Harmony Montgomery: Extended family of missing girl not expecting 'good outcome' as feds search home
Anyone with information on Harmony Montgomery is asked to call the tip line at 603-203-6060
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Police returned to the former New Hampshire home of missing Harmony Montgomery Tuesday as part of a months-long search for the girl’s whereabouts, according to the state attorney general, as her extended family braced for the worst.
Authorities were seen removing evidence, including a refrigerator, from a home on Union Street in Manchester, where her dad and stepmother, Adam and his now-estranged wife Kayla Montgomery had lived.
"We have been told by officials that this probably will not have a good outcome or not the outcome we had hoped for, for Jamison and Harmony to be reunited together," Johnathon Miller, adoptive father of Harmony’s younger brother, Jamison, told Fox News Digital. "We have always held onto hope that Jamison and Harmony could be together again, but today that hope feels like it’s being ripped away from us, especially Jamison."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Harmony Montgomery, 8, was reported missing two years after she was last seen. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
A spokesperson for the state attorney general's office said Tuesday evening that investigators would remain on scene into the evening but warned against "any speculation related to items being removed."
Authorities were not going to disclose details about any evidence recovered, he said, in order to "protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation."
MISSING HARMONY MONTGOMERY: TIMELINE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE GIRL'S DISAPPEARANCE
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The search for Harmony continues, and law enforcement is still requesting the public’s assistance in locating her," he said. "If you have any information please call or text the 24-hour tip line dedicated to Harmony Montgomery’s rescue at 603-203-6060."
Johnathon and Blair Miller began fostering Harmony's brother Jamison in June 2019 and legally adopted him in November. They offered on multiple occasions to take in Harmony, as well, to reunite the siblings but were never given the opportunity.
Kevin Montgomery, an uncle of Adam Montgomery who had reported allegations of child abuse to investigators and who has since moved out of state, said he had not been informed of any developments.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Harmony is about 4 feet tall and weighs around 50 pounds. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. Because of visual impairments, she should be wearing glasses. She’s blind in her right eye. (Manchester Police Department)
Earlier Tuesday, in a joint statement, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg, U.S. Marshal Enoch Willard, and FBI Boston’s Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta said an interagency team would return to the home where Harmony had lived with her father and stepmom before her disappearance in Manchester, New Hampshire.
"644 Union Street is a focus of the investigation as it is a location where Adam and Kayla Montgomery previously lived," the law enforcement officials said. Police have previously searched another address linked to the family, 77 Gilford Street.Police have
Police have also searched a former Montgomery family home at 77 Gilford Street in Manchester. Inset: Harmony Montgomery (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images and Manchester PD)
It was not immediately clear whether any new evidence led them back to the scene, and authorities said they were not ready to release further information.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Officials asked the public to respect the privacy of the current residents and thanked neighbors for their patience as investigators examined the home. They also asked the public to refrain from speculating about the investigation after authorities were seen carrying a fridge out of the apartment and searching under a drainage grate.
A man walks past a "missing child" poster for Harmony Montgomery, Thursday, May 5, 2022, in Manchester, N.H. A former home of the father and stepmother of Montgomery, missing since 2019 at age 5, is being searched in Manchester as part of the investigation into her disappearance, police said Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
"It’s never a good thing when a fridge is seized during the search for a little girl, in this case, 8-year-old Harmony Montgomery," Fox Nation host Nancy Grace told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "She is precious, just 4-feet-tall, 50 pounds…This sweet girl battled to overcome being blind in her right eye and usually wore glasses. And that’s not all."
She said the developments reminded her of prior cases.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I pray now that this fridge never held her tiny body," she said.
Anyone with information about Harmony Montgomery is asked to call the 24/7 tip line at 603-203-6060 (Manchester Police Department)
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call a dedicated tip line at 603-203-6060.
Harmony, now 8, went missing from her father’s custody in 2019, according to authorities, but a missing person report wasn’t filed until late last year when her noncustodial mother learned she had never been registered to attend school in her father’s hometown.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Adam Montgomery, the father, has been held without bail since January on child abuse and other charges in connection with the case. His estranged wife and Harmony’s stepmom, Kayla Montgomery, has been charged with fraud and other charges after allegedly collecting food stamps in the girl’s name for months after she last saw her and again for lying to the grand jury.
Adam Montgomery (left) and Kayla Montgomery (right). (New Hampshire Attorney General's office)
Adam Montgomery, a violent ex-con and drug addict, had claimed he last saw Harmony after giving her over to her biological mother, Crystal Sorey, around Thanksgiving 2019 – a story police have dismissed as false. He has been charged with child abuse for allegedly giving the girl a black eye before she went missing and accused of stonewalling investigators as they continue to search for the missing child.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sorey did not immediately respond to messages Tuesday.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
A Massachusetts court’s decision to grant him custody of the girl despite his criminal past prompted a state review and calls for reform in how the state handles child welfare cases. New Hampshire authorities have also called for reforms.