GUILTY NH - Harmony Montgomery, 7, Manchester, missing after placed in Father's Custody in 2019, reported 2021, *1 Guilty perjury, 1 guilty weapons* #3

[MassGuy]

What does it mean that he waived his arraignment? Can he post pone it?

I think it means the charges aren't read to him in court. It's pointless anyway, as he knows full well what he's been charged with.

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 25, 2022

Harmony Montgomery’s father pleads not guilty to killing her​

The father of Harmony Montgomery pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a second-degree murder charge alleging that he killed the 5-year-old in 2019 by repeatedly striking her in the head with a closed fist, according to court paperwork filed by his New Hampshire attorneys.

Adam Montgomery, 32, also pleaded not guilty to falsifying physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and witness tampering in the death of his daughter.

He waived his arraignment, which had been scheduled for Tuesday. His lawyers didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 25, 2022

Harmony Montgomery’s dad waives arraignment on murder charge, stays in jail​

[...]

In the lead-up to the arrest on the new charges, Montgomery’s case was a flurry of motions to suppress various evidence ... His requests were both granted and denied in part in rulings filed on Oct. 19.

“Well, your daughter had some injuries that you know about when you lived on Gilford Street,” a Manchester detective is quoted as saying during the interview Jan. 4 included in Superior Court Justice Amy Messer’s ruling. “… I’m referring to her having some good marks … Marks that were left on her by you.”

“Absolutely not. I have nothing else to say,” Montgomery replied. Thirteen minutes later, Montgomery would state, “You know what, man, like I don’t even want to talk anymore. Like this is just beating around the bush. It just seems a little to silly to me.”

The state had filed a motion Oct. 4 arguing that the earlier “I have nothing else to say” statement was “ambiguous and equivocal and was consequently not a valid invocation of his right to remain silent,” but conceded that the latter statement is an “unambiguous assertion of his right to remain silent.”

Messer agreed and ruled that any statement after that assertion would be suppressed.

 

[Seattle1]

What does it mean that he waived his arraignment? Can he post pone it?

Not postponed, it's done.

In most states including NH, if you are represented by an Attorney, you do not have to appear in court for your arraignment (to enter a plea) if you instead sign a form similar to the document at the link, affirming as follows:

I hereby certify that I have discussed the charging document(s) and penalties with the defendant and believe that the defendant understands the nature of the charge(s) and the punishment. If applicable, I have explained the provisions of RSA 612 and this Waiver of Extradition to my client and believe his/her waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently

https://www.courts.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt471/files/documents/2021-04/nhjb-4055-se.pdf

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1585322601425276928

 

[LovesPeace2]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1585322601425276928

Ughhhh I dislike her getting a plea deal I guess she’s the lessor of two evils but still she kept that secret for how long even after they were split up. Just ticks me off jmvho

 

[carbuff]

Ughhhh I dislike her getting a plea deal I guess she’s the lessor of two evils but still she kept that secret for how long even after they were split up. Just ticks me off jmvho

Yeah, but if that's what it takes to get the evidence to get him...

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 26, 2022

Court Documents Offer New Details on Murder Case Against Harmony Montgomery's Father

This week, the father of Harmony Montgomery was charged with murder in the presumed death of his daughter. Now, we have new clues about what may have led prosecutors to charge him with the crime in the high-profile case. New Hampshire officials announced Monday that Adam Montgomery was arrested...

www.nbcboston.com

[...]

Kayla Montgomery is facing several charges of her own, but we’ve learned today she’s working on a plea deal with prosecutors. Details on that could be revealed next week.

 

[LovesPeace2]

OCT 26, 2022

Court Documents Offer New Details on Murder Case Against Harmony Montgomery's Father

This week, the father of Harmony Montgomery was charged with murder in the presumed death of his daughter. Now, we have new clues about what may have led prosecutors to charge him with the crime in the high-profile case. New Hampshire officials announced Monday that Adam Montgomery was arrested...

www.nbcboston.com

[...]

Kayla Montgomery is facing several charges of her own, but we’ve learned today she’s working on a plea deal with prosecutors. Details on that could be revealed next week.

Ughh I hate it but I get it . I really hope one of them tell what happened to Harmonys remains jmoo

 

[Seattle1]

Ughh I hate it but I get it . I really hope one of them tell what happened to Harmonys remains jmoo

I don't think Kayla knows because she was not in that apartment (with Harmony's hidden remains) long enough but it appears she led investigators there.

I think KM is/was a junkie dependent on AM for the next fix. She barely cleaned up long enough to deliver AM's babies and probably had a needle in her arm on the way home from the hospital. AM convinced KM to take possession of the stolen arms under the promise the sales proceeds were for drugs and to take care of their children -- in that order. MOO

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 27, 2022

The invisible girl - The Boston Globe​

[...]

Harmony was 5 years old when she was last seen alive. She was missing for two years before any caring adult in her life noticed.

Her mother, Crystal Sorey, who first sounded the alarm, lost custody because of an addiction to drugs. Harmony had been removed from Sorey’s care three times because that chemical addiction overwhelmed any vestige of natural maternal instinct.
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Harmony’s father, who had shot someone in the face during a drug deal, was in prison when she was born in 2014. She was an infant when they first met, in prison.

[...]

In 2018, Harmony was placed in a foster home in Haverhill. Her younger brother was adopted by a couple also willing to adopt her. But adults who were supposed to protect her didn’t take them up on that life-altering offer.

Instead, in a process that prioritized everyone’s best interests except Harmony’s, a Massachusetts judge awarded custody to Montgomery, despite a history that suggested he was more comfortable around drugs and guns and chaos than children. Harmony moved into a house in Manchester, N.H., that Montgomery shared with his wife, Kayla.

[...]

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Harmony was never registered for school. No one took notice. She was invisible.

[...]

Invisible in life, Harmony remains invisible in death, her body still missing. If, as prosecutors allege, her father beat her to death and hid her body, the only card he has left to play is leading authorities to her body.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 27, 2022

Harmony Montgomery's dad has firearms case postponed days after murder charge in 5-year-old's slaying​

[...]

Thursday’s hearing was on felony firearms charges. The New Hampshire man had been convicted of shooting a drug dealer in 2014 and is now accused of stealing guns and as a result being a felon in possession of firearms.

[...]

Adam Montgomery’s attorneys have moved to preclude his wife’s statements on the grounds that prosecutors waited too long to reveal them in violation of discovery rules.

His public defender Caroline Smith repeatedly referred to the new statements as a "paradigm shift," in a pool stream of the hearing from WMUR.

Judge Amy Messer granted the defense more time and postponed the trial from the previous Nov. 7 start date.

[...]

Weapons trial delayed for the NH father accused in the murder of his daughter, Harmony Montgomery​

“While interviewing Kayla on June 3, investigators attempted to keep separate the portion of the interview that focused on the defendant and firearms from the portion that focused on Harmony’s murder. However, despite investigators’ efforts, there was significant bleed-over between the topics,” prosecutors said.

On Thursday, the defense attempted to keep that testimony out of Adam Montgomery’s firearms trial.

The judge told the defense she would not do that, however, the judge did allow for a delay in the trial, until after a “structural conference” that will be held on November 22, where the firearms case, the murder case, and a third case alleging Montgomery assaulted his daughter will be discussed.

 

[EllaMinnowP]

OCT 27, 2022

The invisible girl - The Boston Globe​

[...]

Harmony was 5 years old when she was last seen alive. She was missing for two years before any caring adult in her life noticed.

Her mother, Crystal Sorey, who first sounded the alarm, lost custody because of an addiction to drugs. Harmony had been removed from Sorey’s care three times because that chemical addiction overwhelmed any vestige of natural maternal instinct.
Advertisement

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Harmony’s father, who had shot someone in the face during a drug deal, was in prison when she was born in 2014. She was an infant when they first met, in prison.

[...]

In 2018, Harmony was placed in a foster home in Haverhill. Her younger brother was adopted by a couple also willing to adopt her. But adults who were supposed to protect her didn’t take them up on that life-altering offer.

Instead, in a process that prioritized everyone’s best interests except Harmony’s, a Massachusetts judge awarded custody to Montgomery, despite a history that suggested he was more comfortable around drugs and guns and chaos than children. Harmony moved into a house in Manchester, N.H., that Montgomery shared with his wife, Kayla.

[...]

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Harmony was never registered for school. No one took notice. She was invisible.

[...]

Invisible in life, Harmony remains invisible in death, her body still missing. If, as prosecutors allege, her father beat her to death and hid her body, the only card he has left to play is leading authorities to her body.

[...]

Thank you for sharing this eloquently written article. I really appreciate the way the truth is presented here. <\3
imo

 

[SkipperKey3]

OCT 27, 2022

The invisible girl - The Boston Globe​

[...]

Harmony was 5 years old when she was last seen alive. She was missing for two years before any caring adult in her life noticed.

Her mother, Crystal Sorey, who first sounded the alarm, lost custody because of an addiction to drugs. Harmony had been removed from Sorey’s care three times because that chemical addiction overwhelmed any vestige of natural maternal instinct.
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snip>

A little misleading, though. From what I understand, she wasn't "missing two years before any caring adult in her life noticed." IIRC, Sorey had been trying to find her for quite some time, including alerting CS, before she finally got somebody to listen to her.

 

[Seattle1]

A little misleading, though. From what I understand, she wasn't "missing two years before any caring adult in her life noticed." IIRC, Sorey had been trying to find her for quite some time, including alerting CS, before she finally got somebody to listen to her.

Also, I think Adam's own family made calls to CS for a welfare check and were given the COVID excuse.

 

[txsleuth70]

Also, I think Adam's own family made calls to CS for a welfare check and were given the COVID excuse.

I don't think the statement is misleading at all, IIR - Sorey didn't make the call until prompted by Jameson's adoptive parents who were asking about her.

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 30, 2022

Loved ones remember Harmony Montgomery at vigil in Manchester​

Harmony's mother Crystal Sorey describes her daughter as sweet, funny and talkative. Sorey dressed up as Minnie Mouse, something she said would have made her daughter happy.

Sorey said she wants to close the door on this chapter.

“All the good memories are in Haverhill and Boston,” Sorey said. “We just want to close this chapter on New Hampshire because nothing good here happened for her.”

Sorey said she wants to help other children, ensuring Harmony's story is not forgotten.

'Sweet, kind, funny': Harmony Montgomery's mother shares memories of young girl​

Crystal Sorey has mostly stayed away from the media since her daughter was reported missing last November.

"Sweet, kind, funny. Oh god, that girl could talk," said Sorey.

"Her whole room was Minnie Mouse. She had a four-foot Minnie Mouse doll in her room," Sorey recalled. She wore a Minnie Mouse costume as a way to honor Harmony. "I wanted to come here like this to represent something that makes her happy."

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 30, 2022

‘The one thing she really loved is family’: Mourners gather for final Harmony Montgomery vigil​

Sorey told onlookers Sunday that she never wants Adam Montgomery freed from behind bars.

“I don’t want him to see the light of day ever again,” she said.

At Vigil, Harmony Montgomery's Mom Says Next Step Is Finding Her Daughter's Body​

... Sorey said she wants to make sure her daughter is honored in every way possible, even if it means wearing a goofy costume on Halloween weekend.

[...]

“Now, the next step is finding her still, and fighting for justice,” Sorey said.

 

[PommyMommy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1587066931064049666

OCT 31, 2022

‘He has a black soul’: Adam Montgomery had a troubled past that shadowed him when he inquired about meeting his infant daughter, Harmony - The Boston Globe

Five years after DCF began caring for Harmony Montgomery, her father persuaded a Massachusetts juvenile court judge to grant him custody of the girl, who then died later that year, allegedly at his hands.

www.bostonglobe.com

• AM refused to divulge details of his violent history, and no one at DCF fully investigated his background
• He was born in 1990 when his father, Michael, was 16 and his mother was 15
• AM’s mother said he was supposed to be offered for adoption as a baby and she never had a relationship with him. He was placed in the custody of his father’s family.
• “I don’t even know those people,” she said.
• When AM was 5, his father was sentenced to 6-9 years for robbing a McDonald’s restaurant in Revere while wielding a toy gun and wearing a mask.
• AM's paternal grandparents were left to raise him and his 3-year-old brother at their home in Revere.
• AM's father wrote in court papers that he committed the robbery “out of desperation to obtain more heroin.”
• In June 2004, AM's father was granted custody of him at 14. They moved to Clearwater, FL. Months later he stole his uncle’s BMW, crashed it, and ran away from home. Eventually, he moved back to NH.
• In 2007, LE investigated reports that AM threatened a neighbor with landscaping shears and then pushed his grandmother who said she didn’t see anything.
• There were numerous reports of assaults on AM's grandmother by various males who lived with her. She was uncooperative and denied them
• In July 2007, the MSP gang unit found AM and his uncle, KM, sharing a bathroom stall in a McDonald’s restaurant in Chelsea. KM had “track marks” on his arms, and AM, then 17, had a knife and heroin in his pocket and a teardrop tattooed under his left eye, a symbol associated with gang and prison culture
• In 2008, AM was identified as a suspect in the murder of Darlin Guzman, who was shot and killed in the parking lot of a convenience store. No arrests have been made.
• Four days after Guzman was killed, AM was accused of breaking into an apartment with another man and demanding money from three women while wielding a pellet gun. He later pleaded guilty.
• A few months after that, he was arrested for stabbing another man in the leg in Manchester, N.H., and eventually pleaded guilty.
• CS said, “Adam has a severe hatred of women.”

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 4, 2022

Massachusetts’ policies failed Harmony Montgomery - The Boston Globe​

Why was this child, who was born to two parents who could not or would not care for her for over three years, not allowed to be adopted by the foster family who took her in?

Paywalled article

• Harmony was placed in foster care almost immediately after her birth.
• Her mother’s substance abuse resulted in multiple reports of neglect.
• Harmony’s father was in prison at the time of her birth.
• Harmony was returned and re-removed from her mother on two more occasions.
• She was in the care of a foster family for 28 months out of her first 3 years - almost 2 of those years consecutively.
• She met AM only a couple of times while he was incarcerated.
• NH authorities to do a home study. They never did.
• When placed with AM, Harmony had already spent 41 months in care.
• Federal law states that if a child has been in care for 15 of the past 22 months, the state is supposed to start proceedings to terminate parental rights.