DELPHI MURDERS
At the end of June 2023, 118 documents were released in the Delph murder case. These documents were previously sealed.
We have had a few episodes on Delphi before. In February 2017, Abigail Williams and Liberty German were murdered in Delphi, Indiana. There is some infamous audio of the murderer saying ‘Down the Hill.’
On October 28, 2022, there was a very unexpected update when Richard Allen was arrested for the murders.
In the documents, it was confirmed for the first time that the girls were murdered with a sharp object. We knew that before as we had obtained their death certificates, but it had never been publicly stated.
In these documents, we also learned that Richard has apparently confessed to the murders multiple times.
Prosecutors claim he admitted his guilt several times during the one call, and that his wife abruptly ended the call.
Another document is a letter from a fellow inmate at the maximum-security prison in Westville, where Richard is being held. The inmate says that Richard is being abused and mistreated. . The letter also says that corrupt officers and ranking officers are calling him a kid killer,” and that other inmates have threatened to kill Richard. Other inmates have apparently also told him to kill himself.
The letter claims the threats have been recorded on camera, and that Indiana Department of Correction has done nothing to stop them.
Richard’s attorneys have argued his mental and physical condition have rapidly deteriorated rapidly and asked a judge to move him out of the facility.
I found this document online that outlines what Richard’s attorneys are alleging and what is apparently the truth.
The warrant reveals police believe Richard was the voice in a cellphone video heard saying “down the hill,” forcing the girls off the Monon High Bridge.
That same video includes the sound of someone “cycling” a gun, and one of the girls mentioning a gun.
There was a really extensive list included in the documents of items that were taken from Richard’s house (which coincidentally was just put up for sale and has a pending offer on it).
The trial for this case is set for January 2024.
HARMONY MONTGOMERY MURDER
Also in June, we learned more about the tragic death of Harmony Montgomery, at the hands of someone who was meant to love and care for her unconditionally, her father. We first did an episode for Harmony in January 2022. She was last seen alive in 2019 and was not reported missing until 2021.
An affidavit was just released in this case and as a trigger warning, the details are almost too much to take.
Adam allegedly beat Harmony to death in a fit of rage after she had a “bathroom accident” in the car the family was living in before moving her lifeless body from one hiding place to the next in an effort to conceal the stench of her decaying remains.
Adam repeatedly struck Harmony, who was 5 at the time, in the head in frustration over the accident in December 2019, Adam’s estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, told Manchester police detectives.
“Kayla described that Harmony was in the rear seat on the passenger side, and while Adam was driving he turned his body and delivered sets of three-to-four blows with a closed fist to Harmony’s face/head on three separate occasions over the course of a few minutes,” a detective stated in the affidavit. “Kayla stated that after the final blow, Adam said words to the effect of that he felt something or heard something when he hit Harmony, and, ‘I think I really hurt her this time. I think I did something.’”
After the assault, Harmony reportedly began making a moaning type of noise as the family drove to Burger King, which went on for roughly five minutes and then stopped.
“At no time did anyone stop or get Harmony medical attention as the result of this assault. Kayla said this happened in the morning while the family was on their way to the Burger King on Route 3 in Manchester,” the detective explained. “Afterward the family returned to the parking lot of the Colonial Village apartments. The family stayed at Colonial Village for approximately 20 minutes, during which time no one checked on Harmony.”
Harmony died in the car a short while later, at which point Adam and Kayla placed her “lifeless” body into an Under Armour duffle bag before transferring her body into a red cooler with a white top, the affidavit showed.
“Kayla explained how Harmony’s body was moved to various locations over the course of the next several months. She stated that after living in the Colonial Village parking lot, they then moved in with her mother at 258 Dubuque Street,” the detective added. “Kayla said when they arrived at the residence, Harmony’s body, which was still in a duffle bag, was placed inside a red cooler with a white top in the common hallway of the apartment building. She stated that the body was left there the whole time the family stayed there, until the end of December 2019.”
Harmony’s body was also said to be placed inside garbage bags and a refrigerator after her death.
In an interview in June 2022, Kayla alleged that Adam placed the duffle bag with Harmony’s remains in a ceiling vent in a bedroom when they later moved into a “Families in Transition” shelter on Lake Street.
“Kayla stated that during this time, there was liquid coming from the bag containing Harmony’s dead body, and there was an odor,” the detective explained. “She said Adam placed a trash bag around the bag to keep it from leaking.”
Detectives later searched the ceiling vent, located a large area of staining, and submitted that section for DNA testing.
“The DNA profile obtained from the sample is approximately 1.1 trillion times more probable if the sample originated from Harmony Montgomery and one unknown person than if it originated from two unknown persons,” detectives stated.
Kayla said that when they later moved to Union Street in February 2020, Harmony’s remains were transferred into a refrigerator. Adam then allegedly moved his daughter’s remains into a Catholic Medical Center maternity bag while spending hours in the bathroom with the shower running.
“This bag was much smaller than the Under Armour duffle bag, and it would not likely fit Harmony’s body unless it was dismembered or grossly distorted,” detectives stated. “Kayla described an odor coming from the bathroom and saw steam coming from the bathroom when Adam would open the door. Kayla recalled the scent of cleaning supplies in the bathroom when Adam had finished up.”
Adam later brought that CMC bag to his place of work, the Portland Pie Company restaurant on Elm Street, where he stored Harmony’s remains in a walk-in cooler for a “week or so,” Kayla told detectives.
A Portland Pie Company worker questioned during the investigation said he recalled seeing the CMC bag in the cooler on a couple of occasions on both the floor and shelf but never asked Montgomery about it since he knew he had children.
The documents indicated that Adam later brought Harmony back to their Union Street apartment, where he allegedly dumped her frozen remains into the tub so he could use a bag of lime to “help with the decomposition” of her body.
“Adam had a difficult time fitting Harmony’s body back into the CMC maternity bag. Harmony’s body was frozen,” Kayla recalled before admitting to helping Adam cut Harmony’s clothes off of her body to make her fit into the bag.
In either March or May of 2020, Adam rented a U-Haul and during the overnight hours, made a trip to an unknown destination to dispose of Harmony’s dead body, according to Kayla.
“Kayla stated that around the time that Adam disposed of Harmony’s body, they stayed in the Econo Lodge or Comfort Inn,” detectives said. “Kayla saw the U-Haul from the hotel window, and she described it as a van with a large “19.99″ on the back, which is consistent with the lettering/numbering on a U-Haul rental vehicle.”
When he returned to the hotel, Kayla said Adam seemed very tired, and that he said words to the effect of “it’s done.”
Adam is facing charges of second-degree murder, tampering with witnesses and informants, falsifying physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse in his daughter’s death.
The murder trial is due to begin in November.
MOSCOW MURDERS
On June 26, 2023, prosecutors announced their intent to seek the death penalty for Bryan Kohberger. Bryan is accused of murdering Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen in Moscow, Idaho in November last year. We have done many episodes on this case, it’s been the biggest case of the year to date.
According to CNN, in March this year, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a new law giving the state’s department of corrections up to five days after a death warrant is issued to determine if lethal injection drugs are available, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. If the drugs are not available, a firing squad can perform the execution.
The prosecution “has not identified or been provided with any mitigating circumstances” to stop it from considering the death penalty, according to the court document filed Monday.
“Consequently, considering all evidence currently known to the State, the State is compelled to file this notice of intent to seek the death penalty,” the filing states.
The prosecution will continue to “review additional information as it is received” and reserves the right to amend or withdraw the notice, according to the filing.
Around the same time that we learned about the death penalty, we also learned some more info about DNA evidence found at the scene.
This info is from NBC:
DNA on a knife sheath found at the off-campus home where four Idaho college students were killed last November directly links accused murderer Bryan Kohberger to the crime scene, according to court documents filed by prosecutors last week.Law enforcement officials used investigative genetic genealogy to link DNA found on the sheath to Kohberger, 28, a doctoral student at nearby Washington State University studying criminology, according to the June 16 filing from the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office. The investigation found that the DNA was at least 5.37 octillion times more likely to be Kohberger’s than an unrelated member of the public, the document states.
We have also learned that there is some conflict amongst the victims’ families in terms of tearing down the house where the four died.
The owner of the house gave the property to the University of Idaho. In February 2023, the President of the University sent out an email saying that the house would be demolished.
“This is a healing step and removes the physical structure where the crime that shook our community was committed,” Scott Green wrote. “Demolition also removes efforts to further sensationalize the crime scene.”
He also said that university officials were evaluating options “where students may be involved in the future development of the property.”
Attorney Shanon Gray represents the Goncalves, Mogen and Kernodle families, who want the house to remain standing until the criminal case is resolved.
But a University of Idaho spokesperson said, “We are currently working on removing all the personal items from the house so the families can claim them, as they choose. Then we plan to move forward with demolition.”
The families aren’t opposed to eventually demolishing the property.
Kaylee Goncalves’ mom, Kristi Goncalves, told ABC News last month she was glad no one else would live in the house.
But, she added, “It’s going to be very multifaceted for me, honestly, because my daughter lived in that home. She lived a happy life in that home, she loved living there with her friends. And for the real story, to be, like, what happened in that house was so horrific that it has to be torn down — that doesn’t happen that often. … For them to say, ‘No, we don’t want family in here, we don’t want anybody living in here. It’s got to be torn down’ — it’s definitely not happy.”
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