Who is Kayla Montgomery? Slain 5-year-old's stepmom told cops estranged husband killed daughter
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MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: As the missing case of Harmony Montgomery resurfaces, the name Kayla Montgomery has become popular once again in public. Kayla Montgomery, Adam Montgomery's former wife, was reportedly one of the first individuals to claim that Adam had murdered his daughter Harmony, three months before he was charged.
Though she is considered accused on different grounds, according to the court documents filed this week, with a separate firearms possession case against Adam Montgomery, the prosecutors have revealed that according to an interview held on June 3, Kayla claimed that Adam had murdered Harmony in December 2019. Kayla alleged that the murder had occurred about two years before the child was reported missing, reported Daily Beast.
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The documents also revealed that “Kayla said that [Adam Montgomery] had encouraged her on multiple occasions to lie to police about Harmony’s whereabouts, basically giving Kayla a ‘cover story’ and telling her that as long as she stuck to the cover story, everything would be OK." Prosecutors have further alleged that the five-year-old died after 'being repeatedly struck' in the head with a closed fist. Later, he himself would have "removed, concealed, or destroyed” his daughter’s body."
However, Adam has not pleaded guilty on Tuesday, October 25, to the four counts against him, including second-degree murder and falsifying physical evidence. He will remain in jail and might also face several other charges, including allegedly abusing Harmony and stealing guns just weeks before she was killed.
Who is Kayla Montgomery?
Kayla will remain the state's witness for the firearm charges against Adam, and this case's trial shall commence next month. However, the stolen guns and firearms were not used for Harmony's murder. Kayla was also accused of collecting food stamp benefits for more than a year on behalf of Harmony Montgomery, even after her disappearance. The former stepmother of Harmony allegedly collected an extra $1,500 through June 2021. She is also facing charges for receiving stolen property related to Adam Montgomery's stolen weapons case.
According to Daily Beast, one of the other conversations Kayla was involved in was noted in the court document, “Kayla said they needed money for drugs and taking care of the kids. Kayla said she wasn’t there when the firearms were taken, but it was Adam and a buddy who took them and brought them back to the house when she was home with the kids.” Prosecutors have also claimed that she has lied twice to the court regarding her knowledge of the firearm theft on two occasions. However, she was arrested in June for perjury for her grand jury testimony as she provided new information about Adam's role in Harmony's death and alleged role in the firearm incident. According to WMUR, Kayla also faces felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly lying to the state Department of Health and Human Services about having Harmony in her care when she did not.
However, as previously reported by MEAWW, her ex-husband, Adam Montgomery, has been charged with second-degree murder after he was arrested in January for second-degree assault charges following his daughter Harmony Montgomery's disappearance. During a briefing in the New Hampshire state court on October 24, Montgomery was hit with the charges by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. Formella accused Montgomery of "causing the death of his daughter by repeatedly striking Harmony in the head with a closed fist" at their home in Manchester back in 2019.