Fetus Theft Adds to Mo. Town's Notoriety

SKIDMORE, Mo. - If records were kept on per capita misery, Skidmore, population about 350, might be near the top of the list.

The town sits on a hill above the Nodaway River amid cornfields in northwestern Missouri. Residents farm, man the town's lone gas station and clock in at nearby factories.

Skidmore is not a hotbed of any activity, much less the criminal kind. In 2005, all of Nodaway County recorded 16 violent crimes.

But for such a small town, Skidmore has an unusually violent history. The most recent of the especially brutal crimes was the slaying of a pregnant woman whose fetus was cut from her womb.

"It doesn't matter where I go in the U.S.," …