31-year-old Adam Montgomery has been arrested in the case of 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery who went missing two years ago in 2019. An open call for tips about her whereabouts were released by the Manchester Police Department. However, failed in the search so far, the father Adam Montgomery was arrested this Tuesday on two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child and one charge of interference with custody.
According to an affidavit released Wednesday, family members reportedly informed police that the father was putting her in physical harm repeatedly. The affidavit states that Montgomery told his brother that he “bashed her around his house” and allegedly gave her a black eye. This was reported to the Division of Children, Youth, and Families of the state by Montgomery’s brother in July 2019, after he saw Harmony Montgomery with a black eye.
According to the recent report, the father had legal custody of Harmony but she has not been with him since at least November 2019. This was also confirmed by Harmony’s mother who told police she saw Harmony “seemed frightened” in a FaceTime call around Easter of 2019, the last time her mother saw her.
The mother reportedly went to Manchester police after she was unable to find both Harmony Montgomery and Adam Montgomery back in November. After the state’s Division of Children, Youth and Families were unable to find her, the case was handed over to police on December 27. The mother and daughter have not lived together since July 2018, when Harmony’s mother lost custody due to a substance abuse issue, which she has gotten over since.
Montgomery was located by the police on December 31, sleeping in a car. His girlfriend, who was with him around the time told police she did not know anything of Harmony’s whereabouts. By the time he was caught, Montgomery had already “made some contradictory comments during our interaction which raised our suspicion and concern for [Harmony’s] well-being,” according to the affidavit.
As the search for Harmony Montgomery continues, police are looking for any tip or information they can get regarding her, or where she was seen. They believe the girl to be “alive and well somewhere” according to Manchester Chief Allen Aldenberg.
“This is not a recovery. All efforts are focused on that Harmony is alive, and we are going to do everything we can to find her in that condition” said Aldenberg, addressing that they have not seen or found anything to believe otherwise. He added, “I want to focus on locating her now and dedicating all of our efforts to that. If there was some flaw in the system, I’m not saying there was, but if there was, where was it and how’s it going to be addressed?”
