Kayla Montgomery wins parole, to be released from prison in May

CONCORD, NH – Kayla Montgomery, the state’s key witness in convicting Adam Montgomery of second-degree murder in the beating death of his 5-year-old daughter Harmony, gained parole Thursday after a hearing before the New Hampshire Adult Parole Board.

Kayla Montgomery, 33, is expected to be released on May 3, days before Adam Montgomery is to be sentenced on murder and other charges. While on parole, she is to complete various programs including substance abuse treatment.  For the first few months, she will be under intense parole supervision.

She also must reside in a sober living facility for the first 90 days.

In answering a question about her convictions for perjury from a parole board member at the hearing held at the New Hampshire State Prison for Women, Montgomery said she should have spoken up sooner and told the truth so investigators could find Harmony and know what happened to her.

“I didn’t tell the truth about where I was during that time,” Montgomery said. “And not being able to cooperate with the detectives, I got all caught up in the situation and if I just was honest from the beginning, they could have done their job sooner.”

Kayla is Adam Montgomery’s estranged wife.

Just before Thanksgiving 2019, the family was evicted from their home and were living in their car.  Adam became irate because Harmony kept having bathroom accidents in the Chrysler Sebring.  Kayla testified that on Dec. 7, 2019, Adam was driving the family to a fast-food restaurant but at stoplights, he would turn around and repeatedly punch Harmony in the head because of her bathroom accidents.  Hours later, when the car broke down, Kayla and Adam realized Harmony had died in the back seat.

For months after Harmony’s death, Adam Montgomery hid her body, first in a duffel bag and then in a CMC canvas tote.   He concealed it in various places including a red and white cooler chest, in a closet, in the ceiling at a family shelter where they were staying, in a walk-in cooler at a restaurant where he worked and in a freezer at a Union Street apartment.  In March of 2021, Adam Montgomery took the CMC bag with him on a trip into Massachusetts.  When he returned later that morning, he no longer had the bag.  Harmony’s remains have yet to be found.

Kayla was convicted of two counts of perjury for lying to a Hillsborough County Superior Court Grand Jury investigating Harmony’s disappearance.  The 5-year-old was missing for nearly two years before authorities learned of her disappearance.

Kayla told the grand jury that on Nov. 30, 2019, Adam dropped her off at work at 6 a.m. at Dunkin’ Donuts and then he took Harmony to her mother, Crystal Sorey, in Massachusetts.  She told them she hadn’t seen her stepdaughter since. Investigators learned, however, that Kayla had been fired from her job at Dunkin’ Donuts and was not working that day.

She reached a plea agreement with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office on the perjury charges and was sentenced to 3 ½ to 7 years, with 18 months suspended on condition that she testify truthfully at Adam Montgomery’s trial.  The state dropped charges of receiving stolen property and welfare fraud, for listing Harmony as a household member to collect welfare benefits, when the child was dead.

Kayla teared up during the parole hearing when she was asked about her family.  She said she lost her parental rights to her four children, three of them fathered by Adam Montgomery.  The oldest, she said, is with his father, while the three youngest are living with her mother. She said she has filed an appeal in an effort to get them back.

When asked about her plans for the future, she said she once wanted to be a veterinarian but now, “All I can do is take it one day at a time.”