MARYVILLE, Mo. – A missing baby who was cut from the womb after her mother was slain was found safe at a Melvern, Kan., home Friday, and federal authorities charged a woman who lives there in the kidnapping.

Lisa M. Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan., south of Topeka is charged with kidnapping resulting in death in the abduction of the eight-month old fetus and the killing of the mother, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said. Authorities could not say if anyone else would be charged.

“This is a heart-rending case,” Graves said in announcing the charges outside the Nodaway County Courthouse in northwest Missouri.

Montgomery could face life in prison or the death penalty for the crime.

The discovery of the baby and a suspect ended a multistate search sparked when the mutilated body of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett was found by her mother Thursday afternoon in Stinnett’s Skidmore home. Stinnett’s killer had sliced open the woman, who was eight months pregnant, and removed her unborn child.

For those who knew Bobbie Jo Stinnett, the recovery of the healthy baby girl was the first bright moment since her body was discovered.

“It makes us happy that that much has come out,” said Jo Ann Stinnett, a relative of Bobbie Jo’s.

Authorities allege Montgomery, of Melvern, met the pregnant woman after feigning interest in a dog Stinnett was selling. Stinnett bred rat terriers as a small home business.

Using an assumed name, Montgomery allegedly struck up an online exchange with the 23-year-old, eventually getting driving directions to Stinnett’s house.

According to an affidavit supporting the federal charge, Montgomery went to the house, strangled Stinnett from behind, then sliced her open to remove the infant.

Stinnett’s mother, Becky Harper, called police and was instructed over the phone how to conduct CPR.

Harper told investigators it looked like her daughter’s abdomen had exploded.

“It was a pretty gruesome sight,” Nodaway County Sheriff Bill Espey said.

Espey said investigators know Stinnett was still alive within an hour of being found.

Her body was taken to Kansas City, Mo., for an autopsy by the Jackson County medical examiner. He expected it would establish she was strangled and resisted the attack.

“The autopsy is going to show us there was some blond hair probably found in her hands,” the sheriff said. “That would also help us with the DNA.”

At Espey’s urging, an Amber Alert was issued at about 12:45 a.m. EST Friday. The alerts are intended for kidnapped children and have never been issued for a fetus taken from the womb, authorities said Friday.

“Nobody can ever perceive of this ever taking place – to have someone take a fetus out of its womb and then to do an Amber Alert to try to find the child,” Espey said. “It’s inconceivable.”

By mid-morning Friday, a dog breeder from North Carolina who had heard about the Amber Alert contacted the FBI with information about a rat terrier message board that Stinnett was active on. That tip was important.

Investigators learned from checking Stinnett’s computer that she recently had exchanged e-mails with a Darlene Fischer who was using e-mail address fischer4kidshotmail.com. Authorities allege Fischer was actually Montgomery.

The e-mail address led law enforcement to a house in the 32400 block of South Adams Road in Melvern. While they had the house under surveillance, a car matching the description of the suspect car arrived.

Montgomery initially told authorities she had been pregnant, and went into labor Thursday while shopping in Topeka. Her husband told investigators much the same: that his wife had called him Thursday, said she had went into labor, and asked to meet him and his two children at a Long John Silver’s in Topeka.

The baby was recovered at the house.

FBI spokesmen, Jeff Lanza emphasized that she was in good condition.

“The girl was in pretty good shape, considering what she had been through,” Lanza said.

People who knew Stinnett described her as quiet, friendly and pretty, a person devoted to animals, especially her breed dogs. She and Zeb Stinnett both worked at the Kawasaki Motors manufacturing plant in Maryville 14 miles away.

“She didn’t have any enemies, neither did he,” said Chris Law, 23, who said he has known Zeb Stinnett since boyhood. “They were good-natured people.”

Law said he noticed a small pinkish vehicle, parked in front of the Stinnetts’ house at about 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, and he last noticed it about two hours later. Law said the front door of the house was open while the car was there.

“If it had been a stranger, she never would have let them in the house,” Law said. “It had to be someone she knew.”

Bill Dragoo, a neighbor, said the Stinnetts mostly kept to themselves. She would often walk with her dogs, he said

Stinnett and her husband, Zeb Stinnett, had been married for about a year, Espey said.

“I can’t believe someone could walk in to a house and commit such a horrendous act,” said Lisa Saxton, a Nodaway County deputy clerk.

In Melvern, residents were shocked by the charge against one of their neighbors.

Christi Masenthin said she knew the couple and her children on a Little League team with Kevin Montgomery’s children “They were quiet people. My kids knew their kids. I knew them that way.”

Masenthin said the town was rife with speculation about a possible motive. “lots of people are saying all kinds of things.”

Friday night, police cut off all access to the Montgomery home, a white two-story house west of Melvern. Throughout Friday, the guestbooks on the Stinnetts’ Web sites, www.happyhavenfarms.com and www.imageevent.com/happyhaven, filled with condolences and hopes that the Stinnett’s child would safely be recovered.

“Even though we have never met,” wrote a woman who identified herself as Carla, “I wanted to send you my sincere sorrow in what has occurred to your family. Know that people all over the world are praying for your family.”

“What a horrible happening,” wrote Tracy. “May God comfort and help you through this.”

Rick added: “My family and I will continue to pray for the safe return of your baby and for you during this tough time – God Bless You Zeb”