Adam Montgomery was sentenced to dozens more years in prison for killing his 5-year-old daughter Harmony at an emotional hearing in a New Hampshire court Thursday.
"You treated her in the worst of possible ways, in both her life and her death," Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Amy Messer said.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 56 years to life for Montgomery, convicted earlier this year of second-degree murder in the death of his daughter Harmony, who police believe was killed nearly two years before she was reported missing in 2021 and whose body was never found.
Messer sentenced Montgomery to 45 years to life for murder and added a minimum total of 11 more years — all to be served consecutively — for the charges of falsifying evidence, tampering with a witness and second-degree assault. He received a suspended sentence of one year for the abuse of a corpse charge.
The total is at least 56 years in prison, to be served after a sentence of up to 60 years in prison that he's already in prison for after being convicted last year of separate weapons charges. Messer said "the egregious nature of the crimes" meant he needed to be "off the streets."
Montgomery, 34, didn't take an offer, extended in court by Senior Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Benjamin Agati, for prosecutors to shorten the length of the sentence they were requesting if he told her the location of Harmony's remains. He said it wasn't a stunt, though defense lawyer Caroline Smith insisted the man "does not have to express remorse here for something where he maintains his innocence."
Adam Montgomery said little in court, only that he didn't have questions for the judge after she handed down the sentence.
More on the Adam Montgomery trial
Through emotional victim impact statements, family of the little girl urged the judge to give Montgomery the maximum possible sentence.
"She had a life worth living, unlike your own, and it bothered you to your core that she was nothing like you and everything like me," said Harmony's biological mother, Crystal Sorey.
Harmony's biological brother, Jamison, shared a statement through his adoptive father, saying he made a device to help him "look her for her in heaven" that contains two hearts, a purple one for Harmony and a red one for him.
"I'm really sad she's an angel. I miss her. She's my best friend," Jamison's message said.
After the sentence was delivered, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella issued a statement saying that justice was served thanks to the work of many investigators and prosecutors who worked on the case.
"Today’s sentence demonstrates that our legal system takes heinous crimes seriously and holds perpetrators accountable for their actions. 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," he said.
Montgomery did not attend his trial and wasn’t present when jurors returned their verdict. But a judge ordered him to attend his sentencing, and he appeared soon after 1 p.m. Thursday in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester.
Montgomery attended the first day of jury selection in February but did not come to court during his two-week trial.
Adam Montgomery’s attorneys had acknowledged his guilt on two lesser charges, that he “purposely and unlawfully removed, concealed or destroyed” her corpse and falsified physical evidence, but said he didn’t kill his daughter. The jury also convicted him of assaulting Harmony in 2019 and of tampering with the key prosecution witness, his estranged wife and stepmother of his daughter, Kayla Montgomery.
Investigators believe Harmony Montgomery was slain in December 2019, though she wasn’t reported missing for almost two years. Kayla Montgomery testified that the body was hidden in the trunk of a car, a cooler, a ceiling vent and a workplace freezer before Adam Montgomery disposed of it.
Adam Montgomery had custody of the girl. Her mother, Crystal Sorey, who was no longer in a relationship with him, said the last time she saw Harmony Montgomery was during a video call in April 2019. She eventually went to police, who announced they were looking for the missing child on New Year’s Eve 2021.
Photos of the girl were widely circulated on social media. Police eventually determined she had been killed.
Kayla Montgomery is serving an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to perjury charges related to the investigation into the child’s disappearance and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. She testified that that her husband killed Harmony Montgomery on Dec. 7, 2019, while the family lived in their car after being evicted from their home.
Kayla Montgomery testified that her husband repeatedly punched Harmony Montgomery in the face and head because he was angry that she was having bathroom accidents in the car.
The couple noticed the girl was dead hours later when the car broke down, at which time Adam Montgomery put her body in a duffel bag, Kayla Montgomery had testified.
For the next three months, she testified, Adam Montgomery moved the body from container to container and place to place. According to his wife, the locations included the trunk of a friend’s car, a cooler in the hallway of his mother-in-law’s apartment building, the ceiling vent of a homeless shelter and a workplace freezer.
Authorities have said previously that the trial does not end the search for the girl.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
