Latest / Justice For / Harmony Montgomery - Revisited
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- justice for: Just recently the news broke Adam Montgomery's conviction for the murder of his five-year-old daughter was overturned. You all know how much Harmony's case means to us. She's the reason we have a mini mouse in every one of our episodes. ⁓ We instantly knew that we needed to revisit this case. So much has happened in the last two years since we actually released this episode. So we decided we needed to revamp her episode with all of the new information that's come out, which is a lot, unfortunately. Even if you've heard Harmony's episode before, you're gonna want to stay and listen to this shit. Okay? Welcome back to another episode of Justice 4. We are your host. I'm Jackie. And I'm Sam. We were absolutely outraged when we saw Adam's conviction was overturned. I was driving to work and just happened to see the notification flash across my phone. I instantly called you. My sister had already sent it over. And like we were just shaking with no words, just rapidly trying to read through this and figure out how it happened. Like dead ass she I saw the notification from Jen and within five seconds, five, ten seconds, she's calling me and I'm like, ⁓ no. I answer her and she's like, Are you sitting down? I was like, Yeah. And she was like, Stay sitting. And then told me and I I started yelling that I had people call me and they're like, Are you okay? And I'm like, No, I'm not okay. I'm fucking outraged. I feel sick to my stomach. I'm Th what's going on this year? What's going on this year? Like how Fucking Letitia. what's his n what's his nuts? Murdoch. Yeah. We've had I mean, two of our major cases that we really did because we love and we felt a connection with these kids. Yeah. Like both were overturned this year. And there's countless other convictions that I've been seeing left and right getting overturned. Yeah. And it's just it's very interesting. And they're all for very like Technicalities. Yeah. It's not even evidence, or it's not even these people are innocents. It's just technicalities in the justice system and how justice works. Yeah, pretty much. But before we get started and get back into this case, ⁓ we just want to make sure you're like, follow, subscribe everywhere so you never miss an update, especially with Adam getting a retrial. Unfortunately. So please make sure you just hit that button. It's free ninety nine to follow us. ⁓ YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Audible, Spotify, Apple, and apparently a bunch more that we didn't know about because no idea. Out of nowhere we were getting like thousands of streams for a couple days and we don't know what platforms they were on, but thanks for listening, guys. We appreciate you. ⁓ you can always do it at our website as well, just farpodcast.com. Yep. Where we have all of our resources, ⁓ episodes with all the pictures, all the show notes, ⁓ merch, anything you can find. Absolutely. so if you know this case, we are truly, truly, truly sorry. That we're bringing this back into your head again. ⁓ if you don't know this case, please prepare yourself. ⁓ because this case does involve extreme, extreme child abuse. as always, please protect yourself, please protect your mental state and skip this episode if you need to, okay. Ready? Girl, I never thought I was gonna have to read this shit again. I know. Okay. Are you guys ready? Harmony Montgomery was born on June 7th, 2014. People often described Harmony as a bright, energetic, and loving five-year-old. Many have said that she brought joy to those around her. She had a contagious smile and a vibrant personality. Harmony enjoyed typical activities for a young girl her age, including playing with toys, especially those that involved create like creativity and imagination. Minnie Mouse was her favorite. She loved drawing and coloring, engaging in outdoor activities, and spending time with her family. Her interests reflected her energetic and playful nature. There are a lot of people in this story, so we're going to explain a few of them to you really quick, just because it can get kind of confusing. ⁓ the main people, ⁓ obviously Harmony, beautiful Harmony. Then we have Adam Montgomery, which is Harmony's biological father. We have Crystal Sorry. which is Harmony's biological mother, then Kayla Montgomery, which is Adam's s ⁓ wife, so Harmony's stepmom. She also has three children. Yep. Three children. ⁓ ⁓ Adam specifically. ⁓ it's two boys and a girl. And then Harmony was also in there. Kayla Adam are obviously no longer together, if you remember or if you haven't heard this, but for this case and where we start, they are. Yeah. When Harmony Montgomery was born, doctors believed she would never be able to see and would be severely disabled. Harmony ended up only being blind in her right eye. By the time she was a toddler, it was clear she had some visual impairments, but she was very independent and smart. She began talking at an early age and her language skills were beyond developed for her age. She also potty trained at a young age and she was very proud of this. Period. Like I remember my daughter potty trained, she was extremely proud of this, and don't come near her with a diaper or pull up. Harmony received early childhood intervention services until the age of three, when she was able to be transitioned into preschool with special education services. Harmony really defied all odds and blossomed into the smart, energetic, just bubbly happy little girl. Adam was incarcerated when Harmony was born, so Harmony was solely in Crystal's care. That was until July of twenty fourteen. Harmony was only two months old when she was removed from Crystal's care by the state of Massachusetts and put into foster care due to Crystal's drug use. DCF gave Crystal an action plan outlining what she needs to do in order to get custody of Harmony back. This action plan consisted of the following: participating in individual therapy to address mental health concerns, engaging in substance abuse treatment along with random drug tests, going to parenting classes, and supervised visits with Harmony. Adam also received an action plan for Harmony while still in jail. His plan encouraged him to engage in programs that would promote positive change. Parenting programs, substance abuse programs, anger management classes, and that he also needed to learn about Harmony's medical conditions. Adam didn't respond to DCF's attempts to contact him until December of 2014, where he basically said, Crystal can have her. But he did request visitation with Harmony. So in January of 2015, Harmony met Adam for the first time when she was six months old. After this visit, Harmony was still in the state's care, but she got to live with Crystal. Crystal seemed to be doing really well. She was doing all the programs, she had Harmony living with her again, but unfortunately, this would only last for four months. Crystal relapsed again and Harmony was sent back to live with her foster family. So in June of 2015, at a foster care review for Harmony, it was determined that reunification with mom was still the goal, as Crystal was following all the programs. We don't know exactly what happened in the following month, but it made DCF change Harmony's permanency goal from reunification with her mom to adoption. However, they did state that she had been in foster care for the first seven months of her life, so we're assuming that is a big reason why they made this decision. Harmony had her second visit with Adam during this time, and during this visit, Adam let DCF know that he was being released from prison in September. ⁓ it's my turn. Y'all, we haven't done an episode together in a while. We haven't, so we're trying to make this not weird. We got this, we got this. ⁓ but no, I'm sitting here just like listening like, ⁓ yeah. That's crazy. But like that's a lot to take in. That's so That's so much to take in, you guys. There's I mean The only stability at this point that Harmony's had in her life is her foster parents. Mm-hmm. ⁓ Michelle and Tim. Mm-hmm. ⁓ I know we haven't named them yet. I don't think we named them until later, but her foster parents, Michelle and Tim, were phenomenal people. Mm-hmm. They're amazing. And they are her only stability. It's I understand reunification is always the goal. We will talk about this later in here, but it's only the goal and it's the best interest for Harmony. And it This point, I'm happy they changed it to adoption as the best option because it it looks like it. Sometimes reunification should not be the goal. Yes. So let's fast forward a year to June of 2016. Okay. Another foster care review was conducted. It was determined that Crystal had not fully participated in her action plan. She wasn't staying clean, she wasn't showing up to all her visitations with Harmony. Adam was back, but not communicating with DCF. At all. Surprise, surprise. Adoption was still the goal, though, over reunification. But by September, Adam decided to start calling DCF, asking to be in Harmony's life. He claimed he was sober, working full time, and so was his girlfriend. So in October of 2016, Harmony had her third supervised visit with Adam. She was two years old at this point. Visitations for Adam and Harmony were set up. But Adam would miss most of them, saying that he had car issues or this and that, whatever. But he managed to attend about one a month. It was noted that Adam didn't have age appropriate expectations of Harmony. Adam also wasn't actively following his action plan during this time, but Crystal was. So in March of 2017, Harmony was once again. Allowed to live with Crystal. Although Harmony was still technically in DCF custody. Does that make sense? Yeah, because that hadn't changed. That's how it was the first time that when she went back to Crystal. Exactly. So what does Crystal do now? She starts letting Adam and Harmony talk on the phone. ⁓ DCF says, nope. ⁓ Not unless we say so, and not unless we are supervising it. Good on the I mean DC. Obviously. Mm-hmm. ⁓ but then they find out that Crystal's letting Adam have harmony for a weekend, just here and there. Like what the fuck? Why? Yeah. When confronted about it, Chris said Adam threatened to take full custody of Harmony if she didn't let him see her. Adam was then re emailed with his action plan. ⁓ he was pissed that he could only have supervised visitations that were offered weekly. Like, okay, at least you're fucking getting that. Shut up. Right? But of course he had not completed any of the court order parenting or anger management classes at this time. He claims that he already did ⁓ And DFS said if that was true, there were not any court approved ones. Despite him demanding access harmony. ⁓ He, you know, n never showed up to any of the supervised visits until August of twenty eighteen. Yeah. Crystal didn't even have custody of harmony to begin with. Yeah. So how is Adam gonna threaten to take full custody of harmony when she didn't nobody was allowed when the state has custody of harmony? Yeah. And he's going against it. Like Like, I understand DFS as being like, yeah, no, you're not supposed to do that. But they're not like stepping in. And being like, okay, well guess what? You don't get to fucking see her anymore at all? Exactly. Like I feel like once they were doing these phone calls behind their back, she should have been taken out of Crystal's care. Because obviously Crystal's not following the rules. So what other rules is she not following? One hundred percent. In January twenty eighteen, Harmony was removed from Crystal's care for the last time. At this point, Harmony had been in the state's custody since she was two months old. And in foster care for about a total of two and a half years of her life. Harmony returned to the same foster family she had been with the past two times, and Harmony called them Mommy Michelle and Daddy Tim. I love that. Beautiful people. They are beautiful people. To Harmony, this was her family. This was her normal. These are the people she thrived with. They loved harmony and only wanted what was best for her. But now the family was raising concerns for little harmony. They stated that all of this moving around from house to house and parent to parent wasn't good for her. She needed consistency. She needed a routine. And that's what she had when she was with them. When she had consistency, she did so good. But without family familiarity in her routine, she would get overwhelmed and behave differently. Yeah. It makes sense. And yeah, honestly, this is the case for most kids. But when you have a special needs kid, it is so important to have her teen and consistency. And because Harmony had visual impairments, it was important for her to know her surroundings. ⁓ my gosh. It was a safety matter. By the way, you guys need to go look at the pictures of this little girl. She's the cutest thing of my entire life. With her glasses. my god. She's adorable. I love her. Harmony did have some behavioral problems, but they were very manageable when her life consisted of her normal routine. Harmony was also receiving therapy from the state and while in school. All of these things were so important for her, and she excelled while having these services that she needed. What a fucking concept. I know, right? In April 2018, Crystal sought a review and had determination to get Harmony placed back in her care and out of the care and protection order DCF had put in place. The review was scheduled for February 2019, and Crystal started going to classes and trying to do all the things to get Harmony back. DCF is still trying to get Adam involved in Harmony's life. For some reason. Fucking why? I don't know. And but somehow it worked. In August, he resumed his supervised visits with Harmony. Between August and December, Adam had eight two hour supervised visits with Harmony. He still wasn't having age appropriate expectations of her. and in October, Adam requested a review and redetermination so he could have custody of Harmony. His hearing was set alongside Crystals in February of twenty nineteen. ⁓ quick, I wonder it ⁓ let's also explain maybe the age appropriate expectations. Yeah. So she's fucking young. She is under four at this point, I'm pretty sure. ⁓ like ⁓ He was probably upset that she wasn't completely potty trained up to a certain point. Well, no, she was already potty trained. By what age then? By this time. ⁓ okay. By this time she's already potty trained. And her the age appropriate expectations is he is expecting her to be more mature or be more aware than she is. Yeah. And being frustrated with her quickly and not understanding that like she is three or four years old. Yeah. She also, I believe, had learning disabilities that Like, she's in therapy. She's they're seeking out help and therapy to fix all of this. And I think he just one, he probably didn't have any other fucking kids at this point. So automatically he's just like, Well, why can't you do this, this, this? Like, you know, if she's having a meltdown or a fit over something and he's just like Expecting her to stop crying. Yeah. Or expecting her to be able to do certain things that she's not capable of doing, like sitting and just focusing on one thing or other things. I also wonder if he is so used to like being a controlling guy as well that if he's like you need to stop crying now and it makes her cry harder Yeah. He's like, Okay, well now you're not fucking listening to me. I just I feel like I can f hear that convert thou those fucking words come out of his mouth. Yes. You know? Yuck. Yuck yuck yuck. Also, I genuinely believe he didn't give a shit about actually having custody of her. He just wanted to get back at Crystal. That and money. He gets money from the state with having her. Mm-hmm. And especially with her disabilities and her needs and stuff, he gets more money. Yep. the December before the review, DCF changed Harmony's permanency plan from adoption to reunification. But not with Crystal. It was reunification with Adam. ⁓ hadn't been consistent during these past few months like Adam had been, and it was held against her. ⁓ judge issued an expedited and mandatory order for a home study of Adam's house in New Hampshire. Where Harmony would be living since she had her visual impairment and because of Adam's criminal history. Since Adam lived in New Hampshire and not Massachusetts, it was up to the New Hampshire DCYF, which is the division of children, youth and family, to do the home study. Not Massachusetts, DCF, who has had custody of Harmony since she was two months old, who knows all of her disabilities and her impairments and what her home environment needs to be. And once again to retouch on the reunification, yes, with a biological parent is always the goal. But it only stays the goal as long as it's in the best interest of the child. And unfortunately for Harmony, neither parent is the best choice for her. Her foster parents, Michelle and Tim, would have been the best place for her. But unfortunately, we all know that's not what happened. We ain't that kind of podcast, y'all. The day of the review and redetermination came around. Crystal had to appear in another court for custody of for like a custody issue of her son, Harmony's half-brother. Jameson. Mm-hmm. She asked for a continuance through her attorney, but he never actually asked for one or he was never actually granted one. So without Crystal present in the courtroom, Adam requested immediate custody of Harmony and to take her to live with him in New Hampshire. But remember, that homesty still had to be done. Well, it never happened. Shocker. Shocker, because New Hampshire New Hampshire DCYF Couldn't get updated information about Kayla Montgomery's participation in substance abuse programs. Remember, Kayla is Adam's girlfriend slash wife. Yes. They didn't have enough info about the people living in the house, so they never actually did the home study, which doesn't fucking make sense. But No, not at all, but you know. Yeah. The DCF attorney opposed, like comp was completely opposed to Harmony going with Adam. He pointed out that. Adam's parental capacity to handle and provide har ⁓ provide Harmony's needs was never explored. His stability of employment and housing was also never fully looked into. I mean I just That alone should have stopped everything. Instantly. Instantly. Instantly. But in short, this judge didn't even take five fucking minutes to stop and look everything over about Adam. Because if they had, you know, maybe they would have seen that in Harmony's four and a half years of life, Adam only saw her for twenty supervised visits, eleven of which were in the last six months before this specific hearing. Meaning Adam had spent a total of forty hours. Forty hours. That is a fucking work week. That is with harmony in her entire life. Yep. Which were all supervised, by the way. ⁓ I'm also with that though, I'm not including the weekends that Crystal let him have her without the DCF knowing about it. 'Cause fuck that. Yeah. Ugh. Then let's add on his criminal history of drugs, weapons, robbery, and assault. Great, cool. Let's absolutely put this four and a half year old child with a fucking stranger. But like also, what is the opposite of giving a gift basket? ⁓ Is it a bag of gummy dicks or is it a glitter bomb? Have you seen those boxes that just has a picture of a fucking someone flipping you off? Can we do a trio? Yeah. Perfect. ⁓ you can actually send ⁓ shit? Like literal shit from animals from a certain zoos to people. Right on. Let's do that. Right on. Whatever. But for some reason, and I cannot figure it out, no matter how hard I try. Adam was granted custody of Harmony. The judge decided the home study was not needed and removed Harmony's care and protection. The judge found no reason to deem Adam as an unfit parent. The DCF legal team didn't fucking fight any of it though. But the attorney was like, no, n no. The home study absolutely is necessary for Harmony's safety and well being. But the judge was just like, ⁓ didn't listen, didn't care. So a week later, Adam took Harmony home with him to Manchester, New Hampshire. After Harmony moved in with Adam, Crystal tried to FaceTime her frequently, which I mean, good on her for at least trying, I guess. Yeah. Adam, of course, didn't make any of it easy though, because shocking. Why would he? Crystal began to notice that Harmony wasn't being her like bubbly self anymore. Adam was always on a call, or he was always on the call and would start answering for Harmony. He also started telling Crystal what she could and couldn't ask Harmony. Like what the fuck? Yeah. She said Harmony actually seemed scared of Adam. I wonder why. Right. And was becoming just a shell of who she knew she was. That breaks my heart. I agree. In April of twenty nineteen, after Harmony FaceTimed with Crystal, Adam and Kayla actually blocked Crystal from contacting them. Not just texts and calls, but also on all social media as well. What the fuck? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Adam never enrolled Harmony in school, or found her a doctor, or even made any attempts to get services like set up for any of her needs. Of course he didn't, because he's a piece of shit. Mm-hmm. ⁓ remember ⁓ was receiving numerous services from the state. Please say it. Of Massachusetts. I can't say it. ⁓ those services were helping her regulate her emotions, her disabilities, and help with her visual impairments. It just seemed like Adam took custody of Harmony because he could. And in Crystal's words, quote, Harmony was a meal ticket for him. He wants money from the state for him. End quote. Adam never attended a single doctor's appointment or made any effort to understand Harmony's conditions and what it meant to take care of her. Adam just really strikes me as the kind of like guy who is like, Autism's not real. 100%. It's not real. Why do you need to be normal? You don't need therapy. It's all in your head. It's all in your head. Like I just feel like he's one of those guys that's like the old school like way of parenting and every kid's the same and this is it. And like he she doesn't need this stuff, she doesn't need it. You guys are just doing too much and blah blah blah. Like it's should it really like strikes me as like one hundred percent. So sh he didn't feel she needed any of this. And I think Crystal hit it on the head. The only time I'm gonna agree with Crystal in any of this, by the way, is right here with this that Adam never wanted harmony. He wanted the money from Harmony and he wanted to take her away from Crystal. He wanted to spite her in some way. In July of twenty nineteen, Adam, Harmony, Kayla, and the boys were all living with Adam's uncle, Kevin, in New Hampshire. Kevin Montgomery returned to home returned home after a three week trip to Florida and saw Harmony with a black eye. Kevin asked Harmony what happened, and before she could say anything, Adam responded, I bashed her around the house. He further explained that he asked Harmony to watch her infant brother while he went to the bathroom, and he came out, she was holding her hand over his mouth to get him to stop crying. Kevin also mentioned other times that Adam made Harmony stand in a corner for hours, spanking her very hard on the butt and making her scrub the toilets with her own toothbrush. Kevin did report Harmony's black eye to New Hampshire, DCYF And Kevin also said he believed Adam relapsed during this time. DC D CYF did eventually investigate Kevin's claim, but it wasn't until October of twenty nineteen and they found these allegations unfounded. No fucking way. Which you decide to wait three fucking months, four months maybe? Yeah. Four. Four months July, August, October, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 'Cause 'cause you know it'd been months since then, so And also, Harmony was never interviewed alone when they came to check on this. And remember how well spoken Harmony was from a young age. So she would have been interviewed without Adam. Mm-hmm. Crystal said she would have been able to tell them everything, and she would have. But she wouldn't have done it if Adam was right next to her. Of course not. This is where I need to mention. This is the last time DCYF physically laid eyes on Harmony. Just to remind you, this is October of twenty nineteen. In January of twenty twenty, DCYF received a call about the Montgomery family. The call had nothing to do with Harmony. But when DCYF showed up to talk to Kayla and Adam, they quickly noticed Harmony wasn't with them. When they asked where Harmony was, Adam told them that Harmony had been living with her mom Crystal in Massachusetts since Thanksgiving of twenty nineteen. DCYF attempted to contact Crystal to confirm what Adam had told them, but she just never returned any of their phone calls. Crazy. I I'm sorry, I don't feel like they tried hard enough. No to corroborate his story at all. Like why didn't they ask for him for proof? Why didn't they go back and ask him to contact Crystal so she can show them harmony? Mm-hmm. But no. They just left a few voicemails and went on with their day. Fast forward to January and March of twenty twenty one. DCYF receives more phone calls about the Montgomery family. Harmony is not seen with Adam again. So he once again tells them that Harmony is with Crystal in Massachusetts and he hasn't seen her in a year. So sometime after this last visit, DCF or this last DCF is it DCYF. ⁓ my god, fuck my life. DCF, yeah. No, DCYF is got it. Got it, got it, got it. Okay. So sometime after this last DCYF visit, Kayla and Adam separated, and possibly it's because Adam cheated. After this, Adam gets arrested, and by October of 2021, Adam was living in a sober house. By the end of November, he had left Massachusetts with a new girlfriend, Kelsey Smalls, to live in Maine. I promise this little part is important for later. I wouldn't have put it in there if it wasn't. Trust us. Trust us. So Now it's November 18th, 2021. Crystal calls Manchester police to report Harmony missing. She told police she hadn't seen Harmony in six months and that Adam Montgomery had physical custody of Harmony. Police contacted DCYF to get all addresses associated with Adam and Harmony. Unfortunately, officers couldn't find any of them at any of the addresses that were given. December 27th of 2021. DCYF tells the Manchester police that they can't locate Harmony either. So now a full blown investigation into Harmony's whereabouts finally begins. Over the next few days, police figured out that Harmony hadn't been physically seen since October, possibly November, of 2019. I know you're doing the math, but let me make it worse first. Crystal then admits That the last time she actually laid eyes on Harmony was Easter of 2019 on a FaceTime call. So hold on. So not six months? Not six months. Not six months. Okay. Let's let's let's do the math together really quick. And y'all know we're not good at math, but we did this math. Let's do the math together really quick. It had been over two years. Two years since Crystal had last time last FaceTime or spoken to Harmony. Two years but why lie about it? Why the fuck would you lie about that? Why? Like what's the point of six month like I know two years sounds bad, but why six months? Yeah. I that makes it worse. That makes it fucking worse. So much worse. What was Crystal doing after that last FaceTime call? What what's she doing? What what happened to change also? Like for her to finally be like, hey, Harmony is missing. ⁓ it's been like two years though. Yeah. I I wanna know like why what occurred. I don't know. Crystal says she drove by schools and addresses associated with Adam and Harmony, but she never found them. ⁓ Okay. Now let's fast forward just a tiny bit more to December twenty-eighth of twenty twenty one. Detective spoke to Kayla Montgomery. She said the last time she saw Harmony was November or December of 2019. I mean, at least we're getting a little bit of consistency here to November, December of 2019. Correct. Being the last time anyone's seen her. So I mean, at least we're we're starting to get some of the same dates to start somewhere. There's one overlapping one. But also can I want to give a little bit of credit to the police right here for figuring all of that out. Yes. Because Kayla and Adam don't have stable jobs. They don't have stable addresses. There's it's really hard to put a timeline of where they've been and where they're at. I mean his little prison stint in there helps, but Yeah. I I just will say between all three of those main people, there's one month that overlaps on all of them, and I guarantee that's what it was. November? Yes. But Back to what Kayla said. She said one morning before work, Adam told her that he was taking Harmony back to live with Crystal. And that's the last time she's there. But then a few days later, on December 31st, a patrol officer managed to find Adam and his new girlfriend Kelsey Smalls sleeping in their car. Manchester detectives interviewed Kelsey. She said she and Adam had been together for over a year. She knows all of his ch about all of his children and that he has no contact with any of them. She has no idea where harmony is, and that Adam just doesn't talk about harmony. And honestly, I can believe that. I can believe that Adam never talked about harmony. Of course not. And would talk about his other kids and stuff and would admit to not having custody of them. But I don't think I I do believe that Kelsey is being very honest and truthful in here. I don't think that she n knows anything. I completely agree with them. Completely agree with them. Adam, on the other hand, made some statements that made detectives question the well being of Harmony. First off, he told detectives that he had seen Harmony somewhat recently. then he went on to say that Harmony was with her mom. In fact, Crystal picked Harmony up from him on Thanksgiving in twenty nineteen. He explained he doesn't have a phone number, but he sporadically has access to his email. As officers made it clear to Adam that they were concerned with the fact that Harmony hadn't been physically seen in over two years and were worried that she wasn't alive. Adam showed no emotion. He said, She's with her mom. I don't know why Crystal would say anything else. When pressed further about Harmony's whereabouts, Adam's responses became, I'm not talking to you. I have nothing to say. I'm not under arrest. I'm leaving. But when we released this episode the first time, we actually didn't have this body cam footage released. It didn't it wouldn't get released. For months to years after the trial. We have it now. So we're gonna go ahead and play some of that for you right now so you can see Adam's actual overall emotion appearance and all of that. Mm-hmm. Based on the information detectives had gathered before speaking with him, and then all of the contradictory given to them, an arrest warrant was issued for Adam for the second degree murder of Harmony Montgomery. He was arrested January 4th, 2022, and charged with second degree assault, interference with custody, and endangering the welfare of a child. Carried. May twentieth, twenty twenty two. Kayla testified before a grand jury as part of the investigation into Harmony's disappearance. She said two days after Thanksgiving, so November 30th, 2019, Adam dropped her off at Dunkin' Donuts, where she worked from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day. Harmony was in the car that morning, but when Adam picked her up from work, Harmony wasn't with him. Adam said he took Harmony back to her mom in Massachusetts. When investigators looked into her testimony, they discovered Kayla wasn't working at Dunkin' Donuts on November 30th. She had actually been fired on November twenty third. Huh. So on June third, twenty twenty two, Kayla was arrested for perjury. This dumb bitch lied under oath and didn't think they'd check her job history. By the way, that you're you're not allowed to do that. No, no, you're not. Just saying. The same day that she was arrested though, Kayla had a proffer interview at the Manchester Police Department. What's a proffer interview? Let me tell you. It is an agreement offer of proof so they can avoid going back to a grand jury. With a proffer agreement, defendants can disclose everything they know about the investigation to federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents with the assurance that their words won't be used against them in the future. So basically a proffer agreement is often a door that is making someone a cooperating defendant ⁓ may eligible for like a favorable or less severe sentencing recommendation. ⁓ It's not an actual plea deal for a lesser sentence. And like in a plea deal you're admitting guilt. Correct. So and this is a proffer agreements different than Kelsey Bareth case where Crystal I forget her last name. I yes. Yeah, got the Queen for the Day deal. Correct. Which meant that as long as she never lied one time, nothing would ever be held against her and she wouldn't have any charges. Mm-hmm. A along those lines. Along the lines of that of whatever they were doing with that. So it's it's similar to the Queen for the Day deal. Correct. But not. She had a few of these interviews with them. During these interviews, Kayla admitted that she lied during her grand jury testimony. No shit. Which is smart on her part, I'm not gonna lie. And that she does actually have information related to harmony. I I write this fucking second. I need you guys to buckle the fuck up. Okay? I need you to buckle up or I need you to maybe turn this off. I can come back in like a few minutes. But what I'm about to tell you is what Kayla told them and it's very difficult. Kayla goes on to say that on November 27th, 2019, the day before Thanksgiving, her, Adam, Harmony, and the two boys were evicted from their apartment. Their only option was to live in their car, which was a Chrysler Sebring. While living in their car, they would often park at the colonial village apartments where their friend Anthony Bodero lived. Kayla stated that between Thanksgiving and the beginning of December, Harmony and Anthony would wave at each other every time they saw each other. I'm gonna let her take the hard part. Yep. Yeah. Having three kids under five is wild enough, but living in a car just makes it chaos. And with it being wintertime in Massachusetts, it's not easy to just hang out at a park all day. Being cooped up in a car for hours and hours and driving to different places made it hard on little Harmony to remember to tell Adam when she had to go to the bathroom or with enough time to get her to a bathroom. So she started having accidents, which is understandable given the circumstances of her being near being only five years old. But Adam didn't see it that way. Every time Harmony had an accident, Adam would get mad and strike Harmony, in the face or head with a close fist. Kayla said this happened on multiple different different occasions leading up to December seventh. In fact, let's talk about December seventh and what happened that day. Kayla said that they, meaning Adam, Harmony, both boys, and Kayla, woke up and went to the Methadone clinic. First, Kayla went in while Adam stayed in the car. When Kayla came out, Adam went in. When Adam returned to the car and started driving, he noticed the smell. Harmony had another accident, and Adam was livid. Adam reached back to where Harmony was sitting behind Kayla and punched her in the face with a closed fist, delivering three to four blows. He continued to do this over and over while driving to Burger King. Even pulling up to a stoplight didn't stop him from continuing to reach back and keep hitting Harmony. Kayla at one point went to put her arm up and Adam gave her a look as if to say you're next. Adam only stopped punching Harmony when he felt something different with his final punch, and then he heard a noise. This made him say out loud to Kayla, I think I really hurt her this time. I think I did something. Harmony then began making a moaning noise that went on for about five minutes before it stopped. Kayla said at no point during this time did they get medical attention for Harmony or even look at her. In fact, Adam went through the Burger King drive-thru and got everyone breakfast. He ate a sandwich and drove to his drug dealer's apartment so he could buy drugs and use them, all while his five year old daughter is dying, slash dead in the back seat. After they left Burger King, they went back to the colonial apartments for twenty minutes. Kayla says she had no idea what they did for those twenty minutes, but she did know what they did. She knew how bad it would look. They bought drugs and proceeded to use them in the car where their three children under five year old five years old sat and watched. As they were leaving the apartments, Kayla says the car broke down at the intersection of Elm and Webster at about 9 a.m. The police do have a record of showing up to the scene of a broken down seabring at twelve, eleven PM. When the car broke down, that's when Kayla says they discovered Harmony was dead. She said Adam got a black and red under armor duffel bag out of the trunk and put Harm Harmony's body in the bag, and then he walked it over to the colonial apartment parking lot. After the seabring was towed, Anthony let Kaylin, Adam, and the kids stay in his Audi in the colonial village parking lot. During this time, Adam kept Harmony's body in the trunk or in the snow outside of the car. He was doing everything he could to slow down the decomposition of her body. They only stayed in the Audi for a few days before moving in with Kayla's mom. When they got there, Adam placed Harmony's body still in the underarmor duffel pag into a red cooler with a white top. This cooler sat in the common hallway of the apartment building, and that's where Harmony's body stayed until the end of December of twenty nineteen. ⁓ December thirtieth of twenty Kayla, Adam, and the boys left Kayla's moms moved to the families in transition shelter. We're gonna call it the fit shelter from here out. It's just easy. Because that's a long ass name to say over and over again, and we say it a lot. Yeah. Kayla said Adam took the underarmor bag containing Harmony's body and placed it in the ceiling vent of their room. During this time, Harmony's body was starting to smell and started leaking fluids. So Adam had put the duffel bag into a plastic bag. But that didn't help the smell. Eventually, people started complaining. Adam just added another trash bag and put the bag back up in the ceiling. But when a maintenance worker came in to check it out, Adam placed a duffel bag wrapped in plastic bags in the closet. The maintenance worker checked the vents and said it just must have been a dead animal or something because he didn't see anything. He did express that he saw a stain just on the inside of the ceiling tile, but didn't think anything of it. Two days later, Adam decided to transfer Harmony's body to a smaller bag. He used a CMC hospital maternity cloth tote bag. Think of like a Canvas bag that your mom used to carry like library books in, that's the best way to explain it. We'll also have a picture of it. ⁓ he went into ⁓ He went into the bathroom and squeezed poor Harmony's five year old body into this small bag, and then used zip ties to keep it shut. ⁓ During the time Adam and Kayla lived at the fit shelter, Adam was as a dishwasher at the Portland Pie Company. Adam told Kayla to bring Harmony's body to him at work. This was after he transferred her to the CMC bag. So Kayla did what Adam asked and loaded her two boys into their stroller and placed Harmony's dead body in the CMC bag between her two children and proceeded to walk to the Portland Pie Company, where Adam then placed that CMC bag containing Harmony's body. into the walk-in cooler. He continued to bring her to work every day and place the bag in the walk-in until his last day on February 22nd. On February 20th, Kayla and Adam moved into an apartment on Union Street, and I really wish I could say that it gets better from here, but it doesn't. It gets so much worse and I am sorry. After Adam was no longer employed at employed at the Portland Pie Company, he decided to take Harmony out of the bag so he could add lime to the bag. So why lime? Well, lime is used in gardening mainly, but it can also be found in cement and adhesives. So why is Adam adding this to a bag containing harmony? Lime is used to control odor and can speed up decay. Kayla said Adam dumped Harmony still in the bag into the shower. He said sh she said she wasn't bones. She still had hair, skin, and teeth. She still looked like Harmony. Adam then added half a bag of lime to the CMC bag. Harmony barely fit into the bag the first time, but now her body was frozen and the bag was half full of lime. So he was having a hard time fitting her into the bag. We got this guys. You want me to do it? Nope. We got this. We got this. So Adam turned on the shower onto hot and tried squishing Harmony's flesh into to thaw it and make it easier to fit her into the bag. Kayla then helped Adam cut Harmony's clothes off so he could make her fit into the bag better. Adam kept pushing and pushing on the bag, trying to get Harmony all the way in. Finally she heard a bang. And she went to see what it was. Adam asked her to get the bag zipped, and she watched him bang on the bag on the floor trying to zip it. Then he placed the CMC bag containing Harmony's body and the lime in the freezer. This took Adam most of the day to do. Kayla said she stayed in the living room with the boys to make sure they wouldn't see exactly what Adam was doing. She said Adam would take an occasional break, and during one of the breaks he Started talking about needing to cut her up and also something about the clog the drain. I'm sorry, the drain starting to clog up. In the beginning of March, Adam and Kayla were staying in an Econo right? Econo Lodge. Yeah, Econo Lodge. They didn't get kicked out of their apartment. They were just staying there. One of the weirdest things still that I cannot explain of why they were staying there, they just went and stayed there for the night with some of their friends. I don't know. Yeah. Adam brings Harmony's body still in the CMC bag and places it into like a mini fridge inside of that room. During this time, Adam convinced his friend Travis and his girlfriend Brittany ⁓ to rent him a U Haul van. Kayla says one night at about one AM, Adam took the CMC bag and said he would back. But he wasn't gonna tell her where he was going in case she was questioned later. That's suspicious. That's weird. Adam returned to the hotel at about five or six ⁓ AM, ⁓ very tired, ⁓ and simply said, quote It's done. End quote. What do you mean, Adam? Mm-hmm. What do you mean? ⁓ he also re didn't return back with the CMC bag. And Kayla said she never saw it again. So that was a lot. That was a lot. That that is fucking heavy shit. That is heavy shit. That is a lot of stuff. And I I genuinely just blacked out. I just blacked out. I don't that's why I just kept you guys didn't hear. Yeah, when you when you watch this, you're like I am like disassociating in like eight different places. ⁓ Nobody was truly ready for what Kayla was going to tell them. Yeah. ⁓ I s I mean, we've we've read everything and seen everything. We've done this episode, we're doing this episode again. And it is still hard to hear and process truly what this man was capable of doing while parenting his other children. And it's it's horrific and it's Barbaric. Yes. So I know the next thing y'all are thinking is how the fuck did Kayla not tell someone? Yeah. Do something. Take her kids and leave. Well, if domestic violence statistics have taught us anything, it's the fact that it only takes roughly seven times for someone to finally leave their abuser for good. Adam wasn't just abusing Harmony, he was also getting physically abusive with Kayla. Mm-hmm. He needed to keep her quiet about Harmony's death. Adam was also beginning to get paranoid, thinking Kayla was working with the police. He started pulling out the thermostats thinking they were bugged. Kayla was struggling with staying quiet and staying with him, but was also starting to tell people about the abuse. She was sending pictures to her family and friends of bruises. Yeah. Okay, think about it ⁓ really quick. Like, he's on fucking drugs on top of it. So the paranoia on top of I also just think it's really funny that they're going to the methadone clinic and also getting high at the same time. Like they went to the methadone clinic and then went and bought drugs. But he also just killed his kid, so I get why he went and bought drugs. Yeah. After their Burger King. Yeah. Well, you know, you gotta eat first. Yuck. Gotta have a full stomach. Energy to go. Yuck. I know domestic violence relationships are complicated, but Kayla seemed to sit on the fence of getting away and still being totally infatuated. Kayla and Adam went on to have another child after Harmony was killed. Kayla wrote a letter in jail about her once for everything. She stated she wanted to be with her kids. She wanted immunity from everything. But she also had parts in there about wanting to be with Adam one last time and how much she still loves him. So it just gives me the ick and it's just weird and complicated. While Kayla was giving all this information over multiple interviews, investigators were tracking down any and all evidence that could prove Kayla's version of events. And they found a lot of evidence to corroborate what Kayla said happened to Harmony. When investigators went to the fit shelter, they found Adam's palm and fingerprints inside the ductwork in the areas surrounding it, as well as fluids from Harmony. And a very obvious smell of decomposition. If you guys have ever smelt a decomp body, you're gonna remember it. Yeah. It's an extremely what's the word I'm looking for here? Distinct. Thank you. Smell. But they only found evidence of Harmony and Adam in the vent and ceiling. Zero evidence pointing to Kayla. Yeah. When detectives went and interviewed Anthony Bodero, he admitted to letting the Montgomery stay in his Audi in the parking lot. He says he never saw Harmony during this time though. He actually hadn't seen Harmony since August and September. Okay, which is way before this so event. But I mean I guess he wouldn't have seen Harmony when they came to the apartments after that. That's fair, but that still doesn't line up timeline wise. So he's saying he hasn't seen her for months since like months before the Seabring actually broke down and they moved into his Audi. Yeah. Anthony admitted that he would sell drugs to Adam in exchange for food stamps. But Anthony and his girlfriend were adamant that Harmony was not with them when they walked back to the colonial village apartments to stay in his Audi for a few days. ⁓ So if you recall, ⁓ Adam using the shower in the apartment complex to Harmony's ba ⁓ body to get into the bag the lime. Well, during day, ⁓ Adam had actually clogged the drain. So he went to Home Depot to get some stuff to clear the drain. ⁓ also bought some tools as well. ⁓ Sick bitch. The kind that we had, you know. Help you dismember a body. Yeah. If needed. You know. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. There was a receipt for this Home Depot trip that matched a power tool found in the apartment under the sink, like in its original box. It's an idiot. But thank you. Yeah. It's believed Adam may have used this to like in his disposal of Harmony. Well, turns out. Adam didn't do that good of a job clearing up this shower drain. I'm not surprised. Because a maintenance order for the shower was made. It was confirmed to be cl a clogged shower drain. Around this time there was also maintenance requests for the thermostat and other electrical plugs and switches, which lined up completely with Kayla's account of Adam and his fucking paranoia. Yeah. Investigators tracked down Travis Beach and Britney to confirm Kayla's version of events. Travis said he and Adam were close friends, and Adam kept telling him, I fucked up, I fucked up, and told him they were staying at the Ocono Lodge because some DCYF sh stuff. Adam asked him to rent him the U-Haul, but since Travis didn't have a license, his girlfriend Britney rented it. He admitted that only the boys were with Adam and Kayla at the Ocono Lodge. Mm-hmm. Travis said he and Adam drove around for hours and he thinks like the west side of Manchester is where they were. He but he doesn't really have any idea of where Adam could have left her. He said he had no idea there was even a body in the U-Haul. So after that night, Adam tells Travis he will drop ⁓ drop the van off at U-Haul himself. But Adam didn't drop it off on time. So Travis Facebook messages him, and the following happens. Travis goes, bro. What did you bro, did what you haul did you drop it off at? Because Brittany just got a text saying it's late. I hate when I have to read word for word what they actually write in these things. Yes. Adam, I dropped it off on my word. Please don't message me stiff like this on Facebook again. I really wish people would spell check their messages. Travis, ⁓ my bad bro, won't happen again. That's the whole conversation. It's just weird that Adam doesn't want a U Haul talked about on Facebook. Why don't you want the U Haul talked about a Facebook? Why did she want us to talk about your U Haul back? Yeah. What's going on, brother? ⁓ so essentially, Adam's a dumb criminal and really just made this a little easier on us. Mm-hmm. Adam had a trial before he went to trial for Harmony's murder, ⁓ for separate gun related charges. During that trial, he said that he was looking forward to his upcoming trial about Harmony because he didn't kill her. I'm totally looking forward to this. Yeah. Excuse me? I've never been looking forward to a trial that, you know, I wasn't just an audience member. Not that I've been to trial. Let me clarify that. Yeah, yeah. Like I don't know why why would you he was very cocky like when he was allowed to speak at this yeah at his ⁓ sentencing for the gun charges, he literally spent his time talking about how He was innocent in Harmony's murder and he didn't do this, and he was excited about his trial to prove that he never did this. So it's just super interesting that he was very vocal about that. Yeah. Like, I don't know. Like, I understand being like upset your daughter's gone. I get that. But like just being like, I'm excited for the trial, just to prove to you guys that I didn't do this. Not, I don't know where my daughter is. Someone help me find her. Like The fuck? Okay. Yeah. So trial was about two weeks. ⁓ huh. Okay. And the prosecution stance was Adam murdered Harmony and carried her body around. And Kayla wasn't innocent, but she's serving her time and her consequences for it. And that was basically the prosecution's entire thing. We have told you all of the details in trial already. You know is like where we go through new things and all that. No, we had like we decided to tell you guys that and not in trial. Yeah. No. The defense's stance was Kayla killed Harmony the night before while Adam was off selling drugs for Anthony. And that Adam discovered Harmony late night, early hours of the seventh, and everything he did after was to protect his family. It was out of love. She was already in the duffel bag when the car broke down, and that's how Harmony was moved undetected. ⁓ So I was just like thinking about this, like, ⁓ I did it out of love for my family. But she killed your daughter. Why wouldn't you want to put her away to save your other children? During trial there were multiple witnesses ⁓ that came forward against the incident happened in July ⁓ that the uncle had reported to ⁓ And in this, ⁓ in that was multiple witnesses ⁓ testified to the black eye, that testified to ⁓ her being hit in some way. so therefore that is important for what we're gonna talk about here later. Yeah. but yeah, so basically everything that came out in trial we have already gone over with you guys. Mm-hmm. Except for one part that I'm gonna mention right now. ⁓ trial lasted two weeks with a lot of testimony from multiple people who were eyewitnesses to the abuse ⁓ he was putting harmony through. And one of them happened to be Kayla. ⁓ was a very different version of herself. From the Kayla we had seen and heard from in the previous grand jury testimony and interview. And here is a quick clip for you. Obviously it's a much healthier Kayla. We are not on drugs anymore. Yes. We have a lot of emotion and feeling about being a part of this and what happened. Yeah. And there's I have seen more emotion and remorse for her involvement and whatnot. And and yes, she does say she was on drugs, but she doesn't make it an excuse for it. Yes. She is saying that it is a contributing factor, which is important to remember the amount of drugs they were doing. Because it does make you look at things differently and do things differently. So I'm not saying her drug use excused her actions, but it explains her actions. Correct. So I'm not that we're giving Kayla a free pass by any means in any of this. No. But we are proud of her for what she has done since. And she does show remorse way more than Adam ever has or will. She did eventually do the right thing and She did the right thing knowing she was still gonna serve time and still have consequences and things for that. I I'm proud of her for what she gets a mini golf club. She does get a mini golf clap because she could have done none of those things. She could have kept on the path she went, she could have not gotten healthy, she could have b kept quiet and gotten whatever accessory charges or whatever. She could have kept what happened to Harmony a secret, but instead she decided to do the right thing and help get justice for harmony. I agree. I agree completely. I also feel like this is a good place to point out that she got away from her abuser. She did. She did she got away from her abuser and testified against him. Which is a very difficult thing to do. If this doesn't go to show like how ⁓ life can be so much better when you get away that abuser ⁓ I don't know what does. So check out our resource page, guys. So the judge forced Adam. This shit still pisses me off. Even though he was excited for this. He forced Adam to be in person for the sentencing since he actually didn't appear for trial at all. Yeah. What? Yeah, he didn't attend, he refused to attend his trial. Mm-hmm. So Adam was charged with second degree murder, second degree assault, witness tampering, abuse of a corpse, and falsifying evidence. He was found guilty for the murder of Harmony. Falsifying evidence, tampering with a witness, and an assault charge. Hell yeah. On May 8th, 2024, Adam was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison for the murder of Harmony. Three and a half to seven years in prison on the falsifying evidence and tampering with a witness and four to eight years in prison on the assault charge, all of which will be served consecutively to the other charges. A sentence of twelve months in jail on the abuse of a corpse charge was suspended, though it also includes an order that he cannot contact the families of Harmony's mother, her foster parents, and the adopted family of her brother. Bringing his total up to fifty six years to life. But wait, there's more. He is also serving two consecutive prison sentences of fifteen to thirty years in prison on unrelated weapons charges, and the new sentences will s be served consecutive to those. Period. Which is like the best part of this. Stand on motherfucking business. Yes. He continues to me to maintain his innocence on the murder charge. However, he admitted to abuse of the corpse and falsifying evidence charges. I hate how they do that. I hate how like I didn't murder her, but yeah, I told you. Yeah, but I did everything afterwards. Kayla, who was thirty-three, was paroled on Wednesday, May 15th of 2024. She had served an 18 month sentence. After pleading guilty to perjury for lying during grand jury testimony. In March of twenty twenty four, Crystal asked a judge to declare Harmony officially dead so that she could move forward with filing lawsuits. And it was granted. Yes it was. To touch on Adam's girlfriend Kelsey and why she wasn't involved in any of the trials or investigations, it's because unfortunately, on March thirteenth, twenty twenty two, Kelsey was found dead in a hotel room. Police say her death is not considered suspicious and she died unexpectedly. ⁓ she was only twenty seven years old at the time. And a safe assumption is that it was an overdose. ⁓ as of today, Harmony's remains have not been found. And there is a reward for any information leading to her whereabouts. As of March of 2024. Mm-hmm. A ⁓ it was there is a hundred and forty-four thousand dollar reward. It might actually even be more now. Yes. At this point. So this is where we left you guys in the original episode of Harmony. But So much has happened since then. If you've been following us on social media for a while, you've seen that there's been updates over the years. So let's go ahead and get into the newest update. Let's do it. June of twenty twenty four, family and friends began conducting searches for harmony in the area that they believed Adam drove around in the U Hall that s that n specific night that we told you about. Krista led other searches for Harmony in September. ⁓ the same month that she actually filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the state of New Hampshire, ⁓ the State Department of Health and Human Services ⁓ the State Division for Children, Youth, and Families. So the DCYF. in this lawsuit, ⁓ she states that DCYF negligent, exposing Harmony to foreseeable risk of harm. And because of the pain and suffering that she experienced, the state is liable to Harmony's estate. She outlined nineteen separate reports of physical abuse made to ⁓ made to authorities before Harmony died, and that the state failed to act on numerous red flags after granting Adam custody in early 2019, completely ignoring her failure in this as a parent. Yeah. Apparently, you know. She hadn't seen Harmony in two fucking years before reporting her missing. So while I support her going after the very system that fucking failed Harmony, yeah, I don't entirely agree that she needs to be financially benefiting at all in Harmony's death. Yeah. When she also failed to protect her, just as much as the fucking system that was designed to protect her dead. Yeah. So So Like, good on you, 'cause D C Y F well all of them deserve to be held accountable. But so do you. Yes. in May of twenty twenty five, the state agreed to a two point two five million dollar settlement to resolve the litigation without going to trial. So ⁓ yeah. That's fucking crazy. Per the legal agreement, fifty percent of the money went directly Crystal, while the remaining fifty percent was placed into a third party trust funds for Harmonies for Surviving Siblings, which is the Harmonies Estate part of this. I couldn't figure out what Harmony's estate meant until I got to that because I was like, I was confused. She doesn't have kids. What are we doing? Like, what is her estate? It's her siblings. That makes sense. That makes so much sense. So, but what really pisses me off about all of this isn't that Crystal received money from it. ⁓ it still pisses me off. It's the fact that the New Hampshire state agencies went out of their way to explicitly deny any legal wrongdoing or unlawful conduct in the final sediment document. Settlement documents. Essentially saying, Yes, we'll settle this, we'll give you this money, but we didn't actually do anything wrong. Yeah, you know you didn't. You know you did something wrong because you didn't want it to go to trial. Because if this went to trial Y'all would be held a lot more fucking accountable. And people would be fired and there'd be internal investigations. ⁓ no, y'all settled this in McDonald's style because you didn't want to go to trial. Yep. But someone was paying attention. And that someone was a retired Massachusetts judge who called on the FBI to investigate the state's actions or lack thereof in Harmony's care and ultimate death. Which did eventually ha happen. I don't know what happened with that or where it went because I haven't seen anything about it since. But at least there were other people out there going, No, no, this is wrong. Yeah. While all of that was going on, Adam filed an appeal. On march third, twenty twenty five for his murder conviction. In his appeal, his attorneys argue that Adam should have been tried separately for the second degree assault charge and the second degree murder charge, as well as Kayla's testimony should have never been allowed in, or the body cam footage where he refuses to talk about harmony to police that we showed you earlier and saying that she's with Crystal. Adam was granted an appeal hearing. That took place on October fifteenth of twenty twenty five. His lawyers essentially argued that the incident in July that resulted in the second degree assault charge should have been severed from the second degree murder charge. Murder charge and should have been separate trials. And he was denied this before trial. Since there's way more evidence for the assault than the murder, and that because the is hearing about Adam hitting Harmony from multiple witnesses who saw her black eye. And there's zero evidence of Kayla hitting Harmony. The jury is more inclined to believe that Kayla and the prosecution's version of Vince more than the defense's versions, which is still that Kayla killed Harmony. Adam's like not even arguing the facts of the case. He's agreeing to all of it except for the murder part. He is still maintaining his innocence at this point. He just wants the charges separate in two different trials. Basically. So the assault charge and then the murder charge. Yeah. His team even admits that the July second or I'm sorry, the the incident that happened in July, the second degree assault charge has a strong case against it. But the second degree murder case doesn't have enough like isn't strong enough of a case without the assault being part of it. So essentially he is arguing that if the ⁓ Incident in July would have been left out of the murder trial, he never would have been convicted on the murder charge. But he's not denying that there is a whole bunch of evidence for that assault in July. Yeah. And he they know that that trial on its own he'd be convicted of. But he's asking for it to be separated. They needed to be separated. Yes, and apparently he asked for this before the trial and he was denied it. But the thing is, is it only works if he has the murder trial first and then the assault. Trial second because if he's convicted on the assault charge first, you can bring that into the murder trial because it shows to motive and ⁓ prior actions. Yeah. So but you know, it's something that has to be looked at for the justice system and how the justice system is supposed to work to give a fair trial. At this point, it would take seven months for the New Hampshire Supreme Court to come to a decision on this appeal. And I understand why. Uh-huh. Unfortunately. Unfortunately, they decided to overturn Adam's second degree murder conviction for harmony. This doesn't mean hold on, hold on. Actually before I continue, let's sit and rage together for a second. Let's sit and rage. Yeah, I just can't believe that it it happened. Like I don't and I'm like it's I'm these are all technicalities. Like none of these overturned convictions are anything about evidence. Or that they're innocent or that they didn't do it. It is all about very little teeny tiny laws that make our justice system run the way they do. But I'm like, I feel like we shouldn't give a retrial on something like that if all the evidence still stands and you can still convict on it. Yeah, I agree. I completely agree. I don't know. So with that, this does not mean that Adam is a free man. Okay? It does not mean that. No, no. He is actually far fucking from it. Yeah. Period. He is still serving other sentences from the other crimes. So the weapon charges. Yeah, so he had those fifteen to thirty years running consecu consecutively with the ⁓ second degree assault charge, the tampering with eviden falsifying evidence and the abuse of a corpse. Yes. The only charge that has been overturned is the murder charge. So he still has all the other ones. It ⁓ does unfortunately mean that he ⁓ no, not he, we. We are gonna have to go through another trial all over again for this. Which is heartbreaking personally for Harmony's half Jameson ⁓ and his adopted family who hope to keep him shielded from. All of this, like every detail of Harmony's abuse and death. This poor kid is gonna have to see all It's reminding me of Ganon's little sister. Yes. How they were both so young that they knew their sister their sibling died. They knew their sibling somebody else killed them. But they probably were in such a good position to shield them from all the media and all the trial and all of that stuff because they were so young to not have it in front of them, people talking about it. These kids are in Middle school now. Yeah. These kids are old enough to have other kids talking about it, to see the stuff on social media on the phone. Like it's it's gonna be hard to stay away from and it's Like it's victimizing the families all over again. Yeah, absolutely. I I you know, I'm not trying to give her any credit whatsoever. Kayla's gonna be brought back into it, including her children. Yes, who were small at the time. Yeah. Well, I mean, they were still had to have been at least somewhat close in age to Harmony, since she was only five. So it's just they're gonna be brought into it and new light's gonna be shed there too. And they don't remember any of this. They were too little. Yeah. So it's just But now they may end up having to find out I was sitting next to a dead body this entire time. Yeah. And yeah, the stroller part is absolutely going to be Yeah. Devastating. Yeah. So I mean I just I feel for everybody having to go back through this again. But also maybe going back through this trial might get a new investigation into DCYF or other stuff. It might put new eyes on it. That could be a that could be a glimmer of Hope in all of this. Yes, absolutely. Crystal also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Adam on behalf of Harmony's estate, citing the horrific abuse Harmony endured at her father's hands. Adam never responded to any of the court pleadings, so just recently on may seventh, the court ruled that Adam defaulted and ordered Adam to pay fifteen million dollars. Unfortunately, that will never get paid, but I guess it's the principle of it. Yeah. But like he was already found guilty and he didn't have any money or insurance policies, so I don't really understand this one. They're essentially gonna take maybe five cents a day from him. But like maybe. There was like a way that it all broke down and Well the matter is everybody grieves differently, but I guess Crystal grieves through lawsuits. Bro, I'm so Like, bitch, you couldn't like contact your kid for two years, but you can file eighteen million lawsuits on her behalf and now all of a sudden be about it. You have time now, that's now you have time crazy. You couldn't go and like get your life together and do your classes and get your custody of your kid away from him, but now you have time. I'm just Well, this is she doesn't have custody of her other child either. There we go. Now we have all the time. Now she has all the fucking time in the world. I I tried to be nice, I couldn't. We're not nice. ⁓ let me rephrase that. She's nice. I'm not fucking nice. This is where we once said we technically got justice for harmony. But it wasn't enough since Adam still maintained his innocence and harmony still hasn't been found and brought home to her loved ones. But everything has changed now. We in no way have justice for harmony. She still hasn't been found and no one is taking accountability for their actions let led to and caused her death. Harmony would be twelve years old this year. She should be in middle school playing sports and hanging out with her friends. She should be with her siblings and her foster parents who loved her and fought for her. Not at the center of a bunch of lawsuits and trials. She deserved to live a long, happy life. We genuinely hope she knows that she was so loved by her foster parents, Mommy Michelle and Daddy Tim, and many, many others as well. I understand that we're just like a small podcast, but anyone who has read this story and knows about harmony I I don't know that little girl, but I love that little girl. ⁓ yes. So she touched many, many lives in her five years. We genuinely hate knowing that she died thinking that her biological parents treated like the way that they treated her was love. And she died living in fear because of Adam. Someone the courts believed to be a loving and responsible adult. Even though he clearly wanted nothing to do with her. Unfortunately, this happens way too often. And then things like this happen. If the courts and CPS departments actually gave a shit about the children they have to deal with every day, then we wouldn't be looking for the body of Harmony. Or mourning Gabriel Fernandez, or constantly hearing stories about these poor children who never stood a fucking chance. As professionals, they are supposed to be protecting these children. Do better. Their lives matter more than your fucking paycheck does. Yeah. There is help out there if you're experiencing or knowing someone dealing with domestic violence or child abuse. We have a lot of resources on our website under the resources tab. And if you're having trouble finding help for your situation, please reach out. We may act we have access to information that could help you or at least point you in the right direction. Yep. We know that Harmony's episode is always a very hard episode to do. Yep. But we couldn't just put an update with the new overturned. It had been so long since we'd done this. episode. It was our eleventh episode, guys. And that was with WTF. So Yeah. So very, very early on. Yeah. We have grown so much as hosts and doing this in our setup that we knew that we needed to do more justice for Harmony and redo her episode in a way that truly honors her. Yeah. And we figured adding in the new stuff with it would be a good way to do that. And we have a lot more confidence now. So this is probably a little bit better. ⁓ I'm still mad though. We're still so mad. But thank you for sticking around again and listening to Harmony's story again. She deserves it. She is a core to this podcast and part of the reason we do this every week and tell those hard kids stories because like I have said from day one, if they had to go through it, we can talk about it. Yep. So please hit that follow button, subscribe button so that you can help us grow, help us get attention on these cases. And the justice that these innocent victims and children deserve so much. Yeah. ⁓ we have so much in the works and coming up for you guys. We are talking about more live shows. There is updated merch on the website. Yes. ⁓ we are very much in talks about crime con twenty twenty seven. We're going to be there. We are going to be there. Either as creators on Creator Row. Yeah. Podcast row or just there with you guys everywhere. So it's gonna be in Orlando. Tickets are on sale already. I know that there is quite a few different ⁓ discount codes and stuff out there from different podcasts. Like Seriously has one, ⁓ Tenderfoot Media has one, ⁓ I think body bags, but go kind of search for them. There's groups online. Tickets aren't that bad. We will be out there. It's gonna be September, like the third week in September, I think. And it's gonna be a really great time. It's always awesome. ⁓ we're really excited to finally go. I'm also gonna go to Universal Horror Nights if anyone wants to come with me. Yeah. There's there'll be some also extracurriculars, Disney and Universal, while we're all down there. Yeah. But we would love to hang out with you guys. We would love to go attend some panels with you, meet ⁓ more of you, go out for drinks, just it's gonna be really exciting. Nancy Grace is always there, Vinny Paulton's always there, most of your favorite podcasts are there. Yes. I don't I don't know like Really make sure you're liking and following and sharing all of our stuff so CrimeCon people and other people take notice of us. We would love to be there. We have cases that are unsolved, like Maggie Long that we have talked about featuring at CrimeCon if we ever make it there. Yep. So So not only ⁓ like, follow, subscribe for that, ⁓ but also because we're gonna have fucking updates of this. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ Leticia ⁓ every ⁓ that keeps getting their sentences overturned. We are ⁓ months away from Barry trial, ⁓ am going to have some stuff coming out about because he's motion file happy. Yeah. So there is a lot happening. that's all. That's all we really got for you guys today. Yeah. Thank you for reliving this with us. ⁓ obviously still fucking angry. We're actually probably I think I'm more angry now. Yeah, because we have to go back and redo this whole episode. I genuinely ⁓ never I was going to have to ⁓ read episode again. Yeah, and so now since this was unexpected, ⁓ Next week will be the episode that we promised you last week. ⁓ yeah, we were supposed to mention that. Sorry. Forgot about that. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ but yeah, that's all I got. You got anything else? Bro, nah. All right. Let's wrap it up. Okay. Thank you guys for joining us again. I hope you have a lovely, lovely week. Sorry we fucking ruined it. I don't care. we love you guys. We will catch you next week with an all new episode. It's a good one. It's a fucking It is a good one. It was crazy. It's really good. It's a good episode. So we will catch you guys next week with an all new episode. Okay? Be safe. Stop killing each other. Lock your damn doors. Lock your fucking doors. Don't leave your friends. Okay? Love you. Bye.