The prosecution in the Harmony Montgomery murder trial has rested their case against the girl's father, Adam Montgomery, who is accused of killing his 5-year-old daughter and hiding her body.
Defense attorneys moved to dismiss some charges against Adam Montgomery on Tuesday, including the second-degree murder charge, the second-degree assault charge and the witness tampering charge, but Judge Amy Messer denied them.
Adam Montgomery's lawyers will have a chance to present evidence in his defense on Wednesday, if they choose. After that, both sides will give their closing statements and the case will go to the jury for deliberation.
The prosecution rested its case Tuesday after playing a recording in which Adam Montgomery could be heard saying investigators "wasted their time" in following up on leads sent in from "nut jobs."
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The first witness to testify Tuesday was Douglas Small, the grandfather of Kelsey Small, Adam Montgomery's girlfriend who was found dead in a hotel room in March of 2022. She did not face charges in connection with the case and her death was not considered suspicious.
Douglas Small said Adam stayed at his home in Carmel, Maine, for several weeks. He said he drove to Rochester, New Hampshire, on Nov. 11, 2021 to pick up Adam and his granddaughter. They reportedly stayed with him on two separate occasions, and possibly one night with his daughter-in-law as well.
Small said around that time, he lent his granddaughter and Adam Montgomery his Pontiac Grand Prix so they could drive back to Manchester.
He said at some point, a group of police detectives searched an old schoolhouse on a property he owned. But he said he didn't know at the time what they were searching for.
The second witness was Massachusetts State Police Trooper Bryan Hernandez, who works as a detective with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. Hernandez acted as a liaison between Massachusetts State Police and the Manchester Police Department during the investigation into Harmony Montgomery's disappearance beginning in September of 2022.
Hernandez testified about toll records he reviewed that showed a U-Haul that prosecutors say was used by Adam Montgomery to dispose of Harmony's body driving over the Tobin Bridge in Boston both north and southbound on March 4, 2020.
He also described searches for Harmony's body conducted by the Special Emergency Response Team near the Tobin Bridge from Revere to the Saugus line. Aerial and land searches and dive team searches were conducted. He said the searches lasted about eight hours per day, spread over two days.
Prosecutors focused specifically on the search of Rumney Marsh in Revere, on Sept. 18, 2022, and on April 7, 2023.
The day's third witness was Rebecca Maines, a friend of Adam Montgomery and Kelsey Small's, who testified that Adam once told her about a time when he struck Harmony.
"He told me that he was in the bathroom... He had walked out to find Harmony with his hands over the baby's mouth and nose, and the baby was not breathing and turning blue. He said he saw red and just backhanded her," she said.
Maines also said Adam once told her that he "hated" Harmony because she reminded him of her mother, Crystal Sorey.
The next and final witness called by prosecutors was Manchester Police Capt. Matthew Larochelle, who helped oversee the search for Harmony. Prosecutors played a recording of Adam Montgomery speaking — Larochelle attested was his voice — about the investigation following leads from outlandish tips as they came in, including reaching out about the possibility that the girl was seen alive in Surprise, Arizona.
"They wasted their time," Montgomery said, going on to discuss wasting taxpayer money on the tips.
"I just feel like that's so, like, yeah, outlandish, bro," he said.
The defense had no questions for Larochelle.
On Friday, the jury was shown police bodycam video of Adam's arrest. And they also heard some testimony about Adam's relationship with his estranged wife Kayla Montgomery. Witnesses testified that Adam beat Kayla while living in a shelter as well as an apartment.
Kayla Montgomery testified last week that Adam beat Harmony to death after a bathroom accident in the car they were living in. Authorities believe the girl was killed on Dec. 7, 2019, almost two years before she was reported missing. The girl's body still has not been found.
Defense attorneys have filed a motion seeking to exclude Kayla's testimony from jury deliberations. They claim Adam Montgomery's constitutional rights were violated because Kayla's lawyer shared information with her from the defense's opening statement. Prosecutors filed their response Tuesday, and Messer said she will issue a decision prior to the start of Wednesday's court proceedings.
Adam Montgomery has not returned to the courtroom since jury selection nearly two weeks ago. If he refuses to brought to court on Wednesday, Messer said he will be waiving his right to testify in addition to his right to be present for the trial.
