Harmony Montgomery trial – live: Stepmother sobs as she reveals chilling details of murder

The trial will resume on Monday.

“You talked to the jury with a straight face about what she was wearing,” Ms Smith asks Kayla Montgomery. “Even though the Star Wars hoodie was what you cut off her body in the shower at Union Square Avenue.”

“You said the last time you saw Harmony she was happy, and you had no problem with that lie.”

With her head down, Kayla answered questions about the “betrayal” prison letter she wrote in which she demanded immunity and custody of her kids in exchange of testifying against Adam Montgomery.

”One of the things you wanted was one last time, maybe kiss him or make love?” Defence attorney Caroline Smith asked.

“Right,” Kayla answered.

“What you didn’t write was protection from Adam, what you didn’t write was that you were afraid of Adam,” Ms Smith continued. “You just wanted to be with him before you, as you put it, betray him, right?”

“Yes,” Kayla answered.

Court is taking a lunch recess.

Kayla said that Montgomery began to accuse her of speaking to police in 2021

“He punched me in the head with his fist,” she said. “At some point, I said I was, even though I wasn’t.”

“He said he would contact his family members and have them kill me and cut me in pieces,” Montgomery said.

Kayla recounted an instance in which she tried to escape the home where Montgomery allegedly kept her isolated. She said she had her newborn daughter in her arms and ran to a neighbour’s house to call for help, but Montgomery caught up with her and put her in a chokehold.

“She was in my arms and I was already feeding her so I just ran out to get help so I could go back and get the kids,” Kayla said.

Harmony’s clothes were put in a trash bag

The remains were put back in the tote bag and inside the freezer.

“He said that he wanted to get rid of the body soon because he was scared of anything that could happen to him and the kids,” Kayla said.

At the Union Square apartment, Adam Montgomery began to reduce Harmony’s remains.

“I saw Harmony folded together the same way she was when we took her out of the car,” Kayla told jurors. “She looked like she had barely any skin, just skin and bones and was very bruised. He had the hot water running ... in the tub.”

She said she also saw a bag of lime in the bathroom. Montgomery was cutting the clothes off Harmony’s remains and “dethawing” her.

Kayla said that at one point, Montgomery asked her to help him.

Kayla testified Montgomery discussed using a handsaw, lime and even a NutriBullet to destroy Harmony’s rotting remains.

“He wanted to use a handsaw and a NutriBullet,” Kayla told jurors. “He said that’d be good to use to help get rid of her.”

Kayla Montgomery said the “loud bang” came when Montgomery was trying to fit Harmony’s body inside the tote bag.

Montgomery reportedly asked Kayla to bring the bag to the restaurant he worked at. She told jurors that she walked from the shelter to the restaurant with her two sons and carrying Harmony’s remains in a stroller.

“Because I was scared,” Kayla said.

Montgomery then used ammonia to clean the bathroom of their room at the shelter.