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A mystery caller dialled into a tip line with information about the Harmony Montgomery case amid her father’s New Hampshire trial over the little girl’s alleged murder.
The developments were revealed by Adam Montgomery’s defence attorney at the end of his second week of trial in Manchester. Montgomery, who is accused of beating Harmony to death in December 2019, is facing a count of second-degree murder.
Last week, he conceded to two lesser charges of abuse of a corpse and falsifying information. Montgomery only appeared in court during the first day of jury selection and has not returned since.
The prosecution has argued throughout the two weeks of trial that Montgomery killed his daughter after he became enraged because she had a bathroom accident. Jurors have heard from more than a dozen witnesses about the horrific ways he worked to conceal, reduce, and destroy Harmony’s remains.
Montgomery then disposed of what was left of Harmony’s body at an unknown location in March 2020. Despite massive multi-state searches and a $150,000 reward for information, her remains have never been found.
On Friday, attorney Caroline Smith brought up a tip made by an unknown individual.
“During the course of the trial, apparently somebody contacted the tipline and was interviewed, gave information,” Ms Smith told Judge Amy Messer. “The state has given us a recording of the interview. I have not [gone through it.] We certainly have somebody trying to go through it. I don’t know, and I don’t need to name this person. I don’t know if we’ll be seeking to call this person [to testify].”
Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati later explained that the call was placed by a woman on Tuesday after she had spent several days watching the trial. Manchester Police only notified the prosecution the following day.
“She came into the station to be interviewed and provided a statement,” Mr Agati said.
Mr Agati said that a written report and the taped interview were sent to his office and then forwarded to the defence. Judge Messer asked Ms Smith to expeditiously file a motion seeking to have the mystery called on her witness list if the defence wished to call her to the stand.
The judge also asked the prosecution to advise the individual against watching the remainder of the trial.
This is a developing story … check again for updates.