Mother said she clings to hope about her missing 7-year-old daughter as investigators search girl’s former home

At a candlelight vigil Saturday night, Sorey told the Globe that Massachusetts and New Hampshire officials had failed Harmony.

“I’m not going to lie, I’m hostile right now,” he said, as a dozen friends and family hung up posters and lit candles in honor of Harmony. “I have a lot of hostility towards many people who failed my daughter. And I’m included, I’m always going to acknowledge the fact that I played my part in this. But I never gave up on her. “

Authorities have repeatedly said that current residents of the home at 77 Gilford St. have no connection to the missing child and have cooperated with police. The home was also searched last Sunday by investigators, according to New Hampshire Deputy Attorney General Jesse O’Neill.

O’Neill and Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg declined requests to release more information about the case on Saturday.

Sorey said police had alerted her this week that they planned to re-search the property on Gilford Street, but did not say why.

Still, he said, he believes his daughter, whose photo has appeared on televisions and newspapers in the days since authorities announced her disappearance, is alive.

“People don’t realize the connection you have with your children,” he said. “And I just know that I would feel it [if she were no longer alive]. This devastation that I could not overcome. And I don’t feel that. I feel hope. “

A $ 94,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Harmony’s whereabouts, according to a post on the Manchester Police Facebook page. Officials are requesting the public’s help in locating Harmony, and anyone with information should contact a 24-hour information line at 603-203-6060, according to the statement.

Harmony’s father, Adam M. Montgomery, 31, faces a charge of second-degree felony assault on his daughter for alleged abuse in 2019, according to authorities. Montgomery also faces two misdemeanors for endangering the welfare of a child and one count of custodial interference.

Sorey triggered the search by authorities when he contacted Manchester police on November 18 and told officers that he had not seen his daughter in a long time.

Montgomery was arrested Tuesday by Manchester police. On New Year’s Eve, he refused to tell police where the girl was and told relatives that he physically attacked their daughter in the past, according to court records. He is being held without bail.

He told investigators that the last time he saw Harmony was on Thanksgiving 2019, when Montgomery was with Sorey in Lowell, authorities said.

Montgomery is alleged to have physically abused Harmony between July 1 and July 22, 2019 and actively endangered his daughter’s well-being since November 2019, according to court records.

Montgomery was given custody of her daughter in February 2019 by the Massachusetts juvenile court, according to the Massachusetts Office of the Ombudsman for Children. The court did so despite Montgomery’s long criminal history, which includes a 2014 conviction for shooting a man in the face during a Haverhill drug deal.

Aldenberg has said that Harmony was enrolled in a Massachusetts school, but did not release further details.

On Wednesday, officials arrested Montgomery’s wife, Kayla Montgomery, 31, on felony welfare fraud for allegedly collecting $ 1,500 in food stamp benefits destined for Harmony, according to the attorney general’s office. from New Hampshire.

Kayla Montgomery had notified New Hampshire officials on June 2 of last year that Harmony had moved in with her biological mother, according to court documents.

On Saturday afternoon, police patrol cars blocked the entrances to Gilford Street, allowing access only to residents.

The house is located in a quiet neighborhood full of small, compact houses. Snow from the week’s storm still covered the ground. Not far from Gilford Street, a couple of young children were playing outside.

Police showed up at one point Saturday to use a drone, which briefly flew over the property.

By Saturday night authorities had cleared the scene, although a Manchester police patrol car remained parked outside the house.

Blair Miller, who along with her husband adopted Harmony’s brother Jamison in 2019, said Saturday that while he is happy that authorities remain engaged in the case, the news of Saturday’s search was “troubling.”

“We are trying to hold onto hope and optimism,” said Miller, who has remained in contact with Sorey since adopting her son. “But I will tell you that today feels very dark and disturbing.”

Sorey, speaking at Saturday’s vigil at Bass Island Park in Manchester, said the ordeal surrounding his missing daughter has been hell.

“It’s like every day, I hope to wake up and get that call that says ‘hey, someone took her to a fire station, they don’t even know she was missing.’ I pray for that day to come, ”he said.

“I want her to know that I am here, and that we are going to pass out flyers every day, and that we are going to pass out these posters as far as we can,” Sorey said. “She is very, very loved by all who have known her.”

Globe staff John R. Ellement and Globe correspondent Charlie McKenna contributed to this report.


You can reach Dugan Arnett at dugan.arnett@globe.com. You can reach John Hilliard at john.hilliard@globe.com.

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