Adam Montgomery, 34, has been found guilty of all charges including second-degree murder, in the death of his daughter, Harmony, in December 2019. He pleaded not guilty in 2022. Montgomery had conceded two lesser charges of abuse of a corpse and falsifyin
A New Hampshire jury on Thursday found a man guilty of killing his 5-year-old daughter, who a friend testified that he hated “right to his core” because she reminded him of her mother.
Adam Montgomery, 34, has been found guilty of all charges including second-degree murder, in the death of his daughter, Harmony, in December 2019. He pleaded not guilty in 2022. Montgomery had conceded two lesser charges of abuse of a corpse and falsifying information.
Authorities believe Montgomery killed the girl on Dec. 7, 2019, but she wasn’t reported missing until nearly two years later.
Harmony's body has not been found.
Rebecca Maines, who is in prison for a parole violation, testified Tuesday that Montgomery told her in the summer of 2021 he had been trying to see his daughter since 2019, ABC News reported. Maines, a former nurse, told the court Tuesday that she recalled an instance in which Montgomery admitted to her that he hated Harmony, The Independent reported.
“Did he tell you how that made him feel?” prosecutor Ben Agati asked.
“He said he hated her, right to his core,” Maines answered. “(Harmony) reminded him of her mother.”
Montgomery allegedly beat his daughter to death after she soiled herself inside the family car in December 2019, prosecutors say. Prosecutors also say he hid and moved her remains around for two months before disposing of them in an unknown location in March 2020.
Montgomery, who is serving a 30-year prison sentence for an unrelated gun conviction, hasn't been attending his trial.
Since the start of the trial, defense attorneys acknowledged he is guilty of two lesser charges of falsifying evidence and abusing a corpse, according to ABC News.
Defense attorneys argue he did not kill Harmony, and instead suggested she actually died on Dec. 6, 2019, while alone with her stepmother, Kayla Montgomery, who is Montgomery's estranged wife, ABC News reported.
Harmony’s case received national attention in late 2021, when she was reported missing by her mother two years after she was last seen. The mother did not have custody of her daughter at the time.
Adam Montgomery and Crystal Sorey, Harmony's mother, were not in a relationship when Harmony was born in 2014. The child lived on and off with foster families and her mother. Crystal Sorey lost custody of Harmony in 2018, and Adam Montgomery was awarded custody in February 2019, according to ABC News.
Sorey testified that she last saw her daughter during a FaceTime call around Easter 2019, ABC News reported.
Prosecutor’s star witness, Kayla Montgomery, testified against her estranged husband on Monday.
Kayla Montgomery, who is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to perjury for lying during grand jury testimony about where she was when Harmony was last seen, said she didn't come forward about Harmony's death because she was afraid of her husband.
She was not given immunity, but she acknowledged to defense lawyers that she hasn’t faced further consequences for inconsistencies in her various statements to police or prosecutors, ABC News reported.
Kayla Montgomery testified that Adam Montgomery repeatedly punched Harmony in the head because the girl had soiled herself. She said her family, including the couple’s two young sons, had been evicted and were living in a car at the time of the girl’s death, ABC News reported.
Kayla Montgomery told the court that Adam Montgomery punched Harmony at several stop lights as they drove from a methadone clinic to a fast food restaurant on the morning of Dec. 7, 2019, which is the day authorities believe she died.
Also on the witness list for Montgomery's trial was his father, but earlier this week, Michael Montgomery died unexpectedly in Florida, according to The Union Leader. Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg was notified of Michael Montgomery’s death Monday night, he told The Union Leader. Michael Montgomery did not testify in his son's trial.
