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MANCHESTER, N.H. — A New Hampshire man was convicted of second-degree homicide Thursday within the loss of life of his 5-year-old daughter, who police imagine was killed almost two years earlier than she was reported lacking in 2021 and whose physique was by no means discovered.
Adam Montgomery, 34, didn’t attend the trial and wasn’t current when jurors returned their verdict. He had proclaimed his innocence, saying in courtroom final yr in an unrelated case that he liked Concord Montgomery “unconditionally.”
“I’m grateful to the decide, jury, and Division of Justice for delivering justice for Concord,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu stated in an announcement. “Adam Montgomery is a monster and deserves to spend the remainder of his life in jail.”
Adam Montgomery’s attorneys earlier acknowledged his guilt on two lesser prices, that he “purposely and unlawfully eliminated, hid or destroyed” her corpse and falsified bodily proof, however stated he didn’t kill his daughter. The jury additionally convicted him of assaulting Concord Montgomery in 2019 and of tampering with the important thing prosecution witness, his estranged spouse and stepmother of his daughter, Kayla Montgomery.
Investigators imagine Concord Montgomery was slain in December 2019, although she wasn’t reported lacking for nearly two years. Kayla Montgomery testified that the physique was hidden within the trunk of a automobile, a cooler, a ceiling vent and a office freezer earlier than Adam Montgomery disposed of it.
Protection lawyer James Brooks deferred remark to Caroline Smith, the principle lawyer representing Adam Montgomery. She didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Adam Montgomery had custody of the woman. Her mom, Crystal Sorey, who was not in a relationship with him, stated the final time she noticed Concord Montgomery was throughout a video name in April 2019. She ultimately went to police, who introduced they had been searching for the lacking baby on New 12 months’s Eve 2021.
Images of the woman had been extensively circulated on social media. Police ultimately decided she had been killed.
“I’m relieved that there’s some justice being served,” Sorey informed WMUR-TV on Thursday. “Clearly, it’s not over. I’ve just a little little bit of peace understanding that he’s being held accountable as a result of he thought he was so untouchable and that she didn’t matter, that no one would miss her. He was so flawed, he was so flawed.”
She stated she nonetheless desires to search out the stays of her daughter so she will lastly deliver her house.
“We’ve nonetheless obtained to search out her,” police Chief Allen Aldenberg stated Thursday. “This woman deserves higher than the life she had.”
Concord Montgomery’s case has uncovered weaknesses in baby safety programs and provoked calls to prioritize the well-being of kids over mother and father in custody issues. Concord was moved between the properties of her mom and her foster mother and father a number of instances earlier than Adam Montgomery acquired custody in 2019 and moved to New Hampshire.
“I nonetheless firmly imagine that some individuals in another companies must be held accountable. And I’m asking for that,” Aldenberg stated, referring to baby welfare officers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. “This little 5-year-old woman, she deserves any person to be held accountable that failed alongside the way in which as a result of we wouldn’t be standing right here as we speak if different individuals had achieved their job.”
Kayla Montgomery is serving an 18-month jail sentence after pleading responsible to perjury prices associated to the investigation into the kid’s disappearance and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. She testified that that her husband killed Concord Montgomery on Dec. 7, 2019, whereas the household lived of their automobile after being evicted from their house.
Kayla Montgomery testified that her husband repeatedly punched Concord Montgomery within the face and head as a result of he was offended that she was having toilet accidents within the automobile.
The couple observed the woman was useless hours later when the automobile broke down, at which period Adam Montgomery put her physique in a duffel bag, Kayla Montgomery had testified.
For the subsequent three months, she testified, Adam Montgomery moved the physique from container to container and place to position. In accordance with his spouse, the places included the trunk of a good friend’s automobile, a cooler within the hallway of his mother-in-law’s residence constructing, the ceiling vent of a homeless shelter and a office freezer.
Lead detective John Dunleavy stated Thursday that whereas he thought of the conviction a win, it didn’t really feel full since Concord Montgomery was nonetheless lacking.
“We didn’t discover her,” he stated. “I shall be on the job for a while, I nonetheless have about 15 years left. And so long as I’m a police officer, I’m going to proceed to search for her.”
Prosecutor Benjamin Agati stated at a information convention that the trial doesn’t finish the seek for the woman. He stated that after analyzing the mileage Adam Montgomery took with the rental truck into Massachusetts, there are about 26 miles (42 kilometers) that he may have lined the place her stays may be.
“She is someplace alongside that route,” he stated, stating earlier searches within the Revere, Massachusetts, space. “These are nonetheless our massive areas of search.”
Agati stated that though Montgomery didn’t attend his trial, state legislation requires him to attend his sentencing, and they might be making a submitting with the courtroom to make sure the rule was enforced.
He added that when Adam Montgomery is sentenced within the coming months, he ought to face a minimal sentence on the homicide cost of 35 years to life, a more durable sentence due to his daughter’s younger age. He stated that will be consecutive with armed legal prices for which he’s already serving a minimal sentence of greater than 33 years.
Requested if that meant Adam Montgomery was by no means getting out of jail, the prosecutor stated: “It’s a number of time, and I hope I’m not practising on the time that that minimal date ever comes round.”
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