The murder trial of Adam Montgomery, a New Hampshire father accused of killing his 5-year-old daughter Harmony Montgomery, continued Wednesday. This time, law enforcement and forensic experts took the stand to testify about the state’s physical evidence, but the defense appeared to suggest that the evidence had been leaked.
Investigators in Adam Montgomery’s trial focused on the ceiling of the family shelter where he, his estranged wife, Kayla, and their two young children lived in 2020. It is also the place where Harmony’s body is said to have been stored after her death.
Her father is accused of storing her body in the ceiling of the room where she was staying. The day after the family moved in, a work order at the evacuation center read, “There is a strange odor coming from the ventilation in Room 1. Please come and check.”
Manchester police officer Scott Riley recalled the smell he encountered while processing the scene.
“As soon as I took the cover off, I could smell a decomposing smell. I could smell a dead body, or what I thought was a dead body,” Riley said.
Riley explained that she saw dirt near the edge of the vent. When the stain was wiped off with a cotton swab and tested, it was determined that it was likely blood positive.
Part of that ceiling was removed as evidence.
Jurors were shown a ceiling stained with liquid tested at the state lab and another lab in Florida.
Other witnesses who testified Wednesday included Katie Lynn Swango, who works in the New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory. She took the stand Tuesday to describe DNA testing she did on a pink Trolls toothbrush found in Adam Montgomery’s Sebring trunk, and the results matched both Adam Montgomery and Harmony’s mother, Crystal Slay. He explained. There is a high possibility that this applies to those two children.
Adam Montgomery’s trial continued Wednesday with a former Manchester, New Hampshire, police officer taking the stand. He testified about Kayla Montgomery and her interviews with police, and where Harmony Montgomery’s body was placed after her death. Police said they placed Adam Montgomery’s body in a ceiling vent in the shelter where he was staying.
Manchester Police Detective Ray Ramey was another witness Wednesday. He also talked about the ceiling and tests conducted at the Audi, where the Montgomerys lived for several nights around the time prosecutors believe Harmony died.
Rachel Radwich, a supervisor at Manchester Police’s evidence unit, spoke about her role in the investigation and said around 900 pieces of evidence were involved in the case. She also testified about the shelter’s ceiling tiles, including dirt and a “pungent, rotten” odor that she associated with decomposition based on her experience at death scenes.
Jurors also heard from the drywall contractor who installed the drywall at the shelter, as well as Kevin McMahon and Martin Orowitz of the New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory.
Mr. McMahon, a former state serologist, examined many items, including part of the ceiling, for evidence of bodily fluids.
“Each of every body part I tested on that particular exhibit came back positive in the blood test,” McMahon said.
The defense, like Audi, has raised questions about the handling of the ceiling and other evidence.
Adam Montgomery was not present at the murder trial. He was convicted last year in an unrelated case of gun theft and sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.
We need to learn more about the motivations behind the defense’s arguments.
