By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Nicole Giles did not want to testify in Adam Montgomery’s murder trial, fearing for the safety of her children if she appeared on camera in Hillsborough Superior Court — North in Manchester.
The Manchester woman, who met Kayla and Adam Montgomery in early 2020 at the Families in Transition shelter, skipped her scheduled testimony on Wednesday. On Friday, she was brought into court on an arrest warrant to tell jurors about the bruises she saw on Kayla Montgomery.
“There was a new one pretty much every day,” Giles said.
Giles is reportedly involved in a domestic violence case and did not want to appear in the news coverage of the trial. Though Giles was compelled to be in court on Friday, Judge Amy Messner allowed her to testify without cameras taking photos or video recording her face.
Giles’s testimony about the abuse seems to corroborate Kayla Montgomery’s testimony, that Adam Montgomery used violence and terror to keep her from telling the truth about five-year-old Harmony Montgomery’s murder.
Kayla Montgomery always had an excuse for the bruises, Giles said, chalking up the marks to accidents or tumbles with her sons. Once Kayla Montgomery got to know Giles she disclosed Adam Montgomery was beating her, Giles said on the stand.
Giles isn’t the only witness Friday to testify about seeing evidence of violence. Tarah Hilbert, the property manager at the Union Street apartment complex where the Montgomery’s lived in 2021, told jurors she helped Kayla Montgomery get away from Adam Montgomery after a severe beating.
“Adam beat her pretty bad,” Hilbert testified, holding back tears. “She was covered in blood.”
Kayla Montgomery is the only witness to Adam Montgomery’s Dec. 7, 2019 violent attack on Harmony, but her damaged credibility is crucial to the prosecution. Kayla Montgomery is serving prison time after she was convicted of perjury for lying to a grand jury convened in Harmony’s investigation.
As she did before the 2022 grand jury, Kayla Montgomery lied to police about what happened to Harmony when they first started looking for the child. Harmony was reported missing in late 2021, and Kayla and Adam Montgomery claimed Harmony went to live with her birth mother, Crystal Sorey, in November of 2019. They seemingly did not know it was Sorey who reported the little girl missing.
Kayla Montgomery finally revealed the truth after she was charged with perjury, telling investigators in June 2022 Adam Montgomery killed Harmony in a fit of rage because the child had soiled herself. He then allegedly hid her body in a bag for months as the family moved around Manchester. Adam Montgomery finally took his daughter’s body and threw her away. He’s never said where he left her, and Harmony has yet to be found.
Kayla Montgomery was on the stand for two days, and testified she lied because Adam Montgomery used abuse and threats to ensure her silence.
Despite not having a body, prosecutors have been building their case since the trial started last week with witness after witness, introducing more pieces of evidence that seemingly back up Kayla Montgomery’s testimony.
They introduced records of the cash withdrawal and later purchase of a bag of lime and a power tool that Adam Montgomery allegedly used to cut up Harmony’s corpse in the bathroom of the Union Street apartment.
Union Street maintenance man Denis Cloutier testified getting called to unclog the Montgomery’s bathtub the day after the lime and power tool were bought. Adam Montgomery’s friend, Travis Beach, testified about renting a Haul truck for his friend.
Adam Montgomery allegedly drove the truck into Massachusetts and Maine to finally dispose of Harmony’s body. According to Beach, Adam Montgomery became paranoid about the rental, and did not want to discuss it via text message.
Jurors also learned about police finding ceiling panels stained with Harmony’s blood, in which Adam Montgomery left a fingerprint and a palm print.
So far, the jury has only seen Adam Montgomery’s photo. He has yet to appear in court for the trial.
At the end of Friday’s trial session, Judge Amy Messer told the jury all the evidence could be presented by the end of next week. At that point, closing arguments may happen, sending the case to deliberations.