Crime
This sentence will be in addition to the minimum 32 1/2 year sentence that Adam Montgomery, 34, began last year on unrelated gun charges.
Adam Montgomery arrives for his sentencing hearing at Hillsborough Superior Court, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Manchester NH Photo AP/Charles Krupa, swimming pool
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man convicted of murdering his 5-year-old daughter and moving her corpse for months before disposing of it was sentenced Thursday to a minimum of 56 years in prison for murder and other changes.
This sentence will be in addition to the minimum 32 1/2 year sentence that Adam Montgomery, 34, began last year on gun-related charges, making it unlikely he will ever get out of prison after his actions in the death of Harmony Montgomery. Police believe she was killed nearly two years before she was reported missing in 2021. Her body was never found.
Montgomery did not attend the trial in February. The judge ordered him to appear in court Thursday after his lawyer asked him to apologize, saying Montgomery maintained his innocence on charges of second-degree murder, second-degree assault and bribery of witnesses. He admitted to abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence.
His ex-wife, Kayla Montgomery, had testified that her family, including her two young sons with Adam Montgomery, were evicted just before Thanksgiving in 2019 and were living in a car. She said that on Dec. 7, Adam Montgomery hit Harmony Montgomery at several red lights as they walked from a methadone clinic to a fast food restaurant because he was angry that the child had been in accidents in the toilet in the car.
After that, she said she gave food to the children in the car without checking on Harmony Montgomery and the couple later discovered she was dead after the car broke down. She testified that her husband put the body in a duffel bag. She described various places where the girl’s body was hidden, including the trunk of a car, a cooler, an air vent in the ceiling of a homeless center, and the walk-in freezer on the her husband’s workplace.
During Adam Montgomery’s trial, his lawyers suggested that Kayla continued to lie to protect herself. They said their client did not kill Harmony and that Kayla Montgomery was the last person to see the child alive.
Kayla Montgomery said she didn’t talk about the child’s death because she was afraid of her husband. She said Adam Montgomery suspected she might go to the police, so he started hitting her, giving her black eyes, she said. She ended up fleeing him in March 2021.
Kayla Montgomery was recently released on parole. She is expected to be released from prison shortly after serving an 18-month sentence. She pleaded guilty to perjury charges related to the investigation into the child’s disappearance and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Adam Montgomery had custody of the girl. His mother, Crystal Sorey, who was no longer in a relationship with him, said the last time she saw Harmony Montgomery was during a video call in April 2019. She eventually went to police, who announced they were searching for the missing child in New York. New Year’s Eve 2021.
Harmony Montgomery’s case has highlighted weaknesses in child welfare systems and sparked calls to prioritize the well-being of children over that of parents when it comes to custody. Harmony was moved between her mother’s home and her adoptive parents’ homes several times before Adam Montgomery was awarded custody in 2019 and moved to New Hampshire.
Authorities plan to continue searching for the girl’s remains, which are believed to be along a route Adam Montgomery drove in a rental truck in Massachusetts in March 2020.
Boston
