New Hampshire mother of murdered five-year-old Harmony Montgomery awarded $2.25m in wrongful demise lawsuit | EUROtoday

New Hampshire officers will hand over $2.25m to the mom of Harmony Montgomery, a five-year-old lady who was murdered by her father in 2019.

Her mom, Crystal Sorey, filed a wrongful demise lawsuit towards the state Division for Children, Youth and Families final yr.

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She claimed the company didn’t take motion after a number of individuals reported issues about her daughter’s welfare as soon as the lady’s father, Adam Montgomery, 34, was given full custody in February 2019. Harmony had been positioned in state custody earlier in her life and a decide decided she ought to reside together with her father, regardless that he had a violent legal historical past.

One report claimed Harmony returned house with a black eye after the 2 went on a visit to Florida.

She disappeared in 2019 however wasn’t reported lacking till 2021. Her physique has nonetheless not been discovered.

Officials consider Adam Montgomery killed her, moved her physique round for months and later disposed of it. He’s since refused to inform police what he did together with his daughter’s stays.

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During his legal trial in 2024, Kayla Montgomery, Harmony’s stepmother, instructed the courtroom she’d seen her husband violently beat the lady for soiling herself at the back of the automobile the place they’d been residing. Shortly after, Harmony turned unresponsive.

Adam Montgomery, she mentioned, stuffed her physique in a duffel bag and moved it round for a number of weeks, hiding it in several areas, together with a restaurant freezer and the ceiling of a shelter.

In May 2024, he was sentenced to a minimal of 56 years in jail. In March of this yr, Montgomery appealed his homicide conviction. His attorneys declare there have been points with Kayla Montgomery’s testimony as a result of her story had modified a number of instances through the police investigation and he or she had a “history of dishonesty and misplaced trust.” The attorneys argued her testimony shouldn’t have been admitted.

The state’s settlement just isn’t an admission of any wrongdoing or illegal conduct, in accordance with the phrases of the settlement. Sorey will withdraw her swimsuit and launch the state from any legal responsibility, in accordance with NBC 10 Boston.

In the identical week, the state agreed to pay settlements to the dad and mom of two different five-year-olds who had been murdered. Danielle Vaughan’s son, Dennis Vaughan, was allegedly killed by his grandmother, Sherry Connor, in 2019. The state pays his mom $5.75m. In the opposite settlement, the state pays $2.25m to Timothy Lewis, the daddy of Elijah Lewis. The youngster’s mom pleaded responsible to second-degree homicide in his demise.

“The state agreed to these settlements to avoid prolonged litigation and support closure for the families. We recognize their profound loss and hope this brings some measure of peace,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella mentioned in an announcement on Friday.