A jury found Adam Montgomery guilty of murdering his 5-year-old daughter, Harmony, as investigators vowed Thursday to continue to search for the little girl’s remains.
The jury of 10 women and two men also found Montgomery guilty on four other charges, which included second-degree assault, abuse of corpse, falsifying evidence and witness tampering.
The verdict came after the jury deliberated for about seven hours. The trial lasted 10 days in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester and drew a significant amount of media coverage. The jury deliberated for about seven hours over the course of two days.
Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, wiped tears from the second row of the gallery even before the jury entered the courtroom to deliver its verdict.
She reached out to shake Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg's hand before she left the courtroom.
“Justice is partly served,” Sorey said from outside the courthouse. “It is not over yet. It is not going to be over until she is found.”
Montgomery, 34, who is serving a prison sentence of at least 32 years on unrelated firearm charges, refused to be in the courtroom for the verdict. He did not appear for any of the witness testimony.
Sorey called Montgomery a coward.
“I hope what he did plays over in his mind every single waking moment that he lives on this earth,” she said. “I hope he never falls asleep without seeing her beautiful face.”
Sentencing will be set later. The second-degree murder charge carries a minimum of 35 years to life in prison. The sentences will be added to last year's on the gun charges.
Prosecutor Benjamin Agati said the state will ask the court to enforce state law requiring Montgomery to appear at sentencing.
In the courtroom, Sorey was comforted by Michelle Raferty, who was Harmony’s foster mother in Massachusetts. Sorey had custody of Harmony off and on because of drug addiction. Sorey said on Thursday she has been clean for going on five years.
“There is a lot more to come in her name and to keep her memory alive,” Sorey said.
Sorey said she tried to bring attention to authorities for months about missing Harmony, who she hadn’t seen in two years. Adam Montgomery gained custody in February 2019 despite having a violent and lengthy criminal record.
Aldenberg gave an emotional plea on New Year’s Eve 2021 for any and all information on the missing girl.
On Thursday, Aldenberg said he was humbled to have Sorey reach out to him immediately after the verdict was read. He reflected on a 5-year-old going missing for two years.
“It blows my mind,” he said after the verdict.
Child protective services in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire have come under fire for their handling of the little girl's case.
“This little 5-year-old girl deserves somebody to be held accountable that failed along the way. We wouldn’t have been standing here today if other people had been doing their job,” the chief said.
Aldenberg credited Detective Jack Dunleavy, the lead detective on the case, for taking Sorey’s plea seriously four years ago.
On Thursday, the courtroom was filled with about two dozen officers, several who testified during trial.
Montgomery was charged with Harmony’s murder in October 2022. He was already facing a second-degree assault charge for giving Harmony a black eye in July 2019.
The evidence
His estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, testified that after Harmony had a bathroom accident in the car they were living in, Montgomery repeatedly struck the little girl until she started moaning. Kayla Montgomery said that on Dec. 7, 2019, she and Adam discovered Harmony had died after their car broke down at Webster and Elm streets in downtown Manchester.
The body was stowed away in a cooler, in the ceiling at the Families in Transitions shelter and in a freezer at the former Portland Pie Co. The body was further dismembered and stuffed into a diaper bag before being disposed of, Kayla Montgomery testified.
In his opening statement, one of the Montgomery's attorneys said the jury can and should find him guilty of abuse of a corpse and falsifying evidence.
Testimony included details on Adam Montgomery’s abuse of his wife and his paranoia in the years after the murder.
Agati said all of Kayla Montgomery’s testimony was corroborated by other witnesses or physical evidence, including the discovery of Harmony’s DNA in some ceiling drywall.
He called it a difficult case for the jury, which listened to nearly 50 witnesses over the course of eight days. Agati prosecuted the case alongside Christopher Knowles.
Public defenders Caroline Smith and James Brooks argued that Kayla Montgomery was alone with Harmony when she died and is the only one who knows the truth.
"She is lying because she has something to hide still," Smith said in closing arguments. "Because the truth points to her. Adam did some very, very bad things, but he did not kill his daughter."
The defense did not call any witnesses before closing arguments on Wednesday.
The search continues
Tips came in from all over the country as the case garnered national attention during the course of the investigation. Some came in as the trial proceeded, Agati said.
Montgomery drove 133 miles into Massachusetts, Agati said.
“That only left him with 26 miles of driving that he could have done between where he was at the EconoLodge in Manchester and going through the Tobin those three times,” Agati said. “We know he went through no New Hampshire tolls, so what that means is she is somewhere along that route.”
The remains are likely wrapped in multiple bags, he said.
“There is a high likelihood that there will be parts of her body that we can recover,” Agati said.
Aldenberg hopes Montgomery has a “small shred of decency” to let investigators know where Harmony’s body is.
“He knows,” Aldenberg said.
During closing arguments, Agati mentioned a recorded jail call quoting Montgomery saying the searches are a waste of time.
“He believes Harmony’s life and death were a waste of time and they weren’t anything to him,” Agati said. “He dumped her like trash.”
During sentencing in the weapons case in August, Montgomery said he did not kill Harmony and looked forward to the trial, but he was a no-show for the past two weeks.
“We look very much forward to sentencing,” Agati said.
