(NewsNation) — New Hampshire man Adam Montgomery was found guilty Thursday of second-degree murder in connection to the killing of his five-year-old daughter Harmony.
Harmony Montgomery went missing in 2019, but police didn’t learn of her disappearance until Dec. 2021. The little girl had been in and out of the foster care system, living at various times with her father or mother.
Her body has still not been found.
Adam Montgomery, 34, did not attend the trial, and wasn’t there when jurors returned their verdict.
Prosecutors described Harmony’s last days as excruciatingly painful, and said Montgomery beat and punched his daughter, resulting in her death.
Montgomery is also accused of moving her body to various locations, including the ceiling of a shelter and a restaurant freezer.
“All he has is his car, and his rage, and his fists,” prosecutor Benjamin Agati said, according to NewsNation local affiliate WFLA, later adding, “She doesn’t get a headstone in the ground above the head that he battered. She doesn’t get to be at peace and death because of what he did, because he can’t afford to tell anyone where she is.”
While his attorneys acknowledge his guilt on charges that he “purposely and unlawfully removed, concealed or destroyed” Harmony’s corpse and falsified physical evidence, they maintained Montgomery did not kill his daughter.
Jurors on Thursday also convicted Montgomery of assaulting his daughter in 2019 and of tampering with the key prosecution witness, his estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery.
“Today our thoughts are focused on the memory and legacy of Harmony Montgomery, a little girl who did not deserve the tragic fate that she suffered,” New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella said. “Our hearts go out to Harmony’s family and all those who knew and loved her, and we hope today brings them some closure and peace.”
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement that “Adam Montgomery is a monster and deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
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