The father of New Hampshire girl Harmony Montgomery, who went missing in 2019 at the age of 5, has been formally charged with assault for allegedly punching her in the face before she disappeared. The charges on which they were arrested earlier this year concerned the well-being of a child. The Prosecutor General’s Office announced this on Friday.
Adam Montgomery, who has been in jail since January, had custody of his daughter, who disappeared sometime in late November or early December of that year. But authorities didn’t know she was missing until last fall.
Harmony has not yet been found. Police in Manchester, New Hampshire received hundreds of tips, and pictures of the baby appeared on billboards and on social media. A $150,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the missing girl.
“We do this every day,” Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg said in an interview earlier this month.
Adam Montgomery, 30 (left), is facing a felony charge of second-degree assault alleging that he punched his five-year-old daughter Harmony (right) in the face in July 2019.
The state attorney general’s office on Friday announced that on March 21, a Hillsborough County grand jury charged Montgomery, 30, with assault in the second degree, a felony, alleging he punched Harmony in the face in July 2019.
Montgomery’s estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, 31, was charged with theft by deception.
According to police testimony, two relatives, including Adam’s brother and his uncle, claimed that Harmony’s father gave Harmony a black eye.
But, according to a review of the case released by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu’s office last month, a child protection worker who visited the Montgomery family’s home in the months before Harmony disappeared concluded that the allegation that the girl had a bruise under the eye, was unreasonable.
Adam Montgomery was also arrested on charges of violating custody and endangering a child’s welfare.
The same grand jury also indicted Montgomery’s ex-wife, Kayla Montgomery, 31, on charges of theft by deception, alleging that she told State Department of Health officials that Harmony was a member of her family from November 2019 to June 2, 2021. and that she received food stamps for Harmony.
Both pleaded not guilty, telling police that the child lived with his biological mother Crystal Sori in Massachusetts.
Sori said that the last time she saw her daughter was during a phone video call on Easter 2019.
News of the successive indictments came a day after it was reported that Adam’s girlfriend, 27-year-old Kelsey Smalls, had been found dead in a hotel room in Manchester on March 13.
Adam Montgomery’s girlfriend, Kelsey Smalls, pictured, was found dead in a New Hampshire hotel room on March 13.
Kayla Montgomery will appear in court on April 7th. Adam Montgomery will appear in court on June 28.
No further details related to her death have been released, although she does not consider it suspicious.
Small lived with Adam in a cart around the time of his arrest in January. She was never charged in connection with Harmony’s disappearance.
An arrest statement obtained by alleges that Adam Montgomery, who has a history of bi-state criminal offenses and drug use, slapped Harmony in the face and blackened her eye in July 2021 — just six months months after New Hampshire Child Protective Services gave him custody of his daughter.
Montgomery’s uncle, Kevin Montgomery, quoted Adam telling him about the beating: “I beat her in that house,” according to the statement.
According to his uncle, Montgomery explained to him that he left Harmony, who was then 5 years old, to look after her little brother while he was in the bathroom.
When the baby began to cry, Montgomery said that he came out of the bathroom and found that Harmony put her hand over her brother’s mouth to keep him from crying.
Adam told Kevin that he hit back [Harmony] in the face and caused a black eye,” according to an affidavit.
Adam also allegedly slapped his daughter on the buttocks, forced her to stand in the corner for hours, and forced her to clean the toilet with his own toothbrush.
Harmony Montgomery was last seen in December 2019 but was only reported missing last fall.
Kevin Montgomery told police that he reported the attack in 2019 to the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).
A social worker visited Montgomery’s home in July 2019 and dismissed Harmony’s claim of a black eye as unsubstantiated. However, the review states that the family was “identified as at high risk of re-enrollment in child welfare” and were given referrals for housing support.
During a second visit in August of that year, a worker noticed a red mark in Harmony’s eye and a disappearing bruise under her eyelid. Harmony and her father told the worker that the mark was caused by “playing with another sibling when a toy lightsaber hit Harmony Montgomery next to her eye.”
Two other visits that same year showed “the children looked happy and healthy,” the review said. The last visit was October 1, 2019.
The unit had no further contact with Adam Montgomery until January 2020. When asked about Harmony, he said the child lives with his mother Sori in Massachusetts.
A child protection officer left Sori a voice message, but the call was not answered and there is no evidence of any additional attempts to reach her, the review said.
Adam and Kayla told the police that Harmony lives with his biological mother in Massachusetts.
The review said Adam Montgomery made similar comments about Harmony when a medical professional visited the home twice in 2021.
In September, someone known as a “close contact” of Harmony’s mother contacted the unit and “expressed concern” that Sorey had not seen her daughter since 2019 and was unable to contact Adam Montgomery, the review said. The division confirmed that Harmony was never enrolled in a school in the public school system.
The unit attempted to locate the Montgomery family and speak with Sori, who later told police she had not seen her daughter after the Easter 2019 Facetime call.