Governor asks public to help find 5-year-old’s body
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is calling on the public to help authorities locate the body of Harmony Montgomery after a police affidavit provided new information Tuesday about the death of the 5-year-old girl. With the death allegedly at the hands of her father, he is accused of hiding her remains, possibly in the Greater Boston area.
In a statement Tuesday, Sununu called the details that became public after the affidavit was ordered unsealed by a Rockingham Superior Court judge “heinous.”
“Such heinous acts of violence, especially towards a child, deserve the maximum punishment the law permits,” the governor said. “Harmony deserves justice and justice must be served. Anyone with relevant information regarding this case is urged to come forward.”
Manchester police have reactivated a special tip line for the Harmony Montgomery investigation. “If you have any information about the location of Harmony’s remains or the circumstances of her murder, please call or text the 24-hour tip line dedicated to Harmony Montgomery at 603-203-6060.”
“The details are horrific,” Manchester Police Chief Allen D. Aldenberg told the Globe on Tuesday in a phone interview. “You don’t need to be a parent to be bothered by what you read in that affidavit. It all bothers me.”
According to the affidavit written by Manchester Police Detective John Delaney, Harmony Montgomery was beaten by her father on Dec. 7, 2019, while they were homeless and living in a Chrysler Sebring sedan along with his wife, Kayla Montgomery, and the couple’s two young sons. Adam Montgomery, according to authorities, became enraged when his daughter had a bathroom accident inside the car they were using as a home during a New England winter.
Harmony Montgomery groaned for five minutes after being beaten and neither Adam Montgomery nor Kayla Montgomery helped the girl, according to the affidavit. Once they confirmed the child was dead, Adam Montgomery allegedly placed her body in a duffle bag.
During the next three months, Adam Montgomery, sometimes with the direct help of Kayla Montgomery, kept the child’s corpse with them as they moved to four different locations in Greater Manchester, the affidavit stated. He also allegedly stored the child’s remains, which he had transferred to a tote bag, in the refrigerator of a now-closed restaurant where he was working as a dishwasher, according to authorities.
On March 4, 2020, Adam Montgomery allegedly drove a U-Haul truck to Boston where he was recorded driving on the Tobin Bridge at 4:44 a.m., 4:45 a.m., and 5:25 a.m., according to MassDOT records.
Upon returning to Manchester, Adam Montgomery allegedly indicated to Kayla Montgomery that he had disposed of Harmony Montgomery’s remains. Police searched along Route 107 in Revere without reporting that they found the child’s remains or the tote bag, authorities have said.
The disclosure that Adam Montgomery was driving a UHaul at a specific time and on a specific date gave some hope to Crystal Sorey, Harmony Montgomery’s mother, who reported her daughter missing to Manchester police in 2021.
“I’m hoping that someone will come forward and say, ‘Hey, I remember that U-Haul,’” Sorey told NBC-10 Boston on Tuesday. “There’s still hope that I will be able to bring her home.”
Adam Montgomery has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse, and he is being held without bail. He
is scheduled to go to trial in November on the murder charge. His lawyers didn’t respond Tuesday to an e-mail seeking comment.
Kayla Montgomery, 32, provided investigators with details of the fatal attack on Harmony last June after initially telling police and a grand jury that she hadn’t seen the girl since late 2019, the affidavit said.
John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
Laura Crimaldi of the Globe staff contributed to this report.