Harmony Montgomery’s mother reacts as father Adam is convicted of her murder

GRAPHIC WARNING: Disturbing content. Harmony Montgomery, five, was last seen alive in late 2019, but authorities in Manchester, New Hampshire, only started looking for her two years later

Adam Montgomery convicted of second-degree murder of daughter Harmony

The mother of slain five-year-old Harmony Montgomery spoke to reporters outside a courtroom after the little girl’s father was convicted of her murder.

Jurors convicted Adam Montgomery on all charges following a gruelling trial which took place more than four years on from when Harmony was last seen alive in 2019.

Authorities failed to search for the missing child – who was known to protective services – for more than two years after she went missing.

Kayla Montgomery testified that her husband struck the Harmony several times after she had a bathroom accident.

She testified that, after killing her, the family drove to a Burger King. She fed her two young sons and placed a sandwich on Harmony’s lap without realising she was dead.

“After the defendant repeatedly struck Harmony. After he put the blanket over her. After she moaned. After the strange crying moaning stopped. After you did drugs and after the car died, you thought she was sleeping under that blanket,” the prosecutor said.

“Why did you think that she may be sleeping after Adam repeatedly struck her?”

“Because she would usually just go to sleep after,” Kayla answered.

The little girl’s remains were hidden in a ceiling vent at a shelter where the family stayed after her death. Montgomery snuck the remains into his workplace freezer, before disposing of them in March 2020. Harmony’s remains have never been found.

After the verdict was handed down, Harmony’s mother Crystal Sorey told reporters she was “grateful” that it was over – but vowed that she and authorities would not stop fighting to find her daughter’s body.

She also slammed Montgomery as a “coward” for failing to attend any of his trial.

In a press conference, Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg also vowed to continue to push to find Harmony.

“We’re still going to find her,” Chief Aldenberg told reporters as he choked back tears.

“This girl deserves better than the life that she had. This is never about winning or losing, this is about a five-year-old girl who was killed by her father. And I can’t think of a worse crime.”

Key points

• Adam Montgtomery agrees to plead guilty to some charges
• Harmony Montgomery was missing two years before anyone noticed. Now her father is on trial for murder
• Harmony’s mother breaks down in tears during closing arguments

[22 February 2024 09:00 · Andrea Blanco]

Harmony Montgomery’s mother asks court to declare little girl dead amid father’s murder trial

Crystal Sorey filed the petition in late January, just days before Adam Montgomery’s second-degree murder trial kicked off in Manchester. Montgomery, 34, has conceded on two lesser charges of abuse of a corpse and falsifying information in the death of his daughter.

According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, Ms Sorey intends to file a wrongful death lawsuit for Harmony’s killing. A probate court has scheduled a hearing for March to hear arguments on the matter.

The Independent’s Andrea Blanco reports:

[22 February 2024 10:00 · Andrea Blanco]

WATCH: Ex-police officer describes processing car which Harmony Montgomery was murdered in

[22 February 2024 11:00 · Andrea Blanco]

Rampant abuse, damning DNA evidence and a ‘betrayal’ prison letter: Harmony Montgomery trial’s key revelations

Montgomery, 34, is charged with second-degree murder in the December 2019 death of Harmony Montgomery. During the first week of trial, he conceded on two lesser charges of abuse of a corpse and falsifying information.

Harmony disappeared in 2019, but police didn’t know she was missing until two years later, when her mother publicly demanded an investigation after months of failed attempts to get in touch with Montgomery.

Montgomery’s estranged wife and Harmony’s stepmother Kayla Montgomery later came forward with allegations that he fatally hit Harmony in the head after she soiled herself while the family was travelling in a car. Kayla and Adam Montgomery’s then-infant sons were also inside the vehicle, where the family had been living after being evicted from their home in November 2019.

What followed were two years of disturbing plots to hide Harmony’s decomposing body. Montgomery finally disposed of it at an unknown location in March 2020.

Harmony’s remains have never been found.

Here are some of the key revelations that have emerged in court during the trial:

[22 February 2024 12:00 · Andrea Blanco]

Adam Montgomery said he ‘hated Harmony because she reminded him of her mother’

A former friend of accused child murderer Adam Montgomery has revealed the reason why he allegedly hated his five-year-old daughter Harmony.

Rebecca Maines took the stand at Montgomery’s ongoing trial in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Tuesday.

Montgomery is facing a charge of second-degree murder and has conceded two lesser charges of abuse of a corpse and falsifying information in Harmony’s death.

According to the prosecution, Montgomery beat his daughter to death after she soiled herself inside the family car in December 2019. He hid and moved her remains around for two months, before disposing of them in an unknown location in March 2020.

On Tuesday, Ms Maines testified that she and Montgomery met in 2021 when they were both recovering addicts. Ms Maines called Montgomery “her best friend” and told the court that they had spent a lot of time travelling together before Montgomery’s arrest in late 2022.

During her testimmony, Ms Maines, a former nurse, recalled an instance in which Montgomery reportedly admitted to her that he hated Harmony.

“Did he tell you how that made him feel?” prosecutor Ben Agati asked.

“He said he hated her, right to his core,” Ms Maines answered. “It reminded him of her mother.”

[22 February 2024 13:00 · Andrea Blanco]

Adam Montgomery said police ‘were wasting their time’ trying to find Harmony’s remains

On Tuesday, the prosecution called Manchester Police Detective Matthew Larochelle to the stand. During direct cross-examination, the state played the recording of a call between Montgomery and an unknown individual that took place around the time that the FBI and other law enforcement organizations were searching for Harmony’s remains near the Merrimack River.

“One dude went to the police and I was blown away,” Montgomery told the other person on the call. “This dude was like, ‘Oh, my friend ... he passed away, but he was very cool with Adam. He told me Adam gave his daughter to him to bury by the river. I can bring you to the spot.’

“They had the FBI and everybody else there digging up the river. I’m like, is this real life right now? They wasted their time.’

When the other individual said that authorities were just doing their due diligence, Montgomery said the allegations were “outlandish” and that the search was a “waste of taxpayers’ money.”

“I get it, you’re trying to prove a case, kudos to you, But, at what cost, man? Just going to chase down people that f***ing call in from Arizona?” Montgomery said.

[22 February 2024 14:00 · Andrea Blanco]

Adam Montgomery claimed he ‘missed’ daughter after allegedly beating her to death

Tarah Hilbert, the building manager at the Union Street apartment where Montgomery, his estranged wife Kayla Montgomery and their two infant sons lived after Harmony was killed, took the stand on Friday.

Ms Hilbert told jurors that she befriended the Montgomerys six months after they moved to the building complex in 2020, and often spent time with Kayla and the boys.

She then recounted a conversation in which Montgomery told her he had a daughter who lived with her mother in Lowell, Massachusetts.

“He said he had a daughter named Harmony and he hadn’t seen her in a couple of years because her mother had taken her,” Ms Hilbert said.

It is unclear when exactly the exchange took place, but it was at least eight months after Harmony was killed.

During cross-examination, defence attorney Caroline Smith brought up the context in which Montgomery volunteered that information.

“That conversation came up sort of the topic of him missing her, and you asked, ‘Well, where is she?’” Ms Smith asked. “And he said Lowell, Mass.”

Ms Hilbert agreed that this was correct.

[22 February 2024 14:25 · Andrea Blanco]

Deliberations resume

We’re back on verdict watch.

Jurors left for the day yesterday following roughly three hours of deliberation.

[22 February 2024 15:24 · Andrea Blanco]

Harmony Montgomery trial prosecutors use father Adam’s own words against him: ‘I f***ed up’

Montgomery, 34, is facing a second-degree for allegedly beating Harmony Montgomery to death in December 2019. He conceded to two lesser charges of abuse of a corpse and falsifying information earlier during the proceedings.

The defence rested their case without calling any witnesses but told jurors to take testimony from Montgomery’s estranged wife Kayla Montgomery with a grain of salt. Attorney Caroline Smith said that, while his client “did horrible things” to conceal Harmony’s body, he did not kill his “baby girl.”

Meanwhile, prosecutor Ben Agati warned jurors “not to be fooled” by Montgomery’s partial admission.

“Let’s quote people accurately,” Mr Agati said, referencing Ms Attorney’s closing arguments. “‘I f***ed up.’ His language, that he used...the night that he disappeared Harmony’s body to wherever place it is now, where he knows. His words, ‘I f***ed up.’ Not she, not we, not Kayla. ‘I’. Singular, personal, solo.”

[22 February 2024 16:25 · Andrea Blanco]

Prosecutor Ben Agati’s moving closing statements

“The defendant admitted only to what he had to,” Mr Agati said. “Because he thinks that you are going to be fooled.”

“He thinks if you let him slide on the murder, you’ll let him slide on the other two.”

“He admits what he can’t deny. He denies what he can’t afford to admit.”

“And the only parts of Harmony that are left will be with you in that deliberation room, on that pink toothbrush, and on that part of the ceiling wall, that’s there

“And the other parts of her body. Her torso, her face, her eyes, that smile ... only the defendant, as we sit and stand here today, knows where they are.

“And he can’t afford to say where they are, because the evidence contained on them will show that she caused her death, so she won’t get the burial that she deserves.

[22 February 2024 16:56 · Andrea Blanco]

Jury has question for Judge Messer

No verdict yet, but the jury has a question.