Editor’s note: Some of the details described in the story below may be disturbing for readers.
Opening statements and emotional testimony were the focal point of the second day of the murder trial of Adam Montgomery, a New Hampshire father who is accused of killing his 5-year-old daughter Harmony Montgomery in 2019.
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Prosecutors laid out a disturbing story of how Adam Montgomery killed Harmony by hitting his daughter after she soiled herself.
“The defendant beat Harmony because she had a bathroom accident, something she had no control over,” New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Christopher said.
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They say the man then transported the young girl’s body from place to place in a duffel bag for months to cover up the crime. But the defense argues someone is responsible for her death.
“Adam Montgomery did not cause Harmony’s death. Kayla Montgomery was the last person to see Harmony alive,” defense attorney James Brooks argued Thursday.
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During opening statements, Montgomery’s defense blamed estranged wife Kayla Montgomery for Harmony’s death, saying she’s changed stories and lied to protect herself. Adam Montgomery himself was absent from court for a second day.
“Kayla was an equal participant in the cover-up. She knows how Harmony died and she won’t tell,” Brooks said.
Authorities say Harmony died December 7, 2019, in a car she was living in with father, stepmother and two younger stepbrothers in Manchester. They say Harmony passed away after her father hit her and her body eventually ended up in a bag, which prosecutors say Montgomery moved to places like a homeless shelter and apartment. Police didn’t declare the child missing until 2021, and her remains have yet to be found.
“He believed that if there was nobody, there could be no evidence of the horrible things that he did to her and he would get away with it,” Knowles said.
After opening statements came witness testimony. Harmony’s biological mother Crystal Sorey took the stand to answer questions about when she last saw her daughter and the type of child she was.
“I just kept reaching out to Adam and Kayla and Kayla and asking them, begging them to see her. I was sorry for whatever did even sure what I did,” Sorey told the jury.
Sorey said she only saw Harmony twice in person and twice on Facetime after losing custody of her daughter in 2019. She said her daughter was "amazing, "rambunctious", and "very smart."
Other family members also spoke. Adam Montgomery’s uncle and Harmony’s great-uncle Kevin Montgomery testified that he witnessed an assault on Harmony by her father in 2019. He later contacted child welfare about it.
The girl had a black eye and when Kevin Montgomery asked her what happened, he said his nephew replied:
”She didn’t do anything. I bashed her around the f*** house."
Michelle Rafferty, Harmony’s foster mother, also took the stand to describe the Harmony she knew.
"She was a loving child, she was very sweet, very happy … super social, she loved to be with people wherever she went. She left people happy, and you knew that you met her," she recalled.
Adam Montgomery was in court on Tuesday during jury selection but has been absent since the trial started on Wednesday.
Other witnesses others who knew Harmony and Adam Montgomery. Kayla Montgomery is expected to take the stand on Friday.
More on the Harmony Montgomery murder trial
