A man disposed of his five-year-old daughter's body “as if it were rubbish” after brutally beating her to death, a US court has heard.
Harmony Montgomery was last seen in 2019, but New Hampshire Police did not learn she was missing until December 2021.
Lawyers for Adam Montgomery, 34, say he did not harm his daughter, whose body was never found, and that the last person to see Harmony alive, his estranged wife, will not say what happened.
Police said Harmony was killed on December 7, 2019, having determined the date after interviews with his wife, Kayla.
Adam Montgomery pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, assault and witness tampering in connection with his daughter in 2022.
The 34-year-old refused to attend opening arguments as his trial began on Thursday.
Speaking via video link the previous day, he told the judge his lawyers had pleaded guilty to charges of tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse.
He told court last year, while facing an unrelated charge, that he did not kill his daughter.
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A police official holds two reward posters showing missing Harmony Montgomery in January 2022. Pic: John Tlumacki/Boston Globe via AP
Harmony's parents were not together when she was born in 2014, and she lived on and off with her foster parents and her mother, before her father gained custody in February 2019.
Harmony lived with Montgomery, his new wife, Kayla, and their two youngest children.
Prosecutor Christopher Knowles said the family had been kicked out of their home and moved into their car 10 days before Harmony's death.
On the day of her death, Mr Knowles said Montgomery punched his daughter several times after two incidents.
After the second, he took her to a fast food restaurant where he took drugs while the five-year-old was in the back of the car, the court heard.
The car broke down later that day, which is when Montgomery and his wife discovered Harmony dead, Knowles said.
Prosecutors said Montgomery placed his daughter's body in a duffel bag in the trunk of the car. He then allegedly moved it between locations over the next few months, including the entrance to his mother-in-law's home and the refrigerator.
Her remains were eventually placed in a large suitcase and Montgomery attempted to disassemble and dispose of them using hand tools, according to the prosecution.
“He believed that if there was no body, there would be no evidence of the terrible things he did to her, and he would get away with it,” Knowles said.
Montgomery's wife is serving an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to perjury charges and is expected to testify against him.
The trial is expected to last until the end of the month, and Montgomery, who was sentenced last year to at least 32 1/2 years in prison on firearms charges, could face life in prison for second-degree murder. Cost.
