The disturbing disappearance of 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery in New Hampshire has touched people all around the world.
Currently, the Manchester, NH Police Harmony Montgomery Reward Fund totals $140,000 - all money donated from concerned citizens.
Online internet sleuths are devouring the case, hoping to find a piece of evidence that can lead to Harmony.
On social media, pictures of Harmony Montgomery are frequently shared in discussion groups and chat rooms devoted to the case.
At the heart of it is a lost little girl.
Harmony Montgomery was 5-years-old when she disappeared.
This week, New Hampshire investigators revealed that Harmony was last seen sometime between December 6th and December 10th, 2019. At the time, she was living with her biological father, Adam Montgomery, his estranged wife Kayla, and two other children, in a car on the side of the road. The family had been evicted from a house on Gilford Street, the same house the FBI recently spent days searching, without finding Harmony Montgomery.
Adam Montgomery had legal custody of his daughter, despite his lengthy criminal record in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He is also a suspect in the 2008 unsolved murder of Darlin Guzman in Lynn.
Harmony’s biological mother, Crystal Sorey, lost custody of Harmony because of her drug abuse. But it was Crystal’s efforts to reconnect with Harmony that led to the discovery that her child was missing.
Adam Montgomery, and his estranged wife Kayla, authorities say, are refusing to tell police where Harmony is right now.
Adam and Kayla have told authorities that Adam returned Harmony to Crystal, but investigators say there is no evidence to support that.
None of that tragic background is represented in any of the pictures of Harmony or her family posted online.
To all outward appearances, Harmony Montgomery looks just like any other little girl: happy, healthy, well-cared for.
Boston attorney Wendy Murphy, a child advocate and former prosecutor, says she has seen this too many times. Pictures only tell a fraction of the real story.
“Violence behind closed doors, especially child abuse, is done in secret for a reason,” Murphy said. “And abusers go out of their way to make sure people outside the home don’t know what’s going on. So, they are going to present the child in a favorable light, every chance they can. We should not be surprised to see photographs of Harmony looking happy and healthy, because it’s not inconsistent with the fact that she was clearly not happy and healthy behind closed doors.”
On May 22, 2017, Adam Montgomery posted a picture on Facebook of himself and Harmony on a trampoline with the caption, “My beautiful baby girl, I love you so much.”
At the time the photo was posted, Montgomery was already charged with shooting a man in the face in Massachusetts. And he was a suspect in the Guzman murder.
“I’ve been doing this work for a very long time. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that you have no idea what kind of parent is capable of hurting a child,” Murphy said. “Make no mistake, there is no type of parent that you can reasonably predict is the type who is abusing a child behind closed doors.”
If you have any information on Harmony Montgomery’s whereabouts, call Manchester, NH Police at 603-203-6060.
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