Deceased/Not Found NH - Harmony Montgomery, 7, Manchester, Oct 2019 *reported missing Dec 2021* *REWARD* *Arrest*

[swanniee11]

The more one digs, the more pathetic this entire situation is. It took failures on multiple levels in order for this to occur, and that includes everyone in her life.

PREACH! This case has failure written all over it. Uncle calls a complaint in on July/Aug 2019. Police respond to a report on 10/19 ( I pray to God the response wasn't from Uncles July Aug complaint and it took them that long) And that's the last visual that I've read. No follow up by police or DCYF, NOTHING! We know from above MSM that Blair Miller adopted her younger 1/2 brother in 11/19. That child wasn't adopted in a day, that takes time so issues have been going on for awhile, yet when Mr Miller reached out at some point, Harmony is with her father. ( who looked/ followed up on that?). EPIC FAIL AND NOT ACCEPTABLE. IMO.

 

[hawkeyefan51]

Checked back in for updates and thought I could follow, but I can't. Not after seeing her little picture holding her barbie. That's what she should be doing now, after Christmas. I pray they find answers.

 

[evilwise]

This is a fact based forum and the fact is that other than a custodial parent or legal guardian, no family members let alone acquaintances has any real right of access to a child so we cannot really place blame on them. I've not specifically read NH law but in nearly every state a parent has a legal right to cut their kids off from anyone and everyone they choose. It may be normal to put pictures of your kids on social media but it is by no means a legal obligation.

Welfare checks can be requested but if there's no evidence (including a complete lack of evidence) of danger, they probably won't even happen. The laws were authored under the presumption of organized, formal education. Kids went to school where professional educators, administrators and staff saw them and were to see signs of problems at home. Sure school was awful for some kids but they still could go home. Kids for whom home sucked got to go to school and there was something like checks and balances. Sure kids have always slipped through the cracks, schools have been overcrowded and kids have gotten missed but the way home schooling has come to be handled, there are lots of kids growing up in these United States who literally spend all day every day of their lives in hell and that makes me sick.

 

[Wild Rose]

The cropped photo of Harmony at the press conference where she is in a white Dr. Suess T-shirt is also seen in a longer view of her in the Twitter post. She appears to have a large bruise/bump on the right side of her forehead, bruises elswhere on her body, both shins and it sure looks like red marks on both her wrists. Maybe marks made from shadows? But the forehead bruise is hard to miss. IMO

 

[Wild Rose]

I have reported to DYFS and it is disheartening when you call back because you are so worried and they will not give you any info due to privacy. I do not understand for the life of me that if you are the reporting caller, that you are not included in the findings. I think this shuts down communication, perhaps the single most important link. IMO.

 

[Scrapper18]

Just came across this case. Makes me want to say bad words. I hope those with information have both the decency and guts to come forward.

 

[Ilex]

That sounds about right to me, considering the circumstances.

The people who have valuable tips will be those who interacted with the father, and perhaps saw Harmony at some point.

We're talking about up to two years here (since she was last seen), so you're not going to have all these people calling in who think they just saw her.

When we hear about cases with hundreds of tips, almost all of them are pure junk (online sleuths calling in things they've spotted on social media, etc).

Hopefully these are high quality ones that can narrow the timeline, and ideally, her location.

Hopefully today's press conference brought in a lot more. And I don't really care how many they get as long as they get the right one. MOO

Thank you both, your posts give me hope.

 

[Kristin Esq.]

More info about what prompted the search for Harmony in the Union Leader today.

Mayor Joyce Craig’s office last week received what chief of staff Lauren Smith described as a vague email inquiry about Harmony, which made reference to the state Division for Children Youth and Families.

Smith said the mayor’s office responded within hours, letting the person know they could ask New Hampshire Legal Aid for help with a custody dispute, request a welfare check by police or file a missing-person report — but advising the emailer to call 911 if they had any reason to believe Montgomery was in immediate danger. Smith said the emailer did not reply.

[Police chief] Aldenberg said police received the report about Harmony through both the Division for Children, Youth and Families, and individuals. DCYF is assisting with investigation, along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
​

More questions than answers in disappearance of little girl from Manchester

​

I'm catching up here as I only heard about this last night. I apologize if this has been stated and I just haven't read it yet:

Do we know who alerted LE of her disappearance?

 

[Kristin Esq.]

I keep looking at Twitter for updates..does anyone know any mainstream news reporters covering this?

WFLA - JB Biunno started reporting on it last night.

 

[Kristin Esq.]

So, now that I've caught up with the thread, I'll say this:

I'm hoping and praying she's okay, but I'm very doubtful at this point.

 

[Allabouttrial]

So, now that I've caught up with the thread, I'll say this:

I'm hoping and praying she's okay, but I'm very doubtful at this point.

Me too. I think she's gone. LE were digging up their old back yard the other day, so I think that's what they believe also.

 

[Alethea]

This is complete speculation but this is what I think happened based on the timeline the reporter gave about his adopted son:

The adopted child was adopted at 3 years old in November 2019 and was in foster care prior to that. He was in foster care for a seemingly significant period of time with Harmony according to the adopted dad. Hypothetically it's possible that if a baby was born with drug exposure, the baby and his siblings could be taken from their mom at birth and put into foster care. This happens in NH a lot. The mom apparently terminated her parental rights for the baby (since he was free to be legally adopted by 3 years old) and maybe she did the same for Harmony. Harmony we know was reunited with her father who apparently met the requirements of DCYF for unification.

I just wish they terminated the parental rights of everyone at the same time and Harmony could have been adopted back then too (probably immediately!).

JMO and a hypothetical theory

 

[Keane]

Do we know who alerted LE of her disappearance?

From boston.com: (italics mine)
Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig’s office told WMUR on Sunday it received an email last week that expressed concern for Harmony over issues regarding a follow-up from the DCYF.

Craig’s office told the person that if they felt Harmony was in danger, they should immediately call 911 or send information to the police.

The individual did not respond to the mayor’s office after that, according to the news station.

Sounds like afterwards Mayor Craig's office notified Manchester PD.

 

[PommyMommy]

I'm catching up here as I only heard about this last night. I apologize if this has been stated and I just haven't read it yet:

Do we know who alerted LE of her disappearance?

Eventually, it was the NH DCYF.

Harmony Montgomery missing persons case: Here's what we know (boston.com)
Aldenberg said Monday that police were notified of the case by the New Hampshire Division For Children, Youth, and Families.

 

[Spartygirl]

Michael Rosenfield NBC10 Boston on Twitter
“We’re heartbroken. Nothing makes sense.” Family member of Harmony Montgomery speaks to @DianeNBCBoston about the mystery surrounding
the child’s disappearance; Harmony was last seen two years ago but was just reported missing last week. At 11 @NBC10Boston.

10:28 PM · Jan 3, 2022·Twitter for iPhone

Goodness... Look at that sweet little face.
My heart breaks thinking what she may have gone through to bring her missing.

I just don't get it --people can be such monsters.
It's bad enough they hurt each other as adults, but to do these things to little, innocent children, just tears me up inside.

Praying they get answers and find her soon !!!!
But--- 2 YEARS ?!?!?!?!?!

 

[distracted]

The perfect storm of foster care and confusing parental custody, plus a global pandemic, resulted in the complete collapse of the safety nets that should have prompted mandated reporters to alert authorities she was missing.

Someone thought he/she was in the clear. Hopefully, that was a wrong assumption and she'll be found.

 

[fcavanaugh]

Apologies if this link has already been posted. I’m following closely as this is close to me, I live about an hour from Manchester in coastal NH. I also worked in Manchester years ago, for several years my first few years after college.

Manchester Police Offering Cash Reward In Search For 7-Year-Old Harmony Montgomery, Missing Since 2019 – CBS Boston

“The police chief said he could not get into specifics about who Harmony should have been with or where she should have been living. “She’s not with those people and she’s not at that location,” he said.”

So LE knows via NH DCYF that the Father had custody of Harmony and is who she should have been living with and where they had once lived in Manchester NH, at the residence they did some digging in the yard the other day. Reading a little more between the lines of the above BBM statement by the Police Chief, sounds like LE have made contact with the Father and/or knows where he is but my guess is he possibly isn’t cooperating with the investigation and/or possibly told LE some BS like ‘I can’t remember’ where she is or who I left her with when I was last with/saw her. Or possibly told them that he left her with someone he named, LE checked and that person has denied Harmony was ever left with/given to them. Basically, could be wasting LE’s time and resources by sending them on proverbial wild goose chase/s. I really do feel for LE, as they have a monumental task trying to backtrack 2 years, and imo the desperation and frustration in the Chief’s voice at the PC was palpable. I’m really, really hoping a credible tip comes in that leads to Harmony’s location. Like the Chief said, someone knows something and needs to start talking, but my fear is since so much time has passed, the person responsible for Harmony’s disappearance probably figures Harmony will never be found and if they stay quiet, refuse to cooperate etc, they’ll get away with it.

At this point, the best I can hope for is someone took Harmony from an awful living situation to give her a better life, but sadly I don’t think that’s what happened and it likely will be a very sad outcome for another poor, sweet, innocent child. Heartbreaking.

Continuing to hope and pray for a miracle that sweet little Harmony is safe somewhere and located soon.

IMHOO

eta-clarity

 

[Alethea]

Manchester Police Offering Cash Reward In Search For 7-Year-Old Harmony Montgomery, Missing Since 2019 – CBS Boston

“The police chief said he could not get into specifics about who Harmony should have been with or where she should have been living. “She’s not with those people and she’s not at that location,” he said.”

So LE knows via NH DCYF that the Father had custody of Harmony and is who she should have been living with and where they had once lived in Manchester NH, at the residence they did some digging in the yard the other day. Reading a little more between the lines of the above BBM statement by the Police Chief, LE have made contact with the Father and/or knows where he is but my guess is he isn’t cooperating with the investigation and/or possibly told LE some BS like ‘I can’t remember’ where she is or who I left her with when I was last with/saw her. Or told them that he left her with someone he named, LE checked and that person has denied Harmony was ever left with/given to them. Basically, wasting LE’s time and resources by sending them on proverbial wild goose chase. I really feel for LE, they have a monumental task trying to backtrack 2 years, the desperation and frustration in the Chief’s voice at the PC is palpable. I’m really hoping a credible tip comes in that leads to Harmony’s location. Like the Chief said, someone knows something and needs to start talking, but my fear is since so much time has passed, the person responsible for Harmony’s disappearance probably figures Harmony will never be found and if they stay quiet, refuse to cooperate etc, they’ll get away with it.

The best I can hope for is someone took Harmony from an awful living situation to give her a better life, but sadly I don’t think that’s what happened and it likely will be a very sad outcome for another poor, sweet, innocent child. Heartbreaking.

Continuing to hope and pray for a miracle that Harmony is safe somewhere and located soon.

IMHOO

I think you're spot on. At the PC, one of the reporters also asked that presumably parents are responsible for their children so if the person charged with caring for Harmony doesn't have her, why wasn't that person arrested? And the Chief said something like "That's a very good question and obviously something we are working on."

So it sounded like they may have the who but they are first focusing on trying to find her.

I also just wanted to point that that if one parent's parental rights were terminated, they do not have a legal right to custody or visitation - they are essentially no longer the parent. I don't know if that happened here but we know at least Harmony's brother was legally free to be adopted by 3 years old and he was in foster care with Harmony. Neither of those children was returned to the mother who gave birth to them.

That's to say, this is all a disaster. But there seems to be a limited number of things a parent who has no legal rights to their child can do if they are worried besides apparently calling DCYF and the Mayor! In these cases it is on the system to be the guardian and ensure proper care is taking place.

 

[Kristin Esq.]

My one personal thoughts and theories are getting sadder and sadder.

 

[Allabouttrial]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/03/harmony-montgomery-missing/

.........
Despite the siblings’ separation, Jamison often talks about his sister and recently said that a girl at a park reminded him of her. Although Miller and his husband have frequently asked Jamison’s mother, Crystal Sorey, if they could connect with Harmony, Miller said, she has always responded that Harmony was in her father’s custody in New Hampshire.

Sorey often seemed worried about her daughter and frequently said she could not reach her, Miller said. He said he and his husband recently made their own effort to reach Harmony’s father through social media, but did not hear back.
.......