Gruesome details are emerging in the case of missing girl Harmony Montgomery, who police believe died in December 2019 in New Hampshire, nearly two years before she was reported missing. Her father, Adam Montgomery, 33, was charged with her murder in October 2022, although her body has never been found. Newly released court documents allege how she died.
Court documents obtained by Law & Crime detail Harmony’s reported last moments alive and how her father allegedly killed her and transported her body for months before disposing of it in an unknown location. In the court documents, Adam Montgomery’s estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, recalled his rage on December 7, 2019, when Kayla had a bathroom accident in the car. He allegedly beat the young child so severely that she died. But what she said he did next is truly heinous.
The family was living in a car when Harmony reportedly died.
According to the affidavit, Kayla Montgomery said her husband struck Harmony in the face on multiple occasions on December 7, because she did not tell her parents that she needed to use the bathroom and had accidents in the car where they were living.
He was driving the car to a fast food restaurant when he turned and hit the child in the head and face three to four times with a closed fist on three separate occasions over the course of a few minutes, the affidavit reads. Kayla Montgomery said Adam Montgomery reportedly heard or felt something after the final blow.
“I think I really hurt her this time,” Adam Montgomery allegedly said after the attack, his wife recalled. “I think I did something,” the affidavit reads.
Harmony reportedly made a moaning sound and then went silent.
Kayla Montgomery told police Harmony moaned for about five minutes before she stopped making noise. According to the affidavit, Kayla Montgomery said the family returned to an apartment complex where they had parked their car. Adam Montgomery allegedly used heroin and fentanyl at that point, but no one checked on Harmony.
When the car broke down several hours later, they noticed Harmony was not breathing and realized she was dead. Kayla Montgomery told police that Adam Montgomery put his daughter’s body in a duffle bag.
“Kayla stated that Adam went to the trunk of the vehicle, removed clothing from a black and red Under Armour duffle bag and placed the lifeless body of Harmony into the bag,” the affidavit reads. “Kayla stated at no point did either of them have any conversation about getting any type of lifesaving measures for Harmony, and that Adam simply put Harmony’s dead body into the bag and walked it back to the parking lot of the Colonial Village apartments.”
The couple moved from place to place and reportedly carried Harmony’s corpse with them.
Kayla Montgomery detailed her husband’s reportedly gruesome moves. She alleged he kept Harmony’s body in a duffle bug for several months after her death and sometimes put the bag in the snow to slow her body’s decomposition. After living in the car, the couple next moved in with Kayla Montgomery’s mother, and Harmony’s body was reportedly put into a red cooler until the end of December 2019.
The couple then moved into a shelter where, according to the affidavit, Kayla Montgomery claimed the bag containing Harmony’s remains began to leak and emit an odor. Adam Montgomery allegedly put the duffle bag in a trash bag and placed it in the ceiling of their room. Investigators later removed tiles from the room that had stains on them indicating decomposition.
Adam Montgomery allegedly took his daughter’s body to work.
Kayla Montgomery gave conflicting stories about Adam Montgomery’s next move. Still, according to the affidavit, he allegedly put her body in a refrigerator and transferred it to a much smaller bag. The affidavit stated the second bag “would likely not fit Harmony’s body unless it was dismembered or grossly distorted.” Kayla Montgomery claims Adam Montgomery took that tote bag and stored it in the freezer of a restaurant where he worked as a dishwasher.
In a second interview, Kayla Montgomery told police her husband transferred the body into the smaller bag at the shelter.
“Harmony wasn’t bones; she had skin, teeth, and hair, and Kayla could still tell it was her,” the affidavit says. “Kayla described Adam eventually pushing and pushing on Harmony’s body, and then she heard a bang; she was not able to elaborate on what this bang was. Adam also banged the [Catholic Medical Center] maternity bag on the floor while zipping it.”
Kayla Montgomery said her husband rented a U-Haul truck to dispose of Harmony’s body. Multiple other witnesses confirmed that Adam Montgomery rented a truck in early March 2020.
Adam Montgomery was charged with murder.
Although her body was never found, police charged Adam Montgomery with second-degree murder in October 2022. A grand jury indicted him in January 2023, and his trial is set to begin in November.
