MANCHESTER, NH – While out on bail, Kayla Montgomery overdosed a “few times” while at a Russell Street residence where she was arrested last Friday, according to a state’s motion asking the court to revoke her bail.
A Superior Court judge revoked bail Tuesday for Kayla Montgomery, stepmom to a murdered 5-year-old, after the defense did not object to the state’s request. The defense reserved the right to return to court at a later date for a further bail hearing.
Montgomery, 32, appeared briefly Tuesday before Judge Amy Messer in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District after being arrested Friday at the Russell Street residence for failing to appear at a dispositional hearing last Thursday.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Jesse O’Neill asked that her bail be revoked because she “has demonstrated that she is unable to abide” by bail conditions, according to his Sept. 12 motion asking the court to revoke her bail.
He said the court previously released Montgomery on strict conditions. “The defendant has demonstrated that she is unable to abide by such conditions. The state cannot conceive of what additional condition or conditions there might be that would assure that the defendant would not flee or that she would not pose a danger to her safety. Furthermore, to the extent such conditions exist, it seems unlikely that the defendant would abide by such conditions since she had already failed to abide by the current conditions of release,” O’Neill wrote.
Montgomery is facing charges in three separate cases including welfare fraud for receiving $2,400 IN food stamps for her stepdaughter, Harmony Montgomery, who was not living with her at the time because she had disappeared and was believed to be a homicide victim; receiving stolen property, a rifle and gun; and two counts of perjury for allegedly lying before a Grand Jury. None of the charges is directly connected to the child’s disappearance or murder.
Montgomery failed to appear last Thursday for a dispositional hearing involving all three cases. She was free on personal recognizance bail on the charges with conditions that included she not use an excessive amount of alcohol, not consume drugs and to follow a drug treatment program.
According to court records, Montgomery appeared to be under the influence of drugs when police arrested her at 1:20 p.m. Friday at a residence on Russell Street. She was in a bedroom with a man identified in court papers as Robert St. Onge. David St. Onge, his brother, also was at the residence.
While officers were still at the residence, a vehicle pulled up and the driver identified herself as the daughter of David St. Onge. She told police Montgomery had overdosed a few times on the premises.
After Montgomery was arrested, an officer observed her displaying signs potentially indicative of drug use; specifically, she had a difficult time sitting still, she could not keep a cigarette in her mouth and dropped it multiple times on the ground, and her eyes were half-open. The officer did not smell any alcohol on her.
Montgomery, O’Neill wrote, admitted to another officer that she had used “dope” that morning.
A dispositional hearing on the pending cases is now set for Oct. 26. The hearing is to determine if a plea will be negotiated or if there are issues to be addressed prior to the cases going to trial.
Harmony, 5, was declared dead in August, ending an eight-month-long search for her by law enforcement, including the FBI. She had been missing for more than 2 ½ years – since late November early December 2019 although authorities weren’t aware of that until two years later in 2021. The investigation into her murder continues and is progressing, O’Neill said.
Police Chief Allen Aldenberg and Capt. Sean Leighton of the detective division attended the hearing although they did not speak to the media.
After the hearing, O’Neill, in addressing the media, said Montgomery is clearly suffering from substance abuse issues and in any situation like that, the state wants to see that person take steps toward their recovery. He said it is concerning when there is evidence those steps (bail conditions) are not in compliance.
He said he couldn’t speak to what type of treatment Montgomery would receive while being held in jail without bail. O’Neill said, however, it is a more controlled environment without temptations and things available to her on the streets.
O’Neill, asked if she is a central figure in the investigation into Harmony’s murder, said investigators never defined her as such although she is Harmony’s stepmother and is part of the investigation.
Asked if she were going to be a witness in the cases against her husband, Adam Montgomery, O’Neill said no determination has been made as to witnesses in those cases. He said she figured in the life of Adam Montgomery at the time, she was his wife and still is his wife and that is why they qualified her as a “potential witness in anything he is accused of doing.”
