Harmony Montgomery arrived in Manchester, NH in February 2019. Her father, Adam, had just been awarded custody of the then 4-year old, who spent time in the Massachusetts foster care system, and she was seemingly headed to a stable home to be cared for.
A Massachusetts juvenile court judge signed off on the transfer and the Department of Children and Families (DCF) quickly closed her case.
[ 25 Investigates: ‘System failure’ allowed NH girl’s disappearance to go unreported for two years ]
Now, less than 3 years after Massachusetts transferred legal custody to Adam, Harmony is missing and the last time anyone can remember seeing her was sometime in late 2019.
Her disappearance, though, was only reported to police this past December, more than two years after she was last seen.
Even more troubling, is news that her father, deemed by a court fit to parent, has a criminal record that dates back to 2007 and struggled with addiction.
[ 25 Investigates: Missing NH girl went from DCF custody to custody of father, with criminal record ]
As Boston 25 News reporter Bob Ward first reported, Adam Montgomery is also a suspect in an unsolved Lynn murder.
[ Father of missing N.H. girl is suspect in unsolved Massachusetts murder ]
Police records show Manchester PD and New Hampshire’s Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) were called to the home where Harmony lived with Adam, his wife and their kids on numerous occasions in the months before her disappearance.
[ 25 Investigates: Police visited home where missing NH girl was last seen 13 times over five months ]
Currently, both Adam and his wife, Kayla, sit in a Manchester jail in connection with her disappearance.
So why did Massachusetts send Harmony across state lines in the custody of a violent criminal and why did New Hampshire allow her to remain in a home well-known to authorities for all the wrong reasons?
Boston 25 News seeks to get to the bottom of these questions. A team of reporters has been covering Harmony’s case for weeks and are asking child protection agencies in two states to explain how they lost track of Harmony Montgomery.