Lives Shattered
Jamison doesn’t know how his sister Harmony died. He doesn’t know how she was tormented for months. He doesn’t know that DCYF failed to protect her and lied about it in the official report. He doesn’t know she was brutally murdered. He only knows that she died and says she is an angel in heaven. He still grieves. He sends balloons to Heaven for her. He draws pictures of his adopted dads and brothers putting a heart in the sky to show Harmony is in Heaven. He sleeps with the picture he has of the two of them above his bed. Unlike Harmony, he is safe and happy with his family.
The Miller Family
Thankfully, right now Jamison does not know this truth but as he gets older he will have to deal with this horrible reality: Harmony could have been saved.
Under Color of Law: Ignoring the Danger
The state’s betrayal of Harmony Montgomery didn’t end on July 29, 2019. In reality it was only just beginning. In the three months that followed, while the State of New Hampshire and its child protection agency maintained oversight of her case, the failures only deepened. With each passing day, DCYF and its staff had repeated opportunities to intervene, investigate new reports, and to remove her from the danger that lurked in that house of horrors, but they did nothing to stop the abuse.
Despite knowing Harmony was at risk as each call of abuse and neglect came in to Central Intake, DCYF allowed her to remain in the custody of a violent, raging, drug-addicted father whose abuse was escalating in both severity and cruelty. Instead of acting on multiple, credible, and urgent reports, DCYF staff ignored its own policies and procedures, dismissed alarming allegations, and misclassified information in ways that left Harmony completely unprotected.
In reality, Harmony was trapped, isolated, neglected, and brutalized right under the noses of the agency tasked with protecting her. On July 30, 2019, just one day after the initial reports of physical abuse, Kevin Montgomery again contacted DCYF, this time with new and disturbing allegations. Harmony had not eaten, was being confined to her room for hours at a time, and was, he believed, continuing to suffer under Adam Montgomery’s control.
Under agency policy, these were not minor allegations of mistreatment. Rather, they were new allegations that required a separate investigation. But DCYF failed to follow its own rules. The new allegations were reportedly improperly downgraded and treated as “additional information,” effectively ensuring there would be no additional investigation.
Kevin Montgomery was not the only person to contact DCYF on July 30, 2019. On that date, according to the discovery in the civil lawsuit, another report of abuse and neglect was filed by “Pamela” claiming Adam would not allow Harmony to leave her room during the time she was present in the home over a couple of days. The reporter indicated the presence of drug paraphernalia and reported that Harmony was being physically abused. She informed DCYF that Harmony was blind in one eye. Again, no new investigation was ordered.
And so the pattern of neglect and reckless indifference by DCYF continued. Warnings were ignored, procedures bypassed, and a little girl was left defenseless and suffering with each official failure.
Under Color of Law: A Delayed and Deficient Assessment
Despite ongoing serious allegations of physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, savage punishments and an unsafe, fifthly environment on 77 Gilford Street, the child protection worker assigned to Harmony Montgomery’s case, Demetrios Tsaros, delayed any assessment of her allowing for the black eye to resolve.
On August 1, 2019, According to his testimony, Tsaros scheduled a home visit with Adam Montgomery but allowed Adam to cancel it when he claimed the children were ill and needed to be “seen.” Instead of insisting on an immediate welfare check or appearing unannounced later that day, Tsaros agreed with Adam, his former youth counseling client, to delay the assessment, rather than complying with his legal and policy mandate to assess Harmony immediately. Together, they scheduled the “emergency” visit for August 7, 2019, a direct violation of the law. The visit would be more than two weeks after the injury had first been observed by Kevin Montgomery. Another potential due process violation of Harmony’s rights.
When Tsaros finally saw Harmony on August 7th 2019, he noted a red mark and faded bruising under her eye, signs consistent with earlier reports of violence, but not in his opinion. He downplayed the visit as a follow-up while under oath, and ignored the truth about the injury as told by Kevin Montgomery.
Tsaros admitted under oath that he could not recall whether Harmony was interviewed alone, raising serious questions about whether she was ever given a safe opportunity to disclose the abuse. DCYF policy required that “the child needs to be interviewed in an (neutral) uninfluenced, non-threatening, private, quiet place that is free from interruptions.”
It appears that both Adam and Kayla Montgomery were present in the small home during the visit, which further undermined the integrity of the delayed investigation. The Governor’s report confirms this stating, “During a second visit…CPSW interviewed Harmony Montgomery, Adam Montgomery, and Kayla Montgomery and noted a red mark in her eye and faded bruising under her eyelid.” Of course, we would come to know from the CPSW’s sworn testimony that this was the first visit with Harmony and not the second visit as reported by DCYF to the governor. Another lie by the state.
The state’s official report confirmed the presence of the visible, but fading injuries, while making no mention of any protective action taken or referral to law enforcement as required by law. CPSW Tsaros simply accepted the explanation that one of the other children accidently hit Harmony with a lightsaber toy causing the injury. Kayla Montgomery backed up that lie but later testified at the murder trial that her husband physically abused Harmony causing the severe black eye.
The August 7, 2019 visit, mischaracterized, delayed, and possibly conducted under inappropriate circumstances, may have been the last recorded formal investigation with child protection services before Harmony’s murder. Nothing in the Governor’s report refers to any additional assessment other than the one involving Montgomery assaulting Harmony and giving her a black eye. For this reason alone the need for a federal probe is necessary because only investigators can access hidden DCYF documents that could confirm whether Harmony was seen and evaluated for additional allegations being reported by multiple callers to DCYF.
Under Color of Law: Multiple Reports of Maltreatment
Between August 2, 2019 and October 5, 2019, concerned callers continued to warn DCYF of neglect and safety issues, including a refrigerator blocking the back door, a dangerously cluttered, filthy house, rotting food, and no or very minimal electricity from a generator.
Photos, never seen before, taken by Kevin Montgomery of 77 Gilford Street in the summer 2019.
Seventeen reports of abuse and/or neglect were made during just three months of DCYF’s oversight while Harmony lived in the home. Yet, there is no indication from the civil lawsuit or the governor’s office that those who reported abuse or neglect were actually interviewed beyond the call, or that witnesses were sought by DCYF to confirm the reports. This is another reason for the federal authorities to investigate possible due process violations because they can access the DCYF file.
During those three months, the home was filled with drugs, needles, and ongoing substance abuse, according to witness testimony in the June 2023 firearms trial against Adam Montgomery. He was convicted of selling firearms from the Gilford Street address around September/October 2019. Kayla Montgomery testified at that trial that neither she nor Adam were sober while living in the home on Gilford Street. Adam, she said, went out at night to get drugs so they could get “high” on crack and heroin. Kevin Montgomery implored DCYF to remove Harmony from the drug-infested home. He reported Adam Montgomery had a criminal record and had been incarcerated.
One of the most disturbing failures in Harmony Montgomery’s case occurred on August 2, 2019, when DCYF received a report that Harmony was being sexually molested. State law required DCYF to immediately report these allegations to law enforcement, but that reportedly never happened.
Instead of treating the serious allegation of molestation as a new abuse claim and launching an urgent investigation, DCYF labeled the report as mere “additional information,” according to the factual allegations in the civil lawsuit complaint. This designation meant no referral to law enforcement, no evaluation by a specialist, and no follow-up action taken to protect Harmony despite clear laws requiring it. Nothing in the Governor’s report indicates that Harmony was ever evaluated for sexual abuse.
Under Color of Law: Imprisoned
While abuse and neglect reports continued to pour in for three months, mostly from family members and relatives, Harmony remained hidden from the outside world. Kevin continued to press DCYF to protect Harmony. Her mom, Crystal Sorey also reported that Harmony was being isolated and she was not allowed to see her. Tsaros reportedly never followed up with Sorey’s concerns.
Harmony was a child in captivity, a prisoner in a frightening world. While under DCYF oversight, there are no reports that she was ever seen by a pediatrician, vision specialist although legally blind in one eye and needed eye surgery when she left Massachusetts. She was never referred to a neurologist for her neurological condition, septo-optic dysplasia. Despite the fact that she had rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act, no therapy or disability specialist was sought during DCYF’s oversight. An absolute violation of her civil rights.
Harmony was denied an education completely, despite requiring special education services. According to documentation seen by the parties in the civil lawsuit, CPSW Tsaros knew Harmony was not in school because he asked Adam about it after receiving calls from family members. Adam made some excuse about needing to prove her residency and no one at DCYF ever followed up to ensure she was in school.
Prior to the age of five, Harmony was receiving educational services in Massachusetts. What we do know from the Governor’s report is that for three months of DCYF oversight, no one in the State of New Hampshire contacted Massachusetts despite having knowledge from the New Hampshire Office of the Child Advocate and Kayla Montgomery that Adam was granted custody after Harmony had been in foster care.
Routine and specialized medical care, all in place before she was sent to New Hampshire were never ensured or put in place by DCYF. It was easy for her to go “missing” with no one seeing her for two years after the murder when the state had provided no referrals for services, or ensured she had an education and medical treatment. There was simply no professional to report that they had not seen her.
No New Hampshire professional has ever come forward to say they saw Harmony for services, educational placements, medical care, or mental health support of any kind during DCYF’s open case. Why was she never seen by any of these professionals other than CPSW Tsaros, Montgomery’s former youth counselor? The State will argue that she wasn’t in its custody and therefore it was Montgomery’s responsibility. That just won’t fly since it is the state agency and its employees that actually kept Harmony from the courts and law enforcement with its lies and false documentation. Had that not happened, Harmony would likely have been in state custody because of the felony assault by her father.
Harmony was left completely isolated, reportedly locked away from professionals who could have helped her, or exposed what was happening. These failures raise serious and legitimate questions about whether DCYF caseworkers and supervisors deliberately avoided placing her in view of mandated reporters like teachers and doctors. The pattern suggests possible violations of Harmony’s constitutional rights, including her right to safety, healthcare, and due process. This is exactly why a federal investigation is justified. It’s for them to make that determination.
In reality, Harmony became a child in captivity; a prisoner trapped, isolated, neglected, and brutalized right under the noses of the agency tasked with protecting her.
Only recently has it come to light in the civil complaint discovery, that on August 8, 2019, CPSW Tsaros documented that a pediatrician he called reported “no concerns of abuse or neglect” regarding the Montgomery “children.” But according to the civil lawsuit amended complaint, that doctor would clarify much later that she had never seen Harmony, having only provided care for Adam and Kayla Montgomery’s sons. CPSW Tsaros did not mention Harmony by name when he made that call. Montgomery’s sons were the “children” she was referring to when contacted by CPSW Tsaros.
Harmony was never brought in to the doctor for her black eye or a sexual assault exam. The pediatrician did not know Harmony at all. Had Harmony been seen on July 29, 2019, she might still be alive. Only federal investigators can determine whether these alleged failures and actions were mistakes or deliberate and knowingly unlawful, potentially warranting federal criminal charges.
Under Color of Law: It’s time for Justice
“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…”
Only a federal investigation can determine whether the degree of willfulness, if any, and the possible knowing violations of law can be pursued on Harmony’s behalf under the color of law.
On October 5, 2019, the seventeenth report expressing concerns about Harmony was called into DCYF. On October 17, 2019, a closing letter was sent to Adam Montgomery and Kayla Montgomery indicating that the allegation of physical abuse (now confirmed with Montgomery’s conviction) was “unfounded.” An investigation by federal authorities could determine that the DCYF panel that made the decision finding Harmony was not abused after multiple credible reports of abuse was unfair, depriving Harmony of an impartial decision maker, the hallmarks of a due process violation.
Seven weeks after DCYF closed the case, Harmony was dead from yet another brutal attack of blows to her head by her violent father. She wet her pants and he beat her to death in the backseat of the car. He then “folded her in half and put her in a duffle bag,” according to his wife.
No official from DCYF or the State of New Hampshire believed for a minute that the man who killed Harmony in a brutal attack had been assaulting and abusing this beautiful little girl.
Under Color of Law: The Final Insult
Officials are working hard to prevent DCYF and those involved in Harmony’s case from being held accountable. Recently the State of New Hampshire settled the civil lawsuit for 2.25 million dollars in order to stop the truth from coming out at trial. Here is what the Attorney General wrote publicly about the settlement:
“The state agreed to these settlements to avoid prolonged litigation and support closure for the families. We recognize their profound loss and hope this brings some measure of peace.”
Here is what the Attorney General wrote privately in the settlement agreement:
“No wrongdoing” “Nothing in this Agreement or the furnishing of the consideration for this Agreement shall be construed as an admission by any of the State Defendants of any liability or unlawful conduct whatsoever.”
Everyone has their price.
Despicable.
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