New Hampshire father Adam Montgomery beat his 5-year-old daughter Harmony to death – then took her decomposing body every day to the restaurant where he worked, leaving it next to the food, prosecutors told his murder trial.
Montgomery, 34, spent months moving her daughter’s “butchered” body to various hiding places – before finally disposing of it “like yesterday’s trash,” prosecutors told the opening of her father’s trial, which he refused to attend.
He also put Harmony’s compressed body into a tote bag — which he took every day to the restaurant where he worked as a cook and dishwasher, the court was told.
“[The bag] stood out to people, because he put it in the fridge during his shift,” prosecutor Christopher Knowles told the court.
“He brings it regularly to work and he keeps it in the refrigerator where the company stores food, ingredients,” he said.
“People saw him bring that in and out. They couldn’t imagine what was in the bag.”
Adam Montgomery is on trial in New Hampshire, accused of killing his 5-year-old daughter and abusing her body. AP
The murderous father also hit his daughter’s body in the trunk of a friend’s car, a cooler in her mother-in-law’s apartment building, a hole in the ceiling of the homeless shelter where she lived and the apartment refrigerator, before dumping the body in an unknown location, prosecutors said.
Harmony went missing in 2019, but police did not learn of her disappearance or begin searching for the child until two years later.
Harmony Montgomery went missing in 2019, but police didn’t start looking for her until two years later. Manchester NH Police
Her father hit her in anger because she had a bathroom accident in their car – then went for fast food and took drugs while ignoring her last cries as she died in the back seat of his car, a court was told.
The body of the helpless girl was never found.
“He’s the only person in the world who knows where Harmony is … and he hopes she’s never found,” Knowles said of Montgomery, who is currently serving more than 30 years on weapons charges.
“One person, the only person who killed Harmony, who butchered her body, and who threw her away like trash yesterday.”
Montgomery pleaded not guilty in 2022 to charges of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, assault and witness tampering in Harmony’s death. He had previously denied killing his daughter. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Despite years of searching for Harmony, her body has yet to be found. AP
His estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, had told police that her husband would beat Harmony as punishment for having a bathroom accident.
She said Adam told her he had been “beating her around the house” after she put her hand over one of her sons’ mouths.
On the day of his death in December 2019, Adam Montgomery repeatedly punched his emaciated and bruised daughter after she had two bathroom accidents in the family’s car, which had become their home following a recent eviction, Kayla said.
Montgomery is charged with second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, assault and witness tampering. AP Kayla Montgomery, Adam’s wife, told police she allegedly punched Harmony over a bathroom accident in their car, after which she died. AP
He then drove to a fast food restaurant, ate and took drugs as Harmony moaned in pain in the backseat of his car, Knowles said in her opening statement.
It wasn’t until hours later, when their car broke down, that Adam and Kayla Montgomery discovered Harmony was dead, according to prosecutors.
The father put his son’s lifeless body into a duffel bag and put it in the trunk. Over the next several months, Knowles said that Adam took steps to dispose of Harmony’s body, buying saws, blades and chalk, and renting a moving truck.
Harmony’s father allegedly carried her decomposing body in a tote bag and took her to work.
“He believed that if there was no one, there would be no evidence of the terrible things he did to her, and he would get away with it,” the prosecutor said.
Adam Montgomery’s lawyer told the court he did not harm Harmony — and accused his estranged wife of lying about what really happened to protect herself.
Kayla Montgomery, who is serving an 18-month sentence for a perjury conviction, is expected to testify against her husband.
Defense attorney James Brooks said that notes found in Kayla’s jail cell revealed her willingness to ‘betray’ her husband in exchange for a plea deal that would have given her “immunity from everything.”
Adam Montgomery is currently serving more than 30 years on gun charges. If convicted of second-degree murder in Harmony’s murder, he could face up to life in prison.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
