Harmony Montgomery's father Adam charged with her 2019 murder
MANCHESTER, N.H. - New Hampshire authorities announced on Monday that Adam Montgomery has been charged with murder in the death of his daughter, Harmony Montgomery.
Attorney General John Formella and Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg announced the development during a press conference at the Manchester Police Department.
Formella said Montgomery was arrested Monday morning and charged with second degree murder for recklessly causing Harmony's death on or around Dec. 7, 2019. He is also charged with falsifying physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with a witness.
He is accused of causing Harmony's death by repeatedly striking her with a closed fist.
Harmony was reported missing in New Hampshire at the end of 2021 but she has not been seen since 2019 when she was five years old. No one had been charged in her disappearance until Monday.
"While today's arrest is a major step in this investigation there is much work to come," Formella said. "Today I do want to again express my deepest sympathies to Harmony's family, friends, and loved ones."
Adam Montgomery was scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Tuesday. Instead, his defense attorney said Montgomery will waive his arraignment and will not appear in court.
Last August, the case was officially ruled a homicide. Formella said new evidence showed the young girl was murdered in Manchester in early December of 2019. Her body has not been found.
Prior to his Monday arrest, Adam Montgomery, 32, was already being held at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections on several charges. He was arrested in January and charged with felony second-degree assault stemming from alleged conduct against Harmony in 2019. He pleaded not guilty.
Her stepmother, 31-year-old Kayla Montgomery, is also in jail. Her bail was revoked after she failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing in September.
The major step in the case comes just months after investigators searched the last place the little girl lived. Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer believes investigators found biological evidence.
"Blood, DNA, either in that refrigerator, on the floorboards, in the carpet. There's no way to really get rid of that," Coffindaffer told WBZ-TV.
Coffindaffer believes whatever was found in the house corroborated the stepmother's story.
"She lived with them, she was in proximity to him, she was married to him. She was at that house day in and day out," Coffindaffer said.
Formella said the witness tampering charge relates to Adam Montgomery allegedly causing Kayla to give false information to investigators.
Harmony had been in the care of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) in Massachusetts starting back in 2014 before a Juvenile Court judge awarded custody to her father in New Hampshire in February 2019.
She was charged in June with two counts of perjury after she allegedly lied under oath about the time and location of a prior work shift.
Kayla Montgomery had been out on bail after being jailed on welfare fraud charges. Investigators claimed she was collecting benefits because Harmony was living with her and Adam Montgomery, but the girl was not actually there.
Aldenberg asked everyone to honor Harmony's memory by doing something nice for a child today.
"I know of no other way to respect and honor this innocent and defenseless child than to extend an act of kindness to another child in her memory," Aldenberg said. "Just take a few moments out of your day to say something nice to a child, give him or her a hug, some special words of encouragement, give them an extra hug or just simply tell them that you love them and that you'll always protect them."
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu released a statement following the announcement.
New Hampshire is leaving no stone unturned to ensure justice for Harmony. A huge thank you to the tireless dedication of law enforcement and their unwavering efforts. We have full confidence they will ensure Adam Montgomery is held accountable for his evil actions.
Harmony is survived by a little brother named Jamison, who was adopted by a couple now living in the Washington D.C. area. The five-year-old boy's questions and pleading for his sister prompted his adoptive parents to reach out to social workers and authorities in New Hampshire. That led to the search for Harmony two years after she went missing.
"I look at my son and there's sadness, there's anger. Why did this happen? How did it happen," said Jamison's adoptive father Jonathan Bobbit-Miller. "The system that was supposed to protect my son and his sister failed them. They literally handed his sister to a murderer."
Anyone with information about the location of Harmony's remains is asked to call a tip line dedicated to Harmony at (603) 203-6060.
