Adam Montgomery was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the gruesome murder of his 5-year-old daughter, Harmony, after he refused to accept a lighter sentence in exchange for finally revealing what he had done to her 5-year-old daughter’s remains.
A judge said Wednesday that Montgomery’s “extreme indifference to human life” was evident not only in his daughter’s murder case but also in his long criminal history, which included shooting a man in the face.
His sentence will be served consecutively with sentences he is already serving on unrelated weapons charges.
A jury in New Hampshire found Montgomery, 34, guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree assault, tampering with physical evidence, maltreatment of a corpse and interfering with a witness and informants in the February death of his five-year-old child.
Montgomery continues to maintain his innocence in the murder, but pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial to lesser charges of tampering with evidence and mishandling a corpse.
Before sentencing, Harmony’s family members submitted emotional victim impact statements to the court.
Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, broke down in tears as she called Montgomery a “monster,” a “coward” and “just evil.”
The grieving mother said that her daughter had a life worth living “different from yours” and said, “It deeply disturbed her that she was nothing like you and everything was like me.”
“Did he cry for me? Did he scream? Did he beg you to stop?” “I’ll never know,” Ms. Sorey asked about her daughter’s violent death.
Ms. Sorey also vowed to “search for him for the rest of my life.”
Ms Sorey’s sister also made a victim impact statement, calling Montgomery “the most despicable person on the planet”. He said he was a “monster” who pretended to be a father but was actually “traumatizing” his daughter.
The victim impact statement of Montgomery’s estranged wife, Kayla, who took the stand to testify against her husband at the hearing, was read on her behalf by a victim advocate in court.
His statement began with “goodbye” and explained that he needed “closure”.
Although Kayla began by admitting that Montgomery “will always have a place in her heart,” she later accused him of “physically and emotionally abusing her.” After he was arrested for Harmony’s disappearance, he began “sleeping with a knife” because he was afraid of what he might do to her, she revealed.
Little Harmony wasn’t mentioned much during most of her testimony, and instead revolved around her romantic relationship with the man she claimed witnessed her child’s murder and her plans to fight to regain custody of her children.
Blair Miller, the adopted father of Harmony’s brother Jamison, also spoke in court on his child’s behalf.
“Jamison kept asking us, ‘Where’s Harmony?’ he would ask. “Who took my sister?” said. “These are not questions a young child would ask.”
Addressing Montgomery later, Blair said: “Man, you took away his best friend. “You brought murder into his life.”
Jonathon Bobbitt-Miller, Mr. Miller’s husband and Jamison’s father, said that if he saw a little girl with blonde hair, Jamison would go up and ask if it was Harmony.
“I hope I can see him again,” said seven-year-old Jamsion, according to Mr. Bobbitt-Miller. “I love my sister. I miss her. I hope she’s in heaven eating M&Ms. I hope her glasses are safe and not broken.”
Jamison’s parents asked the judge to give Montgomery the maximum sentence.
Prosecutors had sought a minimum sentence of 56 years to life in prison for Harmony’s brutal murder.
But in court Wednesday, before sentencing, prosecutors offered a reduced sentence (a minimum of 35 years to life) in exchange for Montgomery revealing “where” she will recover the little girl’s remains within the next seven days.
The convicted murderer, who was ordered by the judge to attend sentencing after skipping every day of his murder trial, didn’t even respond to the offer.
His silence was interpreted as a rejection.
“He showed you once again in this courtroom that he is heartless, immoral and the murderer of his own child,” the prosecutor said.
Montgomery’s defense attorney, Caroline Smith, called the offer a “stunt.”
He argued that Montgomery’s silence in response to the offer should not be equated with a lack of remorse. “Mr. Montgomery does not have to express remorse here because he maintains his innocence,” he said, arguing that this violated his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
Ms Smith said she could not provide an “appropriate” response because the defendant maintained his innocence and maintained he was “worthy of being rehabilitated”.
Before making the proposal, the state argued that the horrific nature of the crimes and the ensuing cover-up would preclude the possibility of reducing sentences.
“How is the minimum [sentencing] “Did he ever apply… when he died eating his dinner in the car?”
The prosecutor added: “How can the minimum be applied when he can tell investigators where his body is now so he can be buried?
“There is no minimum in the crimes for which he was convicted today.”
The convicted murderer was ordered to appear in person for sentencing on Wednesday after refusing to appear in court for the entirety of his three-week murder trial.
His conviction came nearly five years after Harmony was killed around November or December 2019 and three years after authorities began searching for him.
During his trial, his defense attorney insisted Montgomery “did terrible things” to hide Harmony’s body but did not kill her.
Kayla’s testimony directly denied this claim because it revealed harrowing details about the little girl’s death.
She told the court how Montgomery repeatedly beat her daughter in the car one day after they had an accident.
He got really angry that Harmony urinated in the car and proceeded to punch her repeatedly on the way to Burger King: she said.
Kayla said they later realized Harmony was dead and Montgomery tried to hide her remains in several places.
He testified that the five-year-old boy’s body was first stored in a cooler at Kayla’s mother’s home, then placed in the attic vent of the shelter where the family lived for a short time before Montgomery began bringing the remains to work each day.
But the horror didn’t end there.
In March 2021, Kayla detailed her efforts to dispose of her daughter’s body. Kayla said her estranged husband considered using a handsaw, lime and even a NutriBullet to destroy Harmony’s rotting remains.
Although it was unclear whether he actually followed through with his plan, Kayla recalled seeing him in the bathroom with a “large” bag of lemons.
“She said she wanted to get rid of the body as soon as possible because she was afraid of anything that might happen to her and the children,” the woman told the court.
He testified that Montgomery asked him to help dispose of her remains, but he refused.
The child’s remains were never found.
Montgomery is currently serving a 32-year prison sentence on unrelated charges.
In addition to the 45-year sentence for murder, a judge ordered him to serve consecutive sentences in a New Hampshire state prison on other charges.
He was sentenced to four to eight years in prison for second-degree assault, 12 months for mistreatment of a corpse, plus three-and-a-half to seven years for both tampering with physical evidence and tampering with a witness and informants in the death. from his five-year-old child.