Adam Montgomery sentenced to 45 years to life for daughter Harmony’s murder as he still refuses to reveal where her remains are

GRAPHIC CONTENT The convicted murderer was forced to appear in court for his sentencing after refusing to show up to his murder trial, where he was convicted of the gruesome killing of his five-year-old daughter in 2019

Adam Montgomery has been sentenced to 45 years behind bars for the horrific murder of his five-year-old daughter Harmony after he refused to accept a lesser sentence in exchange for finally revealing what he had done with her remains.

A judge on Wednesday said that Montgomery’s “extreme indifference to human life” was evident not only in the case of his daughter’s killing, but also in his lengthy criminal history, which includes shooting a man in the face.

His sentence will now be served consecutively with the sentences that he’s already serving for unrelated gun charges.

A jury in New Hampshire found Montgomery, 34, guilty of second degree murder, second degree assault, falsifying physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and tampering with a witness and informants over the death of his five-year-old child back in February.

Montgomery continues to maintain his innocence of her murder but pleaded guilty at the start of the trial to lesser charges of falsifying evidence and abuse of a corpse.

Before the sentence was handed down, Harmony’s family members delivered emotional victim impact statements to the court.

Crystal Sorey, Harmony’s mother, broke down in tears as she called Montgomery a “monster,” a “coward,” and “just plain evil”.

“It bothered her to your core that she was nothing like you and everything like me,” the grieving mother said, saying that her daughter had a life worth living “unlike your own.”

Adam Montgomery at his sentencing (CourtTV / screenshot)

“Did she cry for me? Did she scream? Did she beg you to stop?” Ms Sorey asked of her daughter’s brutal death. “I’ll never know.”

Ms Sorey also promised to “look for her til the end of my days.”

Ms Sorey’s sister also gave a victim impact statement, calling Montgomery the “most vile person on the planet.” She said he was a “monster” that pretended to be a father but actually “traumatized” his daughter.

A victim impact statement for Montgomery’s estranged wife Kayla – who took the stand to testify against her husband in the trial – was read in court on her behalf by a victim advocate.

“Goodbye,” her statement began, explaining she needed “closure.”

Although Kayla began by admitting that she will “always have a place in her heart” for Montgomery, she later accused him of “physically and emotionally abusing” her. She revealed that, after he was arrested over Harmony’s disappearance, she started “sleeping with a knife” out of fear of what he might do to her.

Most of her statement barely mentioned little Harmony and instead revolved around her romantic relationship with the man she claimed she witnessed murder his child and her plans to fight to regain custody of their children.

Blair Miller, the adopted father of Harmony’s brother Jamison, also spoke to the court on behalf of his child.

“Jamison would constantly ask us, ‘Where’s Harmony?’ Who took my sister away?” he said. “These are no questions for a little boy to be asking.”

Then addressing Montgomery, Blair said: “Adam, you took away his best friend. You introduced murder into his life.”

If he sees a little girl with blonde hair, Jamison goes up and asks if she’s Harmony, Jonathon Bobbitt-Miller, Mr Miller’s husband and Jamison’s father, said.

Harmony Montgomery was last seen in October 2019 at a home in Manchester (Manchester Police Department)

“I hope I get to see her again,” seven-year-old Jamsion said, according to Mr Bobbitt-Miller. “I love my sister. I miss her. I hope she’s eating M&Ms in heaven. I hope her glasses are safe and not broken.”

Jamison’s parents asked the judge to hand down the maximum sentence to Montgomery.

Prosecutors had asked for no less than 56 years to life for Harmony’s violent murder.

But, in court on Wednesday, before the sentence was handed down, prosecutors offered a reduced sentence — a minimum of 35 years to life — in exchange for Montgomery divulging “where to recover” the little girl’s remains in the next seven days.

The convicted murderer – who was ordered by a judge to show up at his sentencing after skipping every day of his murder trial – failed to even respond to the offer.

His silence was interpreted as a rejection.

“He has just shown you again in this courtroom that he is heartless, immoral and an unapologetic murderer of his own child,” the prosecutor said.

Montgomery’s defense attorney Caroline Smith called the offer a “stunt.”

She argued that Montgomery’s silence in response to the offer should not be equated to a lack of remorse. “Mr Montgomery does not have to express remorse here where he has maintained his innocence,” she said, arguing it violates his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

Ms Smith said that the defendant can’t offer an “appropriate” response since he has maintained his innocence and argued he would be “worthy of rehabilitation.”

Before making the offer, the state had argued that the gruesome nature of the crimes — and the subsequent cover-up — should eliminate the possibility of a reduced sentencing.

Kayla Montgomery at a parole board hearing in March (AP)

“How can the minimum [sentencing] ever apply…when she died in the car while he ate his food?”

The prosecutor added: “How could the minimum ever apply when he could tell investigators where her body is right now…so she can be laid to rest?

“There is nothing minimal about the crimes that he’s being convicted for today.”

The convicted murderer had been ordered to appear in person for his sentencing on Wednesday after he refused to show up in court for the entirety of his three-week-long murder trial.

His conviction came nearly five years after Harmony was murdered around November or December 2019 – and three years after authorities began looking for her.

During his trial, his defense attorney insisted that while Montgomery “did horrible things” to hide Harmony’s body, he did not kill her.

Kayla’s testimony directly contradicted this claim, as she revealed harrowing details about the little girl’s death.

She told the court how one day, in the car, Montgomery beat his daughter repeatedly after she had an accident.

He became “really angry from Harmony peeing in the car, and he repetitively kept punching her on the way to Burger King,: he said.

Kayla said that they later realized Harmony was dead and Montgomery tried to hide her remains in several places.

She testified that the five-year-old’s corpse was first stored in a cooler at Kayla’s mother’s home before being relocated to a ceiling vent at a shelter the family lived in briefly – before Montgomery started bringing the remains to work with him daily.

The horror didn’t end there, however.

Kayla detailed his efforts to dispose of his daughter’s body in March 2021. She said her estranged husband contemplated using a handsaw, lime and even a NutriBullet to destroy Harmony’s rotting remains.

Although it’s unclear whether he actually executed his plan, Kayla recalled seeing him with a “large” bag of lime in the bathroom.

“He said that he wanted to get rid of the body soon because he was scared of anything that could happen to him and the kids,” she told the court.

She testified that Montgomery asked her to help him destroy her remains, but she refused.

The child’s remains have never been found.

Montgomery is already serving a 32-year-sentence on unrelated charges.

In addition to the 45 years to life for murder, a judge ordered him to serve consecutive sentences in New Hampshire state prison on other charges.

He was ordered to serve four to eight years for second degree assault, 12 months for abuse of a corpse, as well as three-and-a-half to seven years for both falsifying physical evidence and tampering with a witness and informants over the death of his five-year-old child.