Harmony Montgomery’s stepmother, Kayla, takes stand as testimony resumes in husband’s firearms trial

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Harmony Montgomery’s stepmother, Kayla Montgomery, cut a deal with the New Hampshire Justice Department -- and it required of her only one thing: to tell the truth about her estranged husband, Adam Montgomery who is now on trial for stealing and trying to sell two guns in the fall of 2019.

Monday, Montgomery testified that Adam stole, possessed, retained and tried to sell a shotgun and an AR-15. Kayla identified Adam in court, noting he was wearing a pink shirt.

Adam Montgomery faces two charges each of being an armed career criminal, theft and receiving stolen property. Separately, he is accused of the murder of his five-year-old daughter, Harmony, who was last seen in December 2019. That trial could begin later this year.

Kayla is serving time for perjury -- but in exchange for her testimony, prosecutors dropped welfare fraud and receiving stolen property charges. In addition, her possible term of confinement was reduced.

The guns in question were stolen from Kim and Chris Frain, who were friends of the Montgomerys.

Adam visited one night that September while Frain’s husband was out of town on business. Kim and Adam intended to buy drugs, but both fell asleep. Kayla said Adam told her the door to Frain’s Manchester house was open when he got there.

“He said that she was passed out and he woke her up and when she woke up she was freaking out about the guns missing,” Kayla testified.

Frain, who testified last week, said Adam was nodding off and she was exhausted from a three-day bender and fell asleep. When she woke in the morning, Adam was gone and so were the guns kept under the couple’s bed.

Early in her testimony, Kayla denied hearing a different story about that night from Adam. But later, she said his story did, indeed, change.

“All he said was that Kim was passed out and he ended up taking the guns,” she said.

The theft upset Kayla. “Because he took them from friends and I didn’t want the guns in the house,” she said.

At the time, the Montgomerys were parenting three children -- Seamus, Declan and Harmony Montgomery in a house at 77 Gilford Street in Manchester. The family was evicted from the property in November 2019, Kayla said.

Dressed in a bright red prison jumpsuit, Kayla Montgomery said it was difficult for her to be there. “It’s a lot,” she said, then reached for a tissue to dab a tear. When asked if she knew someone named Adam Montgomery, Kayla’s face contorted in grief as tears flowed down her cheeks.

“He’s my husband,” she said.

The couple has been married nearly six years, Kayla said, with their anniversary later this week. But they have known each other since high school. Kayla has since filed for divorce, testifying that Adam is in a new relationship.

Their relationship had its share of turbulence -- with both Kayla and Adam suffering from substance use disorders -- in Kayla’s case, an addiction to heroin and crack. “It’s a fog,” she said. “Cuz I know we were just getting high a lot.”

She said Adam intended to sell the two stolen guns or trade them for drugs -- with the initial attempt taking place in their living room days after the theft. That’s when three men, identified by Kayla as Mike, Ish and Manny, came to sell Adam drugs. He offered them the guns as payment, she said.

“They were checking them out, looking at them -- and they were saying they would think about it,” Kayla testified. Ultimately, the trio did not buy the guns that night. Kayla said they were aware guns had been stolen from the Frain’s -- but did not know they were the two guns they were considering.

“I was taking care of the kids and I was looking to see what was going on in the living room from the kitchen,” she said. “It was just chaos in the house at that time.”

Another witness, Mark Reed, told the jury that Adam Montgomery reached out to him on Facebook Messenger, offering to sell him two guns.

In the exchanges, Adam said he needed money because his family was facing eviction from their Manchester home.

This was only months before Harmony Montgomery disappeared.

Adam is not yet on trial for the murder of his 5-year-old daughter Harmony Montgomery, who was last seen three months later in December 2019.

Kayla is currently behind bars after being sentenced for perjury charges.

Adam’s trial for Harmony Montgomery’s death is scheduled to begin later this year.

More of 25 Investigates’ coverage of Harmony Montgomery’s disappearance:

25 Investigates: Lawmakers put the brakes on proposed Harmony Montgomery Commission

First glimpse inside the NH apartment searched in Harmony Montgomery investigation

Harmony Montgomery’s mother tells Boston 25 News, ‘this is no longer a rescue mission’

Group sends Harmony Montgomery birthday cards to jailed father, Adam

Internal review of New Hampshire’s handling of Harmony Montgomery’s case released

Boston 25 News Special Report: Searching for Harmony Montgomery

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