MANCHESTER, N.H. (NewsNation) — A jury was seated Wednesday in the case of a New Hampshire man accused of killing his five-year-old daughter.
Adam Montgomery, who declined to attend the start of his trial, is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing Harmony Mongtomery and spending months moving and hiding her body before he could dispose of it.
A jury of 12 people and five alternates was seated for the 34-year-old’s trial in Manchester. Harmony disappeared in 2019, but police didn’t know she was missing until two years later. Police later determined she had been killed.
Harmony was in foster care while Adam was in prison for armed robbery and armed assault. After his release, he was eventually granted custody in February 2019, following years of supervised visits.
Harmony was reported missing by her mother in November 2021, who said she hadn’t seen her daughter in more than two years.
According to prosecutors, Montgomery killed Harmony in December 2019 with his wife, Harmony’s stepmother, telling police he punched his daughter in the head repeatedly for having bathroom accidents.
Investigators say he then spent months moving her body between various locations and containers until he was able to get rid of it.
Montgomery was initially set to go on trial in 2023, but it was delayed at the defense’s request. His attorneys filed a motion in January requesting the trial be split into two, one for assault charges and one for second-degree murder.
Harmony’s body has not been found.
NewsNation’s Stephanie Whiteside contributed to this report.