42: He Put His Daughter in a Nutribullet, Now His Murder Conviction Is Overturned?! | Harmony Montgomery

[MUSIC] The details surrounding the crime are heinous. [MUSIC] >> We have a lot of worried people and scared people right now. [MUSIC] >> Hey, keep your hands right and see him. [MUSIC] >> We understand this whole thing is getting a little out of hand, but you agree? [MUSIC] Where's your daughter so you can check on and get through the situation. [MUSIC] >> A convicted child killer just had his conviction overturned. Let me say that again. A convicted child killer just had his murder conviction overturned. Now, if you're sitting there thinking, wait, what, Annie? Trust me, you are not alone. I am enraged. I don't even know how to put into words how angry I am right now. Because this isn't just any case. This is the case of five-year-old Harmony Montgomery. A little girl whose life was marked by instability, abuse, and ultimately a fate so horrific that even after covering true crime for years, this remains one of the most disturbing and heartbreaking and just evil cases that I have ever researched and that I have ever covered. I covered this case years ago in real time as it was unfolding. As questions were still being asked, nobody seemed to have the answers, then we finally started getting the answers. And it is one that I was so deeply and still and so deeply invested in. It is one that always has and always will stick with me, which is why I am so angry and just so passionate today. And I excuse you know, any overly emotional moments or heated moments during this episode, I am just so upset at how this happened. The failure, because once I tell you what little harmony went through, things that are going to be too unbelievable to even believe, you are going to be equally outraged. I want you to warn yourself. I want to warn you. I want you to protect yourself. I should say this is not an easy case to hear. And for many of you who might be familiar with Harmony Montgomery's story, there is, I'm sure, some level of details that maybe you don't know. And I just want to warn you going into this episode, it is certainly a tough one. So you know how it goes, guys? I'm Annie Elise and today we are reopening the case of Harmony Montgomery. I can't believe I'm even saying those words. Let's jump right in. For years, Harmony was failed by nearly every system that was supposed to protect her. Then she vanished. No basic person report was filed. No one seemed to know where she was or care. And by the time that the authorities finally realized that she was gone, the investigators would uncover allegations that were almost too horrific to comprehend. Prosecutors alleged that Harmony was beaten to death by her father, Adam Montgomery. And they also alleged that what happened afterward was just as disturbing as the crime itself. We're talking about allegations of months spent concealing her body, moving her remains from place to place, and an effort to erase every single trace of what happened. Using a nutrable, a nutrable, a blender to dispose of five-year-old Harmony's remains. To this day, Harmony's remains have never been found. Now, when her father, and I say that with the very loose term, father, when I should say her sperm donor, when Adam Montgomery finally went to trial, the evidence and the testimony that was presented, it painted a picture so barbaric, so cruel, and so deeply disturbing that many people believed that there was no possibility that he would ever see freedom again. Myself included, and the jury also agreed. He was convicted of murder and he was sentenced to spend nearly the rest of his life behind bars. But now, in a stunning and upsetting twist, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has overturned his murder conviction, sending shockwaves through the case and leaving many people wondering what happens next. So, what I want to do today is I want to walk through everything, and I want to take it back to the very beginning. I want to talk about Harmony's life, who she was as a person, the allegations against Adam Montgomery, the investigation, the evidence, the trial, the defense's arguments, the conviction, the sentencing, all of it. And now, ultimately, the bombshell ruling that has put this case back in the spotlight. Because, truly, while one conviction, yes, may have been overturned, the story of what happened to Harmony Montgomery and the fight for justice on her behalf, well, that is far from over. So, let me start by sharing a little bit about Harmony. Harmony was born in June of 2014. She had beautiful sandy blonde hair that had just below her shoulders, and she wore these cute little purple-frame eyed glasses to help with her vision, because she's legally blind in her left eye. Now, Harmony's childhood was anything but smooth sailing, okay? I mean, her dad, Adam, was behind bars until 2015. And Harmony had a pretty rough start in life. Harmony's biological mother, Crystal, attempted to care for Harmony while battling addiction, but despite her efforts, DCYF received three separate reports of neglect the first month that Harmony was born. Investigators attempted to provide service to Crystal, however, the neglect continued, with two additional reports filed in August of 2014. Officials determined that Harmony's well-being was at risk, and she was removed from Crystal's care, and then she was placed in a foster home for the very first time. After Adam was released from jail, he met Harmony for the first time in January 2015. This was when Harmony was just six months old, and he met her during a supervised visit with DCYF. Immediately following the visit, Harmony was placed in Crystal's care again, but she remained under the custody of DCYF. She had gotten taken away from her mom's care multiple times in her first four years of life. In January of 2018, Harmony, then just three and a half years old, was again removed from Crystal's care for the third time due to Crystal relapsing. Harmony was placed back into foster care at that time. Then, in August of 2018, Adam resumed supervised visits with Harmony. This was after having not visited with her for the prior 11 months, so why he all of the sudden wanted to start visits again with her? Who knows, it's anybody's guess. But because of this, he was ultimately granted guardianship of Harmony the following year in February of 2019. However, just a few months later in July of 2019, just five months after being granted custody of little five-year-old Harmony Montgomery, Adam Montgomery admitted to his uncle Kevin that he gave Harmony a black eye. See, he confided in his uncle that he bashed Harmony around the house. After he had left Harmony in charge of watching her infant brother while Adam was in the bathroom, the little infant baby started crying, and Harmony was holding her hand over his mouth, trying to quiet him down. Adam also allegedly admitted to Harmony being spanked very hard on the butt, being forced to stand in the corner for hours at a time, and also being ordered to scrub the toilet with her toothbrush. So Adam's uncle Kevin reported the incident to DCYF immediately after Adam kind of gave this harrowing confession. So then a caseworker visited Adam's house that same month in July of 2019, but apparently they found the claim that Harmony had a black eye unfounded. However, the family was identified as high risk of repeat child welfare system involvement, so they were given referrals for housing support. During a second visit that August, the worker noticed a red mark on Harmony's eye and also faded bruising under her eyelid. The worker was told by Harmony and her father that the mark was caused by horseplay with another sibling, when a little toy lightsaber apparently struck Harmony near her eye. Two other visits that year showed the children appeared happy and healthy, and the last visit was on October 1st, 2019, and the division didn't have any contact with Adam Montgomery again until three months later in January of 2020. When Adam was asked about Harmony, Adam said that she was now living back with her biological mother, Crystal, and that they were living in Massachusetts, and that he had dropped Harmony off there over Thanksgiving weekend months earlier. So a child protective services worker attempted to contact Crystal to verify this information, and they left a voicemail for Crystal. However, the call was not returned, and unfortunately there is no evidence of any additional attempts made to contact Crystal after that initial call in January of 2020, and it wasn't until over one year later in the fall of 2021 that legal officials would try locating Harmony again. This time it was due to Crystal wanting to make contact with Harmony, and Harmony's former foster parents wanting to connect with her. It was then that Harmony was [BLANK_AUDIO] discovered to be in fact missing. Five-year-old Harmony apparently had vanished, and this happened sometime in late November or early December of 2019, just nine months after being placed in her father's custody. However, police had only now been made aware of her disappearance in the fall of 2021, years later. So Harmony was last seen between November 28th and December 10th of 2019. This was after her family was evicted from their home in Manchester, New Hampshire. At the time, police say that Harmony was living with her father, her stepmother Kayla, and their two children. At the time of her disappearance, Adam and Kayla were also reportedly homeless. Now since Harmony first went missing, there have been numerous inconsistencies in Adam and Kayla's version of events all the way from the very beginning. To start, Adam had told police as well as allegedly told Kayla that he was taking harmony to her mother, Crystal's house, for Thanksgiving. But the timeline didn't add up, and Crystal never had plans to see Harmony that weekend. Now that is just one of the many red flags and blatant lies in this case. So where was Harmony? And how did nearly two years go by without anybody noticing that she had vanished? So Adam and Kayla were the focus of this investigation from day one, not only because so many of their stories didn't add up, but also because it was quickly discovered that Kayla had fraudulently been claiming Harmony for food benefits. Even though Harmony was admittedly not in her possession during that long period of time, which the couple claimed to remember Harmony was with her mom, Crystal. Adam was also a key suspect because of the long history of alleged pain inflicted on Little Harmony, and that had been documented by CPS after that harrowing confession to his uncle Kevin. So shortly after discovering that Harmony was in fact missing, Adam was arrested on multiple counts related to his daughter's disappearance, including felony second degree assault, one misdemeanor charge of interference with custody, and two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child. However, he was not charged with disappearance or murder. The investigation appeared to be really at a standstill for months after that. There was no new information or confessions and no real break in the case, not for several months, but that all turned upside down in June of 2022. The case heated back up when authorities swarmed the former home of Adam and Kayla Montgomery. Now, explosive court documents revealed that Kayla told the cops back on June 3rd, 11 days before this search happened, that Harmony's father Adam had murdered his then five-year-old daughter. And not only that, but he allegedly encouraged his new wife Kayla to help cover up the crime. Kayla told police that Adam had encouraged her on multiple occasions to lie to the police, all about Harmony's whereabouts, lie, lie, lie about everything. Also, that Adam gave Kayla a cover story and told her that as long as she stuck to this cover story, everything would be okay. So on Monday, October 24th, 2023, Adam ultimately was charged with second-degree murder in the murder of his daughter, Harmony. This was nearly three years after her disappearance. Other counts against Adam included falsifying physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with a witness. He said to have repeatedly punched five-year-old Harmony in the head and punched her with a closed fist at his home in Manchester, New Hampshire. Now, let me say that again, guys. He allegedly struck her repeatedly with a closed fist all in the head until he killed her. It is beyond brutal and just inhumane. Well, Adam pleaded non-guilty, and his defense asked the judge to preclude Kayla's statements. Then the trial began, and the truth, it was about to be exposed and uncovered. Back when Adam was being sentenced for gun charges, he made it very clear that he was looking forward to the upcoming trial so that he could refute the, quote, "offensive" claims that were against him. It is pretty not to consider anything as it relates to the case regarding my daughter, Harmony. I did not kill my daughter, Harmony, and I looked forward to my upcoming trial to refute those offensive claims. He was present for jury selection, but on Wednesday, when opening statements were set to begin, he decided that he wasn't going to show up because he was upset about being strip-searched. Before opening statements began, the judge decided to do things a little bit differently than we usually ever see too. She chose to do the jury view before anything else. Now, if you're not familiar with a jury view, it's basically where the jury is taken to the places where the crime or crimes were committed in order to help them understand and visualize things better a little bit more correctly so that when the details are shared in the trial, they're able to, you know, just really visualize it and remember back to what they saw. So right after the jury left the courtroom to get ready to leave for the jury view, Adam then decided to make an appearance via Zoom with his attorneys. He let the judge know that he had plans to plead guilty to the two lesser charges, which were falsifying evidence and abuse of a corpse. After that, it was more or less just a waiting game. And by the time the jury got back, the judge had decided that opening statements would need to be moved to the next day. So opening statements started bright and early the next morning and it's honestly no surprise that Adam once again decided he didn't want to be present. During those opening statements, Christopher Nulls, the prosecutor for the case, gave the jury a glimpse of what was to come. She went from this little girl full of life, a girl that radiated happiness, that radiated joy, to a scared girl broken, bruised. And from there, she went to the dead girl in the duffel bag. And after that, she went to the dead girl rotting in the ceiling, the ceiling that the defendant slept under for months. For months, as Harmony's body fluid, her blood leaped through that duffel bag and was absorbed into that ceiling, he slept under her. That's what he did to her. That's what he made Harmony, his actions. Remember that as we go along, this case is about his actions. He explained that Harmony's death happened on December 7, 2019, after she had an accident inside the car. After that accident was when the prosecution says Adam beat her to death. But leading up to that day, there had also been a significant abuse. Christopher went over the timeline of everything that happened before and after the murder. The first signs of physical abuse were in July of 2019. This was five months before her death. And just five or six months after Adam got custody of her, which why even take custody of her at that point, if you don't want her, if you're just going to beat her, it infuriates me. So after getting custody of Harmony in early 2019, Adam moved into his uncle's house with his wife Kayla and also with Harmony. Adam's uncle Kevin, who we had talked about earlier, a little bit, left town that summer. But when he returned, Harmony had that black eye. So he asked Harmony what happened. But before she could even respond, that's when Adam allegedly said, she didn't do anything. I bashed her around this house. During the months after that incident, Kevin apparently never saw Harmony again. But he repeatedly tried to get help for her. While he was trying to get help for her, the abuse though just continued to get worse and worse. So bad, in fact, that Adam started covering Harmony with a blanket whenever they were in public, so that nobody would see the bruises that were all over her. And then in the 10 days leading up to her murder, is when it all boiled over. They had been evicted from the house that they were living in and they began living in their car and all of the abuse and life changes led to Harmony having multiple accidents. And that brings us to December 7th of 2019. That day began like any other day for Harmony. They were living in that car. She woke up and she was scared. She was scared because she'd wet herself. She didn't want the defendant to know. She'd wet herself first thing that morning and she was afraid. And just as she feared what happened, the defendant smelled what she had done. And for that, he hit her. He struck her in the face and he drove his car. He continued on with his days if he had done nothing. He struck this little girl in her face on the side of her head. He continued on as if nothing happened. He drove to the methadone clinic, the clinic that you saw yesterday on the view. And there he and Kayla took turns getting their treatment. They'll hear that Kayla went in first, the defendant stayed in the car, and then the defendant went in. And when the defendant came back to the car, he was hungry. And so he started driving the family's car to the Burger King, the Burger King that you saw yesterday on the view. And as he was pulling out of that parking lot, he smelled something. He smelled that Harmony had had another accident, and that rage, that rage that had been building inside of him. It was there. Remember, he was still upset about the earlier accident, that first thing in the morning. And he looked back at Harmony as he was driving. He said, "Really Harmony, again?" and he began striking her. As he was driving, holding on to the wheel, he began punching this little girl repeatedly, repeatedly for something she had no control over. He struck her, blow, after blow, after blow, to the side of her small head. And he didn't stop, and you'll hear me say that. He didn't stop. He didn't stop with that first barrage of assaults, of strikes to her small head, he continued. And when he pulled up to a light, he continued hitting her, hit, after hit, to her small head, blow after blow. Now, during this barrage of strikes, Kayla, who was in the passenger seat, seated next to the defendant, seated in front of Harmony. And she put a hand up. She tried to block what this defendant was doing to Harmony. She tried to stop him. You'll hear that in that moment, he looked at her as if to say, "You're next." And she was scared. And she looked forward, and she put her hand down, and those strikes to Harmony continued. And when he pulled up to another light as he was driving to that Burger King parking lot, he continued striking her. And after that last strike, he looked at Kayla, and he said, "I think I really hurt her this time, this time. I think I really hurt her this time. I think I did something." And he didn't stop. He continued with his drive. He pulled into that parking lot at Burger King, and he ordered his food. He ordered his food, and he ate. He didn't stop to check on Harmony. He didn't look back at her. He didn't show any concern for this innocent little girl. The child he'd just beaten. He didn't stop. You'll hear that at that time, after that last blow, after that last strike to her small head, she began moaning, making a gurgling sound. Sounds that continued on and off for several minutes. He didn't show any concern. He ate his food, and he continued driving towards the colonial apartment parking lot. And while he was there, he did drugs for 20 to 25 minutes, showing no concern for the child that was dying in his backseat, just feet away from him. And Kayla, you'll hear, was too scared to look back. She couldn't look back. She was frozen. She was terrified to see what he had done to this small child. She could just hear that moaning, whose gurgling sounds, sounds that eventually stopped. After killing Harmony, according to the prosecution, Adam then spent the following months actively working to conceal the evidence of what he had done. Initially, he hid Harmony's body in a duffel bag inside the car, and outside of the car overnight. Once they got into a shelter, he put her in the closet of their room. Then he moved her into the ceiling, and that's where she began decomposing. And her bodily fluids began leaking into the ceiling and starting to create a very foul odor. After getting a job at a local restaurant, Adam started taking Harmony's body in that duffel bag to work with him every day, and he would place it into the freezer during his shifts. But somehow nobody found out what or who was in this duffel bag. Once they moved out of the shelter, and into an apartment, is where he began taking things a step further, if you can even believe that. Now I want to caution you because if you haven't heard any of the details of this case prior to today, this is very, very bad, and this case is extremely graphic, and it's probably the worst one I've ever discussed in terms of details. So after getting the apartment, Adam put Harmony's frozen little body into a bathtub. He did this so that she could thaw out. And that was before squeezing all of her bodily fluids out and compressing her, and then placing her back into that bag that she was in and adding in a 40-pound bag of lime. All in an effort to speed up the decomp process, and hide the smell. I mean, it's so incredibly sick. He then later used a u-haul to take her remains and get rid of them. Because according to all of this, Adam thought that if there was no body, he wouldn't be charged. And then he went on to tell people that he had just given Harmony back to her mom over Thanksgiving weekend anytime they would ask where she was. And throughout all of this, the prosecutor said that Adam abused Kayla, and that he threatened her to keep quiet, help him conceal evidence, and not report what he had done to this innocent five-year-old little girl. And the prosecutor finished his opening statements by giving a rundown of each charge and a summary of why he was charged with those things. He's guilty of the second degree assault for beating Harmony in that July 2019 incident for bashing her around the house, for beating her off every wall in the house, for kicking the dog shit out of her. For causing the black eye, causing that injury to Harmony, just like he's guilty of reckless second degree murder for beating Harmony to death in the Chrysler Sea ring on December 7, 2019. He's guilty of falsifying physical evidence for mutilating Harmony's corpse, for destroying her, for putting her somewhere she would never be found, and he's guilty of tampering with the witness for beating Kayla, for threatening her, for compelling her to stick to the story that he gave her. And he's guilty of abuse of a corpse, for his conduct in the Union Street Department bathroom, for compressing Harmony into that small bag, adding lime to it. Those are the crimes that defendant in this case committed, that's what he's guilty of. The defendant committed multiple violent crimes against a small child, a helpless child. In December 2019, he assaulted and he murdered because of that rage, his rage. He destroyed Harmony so that he could never be caught, and he beat Kayla for control. That's what the defendant did to his victim in this case. Now when it was time for the defense's opening statements, they took an angle that I thought they might take if I'm going to be honest, because they immediately placed all of the blame on Kayla, saying that Kayla was the one who killed Harmony, and that Adam was just protecting Kayla. But Adam Montgomery did not kill Harmony. Adam Montgomery did not beat Harmony in the head as he approached the Burger King drive through. Adam Montgomery did not cause Harmony's death. Kayla Montgomery was the last person to see Harmony alive and know how Harmony died. But she didn't come clean with Adam. She didn't come clean with the police, and she will not come clean with you. She is still lying about the cause of Harmony's death. Even though Kayla now has her deal with the state, she continues to lie. The only reason Kayla has to lie now is to protect herself. The only reason she has to lie and point the finger at Adam is because the truth points the finger at her. The only reason Kayla has to lie to make Harmony's death so brutal and foul by Adam is to hide that Adam was protecting Kayla, his wife, and the mother of his kids. Now look, I'm not pretending that Adam is an innocent here. Adam is not an innocent here. He and Kayla covered up Harmony's death. James Adam's defense attorney spent nearly 35 minutes explaining to the jury that Kayla was the one who killed Harmony, and also claimed that the evidence shown would prove that. Once opening statements were done, it was time for actual witnesses to come on the stand. The first witness on the stand was a woman named Michelle Rafferty, who at one point was Harmony's foster mom. Due to Adam and Crystal's substance abuse issues, as I had mentioned early on in this episode, Harmony had been placed in foster care when she was just two months old. Then, over time, Michelle had been Harmony's foster mom three times for nearly three years in total. After Michelle testified, Harmony's mother Crystal went on the stand to testify. After Harmony had been placed with Adam in 2019, due to Crystal substance abuse issues, Crystal apparently repeatedly tried to get in contact with Adam so that she could see Harmony. She explained that she went to anyone and everyone she could to help her find Harmony, including going to DCYF, she also went to her therapist and other mandated reporters. She even at one point tried reaching out to the mayor, and eventually, after all of that failed, she went to the Manchester Police Department for help. After Crystal testified, Adam's uncle Kevin began his testimony. Now Kevin was the first person who made note of that physical abuse that Harmony was enduring, and he talked about that black eye that Harmony had. When you say, "Full," what do you mean by "Full," can you give us a guess? All the way around. I see just there you were pointing to your right eye, did you see it on her right eye? I honestly can't recall, but I think the left. Okay. You think the left? Okay. I appreciate that for your honesty there. You said you saw her in the kitchen with this black eye? Yes. So when you saw her in the kitchen with this black eye, what if anything did you say? It's okay, take your time. Not my longer words of, "Oh my fucking God, what did you do, Harmony?" And who answered that question? My nephew, Adam. Where was he? He was standing right behind her. And what did Adam say? She didn't do anything. I bashed her around the fucking house. Did Harmony ever say anything in the response to the question or just Adam saying, "I bashed her around the fucking house?" After Kevin called DCYF, a social worker named Demetrios was assigned to the case to look into the report about Harmony's black eye. It took a couple of tries before Demetrios was actually able to meet face to face with Harmony, including once where Adam immediately left the house with Harmony when he saw Demetrios was there. When Demetrios did finally meet with Harmony in August of 2019, she did have a red mark under her eye, but Adam told him that Harmony got it from a foam sword that she had been hit with when she was playing with her brother. Demetrios spoke with Adam again in January of 2020 and Adam told him that Harmony wasn't living with him anymore and that she now lived with Crystal. He said he called Crystal, he left a voicemail to check, but that's as far as it went. But we obviously know now that Harmony wasn't even alive by that point. So Court wrapped up fairly quickly after Demetrios' testimony and the plan was to really get into the details of things the following day. So on Friday, it was Kayla's turn to testify. She is currently in prison for perjury, for lying to the police about where her and Harmony were at the time of the murders, and also what happened, but she finally began cooperating with the investigation. As Kayla began sharing about what really happened the day that Harmony died, she got very emotional. Now in no way do I think that she is innocent in all of this, not at all. But it is obvious that sober Kayla thinks of all of this very differently than she did when she was actively using. She also looks like a completely different person now. So everything leading up to Harmony's death that day all started apparently after a method own clinic visit. He could smell urine and he started yelling at Harmony and kept hitting her in the head repeatedly. Where were you when he smelt that accident? Where was the vehicle when he smelt that accident? In front of the methodal clinic. Did you discuss going somewhere with him at any point that morning going to get food? Yes. I asked to go to Burger King. You asked to go to Burger King? Yes. And so at some point did he begin driving the vehicle? Yes. Was that before or after he repeatedly struck Harmony? No. What was Harmony doing at that point when he started driving the vehicle? She was crying a lot. Yeah. And she was making a weird noise. Was she saying anything? No. And Kayla, I want you to walk the jurors through in as much detail as you can. What happened on your route from Habit Offgo to that Burger King? Adam was getting really angry from Harmony peeing in the car and he repetitively kept punching her on the way to Burger King and there were a couple red lights and when we were at red lights, he would like go over the driver's seat like in between the passenger seat and he was just punching her repetitively in the head. And you've said there were several times where he punched her repetitively in the head. Yes. How many times did he hit her? I can't count, I don't know. Were you counting? No, I wasn't. How many lights did that car come to where he repetitively struck her? At least two or three. Between Habit Offgo and the Burger King, did the defendant say anything to Harmony? It's all there to shut the fuck up. Stop crying. You said she was making a weird noise? Yes. You need to describe it? It was like I can't even describe it. It was like a morning kind of noise, but crying, it was just weird, I can't explain it. Did you try to help Harmony while he was striking her? Yes. It's all the jurors what you did to help, to try to help. I put my arm up and said to stop, but he looked at me and he gave me this look that was like evil. His crazy eyes, I didn't like it and I couldn't stop him from hitting her because he, the look that he gave me was scary, I was scared. Were you feeling when he looked at you like that? Like he was either going to hit me or just, I don't know, it was weird and that was like one of the first times that I've seen him look at me like that. Was it the last time you saw him look at you like that? No. Once they got to Burger King and got food, Kayla said that she gave her two boys food but didn't give Harmony any because Adam had put her under a blanket. Once they drove to the Colonial Village apartment parking lot, that's when they got heroin and they got crack and they used while the kids were in the back of the car. After getting high and leaving there, the car died and once they pulled over was when they realized that Harmony had died. I don't remember where we were going, but I know we left. You left at some point? Yes. And when you left, the parking lot. We made it to the next street over going towards Elm Street in the hard-died, we got to the traffic light and it wouldn't start or anything. And so we were stuck without a vehicle. What was the defendant doing when the car died? He was trying to press, trying to get a jump and there was no jumping vehicle. And so we ended up having to leave it. And when we were getting out of the car and getting the kids out of the car, her relief had passed away. Let's talk about that. When you say harmony had passed away. When did you realize that harmony had passed away? When Adam was trying to wake her up and she didn't, she didn't, she didn't reply or anything. Was he saying things to her to try to wake her up? Yeah, he said harmony and he kept saying baby girl like trying to budge her and there was nothing. Was he touching her? Yes. What was he doing to her body at that point? Trying to figure out what to do and getting all the kids out of the car. He took the duffel bag that was in the trunk. And put her in the duffel bag. You mentioned this duffel bag from the trunk. Yeah. How do you see that duffel bag before Kayla? What was it used for? When we got kicked out of the house, we put clothes in there for everybody. When it was in the trunk of the car. Did you see him put harmony in that duffel bag? Yes. How did he put her in there Kayla? He went full dinner and half and dinner in the duffel bag. Did he call 911 at any point? No. Did you? No. And when he saw him put her in that duffel bag? Did you attempt to get away to run? No. Why not? They had the two other kids. They always scared. Scared of. They're something that happened to me or Adam and the kids. You said you saw him put her in that duffel bag. Felt her up and put her in there. Yes. What did her face look like when you saw her go into that bag? It was so black and blue and her face was puffy or eyes were puffy. That night a friend was letting them sleep in his car and according to Kayla, Adam put the duffel bag outside in a snowbank. Later he put the duffel bag in the trunk of the car. After two nights in their friend's car, they all went to stay at Kayla's aunt's house. While at Kayla's aunt's house, Adam left that duffel bag on the porch. Kayla's mom then came to pick them up and once they got to her mom's house, he put the duffel bag by the trash until he found a cooler that was in the walkway. And then he put that duffel bag with harmony's body inside of it. The cooler was kept in the apartment hallway the entire time that they stayed there, yet nobody ever opened it during that time. And then they moved to the shelter for a month and a half where that duffel bag was kept in the ceiling. And I think the worst part of this entire trial so far was when Kayla began discussing Adam's potential plans to get rid of harmony. This was after moving out of the shelter and into the apartment. So you moved into the your apartment on Union Street on February 20th, is that what you said? Yes. And that's in 2020? Yes. Where was he keeping harmony at that point? In the refrigerator of our apartment. And I asked you earlier and I think you said he began to discuss dismembering harmony. Yes. What did he say about dismembering her? That he that he just wanted to put her in he would put her in pieces to get rid of her. And was that at the Union Street apartment? Yes. That's where that discussion occurred? Yes. Did he ever discuss using tools on harmony with you? Using tools on the body. He said that he was going to try and use saw. He wanted to use a hand saw or a nutra bullet. And a nutra bullet? Nutra bullet. Hey, I'm shown you it's been marked as state exhibit 63 for identification. Yes. Do you recognize the item that's depicted in this exhibit? Yes. Can you tell the jurors what it is? It's a hand saw. It's a hand saw? Yeah. Do you recognize this hand saw? Yes. When the defendant discussed dismembering harmony using tools on her? Yes. Is this a saw that he discussed doing that with? Yes. Is this an accurate representation of that saw? Is you remember it? Yes. Your Honor, I move to strike ID. Mark is full states exhibit 63 and published to the jurors. No. The idea is stricken. It's entered as a full exhibit. So this is the saw that he discussed using to dismember harmony's body? Yes. That discussion has occurred in the Union Street Department. Yes. Do you talk about something else, just then? And we barely caught it. You mentioned a nutra bullet? Yes. Do you know the jurors what that is? What is it? It's like a blender that you can make smoothies in or any kind of puree, food item. What did the defendant say about using a nutra bullet, a blender on harmony? When we lived on Union Street? What did he say about it? He said that it would be good to use to help get rid of her. It helped get rid of of harmony? Yes. A fucking nutra bullet. I have covered a lot of cases in my day here in the true crime atmosphere, guys. I have never, ever heard something so haunting and disgusting. No less by a parent. To nutra bullet them? It is so disgusting, callous, and it's just, and you can only imagine my pure hatred for Adam. It's, you can't even wrap your mind around it. It doesn't even feel real. So after discussing the ways in which Adam had discussed getting rid of harmony, Kayla talked about the day that he began trying to get rid of her, which included cutting the clothing off of her body, dethying her folded body in the bathtub, all of it. Kayla admitted to the jury that she did help take the clothes off of harmony's body, and this was after Adam instructed her to. Did he tell you to help him at some point? Yes. Did you obey him? Yes. Why? close scared. How did you help him? I helped him take the clothes off of her. How did he take the clothes off of her? I'm cutting them with scissors. What did he do with her body after he cut the clothes off of her? Put her in the bag of lime. You mentioned these clothes. What clothes was she wearing when he put her into that tub? She had a hoodie on and she had her leggings on. Did you leave that bathroom at some point while he was in there? Yeah. Why? Why did you leave the bathroom? Because I need to check on the kids and I couldn't be in there anymore. And let's talk about that. What do you mean you couldn't be there in there anymore? Because I couldn't handle it. I didn't want to see anything. How long was he in the bathroom for that day? A few hours. And that was with Harmony's body? Yes. At some point did he close the door to the bathroom? Yes. Were you able to hear what he was doing in there? No. Were you able to. Why weren't you able to hear what he was doing in there? Because our neighbor next door always had loud music playing and I couldn't tell what noises were happening. You mentioned a shower being on earlier. Yes. Did that shower stay on after you left the bathroom? It was on when I left the bathroom. Yes. And did it stay on? Did he leave it on? Yes. Did he take breaks from what he was doing in the bathroom at any point? No. Did he leave the bathroom at any point? No. How many bags did you see in the bathroom with him? Three. And what was happening with each of those bags? He had lime in the bags. So one of the bags was a bag of lime? Yes. Was it a large bag or a small bag? The bag that he was putting them in were large trash bags. The bag that contained the lime was that a large bag or a small bag? It was a large bag. A large bag of lime? Yes. You said that he was putting that lime into a bag? Yes. Was there anything else in the bag when he was putting the lime in? No. Did you see Harmony's body go into the bag? No. What happened to Harmony's body after it was in the bathtub? He. it was in the CMC bag. What did he do with the CMC bag? Put Harmony in it. What did he do with the lime that was in the bathroom? It was in the big trash bags. The lime was in the big trash bags? Well, I know you put the lime in trash bags, but I didn't see that bag after. Which bag did he not see after that? The lime bag. Did he also add lime to the CMC bag? Yes. Was he talking to you during this process? No. He was working. Yeah. After that is when Adam got the U-Haul and took Harmony's remains to an unknown location which has never been discovered. The cross examination took the back half of Friday and also most of Monday. Adam's attorneys seemed to be trying to confuse Kayla to get her to say that Harmony was dead before when Kayla claims that Adam actually killed Harmony. They really harped on her previous lies about what had happened leading up to and after the murder. And they did seem to shake Kayla up a little bit. So Tuesday was mostly full of witnesses who were a part of the investigation and they went over DNA evidence found throughout the investigation in different places and both Kayla's mom and Adam's previous drug dealer whose car they slept in came to the stand to testify and the friend/dealer named Bordero was granted immunity all in exchange for his testimony. The cooler that Harmony's body was placed in at Kayla's mom's house was also shown. She said that she would use that cooler to take food to sports games and that she would sometimes even put money in it for Kayla. Then on Wednesday there was more law enforcement witnesses going over DNA evidence from the investigation. After the prosecution rested its case, it was the defense's turn to try and create reasonable doubt. And given the mountain of testimony that the jurors had already heard, I mean the defense they faced an uphill battle. It was horrific what they had already been made privy to. So their strategy centered largely around one key argument. That argument being that the state's case relied heavily on the testimony of Adam Montgomery's estranged wife Kayla. A witness that they argue could not be trusted. Now throughout the trial defense attorneys pointed to the fact that Kayla had given multiple versions of events over the years and that she also did not initially tell the investigators what she ultimately testified to in court. So they argued that she had very strong motivation to cooperate with the prosecutors after of course finding herself facing criminal charges of her own. And they suggested that much of the state's narrative depended on taking her word at face value. The defense also emphasized what they said was missing from the case. There was nobody. There was no murder weapon. There was no forensic evidence establishing exactly how Harmony died. And because Harmony's remains have never been recovered, they argued prosecutors could not definitively prove when, where, or even how her death occurred. Another significant focus for the defense involved evidence that Adam had assaulted Harmony months before her death, leaving her with that black eye. However, the defense argued that that evidence had no place being considered along the murder charge because jurors could be tempted to use it as proof of Adam's character rather than focusing solely on whether the state had proven the homicide allegation beyond a reasonable doubt. Basically saying the testimony or not the testimony, but that the narrative painted for the jury was not tainted, but that it was muddied between the assault allegations and the murder allegations that the jury wouldn't be able to separate the two. And that if they wanted to convict him on the assault charges, they automatically in tandem would also convict him of the murder charge and that it wouldn't be fair. Now that's their job. They're supposed to fight. They are supposed to create reasonable doubt. Ultimately, however, the jurors were not convinced. After deliberating, the jury returned guilty verdicts against Adam Montgomery. He was convicted of second-degree murder in Harmony's death, along with second-degree assault, witness tampering, abuse of a corpse, and falsifying physical evidence. Now for Harmony's family and for many people who had followed the case for years, the verdict represented a measure of justice after this investigation that had stretched on for years and unfolded largely without one critical piece of evidence. Harmony herself. But the legal process, it wasn't over. Because months later, Adam appeared in court for sentencing. Now during the hearing, prosecutors described what they described as months of unimaginable cruelty and concealment following Harmony's death. The court also heard once again about the lengths that Adam allegedly went to in order to hide what had happened to his daughter and to avoid accountability. And when it came time to impose the sentence, the judge handed down a punishment that ensured that Adam would likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. For the murder conviction alone, Adam received a sentence of 45 years to life. Additional consecutive sentences on the remaining convictions also brought his total minimum sentence to 56 years before he would ever even become eligible for parole. And that was great. I personally would have liked life with the no parole ever, but you know, okay, staying in lockup for the rest of your life or most of your life, great, I can get on board with that. And at that point, many people believed that the case was finally over. But Adam Montgomery appealed. His attorneys argued that the trial court had made several legal errors, including a challenge that would ultimately become the centerpiece of the appeal, which was the decision to allow the assault charge and the murder charge be tried together among the same jury. According to the defense, Thereers who heard evidence that Adam had previously assaulted harmony may have been more likely to conclude that he was also responsible for her death. They argued that combining those charges unfairly prejudice the jury and prevented Adam from receiving a fair trial on the murder count. And the appeal eventually made its way to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. And in a decision that shocked many people following this case, the state's highest court agreed with the part of the defense's argument. And on June 11th, 2026, the justices ruled that the murder conviction must be overturned. Not because they found Adam innocent. Not because they determined that the prosecutors lacked evidence and not because they concluded that harmony wasn't murdered. But instead, the court found that trying the assault and murder charges together created an unacceptable risk that jurors may have used evidence from one charge when deciding the other. According to the court, there was a significant possibility that evidence of Adam's prior assault on harmony influenced the jury's evaluation of the murder allegation. So as a result, the second degree murder conviction was vacated, and it was sent back to the lower court. However, I will say this ruling it did not erase all of Adam Montgomery's convictions. His convictions for second degree assault, witness tampering, falsifying physical evidence and abuse of a corpse, those remain in place. He also continues serving time on unrelated weapons convictions. So despite his conviction being overturned for her murder, it's not like Adam Montgomery is walking out of prison. I mean, not even close. He remains convicted of assaulting harmony, tampering with evidence, witness tampering, and abuse of a corpse. And on top of that, he's already serving more than 32 years on unrelated gun convictions. So while the murder charge is, yes, heading back to court, Adam remains behind bars for I mean, decades to come. But what happens next is that the prosecutors must decide whether or not to retry him for harmony's murder. Shortly after the ruling was issued, though, the authorities indicated that they do intend to move forward with a new trial. Now if that happens, a new jury will once again hear the evidence. They will hear the testimony, and then they will determine whether the prosecutors have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Adam Montgomery murdered his five-year-old daughter, Harmony. Now this is what I consider being in like stuck in purgatory. Because for Harmony's loved ones, it means returning back to a case that they thought finally reached a conclusion. Turning back through the evidence, the gory details, the sickening details, and having to relive that just to ensure that she gets justice. And for everyone who has followed Harmony's story from the very beginning, it means that years after her disappearance, years after investigators first began searching for answers, and years after prosecutors secured a conviction, the fight for justice is still not over. She still doesn't have justice, this innocent five-year-old little girl. And look, I get that the courts have to do what they have to do, and I'm confident that if this goes back to trial, the jury will come back with another guilty verdict. But like I said, purgatory for everybody involved. Having to relive all that, how having to hear those memories, those horrific moments of her life, what these monsters allegedly did to her, it's horrible. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Well, maybe I'd wish it on out of Montgomery, but like, you know what I mean? It's just, where is the justice for Harmony and where is the peace for her family and loved ones? The ones who have been advocating for her, who have been, you know, hoping for accountability and justice and resolve, and it breaks my heart. And like I said at the top of this episode, I know I'm more passionate throughout this one. I'm just so angry and so disappointed at what is happening here. We just a few weeks back, heard that Latisha Stauk is also getting her can murder conviction over her steps on Ganon. That's overturned. It's like, where is the justice for these kids, right? And even though I'm confident in her trial as well, if it goes back to trial, which I believe it is intended to, I believe she will once again be found guilty. But still, it's putting these families back through the unthinkable, having to revisit the worst moment of their entire lives all over again. While this scum for them, it's like going out on the playground at recess. They get a free break from prison, they get to go, they get to dress up for court, maybe, they get to sit there and have a new change of scenery. It bugs me to no end. I followed this case so closely from the very beginning and you know, I will be following it once again because this one is personal for me. They all are but this one is very personal to me. So I appreciate you listening to Harmony's story with me today, keeping her memory alive, her little voice alive, her spirit alive, as weird as that may sound because she just needs justice. I think we can all agree. Your parents are supposed to protect you, they are supposed to shield you from the evils of the world. They're supposed to love you. They are not the ones who are supposed to hurt you, disregard you, and torment you. And so I think collectively we can all be a voice for Harmony. Thank you so much for watching and I will keep you updated. Until the next one, stay safe. Bye.