Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Missing Tot Harmony Montgomery Dad Busted For Murder

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Missing Tot Harmony Montgomery Dad Busted For Murder · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Greece. How does a five year
0:15
Speaker 1: old little girl disappear vanish? That was the question for
0:21
Speaker 1: five year old Harmony Montgomery. Look as hard as they could, police, relatives, neighbors, friends, experts, canines, drones, helicopters, divers,
0:37
Speaker 1: no one could find Harmony Montgomery. She truly just vanished.
0:46
Speaker 1: And now we know why. We no longer ask why
0:52
Speaker 1: did it take two years to report Harmony missing? Because
0:57
Speaker 1: now we know why? Because Harmony, a five year old
1:02
Speaker 1: little girl, blind in one eye, that always wore the
1:07
Speaker 1: biggest and the brightest smile, was murdered and according to police,
1:15
Speaker 1: we know who did it. I'm Nancy Grace. This is
1:20
Speaker 1: Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at
1:23
Speaker 1: Fox Nation and Series M one eleven. In the last hours,
1:27
Speaker 1: an arrest for murder one goes down none other than Daddy.
1:36
Speaker 1: First of all, take a listen to this. When last scene,
1:38
Speaker 1: Harmony was about four feet tall. She has blonde hair,
1:42
Speaker 1: blue eyes, and is blind in her right eye, so
1:44
Speaker 1: she may be wearing glasses. Police says she may have
1:47
Speaker 1: been going to school in Massachusetts. One last scene. Care
1:50
Speaker 1: if you saw this young girl a year ago and
1:53
Speaker 1: you think it's irrelevant call us and say I saw
1:56
Speaker 1: her a year ago, I saw her eighteen months ago,
1:59
Speaker 1: I saw her a week ago. Let's lessen that two
2:03
Speaker 1: year window and keep bringing it, keep shrinking that two
2:06
Speaker 1: year window to the present, day to day, and let's
2:09
Speaker 1: chase down every possible avenue with the hopes of fighting harmony.
2:13
Speaker 1: If you were hearing our friends at WMU are now,
2:16
Speaker 1: it's like, can listen to our cut thirteen Jackie, this
2:19
Speaker 1: is Ray Brewer. Neighbors can't believe it's taken this long
2:23
Speaker 1: to start an investigation. I mean two years later. Who
2:26
Speaker 1: waits two years ago looking for a little kind like that.
2:30
Speaker 1: Neighbors say they'd complained about living conditions at the home
2:33
Speaker 1: to city officials, only to be told that nothing could
2:36
Speaker 1: be done. As for whether a state investigation had been
2:39
Speaker 1: launched or is underway, DCYF issued a statement saying state
2:44
Speaker 1: and federal law requires us to protect the confidentiality of
2:48
Speaker 1: the children and families served by individuals and engaged with DCYF.
2:54
Speaker 1: Neighbors say at this point they just hope the little
2:56
Speaker 1: girl is found and the situation is resolved. It's kind
2:59
Speaker 1: of sad because no kids deserved this act. Nobody does
3:04
Speaker 1: truer words were never spoken straight out to Jessica Garth,
3:07
Speaker 1: the chief of the Special Victims and Family Violence Unit
3:10
Speaker 1: in Prince George's County, de facts should be arrested right
3:16
Speaker 1: along with daddy. Department of Family and Children Services, it's
3:20
Speaker 1: called CPS in some places child protection. They do anything
3:24
Speaker 1: but protect. They knew that Harmony was being beaten and mistreated.
3:30
Speaker 1: They had witnesses stated, neighbor said it, an uncle said it.
3:33
Speaker 1: But they left her there and now we have confirmation
3:37
Speaker 1: she's dead. She's dead and daddy is a killer. Yes,
3:40
Speaker 1: it's hard to understand how they couldn't be held responsible
3:43
Speaker 1: in some way in this case. I mean, the little
3:45
Speaker 1: girl was missing for two years and we knew that
3:47
Speaker 1: she was being abused by her father. We knew it.
3:50
Speaker 1: You know. I want to go straight out to our
3:52
Speaker 1: cut number four. This is the Manchester Police Chief, Alan
3:57
Speaker 1: Aldenburgh listened last time she was enrolled in any type
4:01
Speaker 1: of school. For my understanding, you have to be confirmed
4:03
Speaker 1: as down in Massachusetts. But again she's seven right now,
4:08
Speaker 1: so twenty nineteen five years old, probably right around that
4:12
Speaker 1: kindergarten timeframe. Again, we've spoken with family members and we'll
4:17
Speaker 1: continue to do so. I know I keep coming back
4:19
Speaker 1: to that, and that's a fair question. Right, did we
4:22
Speaker 1: speak to mom? Did we speak to dad? Did we
4:23
Speaker 1: speak to this belt? Were speaking to any and all
4:26
Speaker 1: family members that come to our attention and ones that
4:30
Speaker 1: we are seeking out as well. I've never heard such
4:33
Speaker 1: a crop of bs in my life. I mean, but
4:36
Speaker 1: what else can the chief of police say he didn't
4:39
Speaker 1: know the child was missing? Why? Because defects put the
4:42
Speaker 1: child back into home, knowing she was beaten, knowing she
4:46
Speaker 1: was being forced to clean the bathroom with her toothbrush,
4:50
Speaker 1: knowing she was getting black eyes, knowing she wasn't getting fed,
4:54
Speaker 1: they put her back in there, and then they didn't
4:58
Speaker 1: follow up. Now did you also hear this to Michael
5:02
Speaker 1: Ruise joining me, investigative reporter with Fox News Digital at
5:06
Speaker 1: Twitter at Mike Reports, Mike Our Reports, Michael Ruise, thank
5:11
Speaker 1: you for being with us. How come nobody noticed she
5:14
Speaker 1: wasn't in school? Because even if my children are late,
5:19
Speaker 1: and that includes if I take them to the orthodonist
5:21
Speaker 1: or the doctor during school hours, which I try not
5:23
Speaker 1: to do, I get an immediate email. Lucy's already I
5:29
Speaker 1: know immediately. How come nobody knew Harmony wasn't in school. Well, Nanthy,
5:34
Speaker 1: it's only a couple of months between the last time
5:36
Speaker 1: she was seen and the start of the coronavirus pandemic,
5:39
Speaker 1: and people weren't going to school, and that's that could
5:41
Speaker 1: be a way to conceal the fact that a child
5:43
Speaker 1: is missing. Oh, I'm sorry, Michael Ruis. Do you have children.
5:46
Speaker 1: I don't have children. Ah, okay, then you don't know
5:49
Speaker 1: about distance learning all we went through with the zooms
5:53
Speaker 1: and the face times. Oh yes, Michael Ruise, there was school.
5:59
Speaker 1: People were going school. They were just doing it remote.
6:02
Speaker 1: She wasn't even registered, Michael. And nobody raised a flag.
6:09
Speaker 1: Nobody not assault guys. And then you've got the father,
6:16
Speaker 1: Adam Montgomery, now murder defended. We had already adjudicated him
6:22
Speaker 1: as a po s. That's a technical legal term. But
6:26
Speaker 1: I want you to hear our cut thirty three. This
6:28
Speaker 1: is more a Barrett at NBC. Take a listen to this.
6:31
Speaker 1: Adam Montgomery's charged with a second degree assault, interference with custody,
6:35
Speaker 1: and endangering the welfare of a child. One of those instances,
6:39
Speaker 1: investigators say Adam struck Harmony in the face, causing a
6:43
Speaker 1: black eye. In twenty nineteen, Kevin Montgomery, Adam's uncle, was
6:47
Speaker 1: visiting the home. Around that time. I walked in the
6:49
Speaker 1: house at him. He had a black guy like you
6:52
Speaker 1: see in a box, some magic between two men. He
6:54
Speaker 1: bashed her around the apartment, kind of her with his
6:58
Speaker 1: exact words. According to court documents, Kevin says he and
7:02
Speaker 1: other family members made multiple reports to New Hampshire's Division
7:05
Speaker 1: for Children, Youth and Families, and I don't know how
7:08
Speaker 1: they missed the black guy that I saw. Police say
7:11
Speaker 1: they found Adam sleeping in his car with his new
7:14
Speaker 1: girlfriend on New Year's Eve. He told police he'd given
7:17
Speaker 1: Harmony back to her biological mother around Thanksgiving back in
7:20
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. Her mother, Crystal Sorry, disputes this. According to
7:24
Speaker 1: the court documents, police say he made some contradictory statements
7:28
Speaker 1: and quote did not exhibit much emotion or reaction to
7:30
Speaker 1: the fact that harmony hadn't been seen in two years.
7:33
Speaker 1: Oh blah blah blah with the mother. The mother whining
7:38
Speaker 1: that she was kept away from her daughter. You know what,
7:42
Speaker 1: I swear, I would take a bullet if someone tried
7:45
Speaker 1: to take me away from my children. Time stories with
8:01
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace two special guests joining us today. Blair Miller,
8:09
Speaker 1: the adoptive father of Jamieson. That's Harmony's bio brother, also
8:17
Speaker 1: news anchor with Cox Media Group in the Washington News Bureau,
8:20
Speaker 1: and you can find him on Twitter, Facebook and instact
8:23
Speaker 1: at Blair Miller TV. Blair, I am so sorry that Jamieson.
8:32
Speaker 1: Your son is going to grow up. And when people
8:35
Speaker 1: say tell me about your family, he'll say, oh, well,
8:38
Speaker 1: my sister, Harmony was murdered. I mean that's how that's
8:41
Speaker 1: going to kick off. And I'm just wondering, how, now
8:46
Speaker 1: that we know Harmony is in fact dead, how do
8:50
Speaker 1: you tell that? How do you explain that to Jamieson? Yeah,
8:54
Speaker 1: I mean we struggle with the same thing. Is this
8:57
Speaker 1: is now part of his story. Now you know, Armany
9:00
Speaker 1: and Jamison had the same mom but different dads, And
9:04
Speaker 1: you know, we struggle with that, and we struggle, you know, what,
9:08
Speaker 1: what are we going to tell him? And you know
9:10
Speaker 1: we've told him some bits and pieces, and he talks
9:13
Speaker 1: about Harmony weekly. He was just talking about her yesterday
9:17
Speaker 1: and brings her up on his own. But this is
9:20
Speaker 1: a little boy who yearns to see her, has been
9:23
Speaker 1: wanting to see her again has wanted to hug her,
9:27
Speaker 1: as wanted to celebrate her, and you know, here recently
9:30
Speaker 1: we had to tell him that she's now in heaven
9:33
Speaker 1: and an angel looking down on him, and that was
9:37
Speaker 1: very difficult for him. It's still very difficult for him
9:40
Speaker 1: and brings up a lot of questions, innocent questions that
9:44
Speaker 1: he asks, and you know, it is unfortunately part of
9:48
Speaker 1: his story and as his dad's, you know, my husband
9:52
Speaker 1: and I have to protect him the best we can
9:55
Speaker 1: and be there for him and help him get through
9:57
Speaker 1: this journey. You know, the other side of this Blair
10:03
Speaker 1: is thank God in heaven, literally, thank God in Heaven
10:09
Speaker 1: that you have Jamison, that Jamieson was not in that
10:18
Speaker 1: house of horrors, and he very well could have ended
10:22
Speaker 1: up there, because yes, they shared the mom, not the dad,
10:28
Speaker 1: but he could have very easily ended up there if
10:30
Speaker 1: there was nowhere else for him to go, and he
10:33
Speaker 1: could have met the same fate as Harmony. Just and
10:39
Speaker 1: you tried to get her too, didn't you. We certainly
10:42
Speaker 1: wanted to custody of her. Her case was already had
10:44
Speaker 1: already been handled by the time we met Jamison, but
10:47
Speaker 1: we knew he had a sister, and we were very
10:50
Speaker 1: interested in figuring out what happened to her, and if
10:54
Speaker 1: they needed to come together, we would we would do that. Listen.
10:58
Speaker 1: It haunts us now. We yes, we are so blessed
11:02
Speaker 1: and so thankful how jameson and add him to our family,
11:06
Speaker 1: but we also wish we had that opportunity of harmony,
11:10
Speaker 1: and wish that we had a little girl in our
11:12
Speaker 1: family as well, and wish she was here with us now.
11:16
Speaker 1: You know, Blair, I know you can hear my voice
11:20
Speaker 1: cracking and making mistakes because I'm so upset and so angry.
11:27
Speaker 1: You know, when I look at my children, John, David
11:29
Speaker 1: and Lucy, they have such an incredible bond with each other.
11:34
Speaker 1: They really there's nothing like it, and I'm not jealous
11:39
Speaker 1: of it. I'm amazed by it. I love what they have.
11:43
Speaker 1: And that's what Jamison would have had with harmony. But
11:47
Speaker 1: oh no, they couldn't let her come with you. That
11:50
Speaker 1: was completely out of the question. And now she's dead.
11:54
Speaker 1: You know what, Blair, here's a big question for me.
11:57
Speaker 1: When I'm asked a direct question by the Twins, I
12:00
Speaker 1: give a direct answer as gently as possible. If they
12:04
Speaker 1: don't ask me very often, I don't tell them bad things,
12:09
Speaker 1: because they've got to have a whole lifetime of hearing
12:12
Speaker 1: bad news. I just I wish that I wish Jamison
12:17
Speaker 1: didn't have to know right now that Harmonies in heaven.
12:21
Speaker 1: But if he keeps asking directly, because you have to
12:23
Speaker 1: tell him, you know, when we had that conversation with
12:26
Speaker 1: him and told him, you know that she is in heaven.
12:31
Speaker 1: And Jamison has always had a sixth sense to him
12:34
Speaker 1: as far as you know, knowing things and having a
12:38
Speaker 1: really unique conection connection with his sister and asking things
12:42
Speaker 1: about her on just important days when things are going
12:45
Speaker 1: on that he has no idea what's happening. But that
12:47
Speaker 1: day we had a conversation with them, the first thing
12:49
Speaker 1: he asked us was did someone hurt her? And that
12:54
Speaker 1: just broke our heart because we kind of come from
12:57
Speaker 1: the same school of you know, we're not going to
13:01
Speaker 1: offer out bad information. We just there's there's plenty of
13:05
Speaker 1: time in life for that. But we just held on
13:09
Speaker 1: to him and and and sat with him for a
13:12
Speaker 1: good hour and he was just you know, sitting there
13:15
Speaker 1: trying to understand what happened to his sister. And he's
13:18
Speaker 1: going to spend the rest of his life trying to
13:19
Speaker 1: understand it to him as we are as us as well,
13:22
Speaker 1: and you're gonna be there helping him because it's hard
13:25
Speaker 1: enough for grown ups to understand. You know what happens
13:29
Speaker 1: after you die? Why do you have to die? Why
13:31
Speaker 1: do good people get killed and evil, horrible people just
13:35
Speaker 1: wander the earth like her father Adam Montgomery. And of
13:40
Speaker 1: course in Hampshire there's no death penalty. We will feed
13:45
Speaker 1: him and clothe him for the rest of his life
13:47
Speaker 1: till he dies of old age. But I kind of
13:50
Speaker 1: Michael Ruy joining me. Fox News Digital investigative reporter, Michael,
13:54
Speaker 1: I want you to hear our cut thirty nine. I
13:56
Speaker 1: know I'm skipping ahead, Jack. This is from WMU R.
13:59
Speaker 1: Take a less. These are the criminal complaints filed late
14:02
Speaker 1: this afternoon against thirty two year old Kayala Montgomery, alleging
14:06
Speaker 1: between November thirtieth, twenty nineteen and June second, twenty twenty one,
14:11
Speaker 1: Kayla fraudulently represented to DHHS that Harmony Montgomery was a
14:16
Speaker 1: member of her household. The purpose, prosecutors say, was to
14:19
Speaker 1: receive undeserved foodstamp benefits in excess of fifteen hundred dollars.
14:24
Speaker 1: The police f a David provides a timeline of Harmony's
14:27
Speaker 1: life in New Hampshire. On February twenty five, twenty nineteen,
14:31
Speaker 1: Kayla allegedly filed a report with DHHS. There you hear
14:35
Speaker 1: Michael Ruise that they knew Missus Montgomery. I guess Adam
14:41
Speaker 1: Montgomery's second or third wife was filing for government benefits
14:46
Speaker 1: on a dead child. Yeah, so that's one of the
14:50
Speaker 1: things she's accused of, among others, in connection with Harmony's Kate. Okay,
14:56
Speaker 1: we've got the stepmother who is as fraudulently getting food
15:02
Speaker 1: stamps and other government benefits for Harmony even though Harmony
15:06
Speaker 1: doesn't live there, and you've got the dad. You know, Um,
15:11
Speaker 1: when I think about what has happened, Michael Ruiz, could
15:16
Speaker 1: you please detail for our listeners in viewers what Harmony.
15:20
Speaker 1: But we know, according to witnesses she lived through before
15:26
Speaker 1: her murder. You know, images from the house are pretty disturbing.
15:30
Speaker 1: Family members have talked about how filthy the home was.
15:33
Speaker 1: I mean, there are stories that they were powering the
15:36
Speaker 1: house off of the generator for a period of time.
15:39
Speaker 1: And we know that the mother and father are both
15:42
Speaker 1: have history, you know, drug related histories and substance abuse problems.
15:47
Speaker 1: So is that at home where children can be raised
15:50
Speaker 1: healthily and happily. It doesn't doesn't really sound like it. Also,
15:54
Speaker 1: as I recall, Jesse's got Morgan joining me, Professor Forensics,
15:58
Speaker 1: Jacksonville State Universe see author of Blood Beneath My Feet
16:02
Speaker 1: on Amazon and star of a new hit series and
16:05
Speaker 1: I mean a hit body backs with Joseph Scott Morgan.
16:08
Speaker 1: J Scott, thank you for being with us. You know,
16:11
Speaker 1: when I come to you, Joe Scott, I'm looking for
16:15
Speaker 1: forensic evidence. This child, this little girl has been dead
16:21
Speaker 1: a long time. She was dead when we started looking
16:25
Speaker 1: for her, and she was reported missing after two years.
16:31
Speaker 1: I'm not being seen. But do you recall eye witness
16:36
Speaker 1: testimony about how the father, Adam Montgomery would beat her
16:43
Speaker 1: and would give her black eyes, and would make her
16:47
Speaker 1: take her toothbrush that she will have to use again
16:51
Speaker 1: and clean the floor and around the commode in the bathroom. Yes,
16:56
Speaker 1: yes I do, Nancy, I certainly do. You know it
16:59
Speaker 1: just about makes me sick. Joe Scott, I mean, it's
17:03
Speaker 1: just very upsetting. Yeah, it is. And here's here's something
17:08
Speaker 1: that came out to me when I began to read yesterday.
17:11
Speaker 1: And I've been following this case for a long time
17:14
Speaker 1: now and going back to actually what Michael said, you know,
17:19
Speaker 1: this place was absolutely a pickpen. It was filthy. But
17:25
Speaker 1: you know therein lies a bit of saving grace when
17:28
Speaker 1: it comes to the evidence that was generated. According to
17:32
Speaker 1: what they're saying, there apparently is or was a tremendous
17:37
Speaker 1: amount of biological evidence. And this leads us back to
17:40
Speaker 1: this idea of blood and she suffered, make no mistake
17:44
Speaker 1: about it, because she was struck, not with an open hand.
17:46
Speaker 1: We think about a slap, and you know when you
17:49
Speaker 1: slap somebody, that energy disperses. Now she was. She was
17:53
Speaker 1: struck in the head multiple times, and we have evidence
17:56
Speaker 1: of this with the previous mentioned black eye. She was
17:58
Speaker 1: struck multiple times, according to the police, in the head,
18:02
Speaker 1: not in her stomach, but in the head, over and
18:05
Speaker 1: over and over again with a closed fist. That's directed energy, Nancy.
18:09
Speaker 1: That means that that that punch transferred the energy from
18:13
Speaker 1: that fist to this precious little angel's space, maybe to
18:16
Speaker 1: the top of her head, and maybe her head slammed
18:19
Speaker 1: into the ground beneath it. If he's on top of
18:22
Speaker 1: her in an asymmetrical position, punching down on her. She
18:25
Speaker 1: would have bled, probably copiously. That means a lot, a
18:30
Speaker 1: lot of blood. And they probably made a half hearted
18:32
Speaker 1: attempt to clean this up and they couldn't eradicate that.
18:36
Speaker 1: And you know, not to wax biblical here, but you
18:39
Speaker 1: know what, her blood was screaming out from the ground,
18:42
Speaker 1: because that blood is going to bear witness against her
18:45
Speaker 1: in against this guy in court. Ah. The hearing brings
18:49
Speaker 1: out evidence, as Jessica Morgan has just stated, and I'm quoting,
18:53
Speaker 1: causing the death of his daughter by repeatedly striking her
18:57
Speaker 1: with a closed fist. Okay, I told you about the stepmom,
19:03
Speaker 1: which truly encompasses the phrase the description evil stepmother. But
19:08
Speaker 1: what about mommy? Buyo mom, the one person in the
19:11
Speaker 1: world that's supposed to protect you with her life no
19:15
Speaker 1: matter what. Let's take a listen to our cut twenty
19:19
Speaker 1: four our friends from Needs Next. What did she seem
19:21
Speaker 1: like when you saw her on FaceTime? Terrified? She I
19:26
Speaker 1: would say, hey, you know what's going on? You know,
19:28
Speaker 1: would you eat for lunch? Would you do today? You know?
19:31
Speaker 1: Are you going to school yet? Like you know how
19:33
Speaker 1: your brothers and sisters you got any friends, you know,
19:36
Speaker 1: little questions like I'm a mom, like I want to
19:38
Speaker 1: know these things. I want to know she's happy. And
19:41
Speaker 1: every time I ask these things, he would pause it
19:43
Speaker 1: and he'd tell whatever you'd say to or I can't
19:46
Speaker 1: hear him. He's mute it, and she'd be like, don't
19:49
Speaker 1: tell her, and she'd be like, like, you know, and
19:53
Speaker 1: I'm watching her, so he'd un mute it, and I'm like,
19:56
Speaker 1: what's going on? Like why are you muting it? Every
19:59
Speaker 1: time I ask question? Why are you letting her talk
20:02
Speaker 1: to me? Why are you answering for her? Like you're
20:04
Speaker 1: acting weird at him? I'm like, what's going on? Like
20:08
Speaker 1: we're co parenting, like you're letting me have visits, Like
20:11
Speaker 1: what's going on? He's like, he's like, I have soul
20:14
Speaker 1: custody's sole decision making. You don't get to ask me.
20:17
Speaker 1: And he hangs up and blocks me. Oh okay, yeah
20:21
Speaker 1: he's the bad guy. Well yeah he is the bad guy.
20:24
Speaker 1: He's the killer according to an exhausted, exhaustive investigation. But
20:30
Speaker 1: here you have the bio mom Crystal, Sorry, what does
20:34
Speaker 1: she think a disembodied face every other week is being
20:40
Speaker 1: a mom? It's not it's not being a mom. Yes,
20:44
Speaker 1: I know she had a drug problem, but she was
20:47
Speaker 1: given free counseling, free drug treatment by the States so
20:53
Speaker 1: she could get her child back. And I've got the
20:55
Speaker 1: name of the judge that hands the baby over to
20:59
Speaker 1: the dad, the dad that is beating her, Judge Mark Newman,
21:04
Speaker 1: who quietly stepped down from the bench after all this
21:09
Speaker 1: came to light, as he should have. I mean, you know,
21:13
Speaker 1: Karen Stark joining me renown New York psychologists, joining us
21:15
Speaker 1: from Manhattan. She's at Karen dot com. That's Karen with
21:19
Speaker 1: a See Karen, Isn't there another choice than giving her
21:24
Speaker 1: to the drug addicted mother Crystal Story or the abusive
21:29
Speaker 1: father that beats her, that makes her use her toothbrush
21:33
Speaker 1: going from the commode to her mouth. Isn't there a
21:37
Speaker 1: different alternative, possibly something like Blair Miller who has her
21:43
Speaker 1: bio brother who is raising him and a loving and
21:47
Speaker 1: carrying home. I mean, there's not just two choices, Karen Stark.
21:52
Speaker 1: It's really hard to understand why they didn't come up
21:55
Speaker 1: with another choice. Why this judge did that, Nancy, Because
21:59
Speaker 1: it's typical in situations like this, a philocide where there's
22:03
Speaker 1: a father that kills a child or a mother where
22:07
Speaker 1: there's a past history of violence, violence against the family,
22:12
Speaker 1: and particularly in this little girl. Family members were reporting
22:16
Speaker 1: that something was going on, that she was being injured.
22:19
Speaker 1: And I have no idea what was going on in
22:23
Speaker 1: his mind, because I don't understand the law or what
22:27
Speaker 1: a judge would be thinking. But she should have, without
22:30
Speaker 1: his doubts, been placed in foster care or a prodoption
22:34
Speaker 1: or with a mother. Well, I mean the family miller
22:37
Speaker 1: right there wanting her, wanting to reunite Harmony with her
22:44
Speaker 1: biological brother Jamison. And you don't see that a lot
22:48
Speaker 1: in this world. A couple willing to take in children
22:52
Speaker 1: that are from drug addict parents, abusive parents, but they're willing.
22:58
Speaker 1: But oh no, no, no, that couldn't happen. They had
23:02
Speaker 1: to give Harmony back to Adam Montgomery. Take a listen
23:04
Speaker 1: to our cut forty. This is John FROMMELLA, the ag
23:08
Speaker 1: in Hampshire. Back in January, we announced that five year
23:11
Speaker 1: old Harmony likely disappeared sometime between November twenty eighth and
23:15
Speaker 1: December tenth of twenty nineteen. In August of this year,
23:18
Speaker 1: after almost eight months of investigative work undertaken by the
23:22
Speaker 1: Manchester Police Department, the Attorney General's Office, the US Marshal Service,
23:27
Speaker 1: the FBI, and other law enforcement partners. We announced that
23:30
Speaker 1: we had concluded that five year old Harmony was murdered
23:33
Speaker 1: in Manchester in early December of twenty nineteen. This conclusion
23:37
Speaker 1: was based on multiple sources of investigative information, including biological
23:41
Speaker 1: evidence and Moore take a listener. Earlier this morning, Adam
23:45
Speaker 1: Montgomery was arrested for the murder of Harmony Montgomery in
23:47
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen and other related charges. Specifically, mister Montgomery has
23:52
Speaker 1: been charged with the following four crimes, second degree murder
23:56
Speaker 1: for recklessly causing the death of Harmony Montgomery, a person
23:59
Speaker 1: under thirteen years of age, under circumstances manifesting an extreme
24:03
Speaker 1: indifference to the value of human life by repeatedly striking
24:07
Speaker 1: Harmony in the head with a closed fist in Manchester,
24:10
Speaker 1: Honor about December seven, twenty nineteen. Okay, before the State
24:15
Speaker 1: of New Hampshire starts taking a whole lot of credit
24:17
Speaker 1: for this arrest, hold on, they had to bring in
24:20
Speaker 1: the FBI. An investigation led by the FBI ensued, and
24:26
Speaker 1: it led police to arrest Adam Montgomery he's now charged
24:31
Speaker 1: with murder too. I think in that jurisdiction it will
24:37
Speaker 1: carry the same penalty as murder one. Michael Ruise Joining me,
24:42
Speaker 1: Fox Ney's digital investigative reporter, Michael Ruise. What do you
24:46
Speaker 1: believe is the biological evidence because they're gonna need it,
24:52
Speaker 1: They're gonna need it at court. What do you think
24:54
Speaker 1: it is? I don't know what it is, but I
24:57
Speaker 1: have to assume that there's blood evidence. Like Joe mentioned
25:00
Speaker 1: before that they didn't clean the house. Who knows what
25:03
Speaker 1: they found. And when they searched the house earlier this year,
25:06
Speaker 1: they took out a lot of evidence, including an entire refrigerator,
25:10
Speaker 1: So there's probably some kind of blood, some kind of
25:15
Speaker 1: DNA at the very least in that Nick Time stories
25:31
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. Guys, I'm trying to figure out what
25:39
Speaker 1: they have as far as biological evidence and how this
25:43
Speaker 1: case is going to be proved at trial. Joining me
25:46
Speaker 1: Jessica Garth, who is the chief of the Special Victims
25:49
Speaker 1: and Family Violence Unit in Prince George's County. Jessica Garth,
25:54
Speaker 1: the reason I'm so concerned is this, You and I
25:57
Speaker 1: know what a speedy trial demand is. That means that
26:02
Speaker 1: once you formally charge indict someone with a felony or
26:09
Speaker 1: really with any criminal charge, it can even be a misdemeanor.
26:13
Speaker 1: The defendant, Adam Montgomery the abuse of Dad, has the
26:19
Speaker 1: right under the Constitution to demand a speedy trial, not
26:24
Speaker 1: language behind bars for years and years before his case
26:26
Speaker 1: is brought to a jury. What that means in practical
26:30
Speaker 1: terms is that the state has to try this case
26:34
Speaker 1: within the term the grand jury indicted and the next
26:38
Speaker 1: term that can be up to three to six months,
26:42
Speaker 1: depending on the grand jury term. So you better have
26:46
Speaker 1: your ducks in a row. You better have your evidence
26:48
Speaker 1: nailed down before you indict, because if you get slapped
26:53
Speaker 1: by the defense with a speedy trial demand, you got
26:56
Speaker 1: to strike a jury in the next couple of weeks.
26:58
Speaker 1: That's right. And you know, I think they did a
27:00
Speaker 1: good job in this case. I don't know for sure,
27:01
Speaker 1: but it sounds like what they did was they charged
27:04
Speaker 1: him initially with the abuse and that allowed them, you know,
27:07
Speaker 1: to hold him and to investigate him for the murder
27:11
Speaker 1: without starting that speedy trial clock on the murder charges. Um,
27:14
Speaker 1: I suspect it's what they did by charging him with that.
27:17
Speaker 1: You know that black eye and abuse charge early on
27:20
Speaker 1: and then doing a further investigation on this. I'm just
27:24
Speaker 1: wondering to Michael Ruis, are there any charges against Adam
27:29
Speaker 1: Montgomery trying to get his wife to lie? Yes? There
27:35
Speaker 1: are that. That's some of the charges that they announced
27:39
Speaker 1: yesterday is that he was witness stamper and pressuring her
27:42
Speaker 1: to go along with his story allegedly. Um and that's
27:46
Speaker 1: in the new That's in the new indictment that should
27:48
Speaker 1: be coming out at some point today. Now are we
27:50
Speaker 1: talking about his then wife, Kyla Montgomery? We're talking about
27:54
Speaker 1: Kayla so who is now his estranged wife. Oh? I
27:57
Speaker 1: bet she is, because remember she's charged with faking the
28:02
Speaker 1: government benefits in order to get money, pretending that harmony
28:06
Speaker 1: is still alive. That's Killa Montgomery, right, That is the
28:10
Speaker 1: same one. I can tell you right now. They're going
28:12
Speaker 1: to plead her down to maybe misdemeanor or even less,
28:19
Speaker 1: give her time served in exchange for her testimony against
28:23
Speaker 1: Adam Montgomery. That's the way it goes. Would you agree
28:28
Speaker 1: or disagree, Jessica Garth, I would agree one percent. And
28:31
Speaker 1: I suspect that that is how they've been able to
28:33
Speaker 1: determine how Harmony died in this case. But you know,
28:37
Speaker 1: let's think about this for a moment. If she's only
28:41
Speaker 1: willing to talk about what really happened to Harmony, how
28:45
Speaker 1: she was bludgeoned by her own dad. This little five
28:50
Speaker 1: year old girl, it's blind in one eye, wears corrective
28:53
Speaker 1: glasses and a big, beautiful smile at all times. Never
28:58
Speaker 1: seen a picture of her with just this audacious smile.
29:03
Speaker 1: He beat a five year old little girl, half blind,
29:07
Speaker 1: little girl dead, and I bet you anything, the devil's
29:14
Speaker 1: minion killing Montgomery saw the whole thing. Yet it's going
29:21
Speaker 1: to take a deal with the devil to get her
29:25
Speaker 1: to say what happened. I mean, Blair Miller, this is
29:29
Speaker 1: Harmony's brother, Jamison's adoptive dad. To think she's known all
29:37
Speaker 1: this time what happened to Harmony, You know, it's just
29:42
Speaker 1: there's so much of this has left us speechless, and
29:46
Speaker 1: to know that an adult did not play a role
29:50
Speaker 1: in helping a child is just it's just unbelievable, and
29:54
Speaker 1: it's just unfathomable. And I think for us, it's just,
29:58
Speaker 1: you know, really hard for us to put into words,
30:02
Speaker 1: for a way for us to make sense to us
30:03
Speaker 1: as adults, but let alone, how we ever explained this
30:07
Speaker 1: to a child? And I don't know that that will
30:10
Speaker 1: ever make sense, And I don't think a trial will
30:13
Speaker 1: help explain that. It just doesn't make sense to us,
30:18
Speaker 1: you know, Blair, When my daughter Lucy gets upset about
30:23
Speaker 1: something and she cries, I feel like my whole world
30:26
Speaker 1: is just getting torn in half. It just hurts me
30:29
Speaker 1: so much. And she is fourteen now to hear her
30:36
Speaker 1: cry or be upset or sad or can I tell you, Blair,
30:41
Speaker 1: my son John David is trying out for basketball this week,
30:47
Speaker 1: and he has practiced and practiced and practiced all summer
30:52
Speaker 1: for this moment. I think I'm going to be more
30:55
Speaker 1: hurt than him if he doesn't make it, God forbid,
30:59
Speaker 1: because he's trying so hard. And I think about just
31:05
Speaker 1: their feelings, how I hate for their feelings to be hurt.
31:10
Speaker 1: And then I think about this woman standing by and
31:17
Speaker 1: watching it as Harmony is beaten dead. I mean, did
31:23
Speaker 1: she ever say stop it or jump in and try
31:26
Speaker 1: to save the little girl? I mean ever? And then
31:30
Speaker 1: she sat on the evidence what she knows all this time,
31:34
Speaker 1: so what she can work a deal on stealing from
31:38
Speaker 1: the government. I mean it just and the mother. I mean,
31:42
Speaker 1: I know you're not gonna say anything about the biomm
31:45
Speaker 1: because Jamison shares the bio mom. But I'll tell you
31:49
Speaker 1: what I think. I can just see the three of
31:52
Speaker 1: them around a fire, like three witches, just conjuring up
31:57
Speaker 1: pure evil. Nobody didn't a thing to help this little girl.
32:03
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. Blair Well, I think that's our
32:06
Speaker 1: frustration now, is that no, Harmony Montgomery was never a
32:11
Speaker 1: priority for anyone. And you know, it's been a year
32:15
Speaker 1: since we've been talking, almost a year since we've been
32:18
Speaker 1: talking about this publicly, and no one has changed anything.
32:23
Speaker 1: And there could be another Harmony Montgomery tomorrow and nothing
32:29
Speaker 1: has changed to stop this from happening again. And I
32:33
Speaker 1: think that's one of our biggest frustrations right now. She's
32:36
Speaker 1: still and people say, oh, we we failed her, Oh
32:43
Speaker 1: we care about her, but yeah, no one's making her
32:47
Speaker 1: priority still, and that really bothers us. You know. That's
32:51
Speaker 1: why when I'm discussing a case with Jackie, my executive producer,
32:58
Speaker 1: he's right here with me and I say, okay, let's
33:00
Speaker 1: talk about the very latest and the first thing she
33:03
Speaker 1: always says, God in Heaven help her. There's a candlelight vigil.
33:08
Speaker 1: You know, you can lie, and I appreciate the sentiment.
33:10
Speaker 1: You can light all the candles you want to, but
33:13
Speaker 1: until you make real change, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
33:19
Speaker 1: And I mean Blair. Of course, Adam Montgomery is who
33:25
Speaker 1: the state says murdered this little half blind, five year
33:30
Speaker 1: old girl, completely defenseless. But de Facts Department Family Children's
33:35
Speaker 1: Services was in that home. They knew what was going on.
33:38
Speaker 1: The uncle called and made a nine one one report
33:42
Speaker 1: about how Harmony was being beaten and abused and mistreated,
33:47
Speaker 1: and they let her stay in the home unless there
33:52
Speaker 1: is radical change. You're right, Blair, this is going to
33:55
Speaker 1: happen again. Probably is happening right now while we're talking. Blair.
34:00
Speaker 1: I think that's what concerns us is that that radical
34:03
Speaker 1: change hasn't happened. You know, when we adopted each one
34:06
Speaker 1: of our boys, we went through extensive background checks. We
34:10
Speaker 1: had social workers coming to our house every month to
34:14
Speaker 1: make sure we were doing the right things, making sure
34:16
Speaker 1: we are going to pediatrician appointments, making sure we had
34:19
Speaker 1: kids in school, making sure we were doing the right things.
34:22
Speaker 1: Harmony Montgomery needed you know, such care, such great special
34:28
Speaker 1: care with their special needs, and who was making sure
34:32
Speaker 1: she was going to get that? There have been there
34:34
Speaker 1: should have been many checks in place to make sure
34:38
Speaker 1: that she was in a good situation, let alone for
34:41
Speaker 1: red flags to go off. And none of that happened,
34:44
Speaker 1: and it would still happen today. And that's that bothers us,
34:48
Speaker 1: you know, for all of these chief of police the
34:51
Speaker 1: Attorney in General to get up and talk about, oh,
34:54
Speaker 1: we've arrested somebody from our too, a whole lot more
34:59
Speaker 1: than that, and yes, I appreciate that, but the child
35:03
Speaker 1: care system is completely broken, and Harmony represents that. There
35:09
Speaker 1: are other charges take less an our cut forty two
35:12
Speaker 1: Jackie More from the Attorney General. Falsifying physical evidence for
35:17
Speaker 1: purposely altering, destroying, concealing, or removing the body of Harmony
35:22
Speaker 1: Montgomery with a purpose to impair its verity or availability,
35:25
Speaker 1: and an official proceeding or investigation in Manchester between approximately
35:30
Speaker 1: December seventh, twenty nineteen and March fourth, twenty twenty Abuse
35:34
Speaker 1: of corpse for purposely and unlawfully removing, concealing, or destroying
35:40
Speaker 1: the corps of Harmony Montgomery or any part thereof in
35:43
Speaker 1: Manchester between approximately December seventh, two nineteen in March fourth,
35:48
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, and tampering with witnesses or informants for purposely
35:52
Speaker 1: attempting to induce or otherwise cause Kala Montgomery to testify
35:57
Speaker 1: or inform falsely. Okay two. Michael Ruas joining US investigative
36:01
Speaker 1: reporter with Fox and he's digital explaining the additional charges
36:05
Speaker 1: in addition to murder. What is Adam Montgomery facing. Well,
36:08
Speaker 1: he's alleged, he's accused of covering up the crime, hiding
36:12
Speaker 1: the body, disposing of the body without notifying anyone. She's
36:16
Speaker 1: been dead and two years went by before it even
36:19
Speaker 1: came to light, so he has a big head start.
36:21
Speaker 1: These are serious felonies in New Hampshire and he's facing
36:25
Speaker 1: of a long time in prison. Jessicott Morgan, what do
36:28
Speaker 1: you make of this tampering with a body, destroying a body,
36:31
Speaker 1: hiding a body. I mean, do you think it's connected
36:35
Speaker 1: to that moment when the FBI halls the family refrigerator out? Yes? Yes, yes,
36:41
Speaker 1: and again I say yes that this is going to
36:43
Speaker 1: be key and it's not just that refrigerator. Nancy, what
36:47
Speaker 1: also happened? And I remember sitting there watching this on
36:51
Speaker 1: the news. Those teams went down in the sewers nancy
36:56
Speaker 1: adjacent to that home, in that specific area. Were they
37:00
Speaker 1: searching for will anything that might be flushable? And I'm thinking,
37:06
Speaker 1: I'm thinking that when they're beginning to talk about destruction
37:11
Speaker 1: of human remains, I think that this could be something
37:14
Speaker 1: so ghastly that we can't even begin to fathom it,
37:17
Speaker 1: because he was making an attempt to remove all the
37:20
Speaker 1: physical evidence. They talk about that in one charge, and
37:23
Speaker 1: then this destruction of human remains, disposable disposal of human remains,
37:29
Speaker 1: and that refrigerator, And you know, I was contemplating this
37:34
Speaker 1: some time ago. Was there an attempt to eradicate her body,
37:39
Speaker 1: take it apart, perhaps stored in a refrigerator, and either
37:43
Speaker 1: flush it or dispose of it at a later time.
37:47
Speaker 1: Just say it? You think he Adam Montgomery dismembered his
37:52
Speaker 1: five year old daughter, put parts of her in the fridge,
37:58
Speaker 1: tried to flush some of her bodily remains down the commode.
38:03
Speaker 1: Is that what you're trying to say? Yeah, I mean,
38:05
Speaker 1: just say it. Yeah, Yeah, that's That's what I'm trying
38:08
Speaker 1: to say. It's certainly not off the table. With this monster, Okay,
38:11
Speaker 1: Jessica Garth joining US Special Victim Family Violence Unit Chief.
38:16
Speaker 1: I just keep thinking witches around the cauldron. I can't
38:21
Speaker 1: imagine anything more evil than what I'm hearing happened to
38:26
Speaker 1: this little girl. I mean, for Pete's sake, I can't
38:28
Speaker 1: say it enough. She's five years old and she's half blind.
38:32
Speaker 1: Have you seen her. She's beautiful, and she's wearing her
38:35
Speaker 1: little corrective glasses, and she's got this big smile, and
38:40
Speaker 1: I just want to hold her and take her and
38:43
Speaker 1: make her happy and make her laugh. But do you
38:46
Speaker 1: ever feel like you just can't put one foot in
38:48
Speaker 1: front of the other because the people like Adam Montgomery.
38:51
Speaker 1: It's it's very hard, Nancy. I mean, she is a
38:53
Speaker 1: beautiful little girl, and to know that she smiled like that,
38:56
Speaker 1: you know, despite the rough life you know she lived
38:59
Speaker 1: in her five years on this earth. It's it's very,
39:02
Speaker 1: very hard. And I you know, none of the adults
39:04
Speaker 1: in this case did her any kind of justice. You know,
39:07
Speaker 1: we're doing justice on the back end, but there's absolutely
39:09
Speaker 1: no reason that she shouldn't be alive and thriving and having,
39:13
Speaker 1: you know, the time of her life, living the time
39:16
Speaker 1: of her life. Guys, I can listen to our cut
39:19
Speaker 1: forty nine WM. You are now think about it. If
39:22
Speaker 1: your baby was missing and police were asking you questions
39:26
Speaker 1: trying to find her, what would you say? Think about
39:29
Speaker 1: it and now listen to Adam Montgomery? So where's your
39:32
Speaker 1: daughter so you can check on him child. I have
39:39
Speaker 1: nothing to say. The interaction lasts about forty five minutes
39:43
Speaker 1: before Montgomery is sent on his way. Police track Montgomery
39:47
Speaker 1: down again later that day, serving him with a court
39:50
Speaker 1: order to produce harmony. Some detectives wanted to be rede
39:53
Speaker 1: be entertained of this one. Five days later, Montgomery is
39:56
Speaker 1: arrested on charges including second degree assault for alleged abusing harmony. Dude,
40:01
Speaker 1: Karen Stark, I have nothing to say to you. That
40:04
Speaker 1: is not what you would expect from a dad when
40:07
Speaker 1: you're trying to find his baby girl, Nancy. It's something
40:11
Speaker 1: you would expect from a psychopath though. It's something you
40:14
Speaker 1: would expect from a person who sees a child as
40:17
Speaker 1: an object, who can't tolerate any stress, who's living on
40:22
Speaker 1: drugs and has a history of abusing children. That's what
40:26
Speaker 1: you would expect. That he has nothing to say. He
40:29
Speaker 1: doesn't think twice about cutting up that body. I promise
40:33
Speaker 1: you this man has no conscience. Michael Ruise, what happens next?
40:37
Speaker 1: So he waits a the raiment and next is discovery.
40:40
Speaker 1: And you know we'll see when the trial schedule. We
40:43
Speaker 1: wait as justice un falls. Nancy Grace Kind story, signing off,
40:47
Speaker 1: goodbye friend,