Harmony Montgomery 2014-2019

Harmony Montgomery was Reported Missing in 2021

Life in foster care

June 7, 2014 – Harmony Montgomery was born to parents Crystal Sorey & Adam Montgomery. – just three months after Adam was jailed for 18 months… Harmony was diagnosed at birth with a visual disability and is blind in her right eye.

August 2014, At two months old, Harmony was removed from the care and custody of Crystal Sorey and placed in foster care by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF).

January 2015, Harmony was six months old she met Adam Montgomery for the first time, in prison, supervised by the DCF case management team. Shortly after that Visit Harmony was returned to the care of Crystal Sorey but remained in the legal custody of DCF.

April 2015 Harmony was removed by the DCF Haverhill Area Office from Crystal Sorey’s care due to Ms. Sorey’s substance use.

Harmony was placed back in her previous foster home for the second time. Harmony was 10 months old.

July 2015, one year old Harmony visited with Adam Montgomery in prison for the second time.

September 2016, Adam Montgomery initiated telephone contact with the DCF case management team.

October 2016, Mr. Montgomery met with the DCF case management team.

October 2016, Harmony had her third supervised visit with Mr. Montgomery. She was two years old.

January 2017, the family’s case was transferred from the DCF Haverhill Area Office to the Jackson Square Area Office (Boston) because Crystal Sorey relocated. Adam Montgomery continued to reside in New Hampshire.

March 2017, after approximately two years in foster care, the DCF case management team returned Harmony to the care of Crystal Sorey

April 2017, Sorey was warned by DCF she cant do that after she informed the DCF case management team that Adam Montgomery contacted her, and she permitted him to speak with Harmony on the telephone.

May 2017, Sorey informed the DCF case management team of her ongoing communication with Montgomery.

July 2017 Montgomery reported having weekend overnight visits with Harmony for the past four weeks, picking her up from Sorey on Fridays and returning her on Sundays. Crystal Sorey broke the rules again.

September and early October 2017, two reports of neglect were filed with the DCF Jackson Square Area Office alleging neglect of Harmony by both Crystal Sorey and Adam Montgomery. The concerns were related to the unsupervised visits Mr. Montgomery had with Harmony while she was in Crystal Sorey’s care.

January 2018, Harmony, now three and a half years old, was removed for the third time from the care of Ms. Sorey due to Sorey’s substance use.

April 2018 Sorey sought a Review and Re-determination hearing seeking to have Harmony placed in her care. Sorey’s Review and Re-determination hearing was scheduled for February 2019.

October 2018 Adam Montgomery sought a Review and Re-determination hearing seeking to have Harmony placed in his care. His Review and Re-determination hearing was also scheduled for the same date as Sorey’s hearing in February 2019.

February 2019 Mr. Montgomery’s Review and Re-determination hearing took place in Juvenile Court.

Crystal Sorey’s Review and Re-determination hearing did not take place that day because she was not present in court.

Sorey was not present for the hearing regarding Harmony because of a scheduling conflict.

Sorey was in a different court on a Care and Protection case involving Harmony’s half-sibling. Montgomery’s court hearing proceeded without her.

The Judge then awarded Mr. Montgomery, who was living in New Hampshire, full custody of Harmony and determined that the ICPC did not apply.

Adam Montgomery – custody of Harmony

In December 2018, Massachusetts DCF requested that New Hampshire’s child welfare agency conduct a home visit to evaluate Adam Montgomery’s ability to care for his daughter, Harmony. This evaluation, known as an Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) report, typically takes months to complete, but given the upcoming court hearing, this one was ordered to be expedited.

At the same time, Massachusetts DCF held an internal meeting and concluded that Harmony’s mother, Crystal, was struggling with sobriety and had been inconsistent in her visits with Harmony. Because of Adam’s recent engagement with Harmony’s life and his compliance with DCF requirements, the review panel shifted their permanency goal from reunification with Crystal to reunification with Adam. However, just a week later, they reversed course again. After holding another internal meeting, known as a “Permanency Planning Conference,” they reinstated the goal of adoption. At this point, DCF had sole legal custody of Harmony, who was now four-and-a-half years old.

In February 2019, a critical court hearing was scheduled, but Crystal missed it due to a scheduling conflict. The courts had double-booked her, and she prioritized attending the hearing for her younger son, who was also involved in a DCF case. Crystal’s lawyers represented her at Harmony’s hearing while she attended her son’s.

Harmony’s hearing included four attorneys: one for Massachusetts DCF, one for Crystal, one for Adam, and one for Harmony. Adam’s lawyer argued that he was a capable and fit parent, and Adam testified about his life, presenting himself as a stable figure—young, handsome, and married to Kayla, with whom he had just welcomed a newborn son.

Surprisingly, Crystal’s attorney voiced her support for placing Harmony with Adam, a decision that Crystal later condemned in an interview, claiming she was treated unfairly. Harmony’s attorney, representing her best interests, stated that Harmony had expressed a desire to live with her father and supported her placement with Adam, despite the fact that Adam had spent only about 40 hours with Harmony over four-and-a-half years.

The only opposition came from the attorney representing Massachusetts DCF, who argued that Adam was unfit, citing his criminal history and poor track record with Harmony. They urged the court to delay the decision until the ICPC report was completed.

In the aftermath, the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) criticized the DCF attorney’s performance, noting that the hearing failed to address Harmony’s special needs. Harmony had a complex medical condition, significant trauma, and behavioral issues—none of which were discussed in depth during the hearing. The OCA questioned what Adam had done to prove he could meet Harmony’s unique needs.

Despite these concerns, the judge, seeing that three out of the four attorneys supported placing Harmony with Adam, made a decision that would later draw widespread criticism. The judge awarded full custody of Harmony to Adam, ordered DCF to close her case, and waived the requirement for the ICPC report. To ensure the decision was enforced, the judge even made calls to New Hampshire offices to bypass the missing report.

The decision was final, setting off a chain of events that would later be scrutinized and condemned by child advocates and even New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who called for a full investigation into how this outcome was reached.

Harmony Montgomery

Life with Adam Montgomery

April 21, 2019

Crystal Sorey had her last contact with Harmony via FaceTime around Easter. During the video call, Crystal noticed that Adam was visible in the background, and she recalls that Harmony seemed frightened.

June 5, 2019

Crystal began dating a man referred to as JE.

June 2019

Adam, along with Harmony, Kayla, and their other children, visited Adam’s aunt, Kendra, and stayed at her home during the summer.

July 2019

In July 2019, Adam allegedly admitted to his uncle, Kevin Montgomery, that he had inflicted a black eye on Harmony. Kevin Montgomery is Adam’s uncle, while Michael Montgomery Sr. is Adam’s father.

July 7, 2019

Kayla called the police on a friend named Alex Call, who was high and refused to leave their house.

July 10, 2019

The police were called to the house due to a domestic violence incident.

August 5, 2019

The police were called for a welfare check at 77 Gilford St. after a neighbor expressed concern about a young child living there. The neighbor believed the family was squatting and had no electricity.

August 16, 2019

The Millers met Crystal and offered to adopt Harmony if the opportunity or need arose.

August 22, 2019

The house at 77 Gilford St., where Adam, Kayla, Harmony, and three other children were staying, was sold at a public foreclosure auction. Despite the sale, the family continued squatting in the home. Adam’s brother, Michael Montgomery, mentioned that the only electricity in the house came from a generator and that there was no central heating. Concerned family members in Florida had contacted the police and DCYF for wellness checks.

September 2019

The property Adam was living in went into foreclosure. It had been owned by Helen Montgomery, 78, and Christina Digirolamo from 2016 until it was sold at auction in 2019.

September 11, 2019

A domestic incident occurred between Kevin and Adam at 12:42 PM.

September 23, 2019

Tabby Scott, a friend of Kayla and Adam who is considered somewhat of a step-sibling to Adam, posted a picture with Harmony in September 2019. She also posted separate selfies with Harmony, Kayla, and Adam, captioned with “No matter what, I love you guys to death.” Friends of the family noted that Tabby’s father had dated Adam’s mother for some time, and they had lived together as kids, maintaining a close relationship since.

October 2019

Kevin Montgomery, Adam’s uncle, called the police to request an escort for him and his mother to enter the 77 Gilford St. home to retrieve some belongings and check on the children. He requested the escort to avoid any confrontation. During this visit, Kevin saw Harmony briefly and described her as looking “timid.”

October 2019

Police physically saw Harmony during a “Call for Service” at a Manchester home. Law enforcement considers this the last confirmed sighting of Harmony.

Thanksgiving 2019

Christina Lubin, Kayla Montgomery’s mother, claimed that she saw Harmony during Thanksgiving. It was the only time Christina saw her, and she noted that Harmony “looked clean, didn’t have any bruises, was extremely polite, and very cute.” The visit was brief, and Christina mentioned that Kayla had told her that Harmony had gone to live with her biological mother.

Murder: December 7th, 2019

Around 2:00 or 3:00 AM on that Saturday morning, Adam woke up to find that 5-year-old Harmony had soiled herself. Instead of tending to her, he reacted with brutal violence, punching her in the face ten to fifteen times, as Kayla later recounted.

A few hours later, at 7:04 AM, Kayla went to a local clinic to get her dose of methadone, with Adam following shortly after at 7:09 AM. They returned to the car, and as Adam began driving again, he noticed that Harmony had another accident. His anger flared, furious that she wasn’t telling them when she needed to use the restroom.

Harmony was seated in the back seat on the right side, while Adam was in the driver’s seat. In a fit of rage, he turned and craned himself over the center partition, delivering sets of 3 to 4 blows repeatedly to Harmony’s head and face over several minutes. After the final set of punches, he confessed to Kayla, “I think I really hurt her this time. I think I did something.” Harmony moaned in pain for about five minutes before falling silent. This all took place on Route 3, on their way to a Burger King in Manchester.

They eventually returned to the parking lot of the Colonial Village Apartments. Kayla claimed that Adam sent her to get some heroin and fentanyl from someone named Tone, and they used the drugs in the parking lot for about 20 minutes. Later that morning, they got back on the road in their Sebring, but the car broke down at the intersection of Elm Street and Webster. Adam, Kayla, their two boys, and Harmony were all in the car. As they tried to bundle the kids together, they realized something was terribly wrong—Harmony wasn’t responsive. Upon closer inspection, they found that she wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. Harmony Montgomery was dead.

Adam acted quickly, knowing they didn’t have much time before a police officer might check on their stalled vehicle. He grabbed a large duffel bag from the back of the Sebring and improvised a plan. The Colonial Village apartment complex was only a quarter-mile away, so they decided to walk back—Kayla carrying the boys and Adam carrying the duffel.

Once they returned, they went straight to Tone, asking for his help. He offered them a place to stay—his Audi S4, which was parked in the Colonial Village lot.

According to records from the Manchester Police, the abandoned car was discovered just after noon and was towed about an hour later. Neither Adam nor Kayla ever recovered the vehicle, and it eventually ended up in a salvage lot, leaving behind any trace of what had happened that morning.

Murder: December 7th, 2019

The year 2021 marked another turn in the turbulent story of Harmony Montgomery. By March, Kayla had reached her breaking point. She took her three kids and left Adam, fleeing to her mother’s house. She later recounted that Adam had physically assaulted her—something that had happened before—and she could no longer stay with him.

As the months rolled on, Harmony’s absence became harder to ignore. On June 27th, Crystal, Harmony’s mother, began to show renewed concern for her daughter. She posted a video on TikTok, a slideshow of pictures of Harmony, hoping to reach someone who might know where she was. A month later, Crystal added a comment to her own video, revealing her growing desperation: “She’s not quite missing… her father has her and hasn’t let me see or talk to her in 2 years! For no reason but just to hurt me… She’s in Manchester somewhere. I need to find her!”

By September 2021, the search for Harmony began to intensify. One of Crystal’s friends, worried about the long silence, contacted New Hampshire’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), explaining that Crystal hadn’t seen Harmony since April 2019—two-and-a-half years earlier. On September 10th, DCYF reached out to the local school district, trying to find any trace of Harmony, only to discover that she had never been enrolled in school. Alarmed, DCYF attempted to contact both Adam and Kayla.

For a while, it seemed that Adam and Kayla were evading the authorities. The search stalled, and during this period, Kayla had her final contact with Adam.

Then, on November 18th, Crystal took the step that would officially launch the investigation—she reported Harmony missing to the Manchester Police Department. The police immediately notified DCYF, urging them to look into Harmony’s whereabouts.

By December 27th, DCYF admitted they couldn’t find Harmony either, prompting Manchester PD to escalate their efforts. The next day, December 28th, the police contacted Kayla. Her response was chilling: she claimed she had no idea where Harmony was, saying that Adam had told her he returned Harmony to her mother around Thanksgiving the previous year.

The search for Harmony, once a quiet concern, had now become an urgent and alarming mystery.

Harmony Montgomery is reported missing – 2021

on December 31st of 2021, Manchester Police held a press conference:

“Manchester police received a report that Harmony Montgomery hasn’t been seen since late 2019. The circumstances surrounding this prolonged absence are concerning, and are thoroughly being investigated as we speak.”

Trial – Adam Montgomery

February 21, 2024, After careful consideration of the evidence and testimony, they found Adam guilty on all charges. The verdict brought some measure of justice for Harmony, a small but significant step toward holding her killer accountable for the pain and suffering he inflicted. Read More Here

Court Records

State of New Hampshire v. Adam Montgomery
Case No: 216-2022-CR-02372
Hillsborough County Superior Court – Northern District

Amendment to Order on Media Rules