Editor’s note: Some of the details described in the story below may be disturbing for readers.
Family members of Harmony Montgomery, the New Hampshire girl whose missing person case shocked New England, offered emotional testimony Thursday in the murder trial over her death.
The 5-year-old girl's biological mother and great-uncle were among the first witnesses called in the case against Adam Montgomery, whom prosecutors say beat his daughter to death and spent months hiding the body before disposing of it. Both choked up for portions of their testimony — mother Crystal Sorey when she was asked when she last saw Harmony, great-uncle Kevin Montgomery when asked if he recognized a picture of her.
Sorey said she only saw Harmony twice in person and twice on Facetime after losing custody of the girl in 2019. She described spending years trying to get back in touch with her ex and his wife, "begging them to let me see her."
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
While Harmony is believed to have died in December 2019, though police didn't declare her missing until 2021, prompting a search for her that continues to this day.
"Amazing. Rambunctious. Very smart," Sorey said, when asked to describe her daughter. "By the time she was 2, she could tell you her whole life story."
Kevin Montgomery, Adam Montgomery's uncle, testified about a day in June 2019, about six months before she died, when he came back to the house they were sharing to find the girl, then 4 years old, with a black eye. Montgomery said it looked "like a raccoon's eye, black and blue."
He asked her what she did, but Adam Montgomery, standing behind her, answered, "I bashed her around the f****** house," Kevin Montgomery recalled.
Asked how his newphew said it, Kevin Montgomery said, "If I had to describe it, to the best of my ability, it would be like a cocky son of a b****."
More on the Harmony Montgomery murder trial
Adam Montgomery explained, as Kevin Montgomery recalled, that he'd put the girl in charge of his infant son while he went to the bathroom, and that when he came out, she "had her hands over his mouth and I guess his lips were supposedly blue."
He recalled telling more than 10 people about what he saw, "to get help."
Another person who knew Harmony well testified Thursday, Michelle Rafftery, who was her foster mother for three different periods.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
"She was a loving child, she was very sweet, very happy … super social, she loved to be with people
wherever she went. She left people happy, and you knew that you met her," she recalled.
Both Sorey and Rafftery spoke to Harmony intelligence, despite being diagnosed as a baby with a condition that would have resulted in a learning disability. But that diagnosis turned out to be wrong, and "she was meeting every benchmark, she was succeeding," Rafftery said.
Both women also testified that Harmony was potty-trained and didn't have problems with accidents — the prosecution alleges that Adam Montgomery beat his daughter to death in a rage over her continuing to soil herself when they were living in a car in Manchester.
As the trial began, Adam Montgomery admitted to hiding Harmony's body, but his lawyers said Thursday that he didn't kill her and pointed the finger at his now-estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery.
"Adam Montgomery did not cause Harmony Montgomery's death," lawyer James Brooks said.
Adam Montgomery was in court on Tuesday during jury selection, but wasn't in court once the trial started Wednesday or on Thursday.
