‘You are a monster’: Family members face Adam Montgomery during his sentencing for daughter’s murder

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Prosecutors and family members of slain 5-year-old Harmony Montgomery pleaded in court on Thursday for convicted killer Adam Montgomery to tell them where her body is.

He didn’t.

In emotionally-charged victim impact statements, Harmony’s family members stood and addressed Adam Montgomery during his sentencing for the 2019 murder of his young, blonde-haired daughter.

WATCH LIVE: Sentencing for convicted killer Adam Montgomery

Montgomery, 34, was sentenced to a minimum of 56 years in state prison on Thursday after he was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges in February in the death of his young daughter. Montgomery attended only one day of his murder trial, and he wasn’t present when jurors returned their verdict.

On Thursday, Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, didn’t hold back words as her daughter’s father and convicted killer, while wearing a T-shirt, sat nearby and listened.

“I wish you nothing but pain and misery for the rest of your pathetic life,” Sorey said, before adding, “You’re just plain evil.”

Before handing down sentencing, Judge Amy Messer used strong words when addressing Adam Montgomery, calling the convicted child killer “callous.”

“You robbed a 5-year-old girl, your own daughter, of the life that she was to lead, and then after her death, you treated her body like it was trash, worse than trash,” Messer said. “You did unimaginable things to her body.”

Sorey, like others, called Adam Montgomery a “monster who murdered my baby.”

The grieving mother said Harmony’s father was jealous of their little girl.

“She lit up a room when she walked in. She made a mark wherever she went and you couldn’t stand it,” Sorey said.

Sorey said the day Harmony was beaten to death, on Dec. 7, 2019, “will forever be the darkest day of my life.”

“The night you beat her to death, I woke up in agonizing pain,” Sorey said to Adam Montgomery, adding that after the fatal beating that killed Harmony, she imagined her little girl “suffering in that back seat for 20 minutes while you and your wife fed yourselves.”

“Did she cry for me? Did she scream? Did she beg you to stop? I’ll never know,” Sorey said.

“I hope that every day and every night you’re on this earth, you’ll hear nothing buy my baby’s giggle,” she concluded.

Prosecutor Ben Agati told the court that Harmony’s murder is a “horror story” that has rocked the region, and the little girl’s family.

Agati pleaded with Adam Montgomery to tell investigators where they could find the girl’s remains.

A jury convicted Adam Montgomery in February of second-degree murder, second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence, tampering with a witness, and abuse of a corpse.

For the charge of second degree murder, Agati on Thursday asked the court to impose a sentence of no less than minimum of 45 years to life.

“Right now, your honor, if he tells us where we can recover her and we can do so in the next 7 days, we will change our recommendation to (a minimum sentence of) 35 years,” Agati said.

When Montgomery declined, Agati also didn’t hold back words.

“He is a heartless, immoral, selfish and unapologetic murderer of his own child,” Agati told the court.

In a filing released on Tuesday, prosecutors in New Hampshire asked the judge to sentence Montgomery to 56 years behind bars, arguing the little girl “died in pain and fear” on Dec. 7, 2019.

Prosecutors said on that day back in 2019, Adam Montgomery repeatedly struck Harmony on her head and face because she had a bathroom accident, did nothing to help Harmony after that attack, and placed a blanket over her and went back to sleep.

“She is gone forever. She didn’t get sick and old and pass away,” Agati said.

In February, Kayla Montgomery, 33, who has a plea deal with the state and who has previously identified her estranged husband as Harmony’s killer, offered gruesome testimony as a key star witness in the trial, saying that her husband violently punched the girl when he flew into a rage on Dec. 7, 2019, shortly before they noticed her lifeless body.

Adam Montgomery later folded the girl’s body into a duffel bag, and he spent the next few weeks moving Harmony’s decaying body by hiding it in a restaurant freezer, in the ceiling of a shelter, in an apartment refrigerator, Kayla Montgomery said.

In their apartment, Adam spent hours dismembering the child’s body so it could fit in a small bag, she testified.

”The question is, how can the minimum sentence ever apply to the crimes committed by this man?” Agati, the prosecutor, said Thursday.

Last month, a New Hampshire superior court judge ordered Montgomery to appear at his sentencing, after the convicted killer had requested to be excused from attending his sentencing hearing on Thursday.

In March, the state asked the court to compel Montgomery to attend his sentencing.

“Justice has been served and Harmony Montgomery’s memory and legacy remain our focus,” Attorney General John Formella said in a statement after Thursday’s sentencing.

“Today’s sentence demonstrates that our legal system takes heinous crimes seriously and holds perpetrators accountable for their actions,” Formella said. “The murder of an innocent child leaves a lasting scar on New Hampshire and our hearts go out to Harmony’s family and all those who knew and loved her.”

Formella thanked “our dedicated trial team and all of our law enforcement partners for their work on this case, especially the dedicated law enforcement professionals with the Manchester Police Department.”

“Their tireless efforts led to the justice Harmony received in the sentence handed down today,” the attorney general said. “While no sentence can bring back the life that was taken, we will honor Harmony’s memory by working to ensure that we are doing all we can to protect New Hampshire’s children and bring any person that would harm a child to justice.”

‘Evil’: Kayla Montgomery takes stand in trial of estranged husband accused of killing young daughter

Investigators believe Harmony was killed in December 2019, nearly two years before she was reported missing in 2021.

Her body has never been found.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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