The Betrayal of Harmony Montgomery
Few child murder cases have captured the nation’s attention like that of Harmony Montgomery, a beautiful little girl brutally beaten to death by her father in New Hampshire after a Massachusetts court granted him custody. I told the heartbreaking story of how that state’s defective child welfare system in Massachusetts set her on a lethal path in my book A Cruel Injustice. In the eyes of the system that was supposed to protect her, Harmony was simply expendable.
But Massachusetts wasn’t the only state that failed her. What happened in New Hampshire is equally shocking, if not more so. As I dug deeper into her case, it became clear that Harmony didn’t just fall through the cracks. She was abandoned by the New Hampshire system that was supposed to protect her. Now, as a civil lawsuit, official reports, and sworn testimony come to light, the full extent of New Hampshire’s shocking betrayal is finally being exposed. Indeed, it will forever be a stain on a state that claims as part of its child welfare mission that, “Everyone needs and deserves a life of well-being.”
Under the Color of Law: A Due Process Betrayal
What happened to Harmony may be one of the most extreme and shocking deprivations of a child’s constitutional and civil rights ever documented. If she is to suffer no further injustice, even in death, the State of New Hampshire and the federal government owe her a full, unbiased investigation. But the state has abandoned Harmony and it’s time for federal authorities to step in and determine whether there can be justice for Harmony beyond her killer’s conviction.
Federal law, specifically 18 U.S.C. § 242, is clear:
“Whoever, under color of any law… willfully subjects any person… to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned…”
So, how does this law apply to Harmony’s case? How did a little girl, known to child protective services, become the victim of systemic failures and violations of law that may have been deliberate, ultimately depriving her of the rights and privileges protected under the Constitution? And perhaps most importantly, should the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire, or any federal agency, launch a full investigation into how the very system meant to protect Harmony instead helped seal her fate by depriving her of the most fundamental human right to be safe? There are answers to these questions and they start here, with Harmony’s rights under the color of law.
Procedural due process, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, requires that the government follow fair procedures before depriving a person of life, liberty, or property. For children who are the subjects of abuse investigations, state agencies like New Hampshire’s Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) must follow the law to protect their safety, well-being, and life.
Substantive due process, on the other hand, applies when the government wrongfully deprives a person of their basic rights protected by the Constitution without a valid reason. When state officials with knowledge of the laws and policies enacted to protect children fail to act when mandated by those laws, and do so willfully, it can be considered a violation under the color of law, making it a potential federal crime.
Under the Color of Law: July 29, 2019: Reports of Physical Abuse
Harmony Montgomery might still be alive if things had gone differently on July 29, 2019. It may very well have been her last real chance for survival. Instead, there would be no due process for Harmony that day. The first official allegation of physical abuse of Harmony was made to New Hampshire DCYF on July 29, 2019, according to a February 25, 2022 “Comprehensive Update” report released by then-Governor Sununu. DCYF documented this information in the Governor’s report writing:
“On July 29, 2019, an anonymous call was made to NH DCYF Central Intake regarding five-year-old Harmony Montgomery alleging potential abuse. The reporter alleged that when they visited the home a week prior, on July 22, 2019, Harmony Montgomery had a black eye that Adam Montgomery admitted to causing. The report was screened in and a CPSW was assigned.”
New Hampshire statutory law has long had strong due process protections for abused children. In cases where a child’s immediate safety is at risk, DCYF is required by law to “act immediately” upon receiving the report. In Harmony’s case, DCYF acted within the law by immediately assigning a protective worker to assess Harmony’s injury.
A child protective social worker, (CPSW), Demetrios Tsaros, was immediately assigned and dispatched to investigate the allegation of serious physical abuse that day, demonstrating the urgent concerns of DCYF that the safety and well-being of Harmony was endangered. The truth as we now know it, is that Harmony was indeed in extreme danger. She would soon become a murder victim by the very person the caller told DCYF was physically abusing her.
The law requiring immediate action in cases of physical abuse was not the only legal protection in effect to keep children safe under New Hampshire law when Harmony was being abused by her father. This additional due process protection, still in effect to this day, requires DCYF to “immediately” refer all cases to the “local law enforcement agency” when there is reason to believe that a child has been “intentionally physically injured so as to cause serious bodily injury; physically injured by other than accidental means so as to cause serious bodily injury; or a victim of a crime.”
Harmony’s case clearly met this requirement. The caller detailed a serious physical assault that was not only child abuse but also a felony under New Hampshire law and one her father was later convicted of at trial. But Harmony would be denied this additional protection keeping her right under the sadistic control of her killer.
Under the Color of Law: “Punched…with full force”
On July 29, 2019, Adam Montgomery’s uncle, Kevin Montgomery, identified himself as the original anonymous caller and again pleaded with DCYF to intervene. He made it clear in the call that Adam had physically punched Harmony in the head, giving her a black eye. Kevin had first seen the severe bruising a week earlier, on July 22, 2019, after returning to New Hampshire from Florida. But Harmony’s injuries were even more worrisome than the severe black eye.
Described in a report Kevin made to DCYF, now revealed in the factual allegations in the civil lawsuit complaint, he also detailed bruising on the cheekbone, temple, and nose, reporting that Adam admitted to abusing her. Adam Montgomery told his uncle that he “bounced her off every f—ing wall in this place.” Kevin reported to DCYF that “this child was punched clear in the eye socket with full force.”
Kevin detailed not only the black eye and facial Injuries, but signs of escalating abuse and neglect; drug use in the home, filthy living conditions, electricity shut off and only a small generator for the air conditioner. Harmony, legally blind in one eye, was being “punished” with Adam Montgomery forcing her to scrub the bathroom floor with a toothbrush in the faded green house on 77 Gilford Street. Kevin begged DCYF to intervene that day. They didn’t.
Despite multiple calls that day to DCYF with concerns for Harmony’s safety, no assessment of Harmony or notification of the violent assault was made to law enforcement as required by law. Harmony was left in the hands of the man who would later murder her.
When I spoke to Kevin, he described his frustration, saying he told DCYF he would “call every day” until someone protected Harmony. But no one did. No one from the state agency charged with protecting children did anything to secure Harmony’s safety. It was the day Harmony could have been rescued. Instead, July 29, 2019 became the day that those who were supposed to protect her put her in danger. She was left in the hands of her violent abuser; the same man who months later would strike her again, this time repeatedly in the head, in the backseat of a car, where she cried and moaned in pain before her heart stopped from the blows.
Under the Color of Law: No Help for Harmony on July 29, 2019
So why weren’t the police called that day? Why wasn’t Harmony removed from Montgomery’s custody? And why wasn’t he arrested? There are answers to these questions that the State of New Hampshire wants to keep hidden not only from the public but from any outside investigators. It is an inconvenient truth that has lurked in the shadows of the state’s convenient confidentiality laws for too long. But not anymore.
According to the official report released from the New Hampshire Office of the Governor, DCYF officials believed that CPSW Demetrios Tsaros followed the law and agency policy that day. The report states:
“The CPSW visited the home and observed the children, including Harmony Montgomery, the same day as the report, July 29, 2019. This assessment was conducted as Adam Montgomery and Harmony were entering their vehicle and departing.”
But that was not true. In fact it was proven to be false by the CPSW’s own sworn testimony at Montgomery’s murder trial. There was no assessment of Harmony that day. CPSW Tsaros never met with Harmony or examined the injury that he was sent to investigate on July29, 2019. And in the context of Harmony’s most basic constitutional and human rights, the actual truth of what happened, or didn’t happen, on July 29, 2019 demonstrates that Harmony may have been deprived of her procedural due process right to a fair and thorough investigation into the reported physical abuse.
“This child was punched clear in the eye socket with full force.”
Kevin Montgomery
The truth, hidden for so long, also justifies a federal investigation to determine if Harmony was also deprived of her substantive due process right to be free from reckless and arbitrary government decisions that placed her in grave danger by the state’s agency and its officials. Her brutal murder suggests that DCYF decisions made on July 29, 2019 and in the months following, while the agency had oversight, were reckless and arbitrary depriving Harmony of her basic right under the color of law to be safe.
Under Color of Law: The July 29, 2019 Truth Under Oath
Watching Adam Montgomery’s murder trial, I was immediately struck by the stark contradiction between CPSW Tsaros’s sworn testimony and what had been reported by his DCYF agency to the governor on February 25, 2022.
Under oath, CPSW Tsaros now forced to tell the truth confirmed the shocking reality of what really happened that day:
“I tried to initiate contact in an effort to see the family.”
“I drove to the location, and as I pulled up, I noticed a person that I recognized as Adam Montgomery getting into a car.”
“There was a small girl with him.”
“As I was getting ready to park, I observed them getting into the vehicle.”
“The person, Adam, was helping her into the vehicle.
He testified he observed Adam Montgomery and the small child for:
“Maybe ten seconds…fifteen seconds” “from 30 to 40 feet away”
“Literally just looked like a small child, female, getting into the car with someone.”
“They were parked on the side of the road in front of the house that I was going to.”
The testimony of Demetrios Tsaros under oath made clear the undeniable truth of what happened on July 29, 2019. He never examined Harmony’s black eye or interviewed her. He only observed a “small girl” from “thirty to forty feet away” while still inside his car. He watched them for “ten to fifteen seconds” before parking. He agreed on cross examination, it was nothing more than a “fleeting” encounter and he never saw Harmony’s face.
What is undeniable, however, is that he knew exactly who he was ordered to see that day; a girl in Adam Montgomery’s custody. He was assigned to assess the girl’s safety, specifically Harmony, based on the allegation that Adam Montgomery assaulted his daughter. And yet, he still did nothing to see the face of that “small girl” as Adam Montgomery fled with her.
CPSW Tsaros never got out of his car or drove up when Adam Montgomery, who he “recognized,” was still outside of his car with a small girl “helping her into the vehicle.” He testified that Adam Montgomery was parked on the same street where he pulled up to park.
But ask yourself this: How long would it have taken CPSW Tsaros to drive up to Montgomery’s car in order to see Harmony’s face, especially knowing of the serious physical abuse allegation? For reference, the average school bus is thirty five to forty five feet long so CPSW Tsaros was not very far from them.
Using the standard mathematical formula Time =Distance / Speed, it takes 1.09 seconds to travel 40 ft. at a speed of 25 miles/hour (lower than the speed limit of 30 miles/hour for residential neighborhoods in Manchester NH.) Even at 15 miles/hour, it takes 1.82 seconds to travel 40 ft. Less than two seconds to drive up and tell Adam to stop as he put Harmony in the car, so he could see Harmony’s face and evaluate the injury. But instead he did nothing for ten to fifteen seconds while Adam, according to his wife under oath, fled with Harmony to avoid anyone from seeing her.
CPSW Tsaros also testified that he had been alerted that the man he recognized as Adam Montgomery reportedly struck Harmony in the face, giving her a “shiner.” He verified having knowledge of the reported serious injury and testified it was his general responsibility as a CPSW to see children and “assess safety.” Yet he still did nothing to help Harmony.
He never returned to the house to ensure that Harmony was safe on July 29, 2019, even though he confirmed at trial that he learned it had been Harmony with Adam. He actually met with Montgomery’s wife and two boys as soon as Adam left, and admitted he did not see Harmony in the home because “she was the little girl that got into the car.”
“I drove to the location, and as I pulled up, I noticed a person that I recognized as Adam Montgomery getting into a car.” “There was a small girl with him.”
CPSW Tsaros
The admission by Tsaros that he never saw Harmony that day or assessed her black eye exposed a horrifying reality. The information released to the public in the Governor’s report was not true. The public had been misled.
Instead of examining Harmony that day and immediately contacting the police as required by law, Harmony was left with her tormentor; the man who killed her. CPSW Tsaros waited until August 7, 2019 to finally see her for the first time. It was seventeen days after the July 22, 2019 assault later reported on July 29, 2019 by Kevin Montgomery; enough time to ensure the black eye had almost completely faded. These facts alone justify federal intervention to determine whether, as I believe, Harmony’s due process rights were violated.
Under Color of Law: Carefully Worded
On direct examination during the murder trial when Tsaros was asked about his first face-to-face meeting with Harmony on August 7, 2019, I was stunned by his carefully worded, but evasive answer. He responded by “correcting” the prosecutor saying, “You mean my response to following up with the report,” rather than acknowledging it was actually his first assessment where he would have had to report to law enforcement.
But it wasn’t a “follow-up.” It was the first time he saw Harmony face-to face. That truth is now uncontested by his own admission under oath that he never assessed Harmony on July 29, 2019. Still, the state’s Assistant Attorney General made no further inquiries at trial challenging the statement that his visit in August was a “follow-up.”
The false statement in the Governor’s report that Harmony had been assessed “as Adam Montgomery and Harmony were entering their vehicle and departing,” allowed DCYF and the State of New Hampshire to escape accountability for their failure to protect her and for their failure to have the police examine Harmony that day as required by New Hampshire law. It was the day Montgomery could have been arrested and Harmony removed from his custody. It was the day she could have been rescued. But that never happened and the consequences were catastrophic.
The sad truth of that day doesn’t end there. In fact it was only the beginning. The unforgivable actions that followed were even more devastating for Harmony. The horrifying truth is that she was left without protection from DCYF. Without protection from the state. Without the mandated protection of law enforcement. Without the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Harmony was left by DCYF with her abuser who we now know brutally assaulted her. And frankly, she paid with her life just a few short weeks after the state closed the case.
The question now is whether New Hampshire will be allowed to cover up the truth or whether the federal government will finally step in and seek justice for Harmony, something the state has never done and still refuses to do. That’s because there is more to this story they don’t want you to know…a lot more.
NEXT: Part Two on June 4, 2025: A Second urgent call for a federal investigation: A stunning betrayal continues on July 29, 2019 leaving Harmony in the hands of her killer while DCYF looked the other way. How was it that a CPSW “recognized” Adam Montgomery on July 29, 2019? How is that Adam Montgomery fled with Harmony at the very moment the CPSW arrived ? The shocking exposé continues in Part Two with new revelations about how New Hampshire set Harmony on a trajectory to death.
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