CONCORD, N.H. (Court TV) — Harmony Montgomery’s biological mother will appear at a court hearing on Monday as she asks the state to declare her daughter legally dead.
Harmony Montgomery and Crystal Sorey. (Crystal Sorey)
Harmony was 5 years old when she was murdered by her father, Adam Montgomery, in 2019, but she wasn’t declared missing for nearly two years, and her body has never been found. Adam was convicted in Feb. of beating his daughter to death before hiding her body in a duffel bag, a cooler and a ceiling vent for months.
MORE: Harmony Montgomery’s mother files lawsuit against NH
Harmony’s early years were chaotic and saw her living in multiple homes with a foster family and her biological mother, Crystal Sorey. Sorey has admittedly struggled with substance abuse and lost custody of Harmony to Adam, a career criminal who also has addiction issues, in 2018.
Despite her father’s murder conviction, Harmony’s body was never found, and she has never been declared dead legally. After the jury found Adam guilty, prosecutors said they intend to continue to search for her body, and Sorey told Court TV that she wants to bring her daughter home. “I don’t plan on burying her,” she said in an interview with Vinnie Politan on Court TV’s Closing Arguments. “I plan on bringing her home, cremating her so she can stay with me where she belonged.”
WATCH: Crystal Sorey: ‘It’s Hard for Me to Carry On Knowing She’s Out There’
Adam Montgomery enters the courtroom for jury selection ahead of his murder trial at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester, N.H, on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. (David Lane/Union Leader via AP, Pool)
While she asks the court to declare Harmony dead, Sorey is also asking the court to name her as the head of Harmony’s estate, WMUR reported. Currently, both she and Adam are listed as heirs.
Though Sorey listed the estate’s monetary value at $0 in documents obtained by the New Hampshire Union Leader, she said she wants the hearing to be expedited so she can file a wrongful death lawsuit on Harmony’s behalf. The petition did not say against whom she planned to file the lawsuit.
A representative for the court said that while Sorey is expected to attend Monday’s hearing, Adam refused transport but may appear virtually at the hearing.
Kayla Montgomery, who was married to Adam and testified at his trial that she witnessed him murder Harmony, was granted parole on Thursday and will be released from prison on May 3.
