Harmony Montgomery's Father Sentenced to 56 Years

A New Hampshire man convicted of killing his 5-year-old daughter and moving her corpse around for months before disposing of it was sentenced Thursday to a minimum of 56 years in prison on murder and other charges as relatives of the child called him a monster. That sentence will be added on to the minimum 32.5-year sentence Adam Montgomery, 34, began last year on unrelated gun charges, effectively amounting to a life sentence following his actions in the death of Harmony Montgomery, the AP reports. Police believe she was killed nearly two years before she was reported missing in 2021. Her body was never found.

• A prosecutor offered to lessen the sentence for the second-degree murder conviction and other charges if Montgomery "tells us right now" the location of his daughter's remains. Montgomery, who has maintained his innocence in the death of his daughter, did not speak in the Manchester courtroom. His attorney later called the offer a "stunt" and said Montgomery's silence should not be interpreted as a lack of remorse.

• People who knew Harmony Montgomery spoke about the happy, kind child they once knew. "She had a life worth living, unlike your own," Crystal Sorey, Harmony's mother, read from a statement addressing Adam Montgomery, her hands shaking. "And it bothered you to your core that she was nothing like you and everything like me." Adam Montgomery had custody of the girl. Sorey said the last time she saw Harmony was during a video call in April 2019.
• Montgomery did not attend his trial in February. He was ordered by the judge to be in court Thursday after his lawyer asked for him to be excused. Montgomery also had pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree assault and witness tampering. He had admitted to abuse of a corpse and falsifying evidence.
• His estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, had testified that her family, including her two young sons with Adam Montgomery, had been evicted right before Thanksgiving in 2019 and were living in a car. She said on Dec. 7, Adam Montgomery punched Harmony at several stop lights as they drove from a methadone clinic to a fast food restaurant because he was angry that the child was having bathroom accidents in the car.

• After that, she said she handed food to the children in the car without checking on Harmony and that the couple later discovered she was dead after the car broke down. She testified that her husband put the body in a duffel bag. She described various places where the girl's body was hidden, including the trunk of a car, a cooler, a homeless center ceiling vent, and the walk-in freezer at her husband's workplace.
• Kayla Montgomery testified that she didn't come forward about the child's death because she was afraid of her husband. She said Adam Montgomery suspected that she might go to the police, so he began punching her, giving her black eyes, she said. She eventually ran away from him in March 2021.
• Kayla Montgomery was recently granted parole. She is expected to be released from prison soon after serving an 18-month sentence. She pleaded guilty to perjury charges related to the investigation into the child's disappearance and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

(More missing child stories.)