MANCHESTER, N.H. — A New Hampshire man was convicted of second-degree homicide by a jury Thursday within the demise of his 5-year-old daughter, who police imagine was killed almost two years earlier than she was reported lacking in 2021 and whose physique was by no means discovered.
Adam Montgomery, 34, didn’t attend the trial and wasn’t current when jurors returned their verdict. He had proclaimed his innocence, saying in courtroom final 12 months in an unrelated case that he loves Harmony Montgomery “unconditionally.”
His attorneys earlier acknowledged his guilt on two lesser prices, that he “purposely and unlawfully removed, concealed or destroyed” her corpse and falsified bodily proof, however stated he didn’t kill Harmony.
Investigators imagine Harmony was slain in December 2019, although she wasn’t reported lacking for nearly two years. Kayla Montgomery, the woman’s stepdaughter, testified that the physique was hidden within the trunk of a automobile, a cooler, a ceiling vent, and a office freezer earlier than Adam disposed of it.
Adam Montgomery had custody of Harmony. Her mom, who was now not in a relationship with him, stated the final time she noticed Harmony was throughout a video name in April 2019. She finally went to police, who introduced they had been on the lookout for the lacking youngster on New Year’s Eve 2021.
Photos of Harmony had been broadly circulated on social media. Police finally decided she had been killed.
Kayla Montgomery is serving an 18-month jail sentence after pleading responsible to perjury prices associated to the investigation into the kid’s disappearance and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. She testified that that her husband killed Harmony on Dec. 7, 2019, whereas the household lived of their automobile after being evicted from their residence.
Kayla testified that Adam repeatedly punched Harmony within the face and head as a result of he was offended that she was having rest room accidents within the automobile.
The couple seen Harmony was lifeless hours later when the automobile broke down, at which period Adam Montgomery put her physique in a duffel bag, Kayla had testified.
For the subsequent three months, she testified, Adam moved the physique from container to container and place to position. According to his spouse, the areas included the trunk of a pal’s automobile, a cooler within the hallway of his mother-in-law’s house constructing, the ceiling vent of a homeless shelter and a office freezer.
Adam Montgomery’s attorneys stated that he didn’t kill Harmony, and that the one one who knew how she died — Kayla — was mendacity.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”