Harmony Montgomery | The Duffle Bag, the Vent, and the Truth (Part 2)

Summary

---

Crime Weekly Episode Summary

Episode

Podcast: Crime Weekly
Episode: Harmony Montgomery | The Duffle Bag, the Vent, and the Truth (Part 2)
Date: July 3, 2026
Hosts: Stephanie Harlowe & Derrick Levasseur

---

Episode Overview

This emotionally charged episode continues the deep-dive into the case of Harmony Montgomery, focusing on the critical days surrounding her suspected murder in December 2019, the horrifying abuse and neglect she endured, the failed system that allowed it, and the disturbing efforts by Adam and Kayla Montgomery to cover up what happened. With Adam Montgomery's recent conviction overturned on a technicality, Stephanie and Derrick aim to ensure listeners understand the harrowing details and legal complexities before the expected new trial, emphasizing the importance of public attention and outrage in demanding justice for Harmony.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recap & Context: Harmony’s Early Life and Systemic Failures

• Harmony, born June 2014, had medical and developmental needs, including blindness in one eye. Both her parents (Adam and Crystal) struggled with substance abuse and criminality.
• From infancy, DCF and child welfare reports reflected severe neglect; Harmony was repeatedly removed from and reunited with abusive and unstable caretakers.
• Despite Adam’s absence (due to incarceration for violent crime), history of violence, and safety concerns, a judge awarded him full custody in February 2019—without proper background checks or home evaluations, and against DCF’s objections ([04:40]).

Quote:
“Despite the fact that Adam had only spent around 40 supervised hours with Harmony, despite his violent criminal history ... a judge awarded Adam full custody.”
—Stephanie Harlowe ([04:09])

• Immediately after moving in with Adam’s new family, reports of violence, neglect, and drug use piled up. Multiple attempts to alert authorities failed; caseworker Demetrius Tauros did minimal follow-up and closed the case as “unfounded.” Less than two months later, Harmony was dead ([04:53-05:53]).

---

2. Life Unravels: Homelessness, Drug Use, and Escalating Abuse

• After eviction on November 27, 2019, the family lived out of Adam’s Chrysler Sebring. Amid escalating substance abuse, they used food stamps both for groceries and to trade for drugs ([08:37]).
• Kayla admitted to being complicit in drug trafficking and trading food stamps for heroin/crack ([09:43], [61:41–62:02]).
• The family’s dire financial situation and chaotic living arrangements left Harmony and her half-siblings grossly neglected and in danger ([10:09]).

Quote:
“My heart just breaks over and over again when I look at these kids and I realize that they were put off behind the eight ball before the minute they were born.”
—Derrick Levasseur ([11:09])

---

3. Motivations: Why Did Adam Fight for Custody?

• Adam and Kayla’s desire for increased food assistance was revealed as a potential (if not primary) motivation for seeking custody. They continued to collect benefits for Harmony after her disappearance, even falsifying her presence on documents for years ([18:06–19:06], [65:43]).
• The possibility of control over Crystal (Harmony’s mom) and additional government benefits were discussed as factors for Adam’s push for custody ([18:52–19:06]).

---

4. Testimony & Evidence: Abuse Intensifies in the Car

• As the family lived in cars after eviction, Harmony’s potty-training regressed; she began urinating/defecating in her seat. Adam beat and brutalized her for these accidents, covering her with a comforter to hide injuries ([22:47–26:09]).
• Kayla described Adam’s escalating violence and how injuries were repeatedly disguised from outsiders:
  • “He would smack her in the face or on her leg or in her hand … she would cry during, like, whenever she got smacked by him.” ([25:04–25:17])
  • “He would cover her with a comforter that we had in the car ... so nobody could see her.” ([25:48–26:09])
• The level of systemic failure and bystander apathy was noted, as multiple people—including a drug dealer friend (Anthony Bodero)—saw Harmony but did not intervene ([23:02], [69:41]).

Quote:
“She was being abused just for merely saying, I have to use the restroom. So that was causing her not to say it and hold it until the last second … It was a cyclical thing where whether she told him or didn’t tell him she was being beaten.”
—Derrick Levasseur ([28:34])

---

5. The Night & Day Harmony Was Killed (December 7, 2019)

Timeline Reconstruction

• Both parents went to a methadone clinic that morning—leaving all kids in the car ([88:49]).
• After returning to the car, Adam smelled urine, screamed, and began to punch Harmony in the head repeatedly. On the drive to Burger King, he continued to beat her at stops and red lights, telling her to “shut the f--- up.” She began making an “unusual” noise and then stopped responding ([89:46–91:55]).
  • At Burger King, Adam expressed he thought he had “really hurt” Harmony. Rather than seeking medical help, he covered her with a blanket and got food for the rest of the family. Harmony’s lifeless body stayed covered; Kayla and Adam did not check on her, but instead gave the other children their meals and ate in front of her corpse ([95:31–96:42]).
• Afterward, the couple drove to their drug dealer’s apartment, purchased more drugs, and got high in the parking lot with Harmony’s body still in the car ([103:40–104:33]).
• When their car battery died, Adam eventually realized Harmony was dead. He then folded her “in half” into a duffel bag and hid it in a snow bank to evade suspicion ([107:05–108:15]).
  • They soon moved Harmony’s body repeatedly—first in a snowbank, then to a cooler at Kayla’s mother’s home, and, disturbingly, into the ceiling vent of a homeless shelter room ([127:18–128:24]).
• Forensic evidence matched Harmony’s DNA to blood and decomposition fluids found in the shelter vent, with Adam’s fingerprints on the inside of the vent cover ([132:13–134:39]).

Notable Quotes:
“He repetitively kept punching her on the way to Burger King ... at red lights, he would ... just punching her repetitively in the head.”
—Kayla Montgomery ([91:10–91:50])
“Then they get to Burger King and Adam tells Kayla he thinks he really hurt Harmony this time ... [They] sat in the car. The very same car where Harmony was laying in the back seat under a comforter, dying alone. And they all ate their french fries and chicken nuggets while Harmony died under that blanket.”
—Stephanie Harlowe ([97:31–99:41])

---

6. Kayla Montgomery’s Testimony: Complicity, Perjury, and Immunity

• Kayla admitted to lying repeatedly to police and to a grand jury for years, even when Adam was out of her life; only after being offered immunity in exchange for her testimony did she reveal the horrific details ([122:11–123:47]).
• The hosts are unequivocal in their condemnation of Kayla:
  • “You both deserve to be in prison for life. And you both deserve to burn in hell.”
    —Stephanie Harlowe ([99:41])
• Even when separated from Adam, Kayla helped conceal Harmony’s fate to protect herself, furthering the cover-up ([122:11–123:47]).

---

7. Investigations, Interrogations & Legal Proceedings

Adam Montgomery's Police Interrogation

• Adam is combative, unemotional, and evasive—claiming ignorance, blaming police for “painting him as a monster,” and repeatedly refusing to answer questions or provide Harmony’s location ([37:30–58:07]).
  • Quote: “He asks him directly, is she still alive? ... I can’t tell you that. So he knows they know.”
    —Derrick Levasseur ([58:04])
• Detectives use empathy and appeals to fatherhood in attempts to break through, but Adam largely stonewalls or tries to deflect blame ([56:17–57:34]).
• Derrick provides analysis of Adam’s nonverbal cues—body language indicating guilt and anxiety when pressed about Harmony ([59:21–60:15]).

Forensic Evidence

• Discovery of Harmony’s toothbrush in the trunk, blood/DNA evidence in the ceiling vent, Adam’s palm prints, and persistent decomposition odors at the shelter are highlighted as key forensic anchors in the murder case ([111:44–134:39]).

Legal Setback

• Adam’s conviction was overturned because prior assault evidence was combined with murder charges, deemed prejudicial to the jury ([48:09–48:30]).
• Retrial risk: Defense intends to shift blame to Kayla, exploit technicalities, and sow doubts based on her perjury and involvement ([135:35]).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“This is one of those episodes ... if you want to be immersed in this case ... you gotta go mark these timestamps and go watch the videos yourself, specifically Adam's interrogation. ... The audio is really good ... but it will not do the same justice that the video does.”
—Derrick Levasseur ([76:19])

“If you're complicit, you're just as guilty. And to sit there, not do anything, not intervene, at minimum, not report it, you're a piece of trash as well. ... Great, she's sitting here testifying, but she's only doing it to save herself.”
—Derrick Levasseur ([27:01])

“There is also some level of humanity still there ... you can have issues with drugs or alcohol and still acknowledge that before maybe using again, check on the kid.”
—Derrick Levasseur ([104:33])

“He put Harmony’s body in the duffel bag ... walk back to the apartment complex ... and they put [it] in a snow bank so that Anthony Bodero wouldn’t see it.”
—Stephanie Harlowe ([108:15])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic/Content | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------| | Case overview, prior system failures, DCF background | 01:39–05:53 | | Homelessness; trading food stamps for drugs | 08:37–14:43 | | Motive for custody; benefit fraud | 17:36–19:06, 65:43 | | Timeline: December 7, 2019—Harmony’s last day | 88:49–99:41 | | Kayla’s account of abuse & murder | 89:46–99:41 | | Cover-up: duffel bag, cooler, and shelter vent | 107:05–134:39 | | Adam Montgomery’s police interview; body language discussion | 37:30–60:15 | | Forensic findings at the shelter | 132:13–134:39 | | Legal technicalities and retrial discussion | 135:35–138:46 | | Closing reflections; hope for justice | 140:46–end |

---

Tone & Host Attitude

• Direct and unflinching—Stephanie and Derrick express deep anger, disgust, and moral outrage at Adam and Kayla’s actions, the system’s failures, and the risks of retrial.
• The hosts balance empathy for Harmony and her siblings with scathing criticism of everyone who enabled, ignored, or profited from her suffering.
• Both encourage listeners to stay informed, support justice, and avoid becoming desensitized to such horrors.

---

Conclusion: Call for Justice and Next Steps

This episode exposes the unspeakably tragic fate of Harmony Montgomery and the layers of abuse, neglect, and bureaucratic incompetence that enabled her death. With a retrial imminent, Stephanie and Derrick stress the ongoing need for public attention and pressure to ensure Adam Montgomery is convicted once and for all—and that reforms and accountability follow, so no other child is failed so completely.

Closing Words:
“Hug your kids tonight. Give them a kiss. We appreciate you guys ... Everyone stay safe out there. We’ll see you next week.”
—Derrick Levasseur ([142:11])

---

Note:
This summary omits all ad reads and non-content segments, focusing solely on the substance of the case, discussion, and its implications. For further emotional impact and context, listeners are encouraged to revisit specific video segments as identified by the hosts.

---

Transcript

[Derek Levasser]

The right patio sets the scene. The right grill steals the show. For a limited time during July 4th, extra big deals at Lowe's get two 12 by 12 inch square patio stones for only $3. Plus save $100 on a select Char Broil Performance Series 4 burner gas grill. Now just $179. All you need now is good company.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Our best lineup is here at Lowe's.

[Derek Levasser]

Valid through 7 6. Selection varies by location while supplies last. Excludes Alaska and Hawaii.

[Muscle Milk Advertiser]

Everyone's talking about protein lately, but how do you actually get enough of it? Muscle Milk. Muscle Milk has a great tasting new formula with no artificial sweeteners, flavors or added colors. It's high quality complete protein designed to support healthy muscles with fewer ingredients than the previous formula and 26 to 42 grams of protein for when you're stuck in meetings or need a post workout recovery. Available in chocolate, vanilla, cream, cookies and cream and strawberries and cream. Try the new great tasting Muscle milk today. Available in stores nationwide. Muscle Milk protein for all.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Hello everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow.

[Derek Levasser]

And I'm Derek Levasser.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So today we are diving into part two of the Harmony Montgomery case. It's going to be. Oh, you're gonna get pissed off, Darren.

[Derek Levasser]

More than I got last episode.

[Stephanie Harlow]

More.

[Derek Levasser]

Even more because my day was ruined last episode.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, well, consider your day ruined.

[Derek Levasser]

Thanks. Appreciate it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But once again, very important that we talk about this, especially given the new developments with Adam's conviction being overturned.

[Derek Levasser]

That's the craziest part. I keep reminding myself that the reason we're covering it right now is because this is getting another trial because of a technicality. That's the crazy part.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, with a new trial coming up, it's like we all should know the the details and the specifics before this. I'm glad we are trial pops. I'm going to give a quick recap and I apologize to anybody if my voice sounds weird or scratchy or more vocal fry than usual. Derek called me yesterday and I was like hello. And he was like, you sound terrible. Yes, the allergies have been getting me so hardcore that I would say all month. All in the entire month of June. Cuz we are filming this on June 29th. I have not had any reprieve except for when I was in Vegas by the way, cuz you love Vegas. And then I got a sinus infection in Vegas. So what? I don't know what's going on.

[Derek Levasser]

Your immune system needs to be studied.

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, it's just changes, man. Going from like humid New York to dry ass Vegas and just completely. And then like being in a plane. Do you know what a plane does to your body? Don't look it up if you travel

[Derek Levasser]

a lot, but it's a petri dish. Yeah, I don't love it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So I'm going to give a quick recap of what we talked about in part one before we dive into part two. Harmony Montgomery was born in June of 2014 in Massachusetts to Crystal Sorry and Adam Montgomery. From the very beginning, Harmony was a vulnerable child. She had medical and developmental needs. She was visually impaired, blind in one eye. And almost immediately after her birth, DCF began receiving reports that she was being neglected while in her mother's care. So over the next several years, Harmony was moved in and out of foster care, returned to her mother, removed again, placed back with foster parents who did love her and who did believe that the repeated disruptions were traumatizing her. Meanwhile, Harmony's father, Adam Montgomery, who had been mostly absent from her life because he was incarcerated for shooting someone in the face so that he could steal his heroin, he only had limited supervised contact with her. And that was basically because dcf, like, tracked him down and was like, you should see your kid. And I don't know why they did that. But in February of 2019, despite the fact that Adam had only spent around 40 supervised hours with Harmony, despite his violent criminal history, despite the fact that New Hampshire had not completed the interstate home study meant to determine whether his home was safe, and despite DCF objecting, a judge awarded Adam full custody of Harmony. So after that, Harmony was moved from the Boston area of Mass, Massachusetts, to Manchester, New Hampshire, with Adam, his wife Kayla and their children. And almost immediately, the warning signs started piling up. Harmony's mother, Crystal, said Adam cut off her contact with Harmony after a frightening FaceTime call around Easter of 2019, family members reported that Harmony had a black eye, a severe black eye, that Adam had admitted to hitting her, that she was being isolated, punished, neglected, and forced to live in a filthy home with no electricity, no hot water, and suspected drug use. Neighbors called relatives, relatives called, police were called. DCYF was told over and over again that this little girl was in danger. But the caseworker assigned to investigate Demetrius Tauros accepted.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, he had the comments this week.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Not kind to Tauros.

[Derek Levasser]

Tauros Crime Weekly Community. Not a fan.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Better watch your back.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Demetrius Tauros, who has his own issues with the law and with being physically abusive, he accepted Adam and Kayla's explanations, did no meaningful follow ups. On multiple witnesses didn't verify that Harmony was enrolled in school. And In October of 2019, DCF closed the case as unfounded. Less than two months later, according to prosecutors, Harmony was dead. So that brings us to the new information we're going to be covering in part two. So basically at this time, Adam and Kayla Montgomery, along with their two children and Harmony, would be evicted from 77 Gulford street on November 27, 2019. Now, investigators believe that Harmony Montgomery was killed on December 7. We're going to talk about why. What evidence do they have to support that belief, which I think is pretty massive. So during that time between November 27, when they were evicted, and December 7, when the police believe Harmony was killed, the family was homeless and they started living out of Adam's silver 2010 Chrysler Sebring. So fast forward to December 31, 2021, when police were investigating Harmony's disappearance. And Detective Dun Levy of the Manchester police tracked down Kayla Montgomery after not being able to locate Harmony at any of Adam's previously listed addresses. So Kayla claimed the last time she had seen harmony was on November 30, 2019, before she went to work at Dunkin Donuts in in Manchester, New Hampshire. Kayla said that Adam dropped her off at work and told her that he was bringing Harmony to her mother, Crystal in Lowell, Massachusetts. And when Adam returned to pick Kayla up from work, Harmony wasn't with him. Kayla also said that she had not seen her husband Adam since late October of 2021, and she hadn't spoken to him since November of 2021. She said as far as she knew, Adam had taken off to Maine with another woman named Kelse and he was living in a sober house. So when asked if she had ever seen Harmony with a black eye, Kayla admitted she had. But at this time, when police are talking to her in 2021, Kayla was still protecting Adam. And Kayla claimed the injury had happened while Harmony was playing with her younger half brother and had been hit in the eye with a foam bat. So the similar story that Adam had told Demetrios Toros, Kayla apparently felt the need to continue protecting Adam even though he'd run off with another woman and left her to care for for the three young children they shared. Because when in 2019, when Adam and Kayla and Harmony were evicted from the Gulford street home, they had two children, Adam and Kayla did. But since then, they had had another child. Cuz that makes sense. So what the police would soon find out was that Kayla had not been truthful during this conversation about when and where she had last seen Harmony. Now, Kayla would repeat the same story about last seeing Harmony on November 30, before her Dunkin Donuts shift in front of a grand jury in May of 2022. And when this claim was investigated, it turned out that Kayla, number one, hadn't even worked at the location she claimed. Number two, she'd been fired on November 23rd for stealing money from the cash register. And this was from a completely different Dunkin Donuts location. And so she had been fired before even they had been evicted, several days before they were evicted. So how could you have last seen harmony on November 30, before you went to work at Dunkin Donuts, when you got fired from dunkin donuts on November 23rd?

[Derek Levasser]

Right, exactly. Makes no sense.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Now, also, according to Kayla, and as so many had suspected, she and Adam were actively using drugs before and after they'd been evicted from the house on Guilford Street.

[Kayla Montgomery]

I was working up until November 2019 at Dunkin Donuts. I would work 6am to 2pm and Adam would be home with the kids while I'm at work. And he would drop me off and pick me up from work because I didn't have a license. And then after he would pick me up, I would be at the house with the kids. And he would leave some nights because we were using drugs, getting high, using heroin and crack and weed.

[Interviewer]

How did you get your drugs?

[Kayla Montgomery]

I had money from my job,

[Adam Montgomery]

and

[Kayla Montgomery]

that's what I remember up until we got kicked out. Evicted from the house.

[Interviewer]

Army. Declan and Seamus. How did you support them?

[Kayla Montgomery]

We had food stamps and my income, which was barely anything at the time.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, I mean, this. This is one of those things where, you know, listen, I. I dealt with a lot of people who had substance abuse issues. I think many of us have. Even if you haven't been in law enforcement. And I think we can all agree that substance abuse, you know, drug addiction, not a good thing. And it doesn't mean that everybody who's dealing with it is a bad person because they started off at some point in a good place, and it just. It got out of control. The issue here is that it's not only affecting Kayla and Adam, it's affecting the children because as she mentioned there, they're. They're getting very little income. And what income she is getting from Dunkin Donuts, she's spending it on drugs. And so essentially they have food stamps, and that's about it. But food stamps doesn't cover clothes and all these Other things and just a, a quality of life that comes with that. And so when I think about it, I'm not sitting here. Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't to a certain degree judging Kayla and Adam, but I just feel for the kids because. And I'm not just talking about Harmony, I'm talking about all their children because they didn't make that choice. And now they're, they're having to deal with the, the consequences of their parents choices which anytime I've ever gone into these situations, my heart just breaks over and over again when I look at these kids and I realize that they were put off behind the eight ball before the minute they were born.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. I mean, not only. First of all, like you said, food stamps can't cover everything.

[Derek Levasser]

Can't cover everything. I was on food stamps as a kid.

[Stephanie Harlow]

You know, it's like they're not, they're not even using the food stamps really to buy food. Right. As we're going to find out, they're trading food stamps for drugs. And when Harmony was seen by Uncle Kevin, you know, Adam's Uncle Kevin, he said he brought her to get food at 4, and she said it was the first food she had all day. So they're obviously not feeding at least Harmony properly. Right?

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So, yeah, it's, it's not great. So not only did Adam leave the house to go buy drugs, Right. Because they got one car. So Kayla's saying, I got to get dropped off of work, I got picked off from work. And then he would leave at night to go buy drugs. Which by the way, she's also saying that while she's at work during these early morning hours, Adam's at home with the kids. Which I cringe to think about what Harmony was going through at that point. Not that Kayla was going to be this protector, but just in general, I kind of had the impression that Adam was more abusive, more horrible to Harmony for whatever reason than Kayla was, even though Kayla wasn't, you know, great Harmony. But Adam would leave the house to go get drugs and then he'd have people come over and sell drugs and then do the drugs while they were there at the house with the kids around. So during one of these occasions, Kayla remembered Adam showing their drug dealing guests some guns that had been stolen from the home of their friends and fellow drug users, Kimberly and Chris Frayne. So Chris Frain told the police that on September 29, 2019, he went shooting with his Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun and Stag Arms AR15 rifle. And afterward, he put those two long guns under his bed. And additionally, a Ruger.38 handgun he owned was in a drawer in his bedroom with another gun. So Chris then left home for a construction job, and he returned on October 3, 2019, at which point he discovered his weapons were missing. So Chris's wife, Kimberly Frain, she testified during Adam Montgomery's weapons trial, because there's two different trials that Adam had to go through. The weapons one, and then the one for the murder of Harmony. So at his weapons trial, Kimberly Fring testified that Adam had come over to their place while her husband Chris was out of town. She said that Adam was still there, and then she fell asleep. Because they were doing drugs. Right? They're doing drugs. Let's just say what it is. They're together doing drugs, God knows what else. Because if I'm Chris and I'm like, what the hell is Adam doing at my house when I'm out of town for a work job? But anyways, Adam comes over, they're doing drugs. Kimberly admitted she fell asleep because she hadn't slept in days due to heavy drug use. And then she fell asleep when Adam's still in her house. And then when she woke up, he was gone. And she said the door had been left open. So another witness, Mark Reed, testified that Adam had texted him on October 3, 2019, trying to sell him a 12 gauge shotgun. But Reed didn't have enough cash or heroin to, so he was unable to make the purchase. Several other witnesses placed the guns in Adam's possession after they vanished from the frame home. Kevin Lell testified that Adam showed him a shotgun and an AR15, and Lell ended up buying the shotgun from Adam for $250. Michael Sullivan testified that he saw Adam showing off a shotgun and also saw Adam trading a rifle for drugs.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, Stag Arms rifle, by the way, is a very expensive gun.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Probably more than he's getting in return for, like, drugs and money.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, if you were to buy it in the store, I mean, at that time, it'd be different, but let's just say anywhere from 20, from 2000 to 2500 bucks.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So Michael Sullivan also talked about a conversation that he had with Adam where basically Sullivan was saying, hey, Kimberly Frain claims that our neighbors have, like, you know, security cameras. And Adam was like, no, I know that Kimberly's lying about this, because if their neighbors had cameras, I would be in jail. Right. And then Kayla testified saying that she didn't actually see Adam bring guns into their home the night that they were swollen, but she did later see Adam with the guns in their living room trying to sell or trade them for drugs. Now this leads into a larger conversation about what the hell was Adam doing? When we look at these people and we're like, how do you guys not have jobs? How do you only have food stamps? And you're trading some of your food stamps for drugs, but also you seem to always be doing drugs. It's because they were finding a way to get money other places, stealing things from people, selling the things they. They stole, etc. The bigger conversation, I think, is that we have them at a house 77 Gulford. They have a place to live. They have a roof over their head. They got three kids there at the time. And they are not only actively doing drugs all the time, they're not only leaving the house to find drugs, but they are bringing people, their unsavory characters to the house to sell drugs to them, to buy drugs, to do drugs together while these kids are at the

[Derek Levasser]

house, at minimum, you're looking at a scenario where one of the kids could get into the drugs and be seriously

[Stephanie Harlow]

hurt or killed or just see horrible things that go along with the other. That's the other side, drug use.

[Derek Levasser]

This isn't. This isn't speculation. When I was doing search warrants, there were multiple times where I had young children who had been sexually assaulted by drug users who were, quote, unquote, just spending the night there to sleep off whatever high they were going through. Happens all the time. So, yeah, you're really putting your. Your children in a dangerous situation. And clearly Kayla and Adam did not care.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Or like, they go to sleep and those people are still there. Remember, Remember they had that other person living there that they claimed to Demetrius Tauros that, oh, all this drug paraphernalia is this guy's Right. I think his name was Alex Call. You have that guy living there.

[Detective]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So you're putting your kids in dangerous positions all the time.

[Derek Levasser]

Then you have also competitors and people that you have issues with who are looking for your money.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Now they know where you live if they want to come looking for you because you owe them money. Right? Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

Breaking the house and those kids, it's not like it's like, oh, you know, even the bad guys put the kids in a bubble and you don't get to see any of this. No. They're being exposed to that before having to get up and go to school or whatever they're doing.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It's just they could take the kids.

[Derek Levasser]

Completely unacceptable. Or or the, yeah, we're going to

[Stephanie Harlow]

sell your kids or we're going to keep them until you give us money. Like, there's just many stupid things that could go wrong scenarios you're. You're potentially causing. So, I mean, but this is the least of what Adam and Kayla do.

[Derek Levasser]

Without knowing a lot of the story like you do, it does make me wonder, if things were this bad, why was Adam pushing so hard for custody of Harmony? Like, it can't be for good reasons. So it's.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It's a. It's a back and forth thing. Like, they were getting, like, I, you know, over a hundred dollars more a month in food stamps for her.

[Derek Levasser]

That's what. That's where I'm going with this. It had to be a. It had to be a. Hey, we can claim her and get a higher amount of government assistance just by having her under our roof.

[Christina Lubin]

Right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Because we're. We'll talk about it. But Kayla claims, oh, I haven't seen Harmony since November of 2019 or whatever. Right. But you kept her on your food stamps.

[Derek Levasser]

That's right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And you kept getting money for it. Okay, so that. That is a thing. Crystal, Harmony's mother, believes a lot of it was, like, a controlling thing, too. Like, oh, I'm going to show you. I.

[Derek Levasser]

Petty. Yeah, petty. But I definitely think a part of this was in Adam's mind because he's a piece of. In my opinion, saw dollar signs, saw an opportunity to increase his revenue, if you will, from. From the government with a very little lift, just to have her under the roof, be able to say, hey, here's my paperwork. Now I'm a father of three. Give me more money. That had to be the motivation here. Plus the pettiness.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, they're going to get money for every child they have. So when you add another child and then Harmony's got some special needs and things like that, maybe. Maybe her food stamps benefit was a. Yeah. Than the other two. So, yeah, we don't know the motive, but control money.

[Derek Levasser]

If Adam was clean and had turned and turned it around, then maybe. Yeah, he just wants his daughter back. No, this was. This was an opportunity to get more money for drugs.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. And then you also have to wonder if it's this bad, which I believe 100 it was. Oh, yeah. How does Demetrios Toros go there? And he's like, yeah, every time I see Kayla and Adam, they're lucid. They don't seem to be using any drugs. Like, come on, dude.

[Derek Levasser]

No, I'm sure there Was some. Some acting going on there, maybe a cleanup of the house. But no, if you dig a little bit and you look under the bed.

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, apparently not, because there's freaking drug paraphernalia still there when he does his first unannounced visit, you know, like, no, they were just like, yeah, that's Alex's. We just keep it here. Cuz why not?

[Derek Levasser]

Like, but imagine how bad it was before he showed up, like, you know, before they knew he was coming.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But yeah, because Kayla said we expected you.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.

[Stephanie Harlow]

All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Helix, which you are both very familiar with at this point, because we both sleep on a Helix mattress.

[Interviewer]

We do.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yes. We're both Midnight luxe people, which honestly feels very on brand for us. Like, of course, we both ended up with the same mattress and it's got some, like, dark name like Midnight Lux.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah. So either it's great minds think alike or we're just both very particular about our sleep, and I think it's the latter.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And I will say I've been sleeping on my Helix mattress for a while now. It really has made a difference. Before Helix, I was waking up constantly during the night. Constant back pain, overheating, tossing, turning. Basically doing a full investigative reenactment in my sleep.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah. Yeah, that sounds exhausting. Literally. Exhau.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Then I'd wake up in the morning like, wow, I can't wait to just be tired all day. And I'd just be waiting for night to come. So I go to sleep and do the same thing all over. But since switching to Helix, I sleep deeper, I wake up way less, and I actually feel more rested when I start my day.

[Derek Levasser]

Same. I'm in the same boat as you, and. And that's what I really like about Helix. It's not one of those one size fits all situations because they understand that people sleep differently. You have side sleepers, back sleepers, stomach sleepers. Everyone has their own weird sleep habits. I know. I have them. So they get it. They understand that.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Exactly. Helix has over 20 different mattress models, so you can find something that actually fits your sleep style. And if you're someone who gets hot at night, they have cooling upgrade options too, both for pillows and the mattress, which is huge, especially during the summer.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah. And they make the process really easy. The mattress ships right to your door for free. Setup is simple, and they give you a 120 night sleep trial. So if you can't figure it out within 120 nights. I don't know what to tell you.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, basically, they're giving you several months to figure out do I like this mattress or I can send it back if I don't. And it's not just that. They give you the opportunity to sleep on the mattress, live with it, make sure it works for you. They also offer a limited lifetime warranty. And Helix is the most awarded mattress brand tested and reviewed by experts like Forbes and Wired. So if your current mattress is giving crime scene instead of peaceful night's sleep, this is your sign.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, that might be the most crime weekly way to say you need a mattress.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I stand by it. So if you're looking to upgrade your sleep, go to helixsleep.com crimeweekly for 20 off site wide, 25 off luxe mattresses, and 30 off elite mattresses. This is a great deal. So site wide includes the pillows, by the way, and then you're gonna get a much better discount on. On these luxe and elite mattresses. That's helixsleep.com crimeweekly for 20 off site wide, 25 off Luxe mattresses, and 30% off Elite mattresses. Once again, helixsleep.com crimewEekly. Okay, so Kayla also helped fill in the blanks for us about what life was like once they were evicted and living out of a car.

[Interviewer]

When you began living in that car, who were you with?

[Kayla Montgomery]

It was myself and Adam, Harmony, and the two boys.

[Interviewer]

Where were you sleeping during that period?

[Kayla Montgomery]

In the car.

[Interviewer]

Where would you keep the car?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Behind Colonial Village in Manchester.

[Interviewer]

Why Colonial Village?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Because that's where our friend lived.

[Interviewer]

What was your friend's name?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Anthony Bodero.

[Interviewer]

Did he tell Mr. Bodero that you were living there in that parking lot?

[Kayla Montgomery]

He asked us not to, but yes.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay, so when she says friend Anthony Bodero, she means drug dealer Anthony Bodero, but we'll talk about that soon enough. You know, they had to be close. They had to be close. So they are going and parking behind where he lives in his apartment complex. And she says, he told us not to, but we did anyway, and he knew about it. And that's going to be important, too. We're going to talk about all that.

[Interviewer]

And so can you just describe this sleeping arrangement in that vehicle for you and your family at the time?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Adam would sleep in the driver's seat. I slept in the passenger seat, and Harmony was behind the passenger seat. The baby Declan was in the middle, and Seamus was behind the driver's seat.

[Interviewer]

Kayla, I asked you earlier about whether Harmony was potty trained when you got custody of her, and I believe you said she was.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Did that change at some point after the eviction?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And tell the jury about that. What happened to Harmony?

[Kayla Montgomery]

She wouldn't let us know when she had to use the bathroom. And so she was peeing in the car, just in her seat that she was sitting in, and she wouldn't tell us that she had to use the bathroom.

[Interviewer]

Was she only peeing, or was she having other accidents at the time?

[Kayla Montgomery]

She was also pooping.

[Interviewer]

How frequently was this occurring for Harmony?

[Kayla Montgomery]

A lot. At least every day.

[Interviewer]

And did those accidents, did they increase in frequency the longer you were in that car?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

How was the defendant responding when she had these accidents?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Getting angry.

[Interviewer]

Would he do anything physically to her when she had accidents?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah, he would smack her.

[Interviewer]

And what does that mean, that he would smack her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

He would smack her in the face or on her leg or in her hand.

[Interviewer]

Were these soft smacks, hard smacks, or something else?

[Kayla Montgomery]

They were like hurt, stung smacks.

[Interviewer]

What makes you say hurt stung smacks?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Because she was. She would cry during, like, whenever she got smacked by him. And I could hear it, and it sounds like it hurt.

[Interviewer]

I'm sorry. You could hear the crying or you

[Kayla Montgomery]

could hear the smack, smack and the crying? The more accidents she had, the more he would get angry, and he would hit her repetitively.

[Interviewer]

Was the defendant causing visible injuries to Harmony?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

I'm sorry.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes. When he would hit her, she started getting black eyes and bruises on her face, on her legs. He would cover her with a comforter that we had in the car.

[Interviewer]

Why would he cover her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

So nobody could see her.

[Interviewer]

How often would he cover Harmony?

[Kayla Montgomery]

All the time. Anytime that we had interference with anybody, no matter who it was.

[Interviewer]

Was this only when you went out in public, or was it when you were still in that. That parking lot, or both?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Both.

[Derek Levasser]

Okay. I mean, there's a lot I could say here, and I was thinking it while watching that, and I know I'm gonna speak for everybody who's listening or watching right now, but it's not going to change anything, so I'll keep it to you guys have been with us long enough to know how I feel after watching that video and the things that I would like to do to Adam. On a lesser note, but not far off, Kayla's in the same category as me. If you're complicit, you're just as guilty. And to sit there, not do anything, not intervene, at minimum, not report it, you're a piece of trash as well. And great, she's sitting here testifying, but she's only doing it to save herself. So I got nothing for her to say that's positive. And again, there's things that I could say, but I think I don't need to say them. I think most people who are, who are a part of this right now are feeling the same way.

[Detective]

It's just.

[Derek Levasser]

It's terrible.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. And so this Kayla, by the way. Yeah, she's sitting here like Harmony wouldn't tell us when she had to go to.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, no.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay. Because.

[Derek Levasser]

Hold it. That's what they were telling her. Hold it.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Kayla talks a lot, but there were times that she was like, yeah, I mean, Harmony would say she had to go to the bathroom and Adam would get mad. Okay. So. And it would of course make perfect sense that a five year old who was fully potty trained. We heard from multiple people, including Kayla herself, that Harmony was fully potty trained and not having accidents. And it would make sense that a five year old who was fully potty trained and not having any accidents would regress in this situation. Right.

[Derek Levasser]

No doubt.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She'd been moved from home to home, separated from familiar caregivers, exposed to violence, exposed to drug use, instability, then evicted from at least a house and living in a car with no normal bathroom routine, no access to bathrooms regularly, no privacy, no stability, and likely constant fear. And since Harmony was beaten and terrorized every time she had an accident, and it sounds also like, like from previous testimony from Caleb that she may have been beaten and terrorized every time she said she had to go to the bathroom. Okay. She's going to become more afraid, more anxious, more dysregulated, and that's going to result in her trying to hold it and hide it. So Harmony was no longer in a place where a five year old should be, like listening to her body. She's trying to manage her terror. And terror does not help a child maintain control. It obviously strips control completely away.

[Derek Levasser]

So it makes perfect sense. Right. And what you're saying is without a doubt what happened. She was being abused just for merely saying, I have to use the restroom. So that was causing her not to say it and hold it until the last second. She wasn't just going to the bathroom because she just felt like doing that. It was literally to the point where she was scared to tell them she had to use the restroom. So it was a cyclical thing where whether she told him or didn't tell him she was being beaten.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I Agree.

[Christina Lubin]

It's just.

[Derek Levasser]

It's just terrible.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And you heard Kayla say Adam would cover her with a blanket. Yeah, it doesn't matter who we were coming across. She would be covered with a blanket so that nobody would see her. And so Adam covered Harmony with this comforter or this blanket on November 29, 2019, when his vehicle was involved in a car accident. And Manchester police officer Neil Penitent responded to the call on South Wilson Street. Now, during the trial, this police officer testified that he only saw two children in Adam Montgomery's vehicle. And Kayla said that was because Adam had covered Harmony up with the comforter because she had a black eye and he didn't want the police to see her. Now, at the time of this accident, Kayla testified that she, Adam, and another woman, Tabitha Scott, were driving to buy drugs. Now, Tabitha Scott, is she really important in this case? She's a friend, Quote, unquote, of Kayla's. Once again, just people they do drugs with. She was asked. Kayla was asked during the. The trial, like, did Tabitha. No, Harmony was in the car, even though Harmony was covered up by a comforter. And Kayla's like, yeah, she knew she was in the car. Like, she didn't see her because she was covered, but she knew she was in the car. Tabitha Scott can also and should also burn in hell. So. But understand, this is no longer an entire house where we can even say the adults were doing drugs, and then they found another room to go into so that the children possibly could have been protected from seeing or being exposed to the drug use. No, they are driving with Tabitha Scott to go and buy drugs, and all of this is happening in the car where they now live in with their three children.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Let's go back to Thanksgiving, November 28, 2019. This is the day after Adam and Kayla, along with the other children, were evicted from their house. And that night, Matthew and Courtney Garcia saw Adam, Kayla, and the kids, including Harmony. So obviously, at this point, Harmony doesn't have black eyes and all of that because they haven't been living in the car for a few days. She's not getting beaten for having to go to the bathroom. Now, Matthew was a childhood friend of Adam Montgomery's, and the Garcias gave them money for gas and food. And. And Courtney at that time said they were in the Chrysler Sebring, and the car was in bad shape. It had bald tires. It just wasn't looking good. The Garcias offered Adam and Kayla a place to stay for the night, and Courtney said that Adam seemed like he was for it but he and Kayla ended up not agreeing about staying there and then they left. So let's leave 2019 for a moment. Fast forward back to 2021, when police were trying to figure out where Harmony Montgomery was. So after talking to Kayla on December 31, officers were able to locate Adam and his new girlfriend, Kelse Small, and they were sleeping in a vehicle in the area of Harvell street in Manchester. So Adam was not living in a sober house and he was not in Maine like Kayla told the police. So Adam told the police a few different things at this point. According to the report, quote, he made some contradictory statements during our interaction which raised our suspicion and concern for Harmony's well being. Initially, Adam told Detective Dunleavy that Harmony was fine and he had seen her somewhat recently. However, as our conversation continued, Adam said that he had not seen Harmony since Crystal came to pick her up in Manchester around Thanksgiving of 2019. We each emphasized our primary concern is locating Harmony and establishing that she is safe. Adam stopped answering our questions multiple times and stated, I have nothing else to say. During our interaction with Adam, we stressed our concern that Harmony had not been physically observed in over two years and that we had concern for whether or not she was still alive. Adam did not exhibit much emotion to this. Adam said he believed Harmony was in Massachusetts with her mother. Adam claimed he did not know why Crystal would say anything to the contrary. End quote.

[Derek Levasser]

Hey, keep your hands where I can see them.

[Stephanie Harlow]

What's going on? He was found sleeping in a car in a Manchester, New Hampshire parking lot on December 31, 2021, when investigators caught up with Adam Montgomery for the first time.

[Interviewer]

It just seems a little strange that

[Derek Levasser]

you don't, like, you don't want to

[Interviewer]

tell us where she is.

[Adam Montgomery]

All I just, I got nothing else to say to you guys.

[Stephanie Harlow]

He repeatedly refused to answer questions in a 45 minute interaction, but did claim she was alive.

[Detective]

Your daughter's alive?

[Adam Montgomery]

Yeah. You're sure?

[Derek Levasser]

I'm positive.

[Detective]

You're like, swear on your life.

[Adam Montgomery]

I swear on my life.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So we're going to hear more from Adam because he's got a police interview coming up.

[Derek Levasser]

And swear on your life. If he swears on his life, it must be true.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. This guy thinks he's like a gangster. He thinks he's like Mark Wahlberg in some movie where like, like he has to deal drugs because his family, like, needs help. And you know, he's just on the streets and you'll see he, he talks like he's like, he's scarface or something. But Adam, you'll, you'll find out that Adam has a big problem with the way he was approached by police at this time. He said they, they pulled up to him and like, rammed his car. And then they, they took his girlfriend and they told his girlfriend, like, listen, you don't know who you're dealing with. He's dangerous. You better get away from him, you know, and he's got a big problem with being characterized as this way by the police and treated like such a criminal when they can't prove that he did anything. Now, at that time, his girlfriend, 27 year old Kelsey Small, who was originally from Maine, told police that she'd been with Adam for over a year and she was aware that he had four children with two different mothers, the three from Kayla and then Harmony with Crystal. Although she said she was also aware that he was not in touch with any of the children from his prior relationship. So after being found in a car with Adam Montgomery In December of 2021, this girl Kelsey, her situation quickly deteriorated. So obviously she's using drugs as well. This is why they're together. Goffstown, New Hampshire, Police records showed she was arrested outside the sober home where she was living in March of 2022. She was charged with a DUI that was her second offense. She was released and due in court the following week. But on March 13, five days after her arrest, Kelsey was found dead in a Manchester hotel room from a suspected drug overdose.

[Derek Levasser]

Shocker.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So by the time Adam Montgomery would go on trial for the murder of his daughter, Kelsey was not able to testify and speak for herself. But her grandfather, Douglas Small, did testify. And he said that Adam and Kelsey had stayed with him for two periods in Carmel, Maine in 2021. And the second time, he had driven to Manchester to pick them up and bring them back to Maine. And before they left Maine for that second time, he Gave Kelsey His 2006 gray Pontiac Grand Prix so that they could get back to Manchester, which is the vehicle that Kelsey and Adam were found in by the police in December of 2021. So on December 31, 2021, a family court judge gave New Hampshire DCYF legal authority to step in and supervise Harmony's welfare, even though Adam Montgomery was still technically her soul and legal guardian. This is at the end of 2021, right? And a judge is like, okay, DCYF, you can now step in and, and you can, you know, do something. You can have some power here. Now, this was done through an emergency abuse slash neglect order called an ex parte order, meaning it could be issued without Adam being present in court because the situation was urgent. So the order specifically told Adam that he had to cooperate with Manchester police and help them find Harmony. So then Detective Riley personally handed Adam that court order at about 4:10pm on Dec. 31. But when detectives told Adam that he now had to provide information about where Harmony was because of this court order, Right. Adam refused. He told them, arrest me or I'm leaving. And then he stopped answering questions. So they did not arrest him on that day, but Adam would be arrested on January 4, 2022, which was just, you know, about four days later on the following charges. Second degree assault from the July 2019 black eye incident, interference with custody, and two charges of endangering the welfare of a child. And so then after his arrest, Adam was taken to an interrogation room and read his Miranda rights, where he continued to be uncooperative. And he continued to be, at the least, a cocky bastard and at the most, a completely unfeeling sociopath. And this is where I said, like, you'll see. I mean, you've dealt. You're kind of from this area, right? Rhode Island.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

You were a police detective. I'm sure you have sat across the interview table from dozens of Adam Montgomery's and seen them act exactly this way and seen them sort of have this whole demeanor about them like. Like they are somebody. Like they have a right and a reason to be offended that they're even talking to you. So let's see how this went and how you react to it before we go forward.

[Adam Montgomery]

Can we get a cigarette?

[Detective]

So there's a sensor in there. So I'll work on getting you a cigarette at some point. I can't. I can't promise you one right now, just because the room we're in and if this starts going off, I don't want to go off that thing will the sprinkler. So. But at some point, we'll work on getting you. I know we have cigarettes in here. I know where they are.

[Adam Montgomery]

Okay.

[Detective]

You hear what I'm saying? Do you need a water?

[Adam Montgomery]

I don't need nothing.

[Kayla Montgomery]

You're good.

[Detective]

Okay. Are you okay?

[Adam Montgomery]

No, I'm not okay.

[Detective]

Okay, what's. What sign?

[Adam Montgomery]

Okay, so.

[Detective]

All right, let's talk about why we're here. To talk.

[Adam Montgomery]

Tell me what you want to say.

[Detective]

Tell me what you know.

[Adam Montgomery]

I don't know Nothing.

[Detective]

Well, what was our conversation about the other day?

[Adam Montgomery]

You said you had a couple questions you wanted to ask me, asked me the question.

[Detective]

Well, what was our conversation about the other day? Remember we met? I mean, you remember that was only, what, a few days ago, Right? We had a lot of worried people and scared people right now in the community. I know you're worried about the well being of your daughter, and I kind of want to get ahead of this because I don't want you to be painted as a monster.

[Adam Montgomery]

Well, that's what you guys are already doing.

[Detective]

I am?

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, no, no.

[Adam Montgomery]

Oh, yeah.

[Detective]

Can you explain this?

[Adam Montgomery]

You guys are already trying to do them in.

[Detective]

Explain to me how I'm trying to make you, or whoever is trying to make you out to be a monster. Who's telling you that stuff? Is there somebody that I work with that told you that? That somebody you're close with, that they told you that?

[Adam Montgomery]

No.

[Detective]

All right. But you understand this whole thing is getting a little out of hand. Would you agree?

[Adam Montgomery]

Of course.

[Detective]

So that's why.

[Adam Montgomery]

Look, this. It's just the way you guys are going about it.

[Detective]

Who.

[Adam Montgomery]

And again, I don't you specifically, but yeah. Nobody comes out there like that for a second degree assault charge. Nobody better for worse charges. They don't come out and throw flashbangs at my girlfriend's car and ram us into the dog rail. They don't do that for a second degree assault charge.

[Detective]

Again, you understand what the charges are, right?

[Adam Montgomery]

Second degree assault, right?

[Detective]

Yep.

[Adam Montgomery]

Okay.

[Detective]

There's also an endangering the welfare charge.

[Adam Montgomery]

Okay.

[Detective]

And interference with custody.

[Adam Montgomery]

Okay, so how did I interfere with custody?

[Detective]

So that paperwork that we served you the other day, remember that?

[Adam Montgomery]

Okay.

[Detective]

When they were in the alleyway, you remember, outside of Long Lake? Gav.

[Adam Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Detective]

There's paperwork that you have to comply with. You understand that, right? We had that conversation, did we not? Right. So that's. That's what that's all about?

[Adam Montgomery]

Like, secondary skull charge? What is this referring to?

[Detective]

Well, that's what we want to talk to you about.

[Adam Montgomery]

Well, explain to me what if I'm being charged with it? What the hell am I being charged with? A ball?

[Detective]

Well, your daughter had some injuries that. That you know about when you lived on Guilford Street.

[Adam Montgomery]

No, I do not.

[Stephanie Harlow]

What are you referring to?

[Detective]

Well, you were there. I wasn't.

[Adam Montgomery]

Right. What are you referring to?

[Detective]

I'm referring to her having some good marks.

[Adam Montgomery]

What are you referring to marks that

[Detective]

were left on her by you.

[Adam Montgomery]

Absolutely not. I had nothing else to say.

[Detective]

They got. No, we talked about how. How we were worried about your daughter the other day.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Right.

[Adam Montgomery]

Okay.

[Detective]

You remember that conversation?

[Adam Montgomery]

I remember that conversation. But right off the record, way you're approaching the conversation, you guys are completely out of line, so.

[Detective]

Me?

[Adam Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Detective]

Do I. In. In the time you've known me, which.

[Adam Montgomery]

What you just said to me, you guys are completely out of line.

[Detective]

Okay, but. So explain to me how are we out of line?

[Adam Montgomery]

I have nothing to explain.

[Detective]

Okay, but wouldn't you rather explain it so you. We can make sense of it than just have other people's side of the story? Like, you want to defend yourself and like, this picture people are painting of you? Now's your chance, man.

[Adam Montgomery]

Whose side of the story? Who's. Who's telling you these things?

[Detective]

People that were close to you?

[Adam Montgomery]

Obviously not.

[Detective]

Well, maybe at the time, maybe not anymore.

[Adam Montgomery]

Right off the rip that there was something wrong with my daughter because of me. No, that's okay.

[Detective]

Okay, so if your daughter had marks on her at some point when he lived over there, would you explain those?

[Adam Montgomery]

How would she get those marks? Well, I would love to know when that marks was in, because DCYF came to my house multiple times.

[Detective]

Okay. And we know. We know that they came in. Right.

[Adam Montgomery]

And. And closed the case.

[Detective]

Okay. Do we know that DCYF is the flagship agency in. In the country?

[Adam Montgomery]

No, but if there was significant marks like you're referring to, I believe they would have flagged something at that point and they would have said something. They wouldn't have came there and seen that the kids were well taken care of. All the kids loved being at the house with me.

[Derek Levasser]

There's so much to unpack there. First off, I love how even the detective throws out there to this criminal career. Criminal. Like, hey, we all know DCYF doesn't always do the best job. And they're like, yeah, yeah, we know that.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They're like, the end all be all right.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, they're not the flagship. He said flagship, but, like, he meant, like, they're not the standard of, like, doing a proper investigation. Not saying all of them. But there's. This isn't the first time this story happened.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I think he kind of meant, like, there's higher agencies, and those higher agencies are now looking into it. So, like, we don't care what D.C. dCY. I've said.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, I. I took it as like, they came there and said there was nothing to report. And he's like, yeah, well, we all know, you know, they're not the flagship. Anyways, as far as the actual interview, you look at the body language, this is someone without having a baseline for Adam, someone who's closed off shoulders Are forward, kind of hunched over, looking down at the table, just defeated.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Defeated. He doesn't seem defeated to me. He seems like cocky, like, why am I even here?

[Derek Levasser]

But yeah, but there are things within his body that are contradictory to what he's trying to present himself as being confident and completely innocent in all of this. The body language doesn't align with what's coming out of his mouth. However, one similarity, and you kind of alluded to this at the beginning that I see with all of these types of people, whether it's for a drug crime, crime of violence, whatever it is, is they're always the victim. They're always the victim. They're just being painted as the bad guy. This is, you know, police are after them, their families after them. They're just being railroaded here. This is just another example of them getting a bad break. You know, life has just been unfair to them.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They are constantly misunderstood.

[Derek Levasser]

And I gotta tell you, as the detective in that room, it takes a little piece of your soul every time you have to go in there and placate to these ass clowns because you have to almost. You have to entertain them. Oh, this is your opportunity. Listen.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, because they really want to find out what happened to Harmony. Like, we got to figure it out. And this freaking guy knows, so we gotta find out from him. And he wants to talk about like, ah, I've been arrested on second degree. Worse than a second degree assault charge before. They don't throw flashbangs at your car and ram you into the guardrail like you need to talk. We need to talk about how poorly I was treated.

[Derek Levasser]

Yep. And he's giving him, they're giving him a cigarette and all this stuff. They're actually, their stomachs are turning right now. And I will say without jumping too far ahead in this interview, because I don't know where it's going to go. If these investigators have been doing it a while and I'm sure they put their best people on this case. You already know by his responses and the deflection that's going on that whatever happened to Harmony, it ain't good.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And that he's not going to tell you. But they got to try, but they got to try.

[Derek Levasser]

And you got to be just by his reaction where he could have end this right now and say, hey, she's over here. Here, get me out of here. You know, at minimum, she's either been given to somebody that she shouldn't have been or she's no longer with us.

[Stephanie Harlow]

You already know the possibilities are running through their heads.

[Derek Levasser]

You're. You're not thinking, this is going to have a happy ending.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So I will also say, like, yes, he does seem defeated. He does kind of seem like, man, I know this is the end of the road. Like, I had away with this for far longer than I thought I was going to. Right.

[Derek Levasser]

He's not going to be able to produce Harmony.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It's the end of 2021. She's been gone since, at the very least, the beginning of 2020. So I got away with this for a long time, but he's still thinking, like, they're not gonna get from me. Like, I know that they're gonna get me, but I won't give them the.

[Derek Levasser]

The satisfaction.

[Stephanie Harlow]

The satisfaction of helping them.

[Derek Levasser]

Well, he's also a career criminal. He knows the legality of it. And it's not what you know, it's what you can prove. And so his only hope at this point is that these guys are idiots and they do a bad investigation and there's a technicality. And the irony that we're sitting here talking about this because. Because this.

[Stephanie Harlow]

There's a technicality, There's a technicality.

[Derek Levasser]

But he knows that the only way to get him out of this situation is to bring Harmony forward. And he knows even before detectives that this situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Because right now it's a second degree assault charge, but that's to get him in the door to find Harmony. And they. He knows they're not going to find her, so he knows he's not going anywhere.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And he also knows they're. They're. They have the second degree assault charge based on something that happened in July of 2019 that, according to DCYF, was not actually an issue. So they really can't hold him for very long with this.

[Derek Levasser]

I disagree. I disagree. Maybe they let him out. I'll be shocked if you tell me they do. But now that they have him in the door, he has to produce Harmony.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, he's going to keep saying the same thing. And that's because, as you said, he did end up going on trial. He did end up getting convicted of Harmony's murder.

[Derek Levasser]

That's right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And now his convictions overturned because of a technicality. If they had her body, then this might not be such a quick overturn at this point, like they're.

[Detective]

They were.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They might not even have needed to present all the evidence that allowed for the overturn to happen if they had recovered Harmony's body. But at this point, Adam's gatekeeping that. And in. In 2021, when he's talking to the police, he's gatekeeping it again because he's like, do what you want, but you won't. You won't have me bring you to the evidence you need to put me behind bars for life.

[Derek Levasser]

And correct me if I'm wrong on this, because it's been a little bit. But the. The whole reason we're doing this, and the technicality is, was the second degree assault that was kind of combined with the. With the murder charge. And. And that's why the. The court argued, or I should say the defense argued, that it should have been separate. And because it wasn't, he didn't get a fair trial. And that's the whole reason we're here.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They're saying that presenting that evidence.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Was that previous abuse. Was. Was going to bias the jury, of course.

[Derek Levasser]

Oh, he beat up a child, so therefore he must be a killer.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yes.

[Derek Levasser]

And by the way, spoiler alert.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Exactly. Yes. And it is exactly from that July 2019 black eye that. That this technicality happened. Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

But this right here, guys, for everyone. That's not, you know, for all the interviews we don't have. And we just have to relay them to you. I can tell you they look similar to this right here.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So let's take a quick break. We'll be right back and continue on with Adam and his. This episode is brought to you by Revolve, which is basically where I go when I have something coming up and I need an outfit that makes it look like I planned ahead.

[Derek Levasser]

So, like organized chaos.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But fashion, sometimes you have a dinner, a trip, an event, a wedding photo, something on the calendar where leggings and a sweatshirt are not going to communicate the message that you're trying to send.

[Derek Levasser]

Which is unfortunate because leggings and a sweatshirt do communicate a very honest message.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. For me, that message is, I'm tired and emotionally burnt out right now. Which is fine for certain situations, but not all of them.

[Detective]

Yeah.

[Kayla Montgomery]

That's fair.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And that's why we love Revolve. So when I don't want to overthink what I'm wearing, I can go there. Everything feels curated in a way that actually makes sense. You can shop by vibe. So, like, date night, vacation, night out. So you're not just endlessly scrolling through a black hole trying to piece an outfit together like it's evidence.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, because that's the kind of investigation no one wants to do.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Exactly. I do enough of that professionally. I don't Want to be cross examining a blouse at 11pm where were you

[Derek Levasser]

on the night of the dinner reservation?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And do you pair with. With shoes I already own be because. No, none of the shoes I already own is going to work. But Revolve makes it easy because they have daily new arrivals, inclusive sizing, and so many brands and styles that look elevated but are still effortless. It's very much that put together without looking like you tried too hard. Energy.

[Adam Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

Which is the goal.

[Adam Montgomery]

Right.

[Derek Levasser]

You want to look like you just casually walked out of your house looking great.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But I also love that with fast shipping and easy returns, I can order a couple of options. If I have something coming up and I don't feel like making a lifelong commitment to a dress, I can try it on.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, dress shouldn't feel like a marriage contract truck.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It really shouldn't. So whether it's a weekend away, a dinner, a wedding, a big night out, or just one of those last minute plans where you suddenly need something that works, Revolve is an easy go to. Revolve always has it. Go to Revolve.com crime weekly to shop our faves and use code Crime weekly for 15 off your first order. Fast shipping, easy returns just makes everything easier. That's Revolve.comCrimeWeekly. you can shop our faves and get 15 off your first order. Offer ends July 13, so don't miss out. Okay, we're back. So the detectives kept asking Adam about Harmony's black eye in July of 2019. He kept insisting he had no idea what they were talking about. He was acting outright offended that they had the audacity to think he could do anything. He could. How could you think I could leave marks on my daughter? And he was like, significant marks? What's that even mean? What's that even mean? You know, he kept going back and forth. So then they start talking about when he, Kayla and the kids were evicted from the Guilford street home. And this seems to touch a nerve with Adam because we'll find out that there's kind of a restraining order from Kayla. Now Adam can't go near her and the kids, and he's really upset about it. And he's like, I can't even see my kids. And he's freaking out. And it's like, according to Kayla, you haven't seen her in over a year at this. She hasn't even heard from you since November of, I think, 20, maybe. It's been at least a few months. She doesn't know where he is. He's left with another woman, but he's really upset now that because of all this, he can't see his kid. Kids.

[Adam Montgomery]

I don't know. Right around Thanksgiving, sometimes the sheriffs came and threw us out. And then, and then me, Harmony and Declan, Sheamus and Kayla left.

[Detective]

And where the heck did you guys go from there?

[Adam Montgomery]

We were in our car.

[Detective]

Oh, so you, so you lived in your car at that time?

[Adam Montgomery]

For a couple of days.

[Detective]

How, how'd you get up out of that situation? Like, who, who took you in? Or where'd you guys send him?

[Adam Montgomery]

We ended up going to our mom's house. Kayla's mom's house.

[Kayla Montgomery]

House.

[Adam Montgomery]

Okay.

[Detective]

And what's her, her name?

[Adam Montgomery]

Chris.

[Detective]

Chris. How, how she. Well, I mean, she must be okay. She's willing to take you guys in.

[Adam Montgomery]

Yeah. All right. Like, all right. I, I, I. You know what, man? Like, I don't even want to talk anymore. Like, this is just being around the bush, man. It just seems a little too silly to me.

[Detective]

Well, I'm trying to figure out who can substantiate your claims that there's like, you're not this, like, monster of a person that, that either dcyf made you out to be or your, your family who you didn't get along with or whoever.

[Adam Montgomery]

But. Yeah, no, you are but to sit there, man, and, and, and sit there and tell me you yourself too. Like, this is why I feel like it's just all this is just a game. I know it is. I'm not stupid. I'm just trying to give you the opportunity to explain yourself. You're sitting here telling me not to make myself, not to make me out to look like some monster told my girlfriend the other day that she should get the away from me, that I don't. You don't even know who I am and what my past is like and all types of crazy like, but sit there and look me in my face.

[Detective]

Adam, I think. Are you talking about Kelsey?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Detective]

Okay, I think Kelsey might be exaggerating a little bit, right?

[Adam Montgomery]

I don't know her to exaggerate like that. That wasn't us talking to Kelsey either.

[Detective]

Oh, there was other people talking to her. Just so you know.

[Adam Montgomery]

She, she, she told me she gave me your card and said this was the guy that said it.

[Detective]

Okay, well, I'm telling you that I didn't say that, but if you want to believe it, that's fine.

[Adam Montgomery]

I mean, she never had no reason to lie to me, so I don't know why. What she was lied about at that

[Detective]

point, I'm trying to understand. I don't know your timeline of life, man. You're there. I'm. I'm not. That's why I'm trying to ask you these questions to.

[Adam Montgomery]

Look, I already clarify them. I already told you the other day. What should inspire. So we weren't. We didn't. All didn't even go to her mother's house.

[Detective]

Okay, who didn't go to her mother's house?

[Adam Montgomery]

How many was up? Well, there's some discrepancies between what you're telling us and what other people are telling us. You're saying you brought her down a mass. Somebody said she came up for mass. I never once said I brought it down to mass. What did you say? She came up here to get her. I never once said I was audio. Video recording the other day. I never once said I went down a mass. So you're saying that she came up from that.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Us.

[Adam Montgomery]

I'm not saying anything else. Why is it that you refuse to talk about her every time we bring her up? Because you guys are just sitting here beating a. A bush. It's over and over. You guys asked me what happened the other day. I told you what happened. You wouldn't. You wouldn't tell us the other day. You see, you guys talked to me the other day. I, I explained to him what happened the other day, and now can I just. It was just. It was just a charade. Yep. No, don't worry about it. You're not under arrest. And I'll come up with some. No. The other day. No. But then SWAT team roll up on me and, and, and, and, and the detects follow me around for the last three days. Yeah, people are coming out of the woodwork. That's what we're trying to tell you. Like, we don't want you to be painted as a monster. We want you to maybe explain yourself a little bit and give us some side of your story. We have nothing. We have just what we're hearing from people.

[Stephanie Harlow]

You keep locking up on us.

[Adam Montgomery]

You don't want to tell us anything about her. I got nothing else to say.

[Detective]

I think you care about all my kids. Right. But the one I care the most about is your daughter, Harmony. My job is not to jam somebody up for something that they didn't do wrong. And if you can tell me that you didn't do anything wrong, then I want to believe you. Because, dude, I've met you now a few times. I helped you out when you're at the hospital, when you were having a meltdown. You told me about your kids. I sat there and I talked to you. Dude, I could have fucking tased you right there, and I didn't do that because I saw deep down inside that you were hurting and that I wanted to help you. Right now, all I'm trying to do is help your daughter. I want to bring her home, and I can't do that without your help. Dude, I can't do that without your help. Help. Hey, can you look at me? Help me, please.

[Christina Lubin]

All.

[Detective]

That's all I'm asking for. I can't sleep until I know that she's okay. And I know that you know where she is or what happened to her, but I can't do it without your help. And if you don't want to look like this animal, because I don't think you are. Are not that I don't think you are. I know you aren't. But I can only do so much for you, man.

[Adam Montgomery]

I know.

[Detective]

I'm. I'm begging you to help me.

[Adam Montgomery]

That's it, guys.

[Detective]

Hey, can you make me a promise? Like, man to man? Can you tell me that she's alive?

[Adam Montgomery]

You're gonna play the same work games that you played with me the other.

[Detective]

No, it's not word games.

[Adam Montgomery]

I got nothing we care about.

[Detective]

We want to know. This isn't gonna. This isn't gonna go anywhere. Like, this isn't gonna stop. So.

[Adam Montgomery]

No, it's not.

[Detective]

So either get on the bus now or get run over.

[Adam Montgomery]

I got nothing else to say. Why is it you have so much

[Detective]

trouble talking about Harmony?

[Adam Montgomery]

Because I just got. I got nothing else to say.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, so there it is. Right? So, first off, great job by the detectives. I. It's almost like I was talking about earlier, where you're having to kind of, like, entertain this person. He doesn't believe any. The detective doesn't believe anything he's saying at that point.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Point.

[Derek Levasser]

I know you're not a monster. Translation, I know you're a monster. Right. It's. It's just. But you have to play that game. However, there's some body language cues in there that tell you what you need to know without Adam saying anything. The lean back in the chair. They'll look up at the sky. The hands kind of flexing in his. You know, he's holding his hands together. And then the actual words, right? There's a moment where he says, I know, and, you know, I got nothing. Then he just goes back to, I got nothing else to say. He asks.

[Stephanie Harlow]

That's it buddies?

[Kayla Montgomery]

That's it.

[Derek Levasser]

Yep. He asks him directly, is she still alive?

[Adam Montgomery]

Life?

[Derek Levasser]

I can't tell you that. So he knows they know?

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, he said, we're not playing the same word games because that's what they asked him. Remember when he said, I swear in my life, he's like, we're not playing the same word games that you've asked me before, which is like, I'm not answering you directly. Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

And then once he finally says the magic words, I want a lawyer, that's when you can say that I have nothing else to say, even after being Miranda, is you saying, I have nothing else to say. That doesn't require detectives to stop asking you questions. However, when you say, I want a lawyer, that's it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

That's it.

[Derek Levasser]

That's ending.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, that's a wrap.

[Derek Levasser]

But he said a lot without saying much.

[Stephanie Harlow]

He did. And I think I. I do also want to point out that he's an active drug user. A lot of his fidgeting, a lot of the things he was doing with his hands, obviously him insisting he had a cigarette. These are all things he's trying to do because he's not able to do drugs right now. Right. He's going to be there for several hours.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah. He's having withdrawals. Yeah. But there's, if you look at it again, very small baseline. But if you're looking for the subtleties that are different than what you've witnessed throughout the entire interrogation, anybody can do this. You look at that video that Stephanie has showed to us, this Entire video, and 99.9% of it, he's in the same position with the same posture. It's not until the detective looks at him in the eye closely, touches his arm, and asks him right out about. Specifically about Harmony and where she is. And that he knows where she is. And he can help that at that moment, he finally, subconsciously breaks his hands, leans back and looks up almost at the sky. It sounds like nothing. But when you compare it to the entire interview, that's the first moment where they tried to really back him into a corner about Harmony. And there was no way for him to get out because the detective was being super nice, that he finally goes, yep, I give up. They got me. I got nothing here, guys. I got nothing else to say. So is that enough to get a conviction? No. But when you're looking for those minor nonverbal cues, to me, that's a moment where this guy has a similar posture throughout the entire interview. But he breaks that when he's asked a question that he has a lot of anxiety about because he knows the. The answer to those questions.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. And he's not going to say them. And he knows he's not going to say them.

[Derek Levasser]

Yep. But he deviated from his consistent behavior throughout this entire video. And that, to me, is more telling than anything he said.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, you heard Adam mentioned that they had stayed with Kayla's mother for a little bit after being evicted. And that is true. But before that, they were living in the Chrysler Sebring that they parked behind the Colonial Village Apartments where their drug dealer, Anthony Bodero lived. So Bodero testified that he had met Adam Montgomery in August of 2019. Bodero had needed a ride to court. He called someone he knew and asked for a ride. This person told Bodero that he couldn't give him a ride. But this person was with another friend, Adam, who would be able to give Anthony Bodero a ride to court. So Adam showed up to pick up Anthony Bodero with Kayla, their two sons, and Harmony. And Bodero testified that this was the first time he had met Harmony and the second time and last time he saw her was about three to four weeks after that. So Anthony Bodero also testified that in 2019, he sold both Adam and Kayla Montgomery drugs.

[Interviewer]

How often would you sell the defendant and Kayla drugs?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Whenever I had any available.

[Interviewer]

How frequently was that?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Not frequently.

[Interviewer]

Were you actively selling drugs back then?

[Stephanie Harlow]

When I did have, yes.

[Interviewer]

And how would they pay you when they would. When they would purchase those drugs?

[Stephanie Harlow]

They would either pay me with cash or they would sell me food stamps.

[Interviewer]

Let's talk about that.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yes, sir.

[Interviewer]

What do you mean when you say they would sell you food stamps?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Well, they would.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I would give them half of whatever they gave me in food stamps.

[Interviewer]

Let me back up. What type of drugs were they buying from you back then?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Heroin and crap.

[Derek Levasser]

So this is what I was referring to earlier. We dealt with this every single day when we were in narcotics. You would have people who are getting food stamps through government assistance. Let's say they have a hundred dollars in food stamps. They would go to a drug dealer or even, like, some of our local, like, convenience stores, and there would be, like, a markup, like you would. Because they have the EBT card. Right. So what they would do in those cases is you go up to the register and it'd usually be the owner who's also running the register. They wouldn't buy anything. Maybe like a stick of gun just for, like, the camera purposes. But they would go up there and they would punch in a hundred dollars, right? Like, if he said, we're gonna do a hundred bucks, they would punch in a hundred dollars on the scanner, they would scan the card, and then in return, the store owner would give them back $60 in cash. Right? So they're getting. There's a $40 mark up there where the. For the. For the risk.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So the. The store owner's aware that this is happening. It shouldn't be happening.

[Derek Levasser]

Stephanie, do you know how many times we hit stores that were doing this all the time? Like, this was such a common.

[Stephanie Harlow]

How do the stores benefit from it? I guess.

[Derek Levasser]

Well, think about it, right? So someone comes in there, okay, they buy no product, right? They give them a hundred dollars towards the EB on the EBT card, which is good as cash for them, Right? And instead of giving them the full hundred dollars back, they're only giving them 60 back. So they're making $40. And this is happening throughout the day.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So it's as good as cash to the store.

[Derek Levasser]

Oh, yeah. When it's like that, it's like a debit card card.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay?

[Derek Levasser]

It's an EBT card. It's just like a debit card where they're getting paid by. It's a. It's a government debit card, essentially, where back. What he's talking about is actual food stamps.

[Stephanie Harlow]

There should be maybe like a different system where that can't happen.

[Derek Levasser]

It's difficult. Think about it. Like, think about the oversight. How do you regulate what people are. If they're doing this?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, I mean, if they're not buying anything, then there should be some sort of like.

[Derek Levasser]

But on the receipt, it would look like it. They'll punch in bananas and cereal.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay, so.

[Derek Levasser]

Okay, but they're not actually. So they. They're. They're charging them for goods, but they're getting to keep those goods.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They're charging them for goods they're not actually selling. So they get to sell them twice.

[Derek Levasser]

Exactly.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, exactly.

[Derek Levasser]

So they're getting to sell them twice. So what we. Our strategy. Yeah, we went after the. The drug users, but my real focus was going after the.

[Stephanie Harlow]

The actual stores, the people who were being accomplices to this.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, right. The millionaires that were actually doing this and making a ton of money by doing it. Like, the same thing was going on with baby formula. There was a lot of that, but this was happening all the time. But there was a point where the food stamps were paper and you could just hand it over to them and, like, he's saying, and he didn't explain it that great, but they would give him $100 in food stamps, and in return, he would give them $50 in crack. So he's making 50 bucks?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

On top of the money, he's charging them double for the heroin that or the crack. That would usually cost 50 bucks. And the risk is he then has to convert those food stamps, which he can do, you know, pretty easily.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So, yeah, the ones he got, again, he. He is able to sell his product twice. Yeah, yeah, basically. Okay, so this is important for many reasons, because, remember, Kayla said that they were using money, her money from work to buy drugs and the food stamps to provide for the children. But as it turns out, Kayla and Adam had no problem trading in these exact food stamps that were provided to them as a public assistance for heroin and crack. And additionally, it makes sense why Kayla was in such a hurry to add Harmony to her benefits in February of 2019 when Adam secured custody. Now, once again, we. We talked about this earlier. Am I saying this was the motive or the reason of why Adam went after full custody of Harmony? I'm not saying it's the only reason, but I do believe it was one of contributing factor.

[Derek Levasser]

Passive income. Absolutely.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So in 2021, both Adam and Kayla told the police that Harmony had gone back to live with her mother, Crystal, in November of 2019, meaning she no longer lived with them, and Harmony should have been removed. Removed from the family's benefits account. However, police and prosecutors have proved that Kayla and Adam continued collecting food stamp benefits for Harmony. And when Kayla was confronted with this in 2021, she claimed she had previously attempted to have Harmony removed, but she was unsuccessful. But police obtained DHHS case management records. Those records showed that Kayla had not requested or attempted to remove harmony until June 2, 2021, more than a year and a half after Kayla claimed Harmony no longer lived with them. Right. So Adam and Kayla get evicted from 77 Gulford St. Anthony Bodero gave them permission to park their car behind the Colonial park apartments where he lived, at which point he continues to sell them drugs, sometimes trading drugs for food stamps. Kayla testified that during the time they were staying behind the Colonial Park Apartments, Anthony Bodero saw Harmony and the other two boys and would wave at them. She also said that Bodero brought them Thanksgiving leftovers while they were in the Sebring and that he saw Harmony at that time, and then he and Harmony waved at each other. But according to Anthony Bodero, this never happened, and he didn't even know where Adam, Kayla and the kids and their car were between Thanksgiving and the time they showed up on his doorstep in early December. So this is where things start to become muddled and you're like, is Anthony Bodero lying about knowing they were back there and seeing Harmony? Because he, he doesn't want to seem like an accomplice or was he in some way an accomplice? And that's why he's lying and that's why he's like, I didn't even know they were back there. Because once again, they were definitely back there. It's because the search warrants were obtained from Facebook and Google, and location data from Google was consistent with the Montgomery's staying at the Colonial Village parking lot from approximately November 27, which is when they got evicted until December 8 of 2019.

[Derek Levasser]

He knew they were back, back there.

[Stephanie Harlow]

He knew they were back there.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Right?

[Derek Levasser]

100 and listen, a drug dealer, you know your surroundings, you want to watch out for police. You're always looking for narcs, you're looking for surveillance vehicles, you're looking for other, you know, rivals that close in proximity. Either it's from word of mouth or you're just driving by yourself, you're gonna know they're back there. He was enabling them. He knew exactly what they were doing when they were coming in the house full of desperation, selling their kids food stamps for half the value.

[Kayla Montgomery]

You.

[Derek Levasser]

Because they can't exchange those food stamps for drugs. You know, he knew. He knew he was taking food out of those kids mouths. And he never stopped. He never even said at that point, hey, listen, man, I know the business I'm in, but I got a conscience. I can't be doing that. Nope. He gladly took the money for half the price of what the value was. And he took advantage of their addictions for sure. He's. He's a, he's a scumbag as well. No doubt about it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Because even Anthony Bodero's girlfriend who was living with him were like, yeah, we brought them Thanksgiving leftovers.

[Derek Levasser]

Knew.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So he, he was like, I have no idea where they were staying until they showed up in like, you know, the first week of December. But he, he knew. So why are you lying?

[Derek Levasser]

You know, he knows as. As much as he's trying to hide it, that indirectly he was contributing to the lack of food and the malnutrition that these kids were experiencing because he was enabling these parents to go and take the money that was intended for them and use it for something Else.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So also, I think there's something to say that he knew Harmony was being abused, because, remember, from the time they start living in the car, Harmony's starting to have accidents. Adam's hitting her. She has black eyes and marks on her, and he's hiding her with a comfort whenever anyone sees her. But according to Kayla, Anthony Bodero would see Harmony and he would wave at her. So we can assume during that time after Thanksgiving and before December 7th, when the police believe Harmony was killed, that Anthony Bodero saw her with marks on her face because she wasn't hidden by a comforter when nobody else could see her. So I think there's an implication of that as well.

[Derek Levasser]

Well, yeah, no doubt. He's just trying to separate himself as much as he can. That's just what these guys all do, right?

[Adam Montgomery]

Yeah, they.

[Derek Levasser]

What they're selling and what they're doing contributes to a lot of crime in the area that they're selling these drugs. And that's why it's so important to get these guys off the street, because it's not just the selling of drugs. It's the larcenies, it's the robberies, it's the sexual assaults, it's the child neglect. It's. It's. It's murder.

[Stephanie Harlow]

The domino effect.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

And they know. They're just trying to separate themselves and compartmentalize what they do as like, hey, hey, we just sell drugs. We're not involved in anything else.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So Kayla's mother, Christina Lubin, said that shortly after the eviction, Kayla called her and told her that they had a flat tire and they didn't have money to fix it.

[Christina Lubin]

I was leaving to leave for the day, so I left the money in a cooler in my side hallway so that they could get their tire fixed.

[Derek Levasser]

You left the money in a cooler?

[Christina Lubin]

Yes.

[Derek Levasser]

Could you describe what.

[Interviewer]

What did the cooler look.

[Detective]

Look like?

[Christina Lubin]

It was a red cooler with a white top that would flip open.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Now, this cooler is very important, which is why we're talking about it. So put a pin in that. Christina Lubin testified that she only met Harmony once, shortly after Thanksgiving of 2019. So around the time they got evicted. And she remembered Harmony with pigtails and glasses, she described her as adorable, quiet, and seemingly okay. But when Adam, Kayla, and the boys returned to Christina Lubin's home that December and stayed for about two weeks, Harmony was not with them. Now, this is a clip from interview with Christina Lubin, which took place just two days after Adam Montgomery was arrested in 2021 or in 2022. Actually, it would be early 2022. So he was arrested January 4, 2022. And then Christina Lubin is talking to reporters outside of her home on the 6th.

[Christina Lubin]

It's just. It's just hell. And she has made her choices, and that's all I can say. I'm just asking you just for the chance. Children's sake. I do pray for Harmony, and I did have something come to me today for the police that I thought may help, which I did tell the police. I'm not going to give that out yet because I don't want to hinder it in any way. Just, please.

[Derek Levasser]

When did you see Harmony?

[Christina Lubin]

It was. I knew it was in the winter time. I wasn't exactly sure when. And when I spoke with my daughter, she was telling me it was a day after Thanksgiving.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay, that was last year, in 2020 or 2020?

[Christina Lubin]

No, that was in 2019. And did you ever ask your daughter

[Stephanie Harlow]

where she was after that, that you never saw her again?

[Christina Lubin]

Well, she told me that because they had. They came here the end of December during the holidays, and they were here briefly. I asked her, I'm like, well, we, I expected Harmony to do them, and they said no. And I know they've been kind of living on the streets and in a car kind of thing. And I, well, she didn't say no. She said she's with her mother. And I didn't question it because I don't know. I didn't know until all the news, the history of the family. And Adam for the first couple years was some sweet guy, and he's not. He is pure evil. He is pure evil. So I hope any, I really, really hope the information that came to me today that can help in the search for Harmony, and that's, that's really where my prayers are now, because my grandchildren will be with me, so I'm not going to be worried about them. And just please respect the privacy. This is so scary for.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

Do you think Harmony's still alive?

[Christina Lubin]

I hope and pray she's still alive, but it's been two years, you know, so I don't know.

[Derek Levasser]

You got to be heartbroken over this year.

[Christina Lubin]

I, I, I'm distraught. My body's been shaking every couple hours because this, I can't get away from it. You know what I mean? I can't not, not check the news. I want to know what's going on. And I have spoken to police several times.

[Derek Levasser]

Do you think your daughter had any involvement in her disappearance?

[Christina Lubin]

Kayla told me that just as in her affidavit. And I, and I drilled my daughter, believe me, I asked, you know, with her history, yeah, she used to be a liar, but I know how to get the truth out of my daughter. The youngest daughter. Daughter, her daughter wasn't born yet and Harmony was with him. He dropped her off at work and he said to her, I am bringing Harmony to her mother. And then Katie came back later. I don't know how many hours, I don't know that, that she was working at a Dunkin Donuts. I've given all that information to the police. But Kayla said, where is he? She didn't say where she is. But I don't know. I'm so confused right now.

[Derek Levasser]

And when do you think that happened?

[Christina Lubin]

In my mind, from what I've tried to gather and all the media has been great with trying to get all the information out there in the social media, I thought that's been great too. But I think it happened like in a week period. And I think it happened from December 6th till prior to December six. So December 6th, anytime after things the day after Thanksgiving in December 6th, so it's like there's the 30th of the month. So it's like six to seven days. So I think it has something happened in that week and I don't know what day. I asked the police if they checked her, my daughter's records because my children are brought up where they have to tell the truth and they have to fess up. And my daughter has broken every time for me in the past. And I said to her, and I said to her, and I said to her, I said, are you sure? I said, what couple doesn't communicate about this and so forth. And I know those are the questions out there. My daughter does have a good heart, but I don't know what her heart was on this. But I do believe her. She's staying very, very consistent in what she's saying. And I can tell by her, I'm her mom, you know, so.

[Detective]

So that whole drop off, you're saying

[Stephanie Harlow]

that's between Thanksgiving, December day after Thanksgiving

[Christina Lubin]

and before December 6, 2019? Yes.

[Detective]

And what's this significant at December 6th

[Stephanie Harlow]

that makes that date stick in your head?

[Christina Lubin]

That day was reminded to me by my daughter because they were homeless and they needed a place to come. And I said, well, I don't really have the room. My landlord, so they were just here during the holiday. During that time.

[Stephanie Harlow]

You said, Adam is the devil. Why do you say that?

[Christina Lubin]

He can sweet talk and swindle like. Like he did with us for the two years. And then everything. He points the finger at everybody else and talks up quite the storm and. And it's a lot of. He talks like jail talk. That's. That's all.

[Stephanie Harlow]

What about abuse? The allegation yesterday was he was abusive towards Harmony.

[Christina Lubin]

I don't know about that.

[Derek Levasser]

This video here, the last one, I mean, I don't know how truthful she's being. Is she protecting herself? She protecting her daughter? I do think there's some.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She's protecting, she's trying to protect. She. You know, she's like, I. I'm usually pretty good at getting the truth out of her. And she says this is consistent. Well, we've come to find out. No, I've. Everything Kayla said at that time Adam got arrested was a lie.

[Kayla Montgomery]

So.

[Derek Levasser]

And that could be some blind parental love. But one thing I will say for all the people who are on audio, I don't always say this. It's happened seldomly, but it has happened. This is one of those episodes, guys, where if you have an opportunity and you really want to be immersed in this case, when you get home after work or whatever, after listening to this, because a lot of you are listening in the car or whatever, you gotta go mark these timestamps and go watch the videos yourself, specifically Adam's interrogation. Because, yeah, the audio is really good in this. I'm hearing it in my headphones. But it will not do the same justice that the video does, having the. The physical mannerisms with the verbal comments they're making to kind of come to a true opinion on how you feel about the validity and the credibility of these people speaking. So I would strongly recommend that when you get home, go over to the YouTube channel, just fast forward to the timestamps where the videos are, because it adds a whole different layer to it than just hearing it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So at this point, this is, like I said, January 6, 2021, after Adam's been. Or January 26, 2022, after Adam's been arrested.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, it's been over two years.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Christina's being asked questions and, you know, like, yeah, I think Kayla's being honest. Like, I don't think she was involved. That's just her protecting her daughter, you know, very well. You know. Now, as it turns out, though, Christina was pretty accurate on the date of when Harmony was killed. Killed. But like I said, not so accurate when it came to the faith she had in her ability to get the truth out of her daughter Kayla. So prosecutors believe, based on the timeline and based on Kayla Montgomery's testimony that Harmony Montgomery was killed on December 7, 2019. So let's go to that date because Adam and Kayla interacted with several people around that time. We have Kimberly Frain and Matthew Gendon. And both of these people worked with Kayla and Adam at Dunkin Donuts in the past. Past. As we know, Kimberly maintained her ties to Adam and Kayla after their work relationship ended because they used drugs together and remained friends. She's the one who had the gun stolen from her by Adam. Matthew Gendron was Facebook friends with Adam and Kayla through their joint account, and he would sometimes chat with them there. Both Kimberly and Matthew received urgent messages from Adam and Kayla just after midnight on December 8, 2019. So Matthew received the first message at 12:13am and it was Adam telling him that their car battery had died. Quote hey, we need help asap. Please need a jump and jumper cables asap. My car died. We've been sleeping in our car and the battery just died, end quote. So Matthew responded and he was like, I don't have jumper cables. Then another message came in, and this time the person writing the messages identified herself as Kayla and asked Matthew if he could bring her to the store and get jumper cables. Quote I'll give you gas money. We will literally die tonight. And quote, Matthew replied again. And he was like, I just got home from work. I have to work early tomorrow. I don't even know what's open. The person who was allegedly Kayla wrote back that it was okay. She also didn't know what was open and she was sorry. And Matthew was like, yeah, you know, I don't have cables and I don't know what's open. And then Kayla replied back, quote I think either if mobile don't have them, the only place is Amherst, Walmart. So I know you need to get up early. Have a good night, end quote. And so Matthew responded, like any of us would, all right, have a good night. And that should have been the rest of it, the end of it. But then Kayla or Adam kept pushing. Quote I'm going to try. Can we die in this weather? We can't, right? We can just be really cold. End quote. They're trying to make him feel bad. It's like, do you think we can die in this cold? Probably not, right? We'll just be really, really cold. And this was followed by another message. Quote hey, I'm at Colonial Village. And Kimmy said she had jumper cables, end quote. And Matthew was like, great, Kimmy can jump you. Kimberly Frayne. But then the joint Kayla Adam Facebook account wrote back, well, Kimmy doesn't have her car. And so that's why I've been messaging everyone. So do you not want to do that? End quote? And Matthew was like, I don't really feel like running all over the place at this hour of the night. No, I really don't want to do this. So they're saying, like, okay, so we got Kim, and she's got jumper cables, but we still need a car because she doesn't have her car. She is half the equation of what we need. So can you still come to Colonial Apartments and help us with this? Now, the response that Matthew got to that was, quote, it's not our car, Matt. Our car died today. Our friend is letting us stay in his. It's all good, Matt. Don't worry about it. I just didn't want to freeze tonight. And I've messaged everyone else. No one has cables or no one has their cars, end quote. So here's Kimberly Frane talking about her conversation with Adam Montgomery that night.

[Derek Levasser]

Did you ever bring Adam Montgomery jumper cables to try to start a car?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Derek Levasser]

What time was this? What time of morning was this that Adam reached out or you got these

[Stephanie Harlow]

messages asking for a jump?

[Kayla Montgomery]

It was in the middle of the night. I just remember that it was late.

[Interviewer]

So did you go to where they

[Derek Levasser]

were and give them a jump?

[Kayla Montgomery]

I did.

[Derek Levasser]

Where did you go?

[Kayla Montgomery]

It's behind Elm street in. I think it's Colonial Apartments.

[Detective]

Okay.

[Derek Levasser]

When you saw them, do you remember

[Interviewer]

what kind of car they were in at that night?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah, they were in a blue Audi.

[Derek Levasser]

So when you got there, who, if anybody, got into your car?

[Kayla Montgomery]

I pulled up, and I don't remember the beginning, but I don't think I brought a jumper pack that my ex husband had. And a good Samaritan came by, and him and Adam jump started it. And Kayla jumped in my car with the two boys, and we just blasted the heat. Heat keep them warm.

[Interviewer]

To keep them warm.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

So you said it was Kayla and the two boys.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Two boys.

[Derek Levasser]

Okay, so I know you said before that you had babysat Harmony on one occasion.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Was Harmony there with you? Did she get into the car as well with Kayla and the two boys?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Derek Levasser]

Did you see Harmony at all while you were there that night?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay, so this is the early morning hours of December 8th. Police believe Harmony died on December 7th. So Kimberly Frayne says that when she went to the Colonial Park Apartments to give Adam Montgomery a jump, he, Kayla and the two boys were in a blue Audi. But we know that before that, they'd been living in a silver Chrysler Sebring. So how did we get from one car to the other? Now, to understand that, we have to go to Kayla Montgomery's testimony, because according to her, on the same day that Harmony was killed, the Sebring broke down. And then a whole series of events followed. And this is kind of where the dominoes start falling. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. This episode of Crime Weekly is brought to you by Wild Grain, which honestly is one of those things that makes you feel like you have your life together with very minimal effort. And Derek and I, you know, whether we're gonna pretend like we try to eat healthy, we only do that once in a while. Derek probably more than me.

[Derek Levasser]

And Wild Grain has definitely helped me with that. It's good food, but you can see what you're eating, and you know, it's a lot better than the processed foods you're gonna get at fast food restaurants.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yes. And this is my favorite category of product, the food thing. Carbs. I love it. Wild Grain is the first baked from frozen subscription box for sourdough breads, artisanal pastries, and fresh pastas.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, baked from frozen is key there because some of us are not planning dinners three days in advance. So this really helps that some of

[Stephanie Harlow]

us aren't even planning dinner three hours in advance.

[Derek Levasser]

Dude, I mean, listen, you said it. I was trying to give us a little leeway, but you're right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

What I love is that with Wild Grain, everything comes frozen, but it still tastes like something you picked up from an actual bakery. Their sourdough loaves are so good and they use a 20 hour slow fermentation process so you can really taste the quality, simple ingredients. And that slow fermentation can be easier on your stomach and richer in nutrients and antioxidants.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, and you don't have the thought first. Cuz when you think about it three minutes before you're supposed to eat, and then you realize you want to go with it, but now you have to thaw it out. It completely deters you. Not the case with Wild Green.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And Wild Green is fully customizable too. They have their variety box, gluten free box, vegan box, and now the new protein box. So depending on what your house actually needs and what the people in it need, you can make it work for you. Imagine having fresh bakery quality bread, pastries, and pastas at home without any trips to the store. And don't just take our word for it, okay? We love it, but so do a lot of other people. They have over 40,000 5 star reviews and they've been voted the best best food subscription box by USA Today for three years in a row. For a limited time, Wild Grain is offering our listeners $30 off your first box plus free croissants for life when you go to wildgrain.com crime weekly to start your subscription today. That's $30 off your first box and free croissants for life when you visit wildgrain.com crime weekly. Or you can use our promo code Crime Weekly at checkout. Easy as pie.

[Muscle Milk Advertiser]

Everyone's talking about protein lately, but how do you actually get enough of it? Muscle Milk Muscle Milk has a great tasting new formula with no artificial sweeteners, flavors or added colors. It's high quality complete protein designed to support healthy muscles with fewer ingredients than the previous formula and 2642 grams of protein. For when you're stuck in meetings or need a post workout recovery. Available in chocolate, vanilla, cream, cookies and cream and strawberries and cream. Try the new great taste Muscle Milk today available in stores nationwide. Muscle Milk protein for all.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay, we're back. So it appears that Harmony was still alive in the early morning hours of December 7, 2019. That morning, both Kayla and Adam paid a visit to the methadone clinic. Now, I want to be very clear about something because methadone treatment is supposed to help people stabilize during drug addiction, avoid withdrawals, reduce cravings, reduce illicit opioid use. It is technically a real evidence based treatment for opioid use disorder. And when carefully managed by medical professionals and taken without other illicit substances, methadone is known to be highly effective. Right. It's an FDA approved medication to help those in recovery avoid relapse. However, however, it is still at its face, a synthetic opioid. So when we're talking about Adam and Kayla, who we know were still actively using drugs and were doing nothing to stop and had no plans to stop or to seriously pur pursue like rehabilitation, they were not using methadone for its intended purpose. Whenever they went to these clinics, they were in a place where they didn't have money for their actual drugs. And the use of the methadone was like a temporary bridge to get to a place where they would be okay until they were able to secure heroin. Right. Because we know opioid addiction is intense. Over time, the brain and body physically reorganize themselves around that that drug. And then if the use stops A person will have really awful, horrendous withdrawal. Like, opioid withdrawal is very bad. I've never been through it, but I've heard enough people describe it to know sweating, shaking, vomiting, diarrhea, pain, actual horrible pain, panic, insomnia, chills.

[Derek Levasser]

Oh, they feel like they're gonna die.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They feel like they're gonna die. Yeah. And a lot of people have said, like, once I got off, it was. I. I kept remembering that and didn't want to get back on. Like, that's why a lot of people who do actually become clean, they. They don't go back and use it again because they remember how bad that withdrawal was. So it's. It's very bad. And for someone in deep, active opioid addiction, the day can become a cycle of, like, getting high, coming down, getting sick, finding money, finding drugs, doing whatever it takes to stop the sickness from taking over. So that includes paying a visit to their local methadone clinic until they're able to secure what they actually want. So the methadone is a way to stay physically and mentally, like, with it and not just, like. Like you said, feeling like they want to die until their next. Next drug score. Now, I want to say that because I don't want anybody to be like, they were going to a methadone clinic. They were clearly trying to get help. No. If they're actively using drugs at the same time, it's just a bridge to. To avoid these horrible withdrawal symptoms. Now, according to Kayla Montgomery, Adam's abuse of Harmony started first thing in the morning.

[Interviewer]

You mentioned Harmony having accidents and then becoming more frequent. At that point point on December 7, was she still having those accidents?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And had they increased in frequency?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Did Harmony have an accident first thing in the morning?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And that would have been before you started your day?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And before you left for the methadone clinic, did Harmony have an accident?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And what did the defendant do before you went to the methadone clinic? What did the defendant do to Harmony after that accident?

[Kayla Montgomery]

He was yelling and screaming at her and punching her in the head.

[Interviewer]

How did she react to that?

[Kayla Montgomery]

She was crying.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So then on the drive to the methadone clinic, Harmony was saying that she needed to use the bathroom again, and, you know, after she'd already had an accident in the car. And evidently, this enraged Adam. So Kayla and Adam went into the methadone clinic that day. They didn't go one by one like someone who would, you know, want to make sure there was a person in the car with their three children. Kayla went in at 704am and Adam went in at 7:09am Kayla returned back to the car first, followed by Adam.

[Kayla Montgomery]

When Adam came back to the vehicle, he could smell urine. And. And he started yelling at Harmony and kept hitting her in the head, repetitively.

[Interviewer]

Where were you when he smelt that accident? Where was the vehicle when he smelled that accident?

[Kayla Montgomery]

In front of the methadone clinic.

[Interviewer]

Did you discuss going somewhere with him at any point that morning? Going to get food?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes. I asked to go to Burger King.

[Interviewer]

You asked to go to Burger King?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And so at some point, did he begin driving the vehicle?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Was that before or after he repeatedly struck Harmony?

[Kayla Montgomery]

After.

[Interviewer]

What was Harmony doing at that point when he started driving the vehicle?

[Kayla Montgomery]

She was crying a lot.

[Interviewer]

She was crying a lot?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah. And she was making a weird noise.

[Interviewer]

Was she saying anything?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Interviewer]

And, Kayla, I want you to walk the jurors through, in as much detail as you can, what happened on your route from habit APCO to that Burger King.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Adam. Adam was getting really angry from Harmony peeing in the car. And he repetitively kept punching her on the way to Burger King. And there were a couple red lights. And when we were at red lights, he would, like, go over the driver's seat. Seat, like in between the passenger seat. And he was just punching her repetitively in the head.

[Interviewer]

You've said there were several times where he punched her repetitively. Repetitively in the head?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

How many times did he hit her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

I can't count. I don't know.

[Interviewer]

Were you counting?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No, I wasn't.

[Interviewer]

How many lights did that car come to where he repetitively struck her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

At least two or three

[Interviewer]

between habit OPCO and the Burger King. Did the defendant say anything to Harmony?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Told her to shut the. Shut the up, Stop crying.

[Interviewer]

He said she was making a weird noise.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes. Can you describe was like. I can't even describe. Was like a moaning kind of noise, but crying. It was just weird. I can't explain it.

[Interviewer]

Did he try to help Harmony while he was striking her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Tell the jurors what you did to help. To try to help.

[Kayla Montgomery]

I put my arm up and said to stop, but he looks at me and he gave me this look that was like evil. I don't. His crazy eyes. I didn't like it, and I didn't. I couldn't stop her, stop him from hitting her because he. The look that he gave me was scary. I was scared.

[Interviewer]

What were you feeling when he looked at you like that?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Like he was either gonna hit me or just. I don't know. It was weird. And that was like, one of the first times that I've seen him look at me like that.

[Interviewer]

Was it the last time you saw

[Stephanie Harlow]

look at you like that?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Interviewer]

You said that. That. That Harmony's crying. She's making this weird noise.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Where was she in the vehicle?

[Kayla Montgomery]

She was behind the passenger seat.

[Interviewer]

And who was in front of her in that car?

[Kayla Montgomery]

I was.

[Interviewer]

You described the defendant almost coming over the seat.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Was he still driving at that point?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Some. Like. Kind of like between the red lights and. It was definitely at the red lights. I remember that.

[Interviewer]

How was he striking her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

By punching her in the head.

[Interviewer]

Where were your other two children at that time?

[Kayla Montgomery]

In the back seat.

[Interviewer]

What were they doing?

[Kayla Montgomery]

They had no idea what was going on.

[Interviewer]

How old were they?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Seamus was about 10, two and a half, and Declan was 11 months old.

[Interviewer]

Did you look back at Harmony at any point?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Interviewer]

Why not?

[Kayla Montgomery]

I was scared.

[Interviewer]

What were you scared of?

[Kayla Montgomery]

If Adam was gonna say something or if he hurt her really bad, it was gonna look really bad.

[Interviewer]

You were scared of what Harmony would look like.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Did he stop after that, shortly after that?

[Interviewer]

Did he say anything to you when he stopped?

[Kayla Montgomery]

He said he thinks that he really hurt her. He felt something.

[Interviewer]

When he said that he thinks he really hurt her.

[Muscle Milk Advertiser]

Where.

[Interviewer]

Where was the vehicle at that point?

[Kayla Montgomery]

At Burger King.

[Interviewer]

At the Burger King?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And what did the defendant do after he stopped hitting Harmony, after he said, I think I really hurt her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Nothing.

[Interviewer]

Did you order food from Burger King?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Did he go through the drive through?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And so who ordered the food?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Adam did.

[Interviewer]

And what did you do with the food that he had ordered?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Ate it? Gave some to the kids.

[Interviewer]

Did you see Harmony when you were giving them food?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Interviewer]

Why not?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Because she was under the blanket.

[Interviewer]

Who put her under the blanket?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Adam.

[Derek Levasser]

So, Stephanie, I have a really stupid question for you because I'm new to this whole crime thing, and I need you to give me some insight here. Here. Do you think that the jury members convicted Adam because of a previous assault involving her black eye? Or do you think maybe, just maybe, this statement right here of what actually happened on that particular occasion, on. On. During this particular assault, do you think that maybe that played a factor in them convicting him?

[Stephanie Harlow]

We. We have a lot to say. And I. I personally, being on the jury. No, we know it's a technicality. You know, every single person on that jury right now is pissed off that this decision happened. Happened.

[Derek Levasser]

I'm pissed as a taxpayer that now this guy gets Another day of trial that we have to go through this whole process again because he's going to be found guilty.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They're going to say Kayla is not a reliable narrator. Whatever. We. We have reasons and we're going to talk about that. But I want everyone to understand what happened here. This demon, Adam Montgomery, beats his five year old daughter relentlessly. Okay. She starts to cry and make a sound that Kayla Montgomery. Kayla Montgomery is a stupid. Described as never hearing before from Harmony. A sound she described as being. Being weird. And then from the methadone clinic to Burger King, which would be a 7 to 12 minute drive, depending on.

[Derek Levasser]

Not bad enough for her to lose her appetite though, but okay.

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, exactly, exactly.

[Derek Levasser]

Or whatever.

[Stephanie Harlow]

A 7 to 12 minute drive from the methadone clinic to Burger King. Adam told Harmony to shut up. At each red light, he reached back and continued to repeatedly punch her in the head. Kayla tried to stop. She put her hand out. But then she got scared. Right, because he gave a look.

[Derek Levasser]

What could you have done there? Maybe, I don't know, know, as a mother, get him out of the car.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, especially when you're parked at Burger King, but okay. Then they get to Burger King and Adam tells Kayla he thinks he really hurt Harmony this time. What do you think Kayla or Adam did? Well, they didn't check on Harmony. Instead of getting Harmony help, Adam covered Harmony with a comforter and then pulled through the Burger King drive thru and ordered food. And then once they had their food. Food. Did they check on Harmony? No, they sat in the car. The. The car. The very same car where Harmony was laying in the back seat under a comforter, dying alone. And they all ate their french fries and chicken nuggets while Harmony died under that blanket. Yeah, and. And it gets worse because after leaving Burger King, neither Adam nor Kayla made an attempt to check on Harmony or get her medical attention. And we're going to talk about that in a second. But first I want to ask you, listen. Yes, this is Kayla Montgomery's version of events. I know she seems upset, right? She does seem upset. She's crying.

[Derek Levasser]

Well, she watched a child be murdered in forever.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So yeah, this is upsetting. Exactly. But is she crying? Because I think that there's things she's saying that isn't true here. Like I did try to stop. I don't believe you. And I think there's also things she's saying that are true. Like, why were you worried? And she said, I was worried because of like how it was going to look if he really did hurt her. Like, how was it going to look? She never at any point said, says she's worried about Harmony, that she's like, oh, my God, is Harmony okay? She's like, well, if he really did hurt her, if Adam really did hurt Harmony, how is it going to look? That's what Kayla was worried about in that moment. And then even then on the stand, right? She was never like, oh, my God. I was like, I couldn't eat. I couldn't even eat my Burger King because I was so worried about what? No. Y' all sat there, you passed french fries back to your other kids while Harmony laid under the blanket and died alone. Hearing you guys sit there and eat around her, her. You. You both deserve to be in prison for life. And you both deserve to burn in hell.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, I mean, I'm not a doctor, but what it sounds like. And if you look at the video again, why it's so important. Adam appears to be a pretty stocky guy, right? He's not tiny. He's got big forearms. You could see it. I mean, he's a decent sized guy. I don't know if he's tall or not.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And this is a guy who's, like, consistently using drugs and probably not in the gym. So this is a natural sort of, like, physique.

[Derek Levasser]

And he's probably been in a fight or two in a tough neighborhood. Massive Massachusetts kid, probably can fight, you know, and he's punching this young girl in the head more than likely. Again, not a doctor. Probably fractured her skull. Severe significant brain damage. And, yeah, she died from that. I could sit here and repeat everything you just said. You basically said it. If she really wanted to help and she really thought something was wrong, she could have easily taken Harmony and the other kids to the police and said, listen, I have my problems. I'm going through some substance abuse issues right now, but they're. You know, and I'm. I'm using food stamps for things they shouldn't be used for. But there's even in my world, something where I draw the line.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But this is. This is a line I draw. I have a code, you know, there.

[Derek Levasser]

I draw the line here, and. And I won't stand by and watch a young child be beaten, even if that means, you know what. When I put my hand up, I would rather him beat me. Me than her. That's the motherly instinct that should kick in at that moment. Even though it's not her child. There are plenty of mothers out there that would say, hey, turn your attention on me. Slap me around Leave the kid alone. She didn't do that.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Or if you're scared, you say, okay in your head, you're like, when we get to Burger King, I'm gonna pretend I have to get something out of the back seat. I'm gonna grab Harmony. I'm going to run and scream for help. I'm gonna run right into Burger King and scream for help and tell them to call the police. Police.

[Derek Levasser]

And there's so much more to this. This is not the first time that he's done this. So there have been multiple occasions, probably 10 to 20 different occasions, maybe more, where she had the opportunity to act on any of those occasions, get her out of that situation. She never did. So this was just the last time it occurred.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But even if this was the last time, and you were like, okay, enough is enough. He said he really thinks he heard her. I've got to do something. Even then, you would still have a little bit of redemption. Yeah, but you sat there and eat chicken nuggets and your French fries. I have no pity for you. A woman.

[Derek Levasser]

And that's what he felt, too, right? He felt the broken bone, more than likely. But you have Kayla. She's a scumbag. Obviously, Adam's the. The biggest offender here. He's a monster. And the only silver lining in all of this is he's gonna get convicted again. And you mentioned code, and we've talked about this before, and you've seen it in the headlines lately. Unfortunately for Adam, when he goes to General pop, there is a code in prison as well. And when they hear. When they hear Kayla's statement, this statement that you guys just heard, it's not going to be good for Adam.

[Stephanie Harlow]

We can only hope. Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

Sorry. Not sorry.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay. But like I said, it gets worse. They leave the Burger King, they drive back to the Colonial Village apartments. And do you think they check on Harmony there? No, they don't.

[Interviewer]

Was Harmony still under the blanket when you arrived at Colonial Village?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And that moaning that you mentioned, that weird noise that she was making, was she still making it?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Interviewer]

How long did that noise that she was making last?

[Kayla Montgomery]

I don't remember. It wasn't. I don't remember. I don't remember if it was too long. I don't remember if it was after we were at Colonial Village for a little bit or if it was before

[Interviewer]

that moaning, did it eventually stop?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Did you check on Harmony at any point after the moaning stopped?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Interviewer]

Did Adam?

[Adam Montgomery]

No.

[Interviewer]

Why didn't you check on her that was scared. When you arrived at The Colonial Village parking lot. When you arrived back there, what, what did you and the defendant do?

[Kayla Montgomery]

We got drugs and got high.

[Interviewer]

When you say we got drugs and got high, what, what drugs did you get, Kayla?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Heroin, ale, crack.

[Interviewer]

And how long did you use those drugs for in that parking lot?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Probably. We were there for probably 10 or 15 minutes.

[Derek Levasser]

Wow. Priorities, right? And, and, and this is something, I'm sure there's a lot of people who are watching or listening to this episode right now who have had their own demons, their own battles, who have gone through substance abuse issues or alcohol issues where they did some things or made some bad decisions that they regret, but they can go back and say I wasn't in the right state of mind. Right. But there is also some level of, of humanity still there and you can have issues with drugs or alcohol and still acknowledge that before maybe using again, check on the kid.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, they didn't. Yeah, they just didn't. So.

[Derek Levasser]

Right. That's just decent. This is basic humanity and that is why we're giving Kayla such a hard time. Because two things can be true. You can be going through an issue with substance abuse and yet still have common sense.

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, she was too scared.

[Derek Levasser]

No, she didn't want to see the trouble truth because she knows she was indirectly a contributor to all of this.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I. Yeah, I would say directly, but sure, yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

And so that's a problem. It's a problem and it's, it just shows the people that we're dealing with because you have Harmony passing away underneath that blanket. But then, yet priorities, right? Priorities is to get the next high

[Stephanie Harlow]

after doing their drugs. Kayla and Adam, with Harmony's body in the car still under the comforter and their two sons sitting in the back seat with the body of their sister. They left it again. But they only made it to the stoplight on the next street when their car died and wouldn't start again. And some people might say this is karma cuz they've been driving around in this car forever. For two weeks they've been homeless, living in this car. And this. The second that Harmony's dead and, and something could possibly catch them up, the car dies, Right? The battery died. So Caleb believes this happened around 8 or 9am According to the Manchester Police Department records, the Chrysler Sebring was broken down at the intersection of Elm street and Webster street at approximately 12:11pm Now I don't think that she was right with her 8 or 9am time, but I also know that 1211 wasn't the time the car broke down. It's the time that the tow company was called. So according to Kayla, it wasn't until the car broke down that she and Adam realized that Harmony was dead and

[Kayla Montgomery]

there was no jumping the vehicle. And so we ended up having to leave it. And when we were getting out of the car and getting the kids out of the car, Harmony had passed away.

[Interviewer]

Let's talk about that. When you say Harmony had passed away, when did you realize that Harmony had passed away?

[Kayla Montgomery]

When Adam was trying to wake her up and she didn't. She didn't. She didn't reply or anything.

[Interviewer]

Was he saying things to her to try to wake her up?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah, he said. He said Harmony, and he kept saying baby girl, like. And trying to. To budge her, and there was nothing.

[Interviewer]

Was he touching her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

What was he doing to her body at that point?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Trying to figure out what to do and getting all the kids out of the car. He took the duffel bag that was in the trunk and. And. Put her in the duffel bag.

[Interviewer]

Did you see him put Harmony in that duffel bag?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

How did he put her in there? Kayla,

[Kayla Montgomery]

Like, folded her in half and put her in the double bag.

[Interviewer]

What did her face look like when you saw her go into that bag?

[Kayla Montgomery]

It was all black and blue, and her face was puffy. Her eyes were puffy. We took the kids, and we walked back to Colonial Village.

[Interviewer]

What did you do once you arrived at Colonial Village?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Put her. Put the bag in the snow bank. That he wouldn't see it.

[Interviewer]

I'm sorry. So that. Who wouldn't see it?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Anthony?

[Derek Levasser]

There you go.

[Detective]

Right? There you go.

[Derek Levasser]

You have not only the murder, but you have at least the first part. And we're just getting started with this, how they attempted to discard her body. I will say I'm fascinated in this part, because we know up to this point, Harmony has never been found. So I'm really trying to. The detective in me wants to identify where that. Where the link in the. In that chain is and. And see what. What can be done now. But anyways, I digress. That's where I'm at. That's where my head's at right now. We can't save Harmony, but we can even solidify this case even more if we're able to find her and. And bring her back and. And have her have a proper burial. Compared to what. What she was given, obviously not deserved.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So, yeah. Kayla sees Adam fold Harmony's body in half and shove it in two, like a gym duffel bag. They walk back to the apartment Complex with Harmony in the duffel bag. And they put Harmony's body in the duffel bag in a snow bank so that Anthony Bodero wouldn't see it. And that's where Anthony Bodero comes back in. Once again, according to him, he had no idea the the Montgomery family was living out of their car behind his apartment complex. According to him, it was this day, December 7, when he first saw them. And they told him that they had no place to live and their car had broken down. And Bodero had a 2004 blue Audi S4 that had been sitting at his in laws place for two years because he couldn't get it to start. And so he told Adam Montgomery that he and his family could stay in the car for a few days. Well, the reason I had them stay in the vehicle is because I was living with somebody else, that it was their apartment and there was no room for them to be there. So the only choice I had was

[Kayla Montgomery]

to let them stay in my vehicle.

[Interviewer]

And Mr. Badaro, who stayed in your vehicle?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Adam, Kayla and the two boys.

[Interviewer]

Earlier you mentioned Adam's third child, Harmony. Yes. Where was Harmony during that time where you let them stay in their vehicle in your vehicle?

[Adam Montgomery]

I do not know.

[Interviewer]

Was she with them?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay, we're gonna take our last break and we're gonna come back and talk about this. We'll be right back. Oregon Parks make an Oregon Summer. But what makes an Oregon park? Well, Oregon Lottery Gameplay helps no matter the game Megabucks, video lottery or keno funds from lottery games help support parks projects across the state, ensuring they stay safe, accessible and open for all. In fact, Discover State Park Scratch are in stores now. It's the perfect way to put a little bit of Oregon's parks in your pocket. The Oregon Lottery. Together we do good things. Must be 18 or older to play lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only.

[Muscle Milk Advertiser]

Everyone's talking about protein lately, but how do you actually get enough of it? Muscle Milk Muscle Milk has a great tasting new formula with no artificial sweeteners, flavors or added colors. It's high quality complete protein designed to support healthy muscles with fewer ingredients ingredients than the previous formula and 26 to 42 grams of protein for when you're stuck in meetings or need a post workout recovery. Available in chocolate, vanilla, cream, cookies and cream and strawberries and cream. Try the new great tasting Muscle Milk today available in stores nationwide. Muscle Milk Protein for all.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So now listen, if you hear Anthony Bodero tell it, he barely knew these People, Right? There's more to his testimony. He's like, I barely knew them. Right? They weren't friends. I hardly ever saw them. Maybe a handful of times. And during the time they were living in his car, once again, they're living in his car. Now. He knows they're behind his apartment complex. He said he barely saw them. He was confronted with messages between himself and Adam showing that Bodero had actually given Kayla and Adam rides, including to the methadone clinic during this time. But understand, Anthony Bodero has no idea what's going on, and he barely knew these people at all. He didn't know they were living in their car behind his apartment complex for weeks. He didn't know what they were doing when they were living in his car. They were barely equipped acquaintances. But according to Kayla's testimony, it was Anthony Bodero who gave Adam a ride back to their car, the Sebring, so that they could get their stuff out of it. And by the time they got there, the car was already being towed. And the tow truck driver was like, yeah, I didn't see Kayla. I didn't see kids. I saw two men, and they were getting stuff out of the car. So Anthony Bodero's giving Adam a ride back to the Sebring and then also letting him live in his car behind his apartment complex. Barely knows these people. People, okay? Now, later in 2022, when that car was searched, the Sebring investigators did not find obvious visible blood in the Chrysler. And there does not appear to have been confirmed blood evidence tying Harmony to the car. They did use Blue Star in the trunk, which produced four presumptive positive reactions that were swabbed. But the strongest physical evidence recovered from the Chrysler Sebring was Harmony's pink Trolls toothbrush found in the trunk underneath some clothes. Forensic biologist from New Hampshire State Police forensic lab Katie Swango tested the toothbrush and showed it was most likely from the female child of Adam Montgomery and Crystal. Sorry. And Adam and Crystal don't have another female child other than Harmony. They don't have any other biological children together. So there are a few reasons that blood would possibly not be found in this car. The car where Kayla said Adam beat Harmony to death first. The type of injury Kayla described may not have necessarily left a lot of blood in the car. Harmony's body has never been found, so there was never an autopsy done. And we can't say for sure. But if Harmony was repeatedly punched in the head, the fatal injury could have been internal trauma like a brain Injury, swelling and bleeding inside of the skull, etc, as you had mentioned earlier, Darren, also, Kayla said that when she saw Harmony's face, it was bruised looking and swelling, but she did not say, say that she saw blood. We heard her testify to that. Kayla did also say that she saw Harmony's nose bleeding, which would later allow Adam's defense team to make the where's the blood? Argument. But a nosebleed doesn't always mean that there would be a large, durable stain left years later, especially if it was, I don't know, wiped away or absorbed by clothing or blankets. And as we know, Harmony was covered with a large comforter that was always on hand, hand for her to be, you know, hidden by it. On that same note, the car was not recovered or processed right away. Investigators recovered the Chrysler from a junkyard more than two years after Harmony was killed. And by then, the vehicle was in terrible condition. Missing parts filled with other auto debris. We have photos of this that will have Shannon put up. So the passage of time does matter in this situation. The car had been towed, stored, moved, removed, exposed to changing conditions, potentially handled by multiple people, and then even partially stripped. So even if biological material had been present in 2019, the scene that investigators eventually processed was by far not anywhere close to being a fresh crime scene anymore. And so much had happened to the car. And if this injury happened and Adam immediately covered Harmony with the comforter, as we know he did when they went into the drive through for Burger King, it's likely that most of that blood ended up on the comforter, which also conveniently has never been found.

[Derek Levasser]

So, yeah, I mean, you're looking at more than likely significant internal injuries. Not necessarily. Unless he. Unless he split her skin during the assault, which is possible. But as you mentioned, she was covered with the blanket, which would have absorbed any blood. And even if they found a small amount of blood in the car, the argument could be made, if I'm a defense attorney, like, yeah, we were living in the car, she may have cut herself. You would have to find. Find evidence of a large pooling of blood. Where we've seen in other cases where experts are able to say, with this amount of blood, the evidence of this amount of blood, it would lead us to believe that. That the injuries would have resulted in death if not medically treated. So it would take a lot of blood to have it be impactful. And with the blue star, that's obviously luminol, you're hoping under an alternate light source, like a, like a black light or something that you would see the glowing in almost complete darkness. They also could have used. Used what's known as lcv, which is essentially something that's used for photography where under normal lighting conditions, you can spray this stuff. It'll permanently dye anything that's blood, and then you can take photos of it to represent that at court. So clearly they made an attempt. But you could, for all the reasons you just laid out, plus the fact that there may not have been a significant amount of blood. It was kind of. It was kind of a dead end.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And. And listen, I'm not saying by any means that there wasn't a bloody nose. There probably was a bloody nose. But when you look at the pictures of the car, what it looked like when they finally got it and were able to process it, like, yeah, it's been pulled apart. There's, like, random other car parts in the trunk. It's just. It would be very difficult, and that should not be something that the defense can use to get away with, like, oh, well, where's the blood then?

[Derek Levasser]

There's a lot of times where people get significant injuries, even in a car accident accident, where they look normal. Just looking at the outside, they may have some bruising and some red spots, but they're bleeding internally, and you don't even know it. That's what's happening. You have a brain bleed at this point with. With Harmony, and that not necessarily translates to blood all over the car.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, but like Kayla said, her face was puffy, it was swollen.

[Derek Levasser]

She's internally.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Harmony. So we're still focused on December 7, 2019. Adam, Kayla, and their two sons are now living in Anthony Bodero's Audi for a few days. Days. And Kayla said that Harmony's body would be consistently moved during that time. It was either in the snow bank by the dumpster, which, by the way, was right next to the parking lot. Like, this isn't. I looked up pictures. You know how apartment complexes they have, like, the dumpsters, they're right next to the parking lot. So this wasn't some big hidden area, but she's in the duffel bag. So it's either in the snow bank by the dumpster, or it was in the trunk of the Audi. So Adam moved the duffel bag from the trunk to the snow periodically because it was cold outside. And that would prevent the body from decomposing as quickly.

[Derek Levasser]

Smelling all that stuff. Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So the night of December 7th, Adam, Kayla, and the kids were in the Audi when the battery died. So now their battery dies. Earlier that day in Their first car. And now the battery dies in this car that they're in. And you know, there's something in the universe that's trying to get these idiots caught, but the battery dies in the Audi. That's when they start making these panicked calls and texts to people they knew, trying to get a jump. Kimberly Frain and a Good Samaritan helped get the car back on that night. It's worth noting that Kayla Montgomery repeatedly claims she did not help Harmony. That she did not say anything. Okay. Or alert someone. She says she didn't do anything because she was scared of Adam. She was scared. She was scared. She said she was afraid of Adam, afraid of what he would do, afraid to interfere, afraid to go to the police. And maybe some of that fear was real. I'm not going to say it wasn't. But fear can't be the whole answer at this point because there were moments when other people were around, there were messages sent. There were people helping them. Remember Kimberly Frain came with jumper cables. And then she said Kayla and the kids got in her car. Not Adam. Adam was out there helping the Good Samaritan get the. The Audi started. Right. Kayla's in the car with Kimberly Frayne and the kids, alone. No Adam. She could have said, kimberly, call the police. Send them here. I can't say too much. I don't want him to know.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Know.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Send the police. Harmony's dead. You didn't do that. Okay, then you know the Good Samaritans there helping Kayla could have said something to him, could have said something to Anthony Bodero. She could have at any time pulled someone aside and said, please call 91 1. He killed Harmony. Help me and my children get away from him. Because now, don't you think, like, oh, if he's going to do that to Harmony, isn't it possible he'd do that to one of my children?

[Derek Levasser]

There's no doubt he was also abusing those other kids.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Even if it's just like, like self preservation that makes you alert somebody. The self preservation to protect yourself and your own children, who you see as blood related to you. And Harmony's not your blood related child. Whatever. Even if it's that motive. You didn't even want to save your own two children and then you want to have another child with him after this, by the way. Okay, so Kayla did not do any of that. And that is where her explanation starts to break down for me. Maybe she was scared. Maybe she was high. Maybe she was dependent on him for drugs, transportation, shelter Survival, arrival. Maybe she was protecting herself because she already knew that she'd crossed lines she could never uncross even by that point, that even if she went to the police, Adam could say, well, Kayla actually did this to Harmony. And Kayla helped me abuse Harmony. And Kayla helped me do this to Harmony. And he'd be right. And then now she's looking just as bad as he is. Yeah, maybe she didn't beat Harmony to death, but maybe she took part in the abuse and the neglect, which I think, without a doubt, she did. Cuz, remember, Uncle Kevin said that he'd heard Kayla call Harmony names, like, say, you're disgusting. This, this, and that. So when Kayla's like, oh, Adam would get mad when Harmony would have accidents in the car. So would you. I guarantee you, you took part in all of that. That yelling at her and berating her. And probably when she got back in the car after the methadone clinic and Harmony had another accident, she was probably like, oh, wait till your dad gets in here. Wait till your dad gets in here. He's gonna beat your ass. I guarantee you, Kayla did not get help. Not because she was, like, scared of Adam, but because she was scared of how she would be implicated when an investigation was done.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah. Now she's tied to her.

[Christina Lubin]

Her.

[Derek Levasser]

Her inaction can be criminal in nature. There's no doubt about it. She didn't intervene at all. And she had an obligation at that point to do so.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, we. We can. We can just say, without a doubt, Kayla was not a woman who knew nothing and had no choices. Right.

[Derek Levasser]

Multiple opportunities to remove herself and her children from that situation. And she may have been scared, but that's when you call the police.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. And she kept. She kept it going. Right. She stays with Adam for. And you're going to here for a long time after this while. They go around from place to place, bringing Harmony's body with them.

[Derek Levasser]

And why do you think she stayed with him, Stephanie?

[Stephanie Harlow]

I think it was because she was like, well, he's getting me drugs.

[Derek Levasser]

That's it right there.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Which is. That's absolutely disgusting. And. And she helped conceal the truth, even years later. Remember, Adam was nowhere physically around Kayla. He was off sleeping in some car with some other woman. And the police go to Kayla, and they're like, what's happening here? Kayla still lied. She lied about when she had last seen Harmony, where she had last seen Harmony. She lied about not knowing what happened to Harmony. She continued receiving financial benefits for Harmony long after she knew Harmony was not alive. She testified in front of a grand jury and later had to plead guilty to two felony counts of perjury because she lied during that testimony. For nearly two years, Kayla helped maintain the fiction that Harmony was somewhere else when, according to her own later testimony, she knew Harmony was dead. So this is not. You're not seeing her testify. Like, right after the cops come and find her, she continues lying to the cops in front of a grand jury. In all her official statements, Harmony's with her mother. We. You know, Adam told me he was bringing Harmony to her mother. That's all I know. That's what she said. So, like, this is not somebody who we can say was afraid of Adam, because this is at a time when Adam's gone, not physically near you. Why are you still lying?

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, no, she. She definitely has a. A major role in this. And you're talking about obstruction, impeding investigation, tampering with. Those are just the start. I mean, I'm sure if a prosecutor got behind this, they could tell you a few more, but I think. And I don't even know where this goes. I don't even know. Well, maybe you can say right now. Is Kayla charged as well? In exchange for her testimony? She was. She was giving to me. Okay, so that's. And I will say this. I will. It sucks. It sucks that you have to do this, but without her testimony, I don't know if you get a conviction of Adam.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, that's why they're trying to. They.

[Derek Levasser]

I mean, this is. Danny, right? What we're seeing here, this is the. This is everything. So. So I think at this point, without. Without this, you don't have much.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, I. I want to be. I think you're on the same page as me. We don't think that what Kayla is saying is a lie about what happened to Harmony.

[Derek Levasser]

Oh, no, I believe it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She clearly saw something, and she clearly saw this. The way she's retelling the story now when she lies and says, I don't know how long the noises went on for, I can't remember. I don't believe that. Once again, trying to make herself look better in the situation, because she was there.

[Derek Levasser]

Right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But what the. The version of events she described, I believe absolutely happened, happened. And I don't believe that Kayla was the one who killed Harmony or beat her in the car that day.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, I agree with that.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay, so after living in Anthony Bodero's Audi for two nights, Adam and Kayla, along with their two sons, went to live with Kayla's aunt, Kimberly Simmons, who lived on South Main street in Manchester. Now, they really didn't go to live there. They, they went there because they wanted to have the aunt convince Kayla's mother to let them live with her. So, so Kayla said that when they got to her aunt's place, Adam placed the duffel bag holding Harmony's body inside of it under their porch. So Kayla said they were only there for a few hours because their intention was to have Kimberly call Kayla's mother, Christina Lubin, and convince her to let them stay there. Now, Christina ended up agreeing. She went to pick them up in her van, a van that Adam loaded the duffel bag into. Obviously, Christina has no idea of this at this point. I would assume, Assume I, I will give her the benefit of the doubt in that, because Christina's not Kayla. I'm sure she didn't know.

[Derek Levasser]

No. And seeing that interview, I mean, I'm judging it with very little, Very little context. Yeah, very little context and also a small sample size. But she sounds, God bless her soul for this, but she just sounds like she's kind of out there and she's not really completely aware of everything that's going on around her.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She sounds like she wants to protect daughter, her daughter while still having Harmony. You have justice. Right.

[Derek Levasser]

And also try to protect herself because I'm sure a lot people looking at her like, what were you doing? And rightfully so. So I, I, I agree with you,

[Stephanie Harlow]

though, but remember, Christina also called cps, you know, during the time that the Uncle Kevin was calling, too. So she clearly had her concerns.

[Derek Levasser]

But I, but I agree with you. I don't think she knew. I don't think she knew, oh, that duffel bag has Harmony in it. But you would think at that point she might have said, where's Harmony? I don't know.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She said she did, and that Kayla and Adam told her Harmony was with their mom, Crystal.

[Derek Levasser]

Sure.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So Adam and Kayla and the kids stayed with Christina lubin for roughly two weeks until December 29th. Kayla said that when they arrived at her mother's residence on Dubuque Street, Adam removed the duffel bag from the van and kept it in the same cooler that Christina Lubin had left money for them in not long before. Remember that flat tire? So Christina left money in the cooler and was like, it's in the cooler. Kayla knew where the cooler was because this was a red cooler with a white top that Christina had had for a while. And she would sometimes leave money in there for Kayla. Kayla, because of where the cooler was located, which was not inside the apartment so Christina could leave money in there when she wasn't home. The cooler would be kept in a hallway outside of the apartment. That was a common area for all the units in that building. So this is where Harmony's body is during this time period that they're staying with Christina. So on December 30, Kayla and Adam, along with their two sons, relocated, and again this time to a families in transition shelter on Lake Ave. In Manchester, where they would remain for about a month and a half when

[Interviewer]

he moved to the fit shelter. Where was Harmony's body?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Adam put her in the ceiling in the vent of the room that we stayed in. He climbed. Used the bunk bed and climbed up in the ceiling. The vent above the bed. Adam moved it so he could go in the ceiling.

[Interviewer]

Now, did you ever touch that vent, Kayla?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No. You could smell a horrible smell that was coming through the vents.

[Interviewer]

Do you remember that horrible smell?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Did maintenance come at some point while you were living there because of that smell?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And what happened when those maintenance workers came?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Adam took her back down from out of the ceiling and brought the bag in the bathroom.

[Interviewer]

And what happened when Adam brought Harmony down from the ceiling?

[Kayla Montgomery]

She was starting to smell and there was fluid leaking.

[Interviewer]

And did you see the fluid?

[Kayla Montgomery]

No, I didn't see it.

[Interviewer]

How do you know about the fluid that was leaking?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Adam said that.

[Interviewer]

What did he say?

[Kayla Montgomery]

He said that there was blood up in the sealy and fluid.

[Interviewer]

And so what did he do with that duffel bag containing Harmony?

[Kayla Montgomery]

He put her in trash bag.

[Interviewer]

What did he put those garbage bags into, if anything?

[Kayla Montgomery]

He put the garbage bags inside that bag.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, I was just going to. I was just going to say this. That again, I don't know where this story is going as far as the last point that we know Harmony was. But. But when you have a dead body, even if it's only a couple hours, your body kind of relaxes and it releases a lot of gases and liquids. And there's. It's. Very often it doesn't even have to be blood, but you can have like mucus and bodily fluids that just come out of you and your body basically starts to. I guess the word I'm looking for is liquefy to a certain degree. Like any fluids that you have built up in you, including the blood, will start to just. There's no longer a system in place place to keep that in check. And so I would imagine in that vent area after the fact, law enforcement were able to go up there and swab and probably find remnants Of. Of a decomposing body, whether it's the fluids or any type of skin cells or something like that, they might be able to find something up there to prove that at one point there was. There was a body up there, I would think.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, we're going to talk about that in a minute. But first, I want to clarify, when Kayla refers to that bag, she's referring to a CMC tote bag. It's like a tote bag from a hospital maternity ward. And I want you to understand that this canvas tote, which, first of all, canvas isn't like a.

[Derek Levasser]

No, it's not waterproof.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It's not. It's not a forgiving material. It's not stretchy. This canvas tote was about 12 inches wide and about 10 to 11 inches tall. Just a medium sized bag, not a big bag. And she's saying that the Adam put Harmony's body. Body into. Into that tote bag.

[Derek Levasser]

Stephanie, if I'm interpreting this correctly, and I'm sure there's photos out there, when you described the cooler, I'm thinking of a cooler you would bring to a sporting event or a campsite. I'm not thinking of like a freezer

[Stephanie Harlow]

where you keep all the meat.

[Derek Levasser]

Think about how small the internal compartment,

[Stephanie Harlow]

just like an igloo cooler.

[Derek Levasser]

How small is that compartment of that cooler with the insulation to keep the ice in there from melting? Very tiny. It was running through my head as you were saying it, like that red and white, white cooler. You see them all the time at convenience stores and Target and all that. This is extremely small. Now, her body would naturally shrink due to decomposition, so that would. Would help with that. But still just a horrific image to think about to.

[Stephanie Harlow]

To imagine what Adam would have had to have done, though, to get her body into that bag.

[Derek Levasser]

Trust me.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay, you don't want to know. That's his daughter. Yeah. It's just absolutely horrendous.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Adam squished her into the bag.

[Interviewer]

Is this similar to that CMC bag?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Is it in fact identical to that CMC bag?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

So the defendant put Harmony into garbage bags and he squished her into a bag like this one?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And this again was at the Families in Transition Shelter?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Where did he do that to her?

[Kayla Montgomery]

In the bathroom of the room that we stayed in.

[Interviewer]

Did she fill that bag, that CMC sea bag that you just saw?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Her body filled that bag?

[Kayla Montgomery]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

And what did he do with the bag after he put her in there?

[Kayla Montgomery]

He put her back in the ceiling.

[Derek Levasser]

Tell you, Kayla has a Lot of details for not being involved.

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, she was involved. She sat there and watched. Watched all of it happen.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah, she knows a lot. She knows a lot for kind of trying to separate herself.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And so I will say they never did recover this exact tote bag that Kayla described describes Adam using. But investigators did go to the fit shelter where Kayla claims this happened, and they found evidence there. So forensics located a prominent, deep, dark colored stain on the top side of the ceiling Sheetrock right next to the vent opening. Testing confirmed that this stain was caused by blood and bodily decomposition fluid that had leaked through the duffel bag. State lab DNA expert Alan Ackroyd isales testified that testing on the ceiling component opponents resulted in an extremely high probability match to Harmony Montgomery. Harmony's DNA was also extracted from the metal ceiling joists and railings supporting the suspended ceiling where the duffel bag had rusted. A latent fingerprint examiner testified that he successfully recovered Adam Montgomery's fingerprints and palm prints directly on the metal framing and surrounding area of the ceiling vent. So this physically placed Adam's hand. Hands inside the ceiling cavity where Harmony's remains were hidden. Forensics isolated 10 distinct usable prints on the metal vent and surrounding framework. Nine of those prints were positively matched to Adam. The tenth print belonged to a drywall contractor who had renovated the shelter that room specifically years prior. Now, additionally, when Manchester police detectives removed the vent cover and pulled the metal framing apart In June of 2022, they noted a heavy, heavy, pungent, rotted smell still there that many years later. Detective Ray Lamey and Officer Riley Scott both testified that the smell was instantly recognizable to them as human decomposition. This odor was so potent during the crime that shelter staff records showed work orders were submitted regarding a foul smell in the room while the family lived there. Adam's defense team would try to blame Kayla. They would float this alternate timeline where Harmony died in the car on the morning of December 7th while Adam was away from the car. Are, however, the complete absence of Kayla's prince inside the ceiling. And pair that with Kayla's specific testimony that Adam was the sole person who physically climbed up and handled the vent and shoved the duffel bag inside the ceiling. It makes it difficult to believe, right?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

It gives her some credibility, at least in that sense, that what she's saying there's validity to what her statement.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So some people are like, well, you know, Adam, like, why would you be up there hiding your daughter's body if this woman just killed your daughter, who was so beloved to you and who you you know, wanted to protect. So Adam' lawyers countered this. They admitted that their client did horrible things to help Kayla cover up Harmony's death, but he only did it because he was trying to protect her and keep his family together. Like, I lost one child, and now I have to, you know, try to keep the rest of my family together. Obviously, the jury did not buy it. Right. However, since the New Hampshire Supreme Court threw out Adam's murder conviction on a technicality regarding how the charges were grouped, Adam's defense team is definitely preparing to use this exact Kayla its strategy as their primary weapon if and when the state moves forward with a retrial. And that's why covering Harmony's case right now is so important. That's why examining every detail at this time is so important.

[Derek Levasser]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Which will. We will obviously continue to do next week in Part three, But that's why.

[Derek Levasser]

Put them both behind bars. But no, I mean, this isn't about. This isn't what the story is about. But, man, special person to go out there and try to defend Adam and. And imagine if you're lucky enough as a defense attorney that it actually works.

[Detective]

Right?

[Derek Levasser]

How do you. I'm just going to say, I don't care if it pisses people off. How do you sleep at night? What if it actually works where you defend this scumbag and he gets off and he's out there? Right, Because. Because Kayla's not going to prison. Now, at this point, right? It's too late for that.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She got immune.

[Derek Levasser]

She's not going to prison. So at best, your client walks. Now, everyone deserves representation, all that stuff. Whatever. We agree with that. But, yeah, yeah, but when it's this much evidence, how do you. How do you process that? How do you rationalize that? Where you say, hey, you know what? That's on. That's on the police department. They should have did better. Unbelievable. But let's keep it focused on what we're really here for.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But, I mean, like, think about it, right? You're right. This goes to a trial, free trial, and. And this is a different journey. And the defense puts up enough of a reasonable doubt argument with where Kayla could have been, you know, could have been the one who killed Harmony while Adam was away from the car. I'm not sure how they're going to prove that Adam was away from the car, because from what we can tell, it was the methadone clinic. Maybe they'll say that she killed Harmony while he was in the methadone clinic. Right. They might try to do that. But let's say that enough people on those jury, that jury is like, well, that that's possible. And then he gets away with this. It's, it's a very chilling. Yet, you know, I would, I wouldn't have a hard time believing anything these days, honestly, like, ah, like I said,

[Derek Levasser]

I mean, different strokes for different folks. I, I don't know. I'm sure we'll have some defense attorneys in the comments that will re. Have a rebuttal for what I just said. For me personally, I don't know. I don't know how you. I don't know how you justify that one. But to keep it focused on what's important here, Harmony. I know we have another part for this one. Probably two more or just one more. What are you thinking, Steph?

[Stephanie Harlow]

I'm not sure yet.

[Derek Levasser]

Not sure yet.

[Detective]

Okay.

[Derek Levasser]

Now the focus for me is obviously going through the rest of the case, but the last point where Harmony was visually spotted. Right. Because in a perfect world, even though it's been some time now and even though her body's not going to be in the best condition, I would love for her to be found and to bring her home and give her a proper burial and reunite her with the people that did care about her. There's not a lot, but there were some people who cared about. About her and, and she deserves that. I forget the fact that it's going to solidify what happened in that house or in that car. It's more about bringing her home. The problem I see here, without knowing where you're going to go with the story, is that he put her back up in the vent with, with the garbage bags inside this canvas bag. And I'm sure Shannon will throw a photo up this canvas bag. Up. A lot of you have probably had a bag similar to this. I first thought of the Crime Weekly bag that we gave away at CrimeCon. It's the exact bag, like a canvas bag. It's not even a duffel bag.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It's like a promotional bag. Well, there was a duffel bag and then there was the canvas bag.

[Derek Levasser]

My concern is that at some point, because she's so small that you could easily put her into a trash can or a dumpster somewhere along the way. And I've talked to you guys about trash poles before for search warrants. When there's no body in there, but there's just old food, to me, it gives a very similar smell. There's. There's going to be maggots, there's going to be a stench that makes you want to throw up in your mouth. Mouth. And it's hard for me to differentiate between a dead body and that. There is a distinct smell. I get what they're saying. I've unfortunately smelt it many of times. But if it's been. If it's been sitting out in the sun for long enough, it would be hard for a garbage man to see that, to smell the difference where he goes, whoa, this bag doesn't smell great.

[Kayla Montgomery]

Oh, yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And I don't think garbage men are really doing.

[Derek Levasser]

No, they're not.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And they're smelling, you know, analysis of what they're smelling because they smell such bad things all the time.

[Derek Levasser]

And so if that happens, happened, and she ended up in a landfill, it's the visual definition of. Of a needle in a haystack.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

Cuz you don't know when she was there.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Unless Adam comes forward and confesses, which.

[Derek Levasser]

And even if he did, even if he confessed and said, I threw her in Dumpster A on this date, there may be a general vicinity within the landfill that she would have been. But that was years ago. And so that. That's going to be a hard one. I hope that's not the case. I hope. Hope that for Harmony's sake, she was buried somewhere. And if that's the case, that means we could still bring her home.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, I. I don't think that's looking like a possibility, though.

[Derek Levasser]

It's not looking promising. But until you tell me otherwise, I'm going to hold on to that hope. But this is a. This was. As far as the details, this is one of the worst episodes we've ever done because we usually don't have this much insight into the specifics of how this child was killed. We have a lot of cases where we don't even know if they're still alive or dead. This one seems pretty clear, especially with the forensic evidence backing it up, that Harmony is no longer with us. And not only that, she died a horrific death. And so there's no. There's nothing positive to take away from this episode.

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, no. But I mean, once again, he's going to be coming up for a retrial. And I. I'm not. I'm not saying I'm trying to, like, influence anyone.

[Derek Levasser]

He. He's gonna go to prison. He's gonna go to prison. I don't think there's on this planet who is going to. We're going to manifest that. And like I said, and I stand behind it, he will be in prison. And it may not be the first year or the third year or the fifth year. But there's a lot of parents in prison who are doing life, and they don't take kindly to. To child killers.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Hopefully.

[Derek Levasser]

Code. Code. It just happened. There was just one recently. Did you see that video recently where there's three guys that are in prison for life?

[Adam Montgomery]

Life.

[Derek Levasser]

If you Google it, it's going to pop right up. It just happened. And they basically follow a child killer into a cell, and the three of them, they admitted to it.

[Interviewer]

We.

[Derek Levasser]

We murdered them. We don't care.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, they.

[Derek Levasser]

They came out of the cell and smiled about it. But, yeah, I hope. I hope everyone's okay after listening. That's a tough episode, even for people who cover this all the time. That's a really difficult episode to get through. And. And the reason we cover it is because we know Adam's going to be coming up for trial again. And let's make sure they do it now. Right. Right. And that we show a public show of force where we want justice for harmony. And Adam needs to be behind bars.

[Stephanie Harlow]

He needs to be where he belongs. Yeah.

[Derek Levasser]

Yep. Any final words from you, Stephanie? There's really not much to say.

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, I think we've said enough. Let's give everyone a break and let them sit with this for a little while. And. And we will see you guys next week.

[Derek Levasser]

Absolutely. Hug your kids tonight. Give them a kiss. We appreciate you guys. We love you. Everyone stay safe out there. We'll see you next week.