Since New Hampshire authorities declared 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery missing on New Year’s Eve, over two years after she was last seen by many of those closest to her, the case has appeared to move with remarkable speed. On Tuesday, her father was arrested and charged with abusing her, and on Thursday, her stepmother was charged with using her for food-stamp benefits even though she was not living with the child.
But instead of satisfaction at the flurry of activity, Kevin Montgomery, Harmony’s great uncle, is brimming rage and frustration at authorities moving “two years too late,” as he put it in an interview.
“Why weren’t charges filed back then?” Montgomery, the uncle of Harmony’s father Adam, told The Daily Beast Thursday, referring to a call he said he made to the state’s child welfare agency in 2019, along with a separate incident that involved police that year. “These charges stem from 2019 and that is my problem. We are where we are now because nobody took what we were saying seriously.”
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“It’s infuriating. I’m fucking frustrated,” Montgomery added.
So far, authorities have charged Adam Montgomery and his wife, Kayla, in connection with the 7-year-old, who authorities say has not been physically seen since October 2019. The 31-year-old father is facing an array of charges, including felony second-degree assault, in connection with 2019 conduct against his daughter. His wife, also 31, was arrested on Wednesday for a welfare fraud scheme in which she allegedly obtained more than $1,500 in food-stamp benefits on Harmony’s behalf even after she was missing.
Adam Montgomery has not yet entered a plea. Kayla Montgomery pleaded not guilty on Thursday. It was unclear if either had been assigned an attorney, and no charges have been filed directly in connection with the disappearance of the child.
“It’s all disgusting,” Montgomery said on Thursday. “Everything about this is horrible because my niece is missing. I love the police and think they are focusing on finding Harmony, but to know that charges are being filed for things that happened years ago? We’re way behind.”
Montgomery argued that the charges against his nephew should have come as early as July 2019—when he claimed he notified the state Division for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) about Harmony.
The arrest affidavit against Adam Montgomery notes that his uncle called DCYF “with concern for [Harmony’s] injury” after he found Harmony with a black eye, though it does not indicate when that took place. Prosecutors allege that Adam Montgomery admitted to his uncle that he inflicted the injury on Harmony just months after child-protective services granted him custody of the then 5-year-old.
“I bashed her around the house,” Adam Montgomery allegedly told his uncle in July 2019. To justify the abuse, Adam allegedly said the injury was punishment after he left his daughter “in charge of watching her infant brother while Adam was in the bathroom” and later found the baby crying.
The abuse charges mirror allegations previously made by Kevin Montgomery to The Daily Beast, who said that he called DCYF after seeing Harmony’s injuries, and nothing happened.
“Kevin recalled other forms of abusive discipline during that time frame that raised concerns,” the affidavit states, noting that Montgomery recalled Harmony being spanked “hard on the butt,” being forced “to stand in the corner for hours,” and being ordered, “to scrub the toilet with her toothbrush.”
A spokesperson for DHHS did not immediately respond for comment on Tuesday. On Monday, however, the agency told The Daily Beast that “state and federal law requires us to protect the confidentiality of children and families served by and individuals engaged with the Division for Children, Youth, and Families.”
Kevin Montgomery has said that the last time he saw his great-niece was on Oct. 19, 2019, when he says he called the police to the house where he lived with several family members, including Harmony and Adam. During that contentious episode, Montgomery said, Harmony “looked like a scared puppy.” Harmony “was quiet, she wasn’t saying much,” her great uncle added.
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“I said in 2019 that I thought Harmony should be out of Adam’s custody,” Montgomery said on Thursday. “The main concern was keeping her safe.”
A spokesperson for the Manchester Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. But Chief Allen Aldenberg previously confirmed Harmony was last seen at a home in the city after officers responded to an October 2019 service call.
The search for the child only began in earnest in the last several weeks. On Nov. 18, Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, called the police to report her daughter missing after indicating she had not seen her in over six months. Sorey’s call prompted authorities to begin an investigation, which yielded that DCYF was also unable to locate the missing child, the affidavit states.
The affidavit adds that investigators spoke to several family members in an attempt to track down Harmony. Among them was Adam Montgomery’s brother Michael, who also raised concerns about the child during his police interview. Attempts to reach Michael Montgomery this week were unsuccessful.
“Michael recalled during his last physical contact with [Harmony] and Adam, he had concerns that Adam was physically abusive towards [Harmony],” the affidavit states. “Michael recalled Adam was ‘super short’ with the child, and he learned through other family members that Adam had given [Harmony] a black eye.”
For Montgomery, the news that his nephew was being charged for harming Harmony “does not make me feel any better, because my niece is still missing.”
“I want to make it clear that my biggest concern right now is finding Harmony,” Montgomery said. “But I believe that we are not finding her, if at all. But not alive. That’s what I believe. I would love to be wrong, though.”
