Adam Montgomery's estranged wife takes stand at murder trial as prosecution's key witness
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Kayla Montgomery, the estranged wife of Adam Montgomery, is on the stand at his murder trial in New Hampshire, as the prosecution's star witness.
In disturbing testimony Friday, Kayla told the prosecutor she did not kill Adam's daughter, 5-year-old Harmony Montgomery.
"No, I did not," Kayla told Christopher Knowles.
"Did you beat her to death?" asked Knowles.
"No, I did not," said Kayla.
Adam, 34, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, falsifying physical evidence, assault and witness tampering in Harmony's death. Police first learned she was missing in December 2021 and that she was last seen in 2019.
Kayla, 33, told police that her husband killed Harmony on Dec. 7, 2019, while the family lived in their car in New Hampshire. Kayla, who was Harmony's stepmother, said Adam was driving to Burger King when he turned around and repeatedly punched Harmony in the face and head at every red light because he was angry that she was having bathroom accidents in the car.
"He was yelling and screaming at her and punching her in the head...she was crying," said Kayla. "She was crying. A lot...And she was making a weird noise."
Kayla said she didn't look back at Harmony because she was scared and Adam remarked that "he thinks he really hurt her."
After they ate their food at Burger King and did drugs, she said Harmony remained under the blanket that Adam covered her with. Kayla said she didn't check on her because she was scared.
The couple noticed Harmony was dead hours later when the car broke down and Kayla said Harmony was unresponsive when Adam tried to wake her. At which time Adam put her body in a duffel bag, Kayla said.
"He, like, folded her in half and put her in the duffel bag," said Kayla through tears. She said she didn't call 911 or run away because she had her two young sons with her and she was scared.
Kayla said they returned to an apartment complex parking lot and Adam initially hid the bag in a snowbank so their friend who lived there wouldn't see it. For the next three months, investigators allege, Adam moved the body from container to container and place to place. According to Kayla, the locations included the trunk of a friend's car, a cooler in the hallway of her mother's apartment building, the ceiling vent of a homeless shelter and the freezer at his job.
Kayla said when Adam put Harmony's body in the ceiling at the homeless shelter where they were living, maintenance was called because of the smell.
"You could smell a horrible smell. It was coming through the vents," said Kayla.
When maintenance came, Kayla said Adam brought the bag with Harmony's body into the bathroom and put her body into a trash bag. She said he then put that trash bag into a tote bag. Eventually, Kayla said he talked about dismembering the body and using lime. She also said he started abusing her because he thought she was going to report him to police.
Kayla said she walked with the tote bag in her children's stroller and brought the bag to Adam's job at a pizza shop, where she said he put it in a freezer. She said he eventually moved the tote bag to their refrigerator when they got an apartment in Manchester in February 2020. At one point, she said she helped him cut the clothes off Harmony's body before he put her in a bag of lime.
"He said he wanted to get rid of Harmony's body soon because he was scared," said Kayla. "If anything happened, of what would happen to him and me and the kids."
Kayla said Adam eventually got a U-Haul truck from a friend and used it to dispose of Harmony's body and the tote bag. She said he never told her where he was taking Harmony's body because he didn't want her to know in case the police asked her. Harmony's body has never been found.
After allegedly disposing of Harmony's body, Kayla said Adam kept beating her and breaking things in the house because he thought she was going to report him to police and thought there was microphones and cameras hidden. She said he also threatened to have his uncle kill her if she told the police what he did.
Adam's defense team admits he hid Harmony's body but said he didn't kill her.
During the cross examination, the defense attorney tried to poke holes in Kayla's credibility. She brought up Kayla's lying to police, where she told them Adam had taken Harmony to be with her mother. The defense attorney also read the note where Kayla lied to police.
"He won't tell me anything, so he obviously did something and isn't saying anything to me, and if he isn't telling me, how am I supposed to help you?" read the defense attorney.
The defense attorney also had Kayla admit she lied under oath to the grand jury, despite being told she'd be charged with perjury, going through all the lies she told. The defense said Kayla blamed everything on Adam so she could get out of jail and get back to her children.
Kayla is currently in jail in Concord, New Hampshire. She's serving a one-and-a-half year sentence after pleading guilty to perjury for lying to police and the grand jury investigating the case.
Testimony wrapped early Friday after Kayla complained of a headache on the stand. The cross examination will resume on Monday.
