The distraught grandma of a missing girl says she left money in a cooler where prosecutors claim the girl's dad put the five-year-old's remains after beating her to death.
This comes after the estranged wife of New Hampshire man Adam Montgomery testified in court that he punched the 5-year-old Harmony to death, folded her body into a duffel bag, then hid it in the trunk of his car, then a ceiling vent and a restaurant freezer while deciding how to dispose of the body.
The red cooler with a white top was allegedly used to transport Harmony's body as the killer dad worked out how to dispose of it.
The girl's stepmother Kayla Montgomery testified that her husband punched Harmony in the head after she wet herself in the back of his car. He later covered Harmony with a blanket as the child cried, moaned and eventually went silent, the stepmother said. Their car broke down soon afterward and Adam Montgomery put Harmony’s body in the duffel bag, she said.
Adam Montgomery, 34, is charged with second-degree murder, assault and witness tampering. In opening statements Thursday, his lawyers acknowledged he was guilty of two other charges — falsifying evidence and abusing a corpse. But they said he did not kill Harmony and repeatedly suggested Kayla Montgomery was lying to protect herself.
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Christina Lubin, Harmony's step-grandmother testified in court (CourtTV)The duffel bag made it from the trunk of a friend’s car to a hallway cooler near an apartment where Kayla Montgomery’s mother lived, and then to a ceiling vent in a shelter where the family stayed for about six weeks.
Kayla's mum, Christina Lubin, testified in court, saying that she once left money in to help the couple pay for car expenses. "Kayla had called me at one point before seeing them at my house about having a flat tire and needing money for it," she said in court.
Adam Montgomery is accused of killing his daughter (AP)"So I was leaving to leave for the day so I left them money in a cooler in my side hallway, so that they could get their tire fixed."
Eventually, Harmony’s remains began to smell, and Adam Montgomery moved them into trash bags which he put into a large tote bag, Kayla Montgomery testified. She said she put the bag in a stroller and took it to a restaurant where her husband worked, and he put it in the freezer. He later moved the bag to the refrigerator of an apartment where they were staying in Manchester.
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The red cooler with a white lid allegedly used to transport the girl's body (CourtTV)The prosecution claim Ms Lubin's red cooler was one of the vessels used to transport Harmony's remains.
Kayla testified that her stepdaughter died December 7 2019. Her body has not been found.
Adam Montgomery talked about dismembering Harmony and bought tools and lime, she testified. She said he put the body in the bathtub and turned on the shower to thaw it, and asked her to help him cut off Harmony’s clothes, which she did.
She left the room soon after that. “I couldn’t be there anymore. I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t want to see anything,” she said. Lawyers for the accused killer claim the stepmother lied to shift the blame to her husband.
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The bag the girl's remains were allegedly 'squished' into (Manchester PD)Montgomery, who will return to the stand Monday, said her husband drove away with Harmony’s remains in a rental truck in March 2020, and that he didn’t say where he was going. Not long after that, he started to suspect that she might go to the police, so he began punching her, giving her black eyes, she said. She eventually ran away from him in March 2021.
He was also a prosecution witness last year in an unrelated case in which her husband was convicted of gun theft charges. He was sentenced to over 30 years in prison, taking a moment to proclaim his innocence in his daughter’s death.
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