Harmony Montgomery: Final pretrial hearing for New Hampshire father accused of killing 5-year-old daughter
Adam Montgomery (L) and Harmony Montgomery (R). (Photos courtesy of Manchester Police)
MANCHESTER, N.H. - A pretrial hearing took place for Adam Montgomery, the man accused of killing his 5-year-old daughter Harmony in 2019.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Montgomery’s defense attorneys asked the court to separate his assault charge from the homicide charge, meaning he would have two trials instead of one, WFXT-TV in Boston reported.
Montgomery was charged with second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, witness tampering and falsifying evidence – although the girl’s body was never found, according to FOX News.
RELATED: Horrifying new details of Harmony Montgomery's murder revealed in unsealed affidavit
Harmony Montgomery, 7, is believed to have been last seen in 2019 at a home in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Photos: Manchester Police Department)
Prosecutors in the case agreed that Montgomery can do so given that his trial has not started. If the cases are separated, there would be two different juries, with the assault trial taking less than a week and the homicide trial lasting nearly 3 1/2 weeks.
The trial on both charges are scheduled for Feb. 6. WMUR-TV in New Hampshire reported that Adam Montgomery’s attorneys requested to have the charges severed after the legal team said they received new information.
Last week, prosecutors in the case met with Adam Montgomery's estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, and shared what they learned.
Adam Montgomery in an undated booking photo. (Photo: Manchester Police)
Kayla Montgomery told prosecutors she witnessed Adam hit Harmony the week they became homeless, explaining that she believes Adam ended contact with Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, to avoid her seeing bruises on the little girl’s body. Lastly, Kayla described Harmony as "skinny and exhausted" when they were homeless, WMUR-TV noted.
An affidavit obtained by FOX News in 2023 revealed disturbing details of what Adam Montgomery allegedly did to his daughter.
He repeatedly punched the 5-year-old, killing her, then moving her corpse around for months to hide his crime, investigators alleged in the unsealed police affidavit.
The father is accused of hitting Harmony in the face and head at least three times over the course of a few minutes on the morning of Dec. 7, 2019, because she kept having accidents in their car, FOX News reported.
Harmony, who was sitting in the back of the car, started making a moaning noise for a few minutes then stopped, according to police.
Adam and Kayla lived in a borrowed car at the time, with Harmony and their two boys, in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The couple did not seek medical attention for Harmony, the affidavit noted, and hours later, they realized she was dead.
Citing the affidavit, FOX News noted that after the couple's car broke down, Adam Montgomery stuffed Harmony's body into a duffel bag. And for three months, he moved her remains, including to a ceiling vent, a cooler and a restaurant freezer.
FOX News contributed to this report. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.