NH judge declares Harmony Montgomery legally dead, appoints mother to administer her estate
A New Hampshire judge on Tuesday declared Harmony Montgomery legally dead and appointed her biological mother to administer the young child’s estate.
Judge Beth H. Kissinger issued the ruling after Crystal Sorey, Harmony’s mother, petitioned a probate court in Nashua on Monday to declare her daughter legally dead and to be appointed as administrator of her estate.
Letters of appointment will be issued to Sorey when she delivers a fiduciary bond for $10,000 with corporate sureties to the court, according to a “notice of decision” filing dated March 12, 2024.
“Failure to file the bond within 30 days may result in dismissal of the case,” the filing read. “Any Motion for reconsideration must be filed with this court within 10 days of receiving this notice. Any appeals to the Supreme Court must be filed within 30 days of receiving this notice.”
During Monday’s hearing, Sorey told the court that she believed Harmony should be considered dead because the little girl’s father, Adam Montgomery, was convicted of second-degree murder in her death and admitted to abusing her corpse.
Sorey also informed the court that she wanted her daughter declared legally dead because she plans to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Harmony, who police believe was killed nearly two years before she was reported missing in 2021 and whose body was never found.
Sorey hopes a wrongful death lawsuit will help bring justice for Harmony.
“I’m just Harmony’s voice. I’m her warrior, basically,” Sorey said outside court. “I can’t let people forget and I can’t only let those two people be held accountable. It’s not fair, it’s not true. The truth needs to be out there and it will eventually.”
Adam refused to participate in the hearing from the New Hampshire prison where he’s incarcerated. He also refused to appear in court during his murder trial.
“He didn’t show up to anything. So, it’s only right he shows up to find out how long he’s getting,” Sorey told reporters after the hearing. “You think he would do one good thing for Harmony.”
A new bill introduced by New Hampshire lawmakers aims at requiring Adam, and other offenders like him, to be in the courtroom for sentencing to face a judge and the victim’s loved ones.
Adam and Sorey were not in a relationship when their daughter was born in 2014. Adam was later awarded custody of Harmony in 2019. During Adam’s trial, Sorey testified that she last saw Harmony during a Facetime call around Easter of that year.
According to court testimony from his murder trial, Adam Montgomery fatally beat his daughter Harmony in the backseat of a car as he was driving the family to a Burger King restaurant in Manchester
Sorey said Adam likely dumped Harmony in “one of the biggest, most difficult places to look” and that she’s reached out to Adventures With Purpose for help in the search for her daughter’s remains in the Rumney Marsh Reservation in Revere.
Prosecutor Benjamin Agati said after Adam’s conviction that the search for Harmony’s remains would continue.
Agati revealed that after analyzing the mileage Adam Montgomery took with the rental truck into Massachusetts, there are about 26 miles that he could have covered where her remains might be.
Kayla Montgomery, Harmony’s stepmother, was granted parole from her New Hampshire State Prison sentence last week after she reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in 2022 to testify against her estranged husband.
In August 2022, investigators announced that they believed Harmony was dead and that her case was being treated as a homicide.
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