The “Official Truth” Becomes a Lie
If Part One exposed the stunning betrayal of a vulnerable, disabled Harmony, Part Two reveals the machinery of deception that allowed it to happen. July 29, 2019, was not just a missed opportunity. It was the day state officials ensured no one would be there to protect Harmony from the torment she suffered in that home.
No longer in doubt that tiny, legally blind in one eye, Harmony Montgomery had a severe black eye intentionally inflicted by her father, DCYF is forced to accept the undeniable reality of its role in her death. The State of New Hampshire is now fully aware that its obligation to provide an emergency assessment of Harmony’s injury, and to protect her from further assaults and abuse never happened on July 29, 2019. In fact for the three months after that day, she might have been saved but DCYF did nothing other than leaving Harmony with her tormentor.
Through discovery in civil litigation, testimony at the murder trial, and the unraveling of unequivocal lies and omissions in the official state report, the answers as to why no police were called to rescue Harmony or arrest Montgomery that fateful July day, are revealed in horrifying detail.
By law, DCYF’s case worker CPSW Tsaros was required to contact the police so an officer could assess Harmony’s injuries on July 29, 2019, due to the severity of the reported abuse. He did reach out to the Manchester Police Department because he had to by law, but in a stunning betrayal, sent this email:
“I think you folks are all set. I saw the children and did not observe any bruises, marks, etc.“
Even the Governor’s report confirms the email was sent from Tsaros to police on July 29, 2019:
“On that date, the CPSW sent an email to Manchester Police Department advising that they did not observe an injury on the child consistent with a black eye. This assessment was conducted as Adam Montgomery and Harmony were entering their vehicle and departing.
Blatant lies! All of it…one big lie.
That email was a critical moment in Harmony’s life; a potential lifeline snuffed out the moment it was sent. A chance to survive the torture in the faded green house on 77 Gilford st. It may have been the moment that sealed her fate because it prevented police from assessing her injuries as the law required. It allowed Adam Montgomery to escape possible arrest for the assault for four years when it was too late, and ensured that Harmony remained trapped like a prisoner in an abusive home. And just seven weeks after DCYF closed the case writing that the allegation of physical abuse was “unfounded,” she lost her life in yet another savage attack by her father.
Under federal law, a constitutional violation requires proof that state officials acted willfully and with knowledge that their actions were unlawful. A key question for federal investigators is whether the legal mandate to involve the police on July 29, 2019, was deliberately subverted by the false email to police.
That email was a critical moment in Harmony’s life; a potential lifeline snuffed out the moment it was sent.
CPSW Tsaros claimed in the email that he observed the “children” and saw no bruises or marks. But the DCYF policy at the time made clear that, “All children in the household must be met or observed by the CPSW to help assess the validity of the referral and to make a determination about whether they are in imminent danger.” Harmony was in imminent danger from her raging, violent father but the assessment never happened that day even though the Governor’s report stated it did.
Another critical question for any federal investigator is whether decisions made that day that resulted in Harmony having no immediate investigation by a CPSW or any assessment in July 2019 for that matter, were made with the full knowledge that each of those decisions violated the law. This is the substance of a claim for violations of rights and privileges under the color of law.
Whatever the answers, one truth is undeniable. Any hope of saving Harmony on July 29, 2019, was crushed by decisions that set her on a dangerous and lethal path.
Under of Color of Law: Flight: Escaping the Law
Harmony Montgomery’s injuries as described by Kevin Montgomery and seen by others were so severe that her father was ultimately convicted of second-degree assault, a felony, along with the murder conviction. Had the law been followed on July 29, 2019, Adam Montgomery might have been arrested. Harmony might have been removed from his custody. She might still be alive.
According to the discovery in the amended complaint in the civil lawsuit filed against the state and DCYF, caseworker Demetrios Tsaros made an “unannounced” visit on July 29, 2019. But that claim was never questioned during the New Hampshire investigation or the murder trial. No one asked the obvious: How did it just so happen that at the very moment CPSW Tsaros arrived, Adam Montgomery was removing Harmony from the home?
The truth, according to Kayla Montgomery’s sworn testimony, is that Adam Montgomery was given an advanced warning that he was being investigated that very day for reports of physical abuse. It was that warning that his wife said gave Montgomery just enough time to flee with Harmony. It was the advanced warning, according to Kayla, that allowed Montgomery to ensure that no one, including the police, would see Harmony’s black eye. Her chilling, sworn testimony describes the call explaining that an investigation was forthcoming.
“DCYF got a call about the children not being taken care of and that Adam was abusing his daughter.”
“And what did Adam Montgomery do,” she was asked under direct questioning: “He left with her. He grabbed Harmony and left with her.”
Just as Adam Montgomery was fleeing with Harmony, CPSW Tsaros arrived at that exact moment and watched Adam Montgomery who he admitted he “recognized,” put a “small girl” in the car and drive away. He sat there, watching as the seconds he testified to ticked away, after Adam Montgomery got that warning call …15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…and Harmony was gone. He didn’t drive closer or pull up next to them while Harmony was being helped into the car so he could examine her. Only when Adam was gone, did he exit his car and visit Kayla and her boys, following up with an email to the police claiming he saw “the children” and there were no “bruises” or “marks.” Kayla ultimately admitted at trial that she “covered” for Adam because she didn’t “want him to get in trouble.”
This carefully worded email to police using the word “children” might have worked to prove Tsaros saw all the “children” including Harmony until the truth spilled out at trial. Even the Governor’s report makes very clear that he evaluated “Harmony,” and of course that, as we now know, never happened that day. Kayla confirmed that Harmony had a black eye caused by Adam Montgomery and that’s why he fled. Federal authorities need to investigate these issues if there is to be any justice for Harmony.
“And what did Adam Montgomery do,” she was asked under direct questioning: “He left with her. He grabbed Harmony and left with her.”
-Kayla Montgomery
Who made that call to warn of the investigation giving Montgomery time to flee? This is a fact that should be left to federal investigators to examine the extent, if any, to which Harmony’s due process rights may have been deliberately violated. What is known however, is that CPSW Tsaros had Adam Montgomery’s direct cell phone number because he admitted at the trial that he called Adam directly later that day to arrange to see Harmony…and that never happened either. Only a federal investigation can determine the facts and ultimately the truth to ensure justice for Harmony.
Under Color of Law: Delays
A state agency investigating child abuse should never allow an alleged abuser to have advanced notification before an investigation of physical abuse. It doesn’t get more basic then that when investigating child abuse. But Kayla’s account about the advanced warning makes perfect sense when compared to the events that unfolded that day leaving Harmony in danger.
It would not be until August 7, 2019, nine days after the report of abuse and seventeen days after the assault took place on July 22, 20019 that Tsaros would see Harmony face to face for the first time. By then, the bruises had faded. Those facts alone should prompt a federal investigation to determine whether Harmony was deliberately deprived of her constitutional rights under the color of law.
Under Color of Law: Secret Connections
But that’s not where the deeply disturbing revelations end in Harmony’s case. In a decision that simply defies logic, and caused significant distress to Kevin Montgomery and paternal grandmother Helen Montgomery, DCYF assigned Demetrios Tsaros to investigate Harmony’s abuse case. CPSW Tsaros had a connection to Montgomery and knew him long before he was assigned to Harmony’s case. This explained why CPSW Tsaros testified he “recognized” Adam Montgomery getting into a car with a “small girl.”
Governmental officials in New Hampshire could not have predicted that the discovery provided in the civil lawsuit would reveal the secret of exactly how Tsaros and Montgomery were connected. A DCYF “Contact Log” note indicated that during the three months that DCYF had an open case, Harmony’s paternal grandmother, Helen Montgomery contacted DCYF and “voiced her concerns about CPSW Tsaros having known Adam for fifteen years.” That connection was made when Montgomery was a teenager in a New Hampshire youth detention facility. While detained, Demetrios Tsaros was his youth counselor. This was confirmed by Kevin Montgomery when we spoke.
Kevin indicated he knew of the connection and raised concerns about CPSW Tsaros being assigned to investigate the case against his former counseling client. He spoke with Tsaros about the physical abuse and said Tsaros told him. “Adam’s not like that.”
Helen Montgomery reportedly warned DCYF about this connection and according to the factual allegations in the civil lawsuit, she indicated that DCYF officials told her they did not believe it was a concern because it was “not on a personal level.” DCYF was dismissive of their concerns and continued to keep Tsaros on the case; yet another potentially deliberate denial of Harmony’s due process rights to a fair and unbiased abuse investigation.
Under Color of Law: Hidden Truths
Kevin Montgomery was angry and in disbelief that no one from DCYF was going to the home on July 29, 2019 to observe Harmony’s black eye. But what he didn’t know was that Adam Montgomery was given advance notice of the investigation or that he fled with Harmony at the exact moment Adam’s former youth counselor, now the assigned DCYF investigator, arrived to observe the reported black eye.
And so, for nearly five years, these facts remained hidden from public view. The allegation that a DCYF worker who had once counseled Adam Montgomery as a troubled teen watched him flee after receiving a call with advanced warning of the impending investigation, according to Montgomery’s own wife, is beyond troubling. Indeed, this case cries out for a fair and unbiased federal investigation to determine what happened on July 29, 2019, now that the truth slowly spills out.
Under Color of Law: A New Lens
Examining the events of July 29, 2019, through the lens of 18 U.S.C. § 242, it seems clear that a federal investigation into violations of Harmony Montgomery’s procedural and substantive due process rights is not only justified but necessary. Every decision made on that July29, 2019 fateful day left Harmony in a home where callers were reporting horrific abuse and mistreatment. Yet DCYF did nothing.
She was, by all accounts, tormented in that home by her father who murdered her seven weeks after DCYF found no support for the allegations and closed the case. There are times that decisions made by governmental officials may be willful and knowingly unlawful and therefore should be investigated under federal law to make such a determination. This is one of those times.
Now, the question is: Will New Hampshire be allowed to keep hiding the rest of the truth?
Or will the federal government step in and finally demand justice for Harmony?
NEXT: Part Three: A third urgent call for a federal investigation
For three months, a disabled, vision impaired Harmony was tormented through isolation, cruel beatings under the guise of punishment, verbal abuse, alleged sexual molestation, severe neglect and denial of basic human rights; her suffering unfolding in plain sight of those sworn to protect her. It’s a horrifying truth; Coming next in Part Three.
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