New Hampshire prosecutors have revealed harrowing details about the way Adam Montgomery left his five-year-old daughter’s remains ’emaciated’ after allegedly killing her in 2019.
Montgomery, 34, is on trial in Manchester on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the death of Harmony Montgomery. Montgomery said he plans to plead guilty to two lesser charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
Opening arguments finally began Thursday after a delay Wednesday so jurors could get a tour of landmarks in the case.
A state prosecutor who presented the disturbing case to a grand jury detailed how Montgomery went to great lengths to hide and misuse her daughter’s body, hiding the remains in a walk-in freezer at a restaurant where she worked.
After Harmony’s murder on December 7, 2019, her father, stepmother Kayla Montgomery, and the couple’s two young children moved in with Kayla’s mother. At the time, Montgomery reportedly kept Harmony’s remains in a red freezer with a white lid.
The family then moved to a shelter, where Montgomery hid Harmony’s body in the ceiling vent.
While showing a medium-sized cloth bag, the prosecution said, “He squeezed his body and squeezed it into this bag.”
When investigators returned to the room two years later, they saw deep blood stains on the ceiling vent and smelled decomposition, the state said.
“And around Harmony’s blood, all that was left of her… the defendant’s fingerprints and palm prints froze there for a while,” the prosecution said.
Montgomery reportedly brought the bag containing Harmony’s remains to work every day after neighbors began complaining about the smell. At the time, Montgomery was working as a cook and dishwasher at the Portland Pie Company, which has since closed.
“[The bag] It caught people’s attention because he had put it in the freezer during his shifts,” a prosecutor said. “He regularly brought it with him to work and kept it in the freezer where he kept company food and supplies. People saw him taking it in and out. “They couldn’t even imagine what was in that bag.”
Montgomery began discussing ways to get rid of Harmony’s body after she and Kayla Montgomery moved into an apartment on Union Street with their children in March 2020.
“He debated using a saw to cut it open. He discussed using lime to further break it down so it couldn’t be found,” the prosecutor’s office said. “Remember, he believed that if no one was there, there would be no evidence and he would get away with it.”
He tampered with the sealed bag containing Harmony’s remains and added lime to the bag, the state said.
“I think this will destroy everything that’s left of him,” the prosecution said. “He spent most of the day in that bathroom compressing Harmony.”
According to the prosecution, Montgomery took Harmony’s frozen remains, placed them in the bathtub, and ran hot water to further process what was left of the body. Kayla Montgomery then walked into the bathroom and allegedly saw Montgomery.
The prosecutor said Harmony was largely composed of skin, bones and fluid, and he saw Mr Montgomery trying to dispose of her remains.
The prosecution said Montgomery asked his wife to help Harmony shrink her body even further, but it was “too much” for her.
“So he went into the living room with his two sons so they couldn’t come in and see what their father was doing,” the prosecutor said.
At one point, Montgomery took a break and walked out into the living room and allegedly said: “I can take it apart, I can make it work.”
Montgomery rented a U-Haul and drove to an unknown location to dispose of Harmony’s remains.
“He told Kayla he would not tell her where to leave Harmony,” the prosecutor’s office said. “He had control, he had all the pieces.”
Harmony’s remains were never found.
At the time of Harmony’s murder, the family were living in their car after being evacuated from their home in Manchester.
According to an affidavit released in 2022, Kayla Montgomery said her husband was driving to a fast food restaurant when he turned around and punched Harmony multiple times in the face and head because he was angry about having a bathroom accident in the car.
“I think I really hurt him this time. I think I did something,” he said, according to Kayla.
Kayla told investigators that Harmony made a “moaning-like sound” for about five minutes “and then stopped.”
No one checked on Harmony or stopped to get medical help.
They stayed in the parking lot for 20 minutes before driving off again. In a second interview, Ms. Montgomery admitted that she and Mr. Montgomery used heroin and fentanyl during this period. However, when their car, a Chrysler Sebring, broke down, the couple realized “Harmony wasn’t breathing” and died, she claimed.