Harmony Montgomery's Relatives Say System Failed The Missing Girl
MANCHESTER, N.H. (CBS) – Investigators were back at the former home of the father of a missing New Hampshire girl who hasn't been seen in two years. Harmony Montgomery's relatives are taking their own steps to try and find her.
"She's a sweet little girl," said Erin Montgomery as she taped flyers with her missing grand niece's photo on them. Harmony Montgomery was five when she was last seen. She would be seven now. "We just want her home," she said.
The flyers went up near the scene on Gilford Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, where police searched the property of the last home where the missing girl was known to live with her father Adam Montgomery. Last week he was arrested, accused of hitting her and giving her a black eye years ago.
Her father was legally in charge of caring for Harmony. Her birth mother, Crystal Sorey, lost custody because of her struggles with substance abuse. "I didn't have the greatest track record, but I never gave up," said Sorey at a vigil in Manchester last weekend. "He never wanted to do any co-parenting of her. It was always what he could get out of having her."
She said when she recently discovered her daughter had been missing since 2019, her calls to the New Hampshire Department of Children Youth and Families went unanswered. "I said listen, if I don't get the help, I need to look for my daughter, I'm going to the media if that's what I've got to do, and I got a call within 24 hours," she said.
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services sent WBZ a statement saying DCYF can't comment because federal law requires interactions with families be kept confidential.
When Manchester Police confronted Adam Montgomery sleeping in a car New Year's Eve, they say he wouldn't answer their questions. Last week, they also arrested his estranged wife Kayla Montgomery, accused of collecting welfare in Harmony's name during the time she was gone.
Erin Montgomery said the state failed Harmony. "My family made numerous reports of concern for her safety, and the system did nothing," she said. "We believe that somebody somewhere knows something or has seen Harmony, so please if you see or know anything, call the Manchester Police Department."
