lamb filed a brief requesting an evidentiary hearing on behalf of their new client. The filing included affidavits from Katie's two sisters and one of her cousins, attesting that they believed Katie's accusations about her father were false. Other affidavits included statements from expert witnesses that cast doubt on the credibility of recovered memory.

*    *    *

In Skidmore, Missouri, they rejoiced at Sarah Brady's survival. They closed their eyes and imagined different headlines in last December's newspapers—headlines that marveled at Bobbie Jo Stinnett's ability to fend off her attacker—headlines that announced the funeral of Lisa Montgomery.

Z
eb Stinnett emerged from his self-imposed exile in mid-April and issued a statement to the public:

Over the past four months, I am sure I have been a source of frustration to the many reporters who have requested interviews. This is not because of any ill will toward the media. To be honest, I respect the hard work reporters do, and I will always be deeply grateful for their crucial role in returning my daughter to me. With that said, right now my family is seeking as much normalcy as possible. Anyone who knows me will tell you that talking is not my favorite pastime. I am quiet even among family and friends, so you can imagine how I feel about appearing on TV or in newspaper articles
.

For the foreseeable future, I, as well as the members of my family, won't be available to the news
media. I respectfully ask that all inquiries be directed to my spokesman, Dan Madden. I thank you for your cooperation
.

To the many people who have prayed for our family, who have sent letters and emails and who have generously given their time and money to help give Victoria Jo a better future, I hope my public silence is not misinterpreted as ingratitude. My words could never be enough to convey what it has meant to our family. We are humbled and awed by the kindness that has flooded into our lives. To see such goodness in the wake of what happened gave us strength to persevere. I assure you that Victoria will be told about all of you and, like us, I know she will be touched deeply by your kindness
.

Speaking of Victoria, she is four months old and beautiful. She has three great loves right now
—
eating, sleeping and smiling. Believe it or not, the 5-pound, 11-ounce baby I held in a Kansas hospital last December now weighs 15 pounds, 8 ounces
—
most of it cheeks
.

Our family is strong. We have stuck together and thanks to the help of my mother-in-law Becky, my mother Patty, and many other relatives and close friends, Victoria is deeply loved and well cared for
.

I must express my thanks to many people. My regret is that there are so many that we will never be able to personally thank each person who has touched our lives in the past months
.

First of all, we want to thank Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey and his staff for their quick work and persistence in getting the Amber Alert started. Sam Graves, who intervened on Tori Jo's behalf; David Merrill and the Missouri Highway Patrol; Randy Strong of Maryville Public Safety; the Northwest Missouri Major Case Squad; the FBI; and Todd Graves and Matthew Whitworth of the U.S. Attorney's Office
.

We would also like to express our support for the “Tori Jo's Loophole” bill that would amend the Amber Alert system
.

We are deeply grateful to Dr. Siglinger and the administrators and staff of Stormont-Vail HealthCare in Topeka, who cared for Victoria in those first few days, and to the responding team of Nodaway County Ambulance and the ER doctors and staff at St. Francis Hospital who tried to save Bobbie Jo
.

A special thank you to the people of northwest Missouri, especially our friends and family, the pastors and members of our churches, our employers and coworkers at Kawasaki Motors and Sumy Oil Company, and Richard Dowden and the people at Price Funeral Home. We also give special thanks to the people at S&M NuTec, the makers of Little Greenies dog treats, who established a $15,000 education trust fund for Tori Jo, the Mead and Johnson Company who generously donated a year's supply of formula, the Dollar General Store of Maryville, which donated a year's supply of diapers and baby supplies, and to the JC Penny Outlet of Maryville for the gift of a changing table and crib set
.

To the fifth-grade class at Nodaway-Holt Elementary School and the sixth-grade class at Savannah Middle School, your colorful cards and letters brightened some pretty dark days
.

I personally have received hundreds of cards, letters and e-mails from around the world. I am reading each and every one. There is no way to thank each person who has reached out to us, but I hope you all know that you have given us a priceless gift
.

Our thanks go to United Missouri Bank and Bank Midwest who established funds for Victoria and to the countless people who have made donations. We are humbled by your generosity
.

With the grace of God, and the good will of so
many people, we will emerge from this stronger and more appreciative of His many blessings
.

Please continue to pray for us and for all families who have suffered from violence. We can feel your prayers
.

Every year, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children selected six cases across the country for special recognition. Sheriff Espey received notification that one of those cases for 2004 was the safe recovery of Victoria Jo Stinnett.

At 4
A.M.
on Tuesday, May 17, the sheriff and a team of officers and three Nodaway County Sheriff's Department dispatchers—Maria Finney, Melissa Wallace, Lindsey Stiens and Joni Sherman—boarded an airplane bound for Washington, D.C. The next morning, they were honored at a congressional breakfast meeting. United States Representative Sam Graves of northwest Missouri presented the 2005 National Missing Children's Award. John Walsh, host of
America's Most Wanted
, bestowed the Officer of the Year award on the group from Missouri.

After that ceremony, they were free until Friday. They spent the time sightseeing at as many Washington, D.C, landmarks as possible. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was a big hit. The memorials to fallen heroes humbled them with a reminder of the sacrifices made by the men and women of the military throughout the nation's history. On May 20, they headed to the Department of Justice for an awards banquet for them and twenty other members of law enforcement from across the nation.

The team who rescued Victoria Jo Stinnett received the Officers of the Year award. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales passed out the National Missing Children's Law Enforcement Awards to the remaining officers.

Four officers from the Philadelphia Police Department received an award for the recovery of 10-day-old Delimar Vera. Although Delimar was presumed to have perished in
the fire that destroyed her home, law enforcement found her in the care of the woman who set the fire to cover up the abduction.

Two officers from the Linn County Sheriff's Office in Albany, Oregon, were honored for the recovery of 11-year-old Tanner Kahn after his mother's boyfriend kidnapped him from a bus stop. An officer from the Midwest City Police Department in Oklahoma received his award for dismantling a child sex ring.

Seven officers from New Jersey and two from Florida were recognized for the multistate operation that shut down a child pornography enterprise. The final case, the capture of three men involved in a child sex and pornography ring, earned the award for a team of four out of North Carolina.

Alberto Gonzales acknowledged the efforts of others as well. Trucker Charles Cogburn of Russellville, Arkansas, received the Amber Alert Citizen Award. He paid attention and responded to the alert when he spotted 17-year-old Shauna Leigh of Piano, Texas, in the vehicle of her abductor. His call led to the apprehension of the suspect and the safe release of the victim.

Corporate awards were given to Honeywell and Radio Shack for their child safety programs. And the National Missing Children's Day art contest winner was fifth-grader Dana Server from Alimitos Elementary School in San Jose, California.

The next day the folks from northwest Missouri flew back home. One more trip to D.C. was in the works, but this time Espey was told that only five officers could be in the group. With all the people who had helped in the effort, picking a handful was a difficult decision. He selected as representative a group of investigators as he could: Corporal Jeffrey Owen and Sergeant Dave Merrill of the Missouri Highway Patrol, Investigator Randy Strong of the Maryville Department of Public Safety and FBI Special Agent Kurt Lipanovich.

Three days later, these five officers were on a plane again.
On the afternoon of May 25—National Missing Children's Day—they were admitted into the White House.

After passing through security, staffers ushered the thirty recipients to be honored that day into the briefing room. The presidential aides walked them through the upcoming presentation, explaining what the President would say and where they should stand.

The five honorees in the Skidmore case were the last group to leave the staging area and enter the Oval Office. Attorney General Albert Gonzales gave a summary of the accomplishments of the group to the President and introduced each of the men. One by one, Bush shook their hands and expressed his appreciation for their hard work to recover the baby. He said he'd followed the story on the news.

Then President Bush addressed the full group. He talked about items of historical significance in the Oval Office like the desk that was the room's focal point. He drew their attention to the painting of a springtime bounty of bluebonnets that stretched across a Texas Hill Country landscape—
Near San Antonio
by Julian Onderdunk, on loan from the San Antonio Museum of Art. He pointed to the left of his desk to a painting of men on horseback—
Charge to Keep
by William Koerner. This piece of art had particular significance to the President because he had borrowed it from a personal friend.

He directed his audience to the paintings beside the fireplace. On the right was
Rio Grande
by Tom Lea, a cactus-strewn desert scene from the El Paso Museum of Art. On the left were two smaller pieces on loan from the Witte Museum:
Chili Queens at the Alamo
, a rendering of the former tradition of chili stand vendors, and
Cactus Flowers
, which glowed with the yellow and orange-red blooms of the Prickly Pear. The other two paintings in the Oval Office were historical national treasures: portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.