121: Harmony Montgomery: The Most Barbaric Case I Have Ever Covered
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Hey everybody, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise.

I hope you guys are having a good day today and I really mean that wholeheartedly because I think I'm about to fuck it up completely like honestly today's episode is one that is going to be extremely extremely heavy very graphic and I just want to give you guys a trigger warning here because it is probably the most difficult case that I have covered to date so

So I just want to make sure you're all in the right state of mind. If you're not, that is absolutely okay, but I did feel like it was important to give you a warning about what we are getting into today. To start the episode, I'm going to be going over a few cases, some new cases, some updates in some cases that we've been talking about, and then I'm going to talk about everything that has been going on in the murder trial of Harmony Montgomery. I

I have been getting so many requests to cover this case and again I just want to warn you that the details are extremely difficult to hear. I actually wasn't even sure if I was even going to cover this update. I've covered her case extensively but I wasn't sure if I was going to cover the trial and the new updates coming out because of how gruesome it is and barbaric it is to be quite honest. But

But ultimately, it just feels very important that Harmony has her story shared and her voice heard. And so that's why we're going to talk about it today, although it will be hard to do.

Now, I want to start today's episode by talking about another victim we've discussed on here named Rachel Moran. Police have now released a sketch of the suspect who murdered Rachel. Rachel was a mother of five who was out walking on a trail near her house when she was attacked and brutally killed.

Now, as I mentioned, we've covered this case in past episodes, and I will link those for you in the show notes, but let me give you a little bit of a breakdown. So Rachel, who was just 37 years old, was reported missing six months ago on August 5th. She was reported missing by her boyfriend, who said that she went out for a run on a hiking trail but never returned. The next day, Rachel was found by a volunteer searcher along the trail.

At a press conference, law enforcement said that there were plenty of indicators that left no doubt in their mind that Rachel was murdered. Although, since this case is still ongoing, there's really not much known about how she was found other than rumors. But I will just say that if the rumors are true, it sounds horrific and is just beyond devastating. So shortly after that first press conference, the Hartford County Sheriff's Office released a surveillance video on social media of the suspect.

The suspect was seen leaving a home following a home invasion in Los Angeles, California. In the video, he's not wearing a shirt, and it honestly doesn't look like a home invasion since he's going out the front door, and you can clearly see somebody behind him shut the door when he leaves. I mean, it's kind of weird to be quite honest.

But apparently, the LAPD confirmed that DNA from Rachel matches that suspect from that burglary back in March of 2023, which was just a few months before Rachel was murdered in Maryland. So, quite a journey that this person took. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed later that month that the DNA obtained in the Rachel murder matches that of a suspect identified in the residential burglary and assault from March 6, 2023.

Now what's so crazy is that even though the video has been released for six months now, the suspect has still not been identified. So now people are hoping that by releasing this sketch of his face, it might be more helpful and that he will get recognized. So I definitely will keep you guys updated in that case if any more information comes up.

Moving into kind of teeing us up into monster parents. So on February 9th, police arrested 26-year-old mom Mariah Thomas, and they arrested her for killing her one-month-old baby, Zariah. This was after she allegedly put the baby into the oven. Now, how the hell did this happen, you might be asking?

Well, Mariah was living with her parents, and on the morning of the 29th, both her mom and her dad were in the house and awake at 6 a.m. They were getting ready to take the bus to work. So Mariah and her daughter were awake, and everything was fine. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Both parents left at 7.50 a.m., and when they left, Mariah and Zariah went back to sleep.

But then, around 1 o'clock, Mariah called her mom, who said that Mariah sounded completely hysterical, saying that she put the baby into the oven instead of into the crib. Which, how on earth does somebody mistake a motherfucking oven for a crib? I have no idea. But...

Her mom told her to call 911, but Mariah just continued to yell hysterically on the phone. Then, her mom called Mariah's dad and said that he needed to go home immediately because something was wrong with the baby. Well, when he got there, Mariah told him that she went to put her daughter down for a nap and thought that she placed her into the crib, but accidentally put her in the oven instead. And that was when her dad called 911.

Which I have to just say here, guys, I don't understand why the mother wouldn't have called 911 when her daughter called her with that, but whatever. I mean, we'll get into more details in a second here. So when emergency responders arrived, the little one-month-old baby Zariah was found lying in her car seat near the front door.

Court documents also say that she sustained apparent thermal injuries on various parts of her body, and her clothing appeared to have melted into her diaper, and it was very, very dirty, possibly even burned on the backside. There was also a baby blanket with significant burn marks. So Mariah is now charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death.

Friends of Mariah's have spoken to some media sources and said that Mariah does have a history of mental illness, stemming all the way back to when she was a child, and that Mariah stopped taking medications for her conditions while she was pregnant.

The friend asked if she was going to get back on it, especially now that she wasn't pregnant. But Mariah laughed, and she said no. One friend said that Mariah's mental health got worse after she gave birth, and showed posts that Mariah made on Facebook and on TikTok where she was claiming that people only cared about her because she had a baby.

On January 5th, she posted, I mean, a pretty bold statement and pretty alarming. If you're almost like jealous of your newborn daughter, that people only love you because of her, that she's getting the attention, I mean, it is clearly a bad sign and a big red flag.

So throughout January, Mariah continued posting multiple times, and she would post about feeling lonely or that she had no friends. The friend said that she thought everybody only liked her because her daughter was born, and she didn't like that. She didn't like that at all. She wanted everybody's attention too, just like little baby Zariah was getting. All the attention Zariah was getting, her mom, Mariah, wanted it.

She also said that Mariah had posted about being happy that she was a mom, and the friend said that Mariah really did love her baby and wouldn't want to harm her, and she knows that Mariah didn't do it on purpose.

So Mariah is now being held on a $200,000 cash bond. Conditions of bond are no contact with children, medication compliance, and completion also of a mental evaluation. She's scheduled to appear in court again on February 20th at 10 a.m. for a bond review hearing. But truly just a heartbreaking and horrifying case.

That's leading us over into Colorado, and John and Carrie Holford owned, quote, Return to Nature, which is a funeral home that offered eco-friendly funeral services.

They said that their services were a return to the traditional way of burial, offering biodegradable intermittent and cremation. But that's not what John and Carrie did with the money. Tonight, the developing story in southern Colorado, where more than 100 bodies are being improperly stored at a funeral home.

Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and local sheriff's office, are now investigating. New details are emerging in the case against the Return to Nature funeral homeowners who face hundreds of felony charges. John and Carrie didn't use that money to cremate them. Instead, that money was used to buy cars, crypto, a $1,500 dinner in Las Vegas, designer bags, designer jewelry. I mean, you name it.

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So an FBI agent recently testified in court that the cars alone, which were a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti, were purchased for more than $120,000, which just that $120,000 alone would cover cremation costs twice over for all of the bodies that were found.

So they took all of the money that these people were paying for these biodegradable new age cremation services, but they weren't cremating the bodies. They were just letting them rot in their funeral home all while using the money to buy these lavish gifts and live this lavish lifestyle.

Meanwhile, those 189 bodies whose families paid for them for their services to be cremated, they were placed in an unrefrigerated room infested by maggots and liquid decomposition.

After several reports of a foul odor coming from the building came in, police discovered all of the bodies. And it gets worse. Some of the bodies had been in their maggot-infested storage site for years before they were discovered. So John and Carrie were arrested back in November, and neither one of them has entered a plea yet. They're back in the news recently, as more information has of course come out in court documents during their hearings. So

So since their arrests, investigators have still been working to figure out how many bodies are in there. And they're also still collecting evidence. Right now, the couple is facing 190 charges. Prosecutors accused the couple of 190 counts of abusing corpses. To prove that, they plan to use the Hulford's own surveillance footage.

The affidavit says it shows John brought a body inside in the dark of night and he flipped the deceased body off the gurney onto the floor. Another instance, a family paid the Hulfords to bury their loved one, a Vietnam veteran, yet law enforcement found his body and inside his grave, a female's body.

The core of the case is that people paid the Hallfords to bury or cremate their loved ones. Prosecutors say they never did that, falsified death certificates and pocketed the money, spending it instead on things like a $9,000 trip to Vegas, $3,400 worth of Tiffany's jewelry and $8,500 on laser body sculpting. It's beyond disgusting.

Honestly, it just literally makes me sick to my stomach. Tanya Wilson's mom died last summer. They spread her ashes in Hawaii.

Or so they thought. This fall, law enforcement found her body in the Penrose funeral home. Now, apparently this storage facility that the bodies were going to be kept in had like these makeshift type refrigerators, but they didn't work. And at one court hearing, prosecutors showed text messages suggesting that Carrie and her husband actually tried to cover up their financial difficulties by leaving the bodies at the storage site.

Also, prosecutors presented evidence that John was worried about getting caught as far back as 2020 and suggested getting rid of the bodies by dumping them in a big hole, then treating them with lye or setting them on fire.

So John was released from the El Paso County Jail in late January after posting a $100,000 bond. But Carrie, however, is still in jail. I mean, truly a new case with the definition of house of whores. It's like house of bodies. Like it makes me think of one of those Rob Zombie movies. House of a Thousand Corpses. Is that it? I think it is.

It's so foul, so sick, and I can't imagine these family members who are now trying to grapple with this. You thought that you had the ashes of your loved one, that they were cremated, that you could finally put them to rest and you could grieve. Meanwhile, come to find out, no, your family member is literally wasting away and rotting and you have something else as ashes inside your house. I mean, it is sick, sick, sick any way you look at it.

And now that brings us to Harmony Montgomery, which honestly I was kind of trying to put this off as long as possible because I really am truly dreading talking about this case. Harmony Montgomery, who was just five years old, was last seen in the fall of 2019, but authorities only started searching for her two years later, and now her father Adam Montgomery is on trial for her murder.

So for those who are unfamiliar with Harmony's case, I'm going to give you a little bit of a recap so that you can fully understand what is going on. But again, I want to warn you that this case is very difficult to hear and the latest details to come out in this are so barbaric that you might not be able to stomach it. I know it's hard for me too.

So Harmony was born in June of 2014. She had beautiful sandy blonde hair that hits just below her shoulders, and she wore these cute little purple frame eyeglasses 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 a 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 1, 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 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, 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's 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 not guilty, and his defense asked the judge to preclude Kayla's statements. But now the trial has started, and even more information has come to light that will make you want to cry, throw up, and most certainly just beat Adam's sorry ass yourself. I know it does for me. Like, if I was alone in a room with this guy, not that I think vigilante justice is the answer, I would not be able to hold back. This guy is like the filth of all filth.

So 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. So I understand that I was found guilty by a jury and not here to dispute that at all.

The only consideration that I ask of you this morning is for you not to consider anything as it relates to the case regarding my daughter, Harmony. I did not kill my daughter, Harmony, and I look forward to my upcoming trial to refute those offensive claims.

He was present for jury selection last Tuesday, 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. Life is full of adventures. Do you take this man to be your husband? I do. Welcome home. We did it.

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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 Knowles, 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, leaked 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 7th, 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 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 day as 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. You'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 and he said, "Really Harmony? Again?" And he began striking her as he was driving, holding onto 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,

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, 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 ordered his food, and he ate.

And 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. 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, those gargling 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. Yet 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 limes, all in an effort to speed up the decomp process and decompress.

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 Sebring on December 7th, 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 a 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 apartment bathroom for compressing Harmony into that small bag, adding lime to it. Those are the crimes the 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. And at the conclusion of this trial, that's what we'll ask you to find him guilty of. 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-thru. 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 isn't innocent here. Adam is not an innocent here. He and Kayla covered up Harmony's death. PenFed free checking offers zero fees and zero balance requirements for zero hassle. PenFed Access America checking lets you earn money on your balance for dreams big and small. Choose the best account for you and start making the most of your money. Learn more at PenFed.org.

federally insured by ncoa to receive any advertised product you must become a member of pen fed credit union james adams 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's 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. Full, like a raccoon's eye, black and blue. Black and blue? Yes. And when you say full, what do you mean by full?

Can you give us a good example? All the way around. All the way around. And 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. Okay. So when you saw her in the kitchen with this black eye, what, if anything, did you say? It's okay. Take your time. Okay.

Something along the words of, oh my fucking God, what did you do, Harmony? And who answered that question? My nephew, Adam. Where was he? 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 response to the question, or just Adam saying, I bashed her around the fucking house? I think just Adam.

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, 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 methadone clinic visit.

He could smell urine and he started yelling at Harmony and kept hitting her in the head repetitively. Where were you when he smelt that accident? Where was the vehicle when he smelt that accident? In front of the methadone 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? After. What was Harmony doing at that point when he started driving the vehicle? She was crying a lot. 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 to

From Habitopko 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. 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 Opko and the Burger King, did the defendant say anything to Harmony? He told her to shut the fuck up. Stop crying. He said she was making a weird noise. Yes. Can you describe it? It was like, I can't even describe it. It was like a moaning 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. Tell the jurors what you did to help, to try to help. I put my arm up and said to stop, but he looks at me and he gave me this look that was like evil. I don't, it's his crazy eyes. I didn't like it and I didn't,

I couldn't stop her, stop him from hitting her because he, the look that he gave me was scary. I was scared. What 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 their 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 what happened when you left the parking lot? We made it to...

the next street over going towards Elm Street and the car 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, Harmony 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 reply or anything.

Was he saying things to her to try to wake her up? Yeah, he said, uh, he said, "Harmony," and he kept saying, "Baby girl," like, and trying to budge her, and there was nothing. Was he touching her? Yes. What was he doing to her body at that point? Uh, 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. Had you seen 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, and 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 like folded her in half and put her in the duffel bag. Did he call 911 at any point? No. Did you? No. And when you saw him put her in that duffel bag, did you attempt to get away to run? No. Why not? Because they had the two other kids and I was scared. Scared of? That something would happen to me or Adam and the kids.

You said you saw him put her in that duffel bag, fold her up and put her in there. Yes. What did her face look like when you saw her go into that bag? It was all black and blue and her face was puffy. Her eyes were puffy. Life is full of adventures. Do you take this man to be your husband? I do. Welcome home. We did it.

He has your eyes. He's perfect. Make the most of them all with PenFed checking and savings accounts. Learn more at PenFed.org. Federally insured by NCOA. To receive any advertised product, you must become a member of PenFed Credit Union. 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. 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 of 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 just wanted to 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 her body? He said that he was going to try and use a saw. He wanted to use a hand saw or a NutriBullet. And I want to unpack that. And I didn't hear that last word. And a NutriBullet.

Neutral bullet. Kayla, I'm showing you what's been marked as States 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 handsaw. It's a handsaw? Yeah. Do you recognize this handsaw? 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 as you remember it? Yes. Your Honor, I move to strike ID, mark as full, state's exhibit 63, and publish to the jurors. No objection. The ID is stricken. It's entered as a full exhibit. So this is the saw that he discussed using to dismember Harmony's body? Yes.

Yes. Yes. 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 NutriBullet?

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. It would help get rid of her. It helped get rid of Harmony? Yes.

A fucking Nutribullet. 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 Nutribullet them, it is so disgusting, callous, and it's just fucking foul. 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, de-thawing 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?

because I was scared. How did you help him? I helped him take the clothes off of her. How did he take the clothes off of her? By 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.

Yes. Did you leave that bathroom at some point while he was in there? Yeah. Why? Why'd you leave the bathroom? Because I needed 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 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 he put the lime in trash bags, but I didn't see that bag after. Which bag did you 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. PenFed free checking offers zero fees and zero balance requirements for zero hassle. PenFed Access America checking lets you earn money on your balance for dreams big and small. Choose the best account for you and start making the most of your money. Learn more at PenFed.org. Federally insured by NCOA. To receive any advertised product, you must become a member of PenFed Credit Union. PenFed's got great rates for everyone.

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, but I honestly don't think that it's enough to get a jury to be swayed and think that she was the one solely responsible for all of this.

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-slash-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. But it wasn't really anything shocking that anybody hasn't heard before, and it was pretty much standard procedure. Now, we still haven't heard the defense's side yet. So that's going to be very interesting to see how they try to prove that Kayla was the one responsible for this and not Adam.

So as we finish up the trial, I will definitely keep you updated on what else comes out, and I will jump back on here and give you all of the updates. I hope they throw the motherfucking book at this monster. I mean...

Again, not that I endorse vigilante justice, but I really, really hope we do get some prison justice here and that he gets treated like the barbaric scum animal that he is and that he just gets ripped to shreds in prison. Sorry, I know I'm getting heated. That is how I feel. This man, in my opinion, does not deserve to live. He does not deserve to have an easy lethal injection out. He deserves to

to be humiliated, tortured, abused, the works. And I know there's probably gonna be a lot of people that think I'm getting way too graphic and explicit here and don't agree with me, and they're like, uh, Annie, you sound really unprofessional right now. But that's my thoughts. This guy is a monster. If he could do this to his own five-year-old daughter and then be so callous as to want to Nutribullet her body after what was described as literally squeezing blood

the fluid out of her to deflate her corpse so that he could hide her for months on end freezing her, de-thawing her, freezing her, squeezing her. It is so incredibly sick. Sick. And it just infuriates me and enrages me. Okay. I need to take a deep breath, guys.

I will keep you updated on this trial, and I will let you know what comes out. But I appreciate you hearing Harmony's story. We say it all the time, but I'm going to say it again. As difficult as it is to hear these cases, and as difficult as it is for me to talk about them, it is so important. Because imagine how difficult it was for little Harmony to experience this by the hands of her own father.

She had never known a stable life in the five short years that she was alive. She was finally then in her father's custody, only to be ridiculed, abused, tortured. It is so incredibly heartbreaking. So if she went through all of that, the least we could do is hear about her experience so that hopefully there can be accountability, there can be justice. Her name and her voice will live on, so this monster will be held accountable. It hurts.

just kills me it really really does so I appreciate you guys listening

I will keep you updated. As a reminder, the uncensored version of so many of the cases that we talk about always live over here on the podcast because they are way better about letting me describe things, use the language I want to use, not have to flag things like YouTube does. So if you're not following the podcast yet, please take a moment to do so because this is where you are going to get the true crime content that does not have the...

glossed over filter, if you will. I'm going to give it to you straight and I'm going to give it to you real because for me, in my opinion, that is what these victims deserve and that is what these perpetrators and monsters deserve. They should be called out for exactly who they are, exactly what they did, and there should be no filter or fluff about it. They are monsters through and through. So again, if you're not following the podcast yet, make sure you do so because

this is where the uncensored ones are going to live. And also the exclusive cases that I don't even put over on YouTube. Anyways, thanks again. I know that was a long-winded outro, guys, but I appreciate you sticking with me. I will be back on the mic with you again very, very soon. And until then, please just hug your loved ones, stay safe, and we're all in this together. Be nice, don't kill anybody, and I'll be back soon. All right, guys, bye. Life is full of adventures.

Do you take this man to be your husband? I do. Welcome home. We did it. He has your eyes. He's perfect. Make the most of them all with PenFed checking and savings accounts. Learn more at PenFed.org. Federally insured by NCOA. To receive any advertised product, you must become a member of PenFed Credit Union. PenFed's got great rates for everyone.