Court documents released Tuesday paint a disturbing picture of missing New Hampshire girl Harmony Montgomery’s last days before she vanished in December 2019.
According to a probable cause statement filed at the Hillsborough County Court, Kayla Montgomery, identified as Harmony’s stepmother at the time of the child’s disappearance, told investigators what happened to Harmony as part of a plea deal after she previously lied about the child’s whereabouts to a grand jury.
On December 7, 2019, Harmony and her father, Adam Montgomery, along with Kayla and the couple’s other children, were living in Chrysler Sebring after an apartment eviction. According to Kayla’s testimony, they typically parked in the Colonial Apartments parking lot in Manchester.
At some point that day, the defendant, according to Kayla, became upset and struck Harmony three times after she had a bathroom accident inside the vehicle.
“Adam was extremely upset that five-year-old Harmony was not saying when she needed to go to the bathroom and was having accidents in the car. Kayla stated that after each accident Adam would get upset and would strike Harmony in the face/head with a closed fist,” court documents state.
While Adam Montgomery drove the vehicle, he turned his body and repeatedly struck Harmony’s face and head with closed fists while she was seated in the rear passenger side. He allegedly continued to hit her until he became concerned after the final blow.
“I think I really hurt her this time. I did something,” he allegedly said as the victim started crying in pain for around five minutes before going silent.
Kayla Montgomery told investigators that no one checked on the child and didn’t get her medical help. Harmony subsequently passed away, police said, although her body is still missing.
Afterward, Adam Montgomery allegedly removed clothing from the trunk and placed Harmony’s body in a red and black Under Armour duffle bag. He then left the vehicle near the Colonial Village apartments after it broke down and stayed with friends for a few days while leaving the child’s body inside the trunk.
Over the next few months, the defendant moved the victim’s body to various locations, according to Kayla’s testimony. The family then moved into an apartment with Adam Montgomery’s mother, where he kept Harmony’s body in the duffel bag, stuffed inside a cooler.
Adam Montgomery placed the cooler in the common hallway of the apartment building and left it there until the end of the year. Meanwhile, he told his friends that Harmony had left to live with her mother. Police later determined that to be false.
Adam Montgomery Probable Cause by Leigh Egan
The family eventually left the apartment and stayed temporarily in a transition center, while bringing the duffel bag with them. Adam Montgomery stuffed the duffel bag inside a ceiling vent at the transition center.
“Kayla stated that during this time, there was liquid coming from the bag containing Harmony’s dead body, and there was an odor,” the probable cause statement read. “She said Adam placed a trash bag around the bag to keep it from leaking.”
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The family moved again to an apartment in Union. Adam Montgomery took the duffel bag with him and hid it in a plastic storage box. When the box began leaking fluids, the defendant wrapped a garbage bag around the duffel bag and stuffed it into the refrigerator at the new apartment.
Kayla testified that Adam Montgomery later took the duffel bag into the bathroom and spent over four hours alone in there while running the shower water. He then put the child’s body in a maternity bag, the court documents state, which wouldn’t have fit unless the body had been “dismembered or grossly distorted.”
Kayla admitted she took the maternity bag (with Harmony’s body still inside) to a Portland Pie Company restaurant and stuffed it inside a freezer. Kayla said she did so at the request of the defendant.
Adam Montgomery later retrieved the bag to put Lyme in it, then rented a U-Haul van while taking the bag with him. It’s unclear at this time where he went in the U-Haul or what happened to the maternity bag.
Investigators said the mileage on the rental van at the time was 133 miles. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation logged the U-Haul with three toll violations on March 3, 2020, with two of the violations on Tobin Bridge.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Adam Montgomery has been in jail for more than a year on charges of child abuse, accused of striking Harmony in her face in July 2019. He has pleaded not guilty. Adam is also a suspect in an unrelated murder and has a criminal record that includes shooting someone.
He now faces additional charges of second-degree murder, falsifying physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse, NBC Boston reports. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Police continue to seek tips from the public on help finding Harmony. Anyone with any information about the case is urged to call 603-203-6060.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Adam and Harmony Montgomery/Police Handout; Facebook]
