Harmony Montgomery’s father posted ‘loving’ social media post two years before allegedly punching her to death
‘My beautiful baby girl,’ Adam Montgomery wrote in a 2017 post
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Two years before he allegedly killed his five-year-old daughter, Adam Montgomery made an eerie Facebook post about their relationship.
Montgomery is standing trial in Manchester, New Hampshire, in connection with Harmony Montgomery’s 7 December 2019 killing. Prosecutors have argued, based on Montgomery’s estranged wife Kayla’s testimony, that Montgomery beat the little girl to death after she had a bathroom accident inside the car the family was living out of.
Harmony was born in Massachusetts to parents with a history of abuse. She was moved between the homes of her mother and her foster parents multiple times before Montgomery received custody in 2019 and moved to New Hampshire with him, Kayla, and her two half-brothers.
The abuse that Harmony endured at the hands of her father emerged during the trial, with Kayla telling the court that the little girl was kept hidden under a blanket to cover her bruised body and bloodied face from the beatings. Kayla also told jurors that Montgomery had “worked” to obtain custody, and recounted how they both helped decorate Harmony’s Mickey Mouse-themed bedroom before she came to live with them.
In a 2017 Facebook post, Montgomery posted a picture of himself and Harmony in which the little girl looked happy as she jumped on a trampoline.
“My beautiful baby girl I love you soooooooooooo much,” he wrote.
The post is a stark contrast to the way prosecutors portrayed Harmony’s relationship with her father. During opening statements, the state introduced testimony from witnesses who said Montgomery “hated” the little girl and had admitted to “bashing her around the house” and giving her a black eye.
Harmony’s foster mother and biological mother said she was fully potty trained by the time she was sent to live with her father. According to prosecutors, the little girl began having bathroom accidents only after she began experiencing physical abuse.
Kayla and Adam Montgomery did not realise that Harmony had died until several hours after he allegedly repeatedly hit her in the head. According to Kayla’s testimony, they kept the little girl under a blanket in order to hide her bruised and beaten body. The family stopped at a Burger King, with Kayla reportedly even placing a sandwich on the dead girl’s lap, before heading to buy drugs.
After Montgomery realised his daughter was dead, he placed the body inside a duffel bag that he buried in the snow for a few days.
The remains were later crushed to fit inside a diaper bag and further manipulated with lime and different power tools, according to the prosecution, before Montgomery disposed of what was left at an unknown location in March 2021.
Harmony’s remains have never been found.