A man disposed of his five-year-old daughter’s body “like it was trash” 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 has never been found, and the last person to see Harmony alive – his estranged wife – will not say what happened.
Police said Harmony was killed on 7 December 2019, having decided on the date of her death following interviews with Montgomery’s wife, Kayla.
Adam Montgomery pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, falsifying physical evidence, assault and witness tampering in relation to his daughter in 2022.
The 34-year-old declined to attend the opening statements as his trial began on Thursday.
Speaking via videolink the day before, he told a judge that his attorneys were acknowledging guilt on the charges of falsifying physical evidence and abusing a corpse.
He said in court last year, while facing an unrelated charge, that he did not kill his daughter.