Harmony Montgomery neighbour says family moved on Thanksgiving 2019 – the same time dad says he last saw missing child
Neighbour says it was a “bad situation” at the home in Manchester, New Hampshire, with lots of people living there, adults arguing in the street and piles of junk outside
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A neighbour of missing seven-year-old Harmony Montgomery has revealed that the family moved out of their home over Thanksgiving 2019 – the same time that the girl’s father claims to have last seen his daughter alive.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Independent that she has lived on Gilford Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, for decades and remembers the Montgomerys living in the property along the street.
The home became the focus of a police search over the weekend with investigators erecting a tent in the backyard as part of their investigation into the whereabouts of the missing child.
Police said the last confirmed sighting of Harmony was at the Gilford Street property in October 2019 when officers were called to the house over an incident. She was five at the time.
One month later, the Montgomerys moved out of the property, according to the neighbour.
The neighbour said the house had fallen into foreclosure and Harmony’s father Adam Montgomery and stepmother Kayla Montgomery were refusing to leave and were “basically squatting” at the home with their children before finally being “forced out”.
The neighbour said she went away for the Thanksgiving holidays in 2019 and returned to find the family had moved out.
“It was over the Thanksgiving holidays when they had to be out of the house,” she said.
“The Marshals were coming in and leaving notices and they were going to be forced out if they didn’t leave.
“When I came back from my holiday, they were all gone.”
The timing of the home move appears to match when Mr Montgomery is claiming he last saw his daughter.
The 31-year-old, who had custody of Harmony, claimed Harmony’s mother Crystal Sorey picked her up from Manchester around Thanksgiving 2019, according to a criminal complaint against him.
His wife, meanwhile, gave a different account telling investigators she last saw Harmony in November or December 2019 when her husband said he was driving her to see Ms Sorey.
Both said they have not seen or heard from Harmony ever since. Neither reported her missing and have claimed they thought she was living with her mother.
Ms Sorey reported her daughter missing in November, saying she hadn’t seen her since Easter 2019 and the Montgomerys had stopped all contact with her.
Police have since discovered that the last confirmed sighting of her was more than two years ago.
The neighbour told The Independent on Thursday that she can’t remember specifically seeing Harmony at the home but said there were a lot of people including around five children living there at one time.
“When I first saw the little girl’s picture on TV, she didn’t ring a bell,” she said.
“I knew there were children across there – quite a few children, I think five at one time with a few of them infants.
“Many different people were living there so I couldn’t tell specifically what any children looked like, I just knew there were a lot of people.”
She said she didn’t know the Montgomerys personally but described hearing them arguing in the street, leaving junk piled up in the yard, and noticing their electricity was switched off.
“We didn’t intermingle with them as it was a bad situation,” she said.
“There was lots of different people living there, piles of junk in the driveway, junk outside.
“The electricity was turned off and they ran the generator all summer with the wiring running through the window.”
The neighbour said the family “did all its business out in the street” and she would hear people yelling at each other.
However, she said the arguing appeared to be “adult versus adult” and didn’t see incidents involving the children.
She added: “There’s things you sense and things we heard and saw that showed the family didn’t care about things so we just kept our distance.”
While the extended family members moved out when the house went into foreclosure, she said Mr Montgomery stayed for around another year and a half.
When they finally left in Thanksgiving 2019, she said the house was left full of garbage and junk.
The neighbour said she hasn’t seen anything of the Montgomerys since and the new owner of the home has nothing to do with the family or the case.
Mr Montgomery was arrested on Tuesday and charged with second-degree felony assault, two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and one misdemeanor count of interference with custody in connection to his daughter’s disappearance.
On the assault charge, Mr Montgomery is accused of “striking [Harmony] in the face” sometime in July 2019, giving her a black eye, according to the criminal complaint.
Police interviews with other family members revealed Mr Montgomery was allegedly abusive toward his daughter, including giving her a black eye, forcing her to clean the toilet with her own toothbrush and making her stand in a corner for hours as a punishment.
Mr Montgomery’s brother Michael Montgomery told investigators he “had concerns that Adam was physically abusive” to the child and was “super short” with her.
Mr Montgomery’s uncle Kevin Montgomery said he noticed Harmony had a black eye in July 2019, which his nephew confessed to causing by hitting her in the face, according to the criminal complaint.
“I bashed her around this house,” he said his nephew told him.
He said he contacted DCYF that time and had also noticed Mr Montgomery subject Harmony to other forms of “abusive discipline” including scrubbing a toilet with her toothbrush and her being “spanked hard on the butt”.
Kevin said he has not seen Harmony or his nephew since late 2019.
On Wednesday, Mr Montgomery’s wife was arrested on one felony charge of welfare fraud for allegedly fraudulently collecting welfare benefits for the missing child between December 2019 and June 2021.
Ms Montgomery is accused of fraudulently obtaining $1,500 in food stamp benefits meant for Harmony between December 2019 and June 2021, according to a statement from New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella’s office on Thursday.
The 31-year-old, who has three other children with her spouse, allegedly failed to remove Harmony from the family account with New Hampshire’s DHHS Division of Family Assistance and was “continuing to collect food stamp benefits for Harmony, despite the fact that Harmony was no longer living with Kayla and Kayla’s husband Adam Montgomery”.
Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg insisted on Monday that the investigation is currently in “rescue” mode on the basis that Harmony is “alive and well”.
“That’s how we’ll operate until someone convinces me otherwise,” he said in a press briefing.
Investigators are appealing to the public for help in locating Harmony and are offering a $60,000 reward for information about her whereabouts.