Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Little Harmony Montgomery, 7, STILL MISSING, as Dad Admits to Bashing Daughter

Episode Date: January 18, 2022

The family of Harmony Montgomery says the New Hampshire Division For Children Youth and Families failed the little girl. Harmony was just five years old when she was last seen in October 2019. Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg says officers are now working around the clock trying to find the blonde-haired blue-eyed little girl. According to Blair Miller, who adopted Harmony's younger brother, DCYF officials told him, Harmony had been reunited with her father. Miller had asked about the possibility of adopting Harmony as well. According to court documents, Kevin Montgomery, Adam's Uncle, called DCYF after he noticed Harmony had a black eye. Kevin Montgomery later told police his nephew, Adam, admitted to physically abusing harmony. A reward of over $112,000 is being offered. The tipline: 603-203-6060Joining Nancy Grace today: Blair Miller - Adoptive Father of Jamison (Victim's Biological Brother), Reporter/Anchor, CMG Washington News Bureau, Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @BlairMillerTV Nicole Deborde Hochglaube - Criminal Defense Lawyer (Houston TX), Former Prosecutor, Twitter: @debordelaw, HoustonCriminalDefense.com, Dr. Jorey Krawczyn - Psychologist, Faculty Saint Leo University; Consultant Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S.  Lisa M. Dadio - Former Police Lieutenant, New Haven Police Department, Senior Lecturer, Director of the "Center for Advanced Policing" at the University of New Haven's Forensic Science Department Jax Miller - News writer for Oxygen.com, True Crime Author, Author: "Hell in The Heartland: Murder, Meth, and The Case of Two Missing Girls", Facebook: "RealJaxMiller", Twitter/Instagram: @RealJaxMiller Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. How does a five-year-old little girl simply vanish into thin air? Here's the kicker. And nobody notices. Children are kidnapped or taken, whether it's by a custodial or not by non-custodial parent or a relative all the time. That's the majority of child kidnappings. But usually it's noticed immediately. One case springs to mind, and that is top mom casey anthony where her two-year-old daughter kelly goes missing for about 31 days before it is reported and then it's kelly's grandmother cindy anthony who reports the little girl missing that made

the headlines how could kelly be missing 30 days and is never reported? That's damning evidence, right? Well, what about when two years pass and a mother, a father, a stepmother, the school, the neighbors, nobody reports that, hey, I haven't seen Harmony. That's who I'm talking about. If she's alive, she would now be seven years old. Harmony Montgomery. Why do two years pass before anybody raises a flag formally that she is missing? Now, you know, if one of my children don't show up to school, all H-E-L-L breaks loose. That's why I got to get in there ahead of time and say, oh, Lucy has a sore throat. John David has an earache. Ahead of time, before all the bells and the alarms go off because they're missing and school doesn't know why. What happened with the school

system? What happened with Department of Family Children's Services who had been called to the home many times before, about 13 times for various things. Even the neighbors had called. So why is it one of the last times this little then five-year-old girl is seen with a black eye and the authorities from the cops and Department of Family and Children's Services leave her in the home with a black eye, scared and crying? Why? Why did that happen? In our country, the United States of America, we're so worried about giving foreign aid

and what's happening in other countries. What about right here in our country, in our backyard, under our very noses? We let a little girl just disappear? Well, I believe the school officials and defects should all go to jail until this whole thing is figured out. That's just me. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111,

where we still care about missing children and unsolved homicides. So let's try to get to the bottom of where is harmony? First of all, take a listen to reporter Brian Enten speaking on News Nation with the bio mom. Now, remember, this is the bio mom who said she sent emails, emails, emails. So where is my daughter? I would have been laying on the courthouse steps, prone, screaming and begging for help. I wouldn't count on an email or a Facebook message to find my daughter. But hey, that's just me. But listen to what she says. Cut 29.

Do you think Harmony's alive? I still believe she's here. I think he has her with either like his mother that no one knows really anything about because she never raised him, you know. But I think he would call his mom or hit her up on Facebook and say, I'm in real bad trouble. I need you to take her.

You're the only one that no one knows. You know what I mean? I feel like she's still here. I would know, man. Like I said before, a mother knows. You know when your baby's not here anymore. You know, you literally, you feel it the day it happens. Really? Did she feel it when your daughter, your little five-year-old girl, had a big shiner, a black eye? I mean, this little girl is already blind in the right eye, wears glasses, every picture, big smile. The dad bragging, he, quote, bashed her around the house and made her scrub the house, including the commode with her

toothbrush. Where was mommy then? Did mommy get a feeling that everything was okay? Let me hear that one more time, Jack. What does this mom say? Crystal, sorry. Do you think Harmony's alive? I still believe she's here. I think he has her with either, like, his mother that no one knows really anything about because she never raised him, you know, but I think he would call his mom or hit her up on Facebook and say, I'm in real bad trouble. I need you to take her. You're the only one that no one knows. You know what I mean? I feel like she's still here.

I would know, man. Like I said before, a mother knows. You know when your baby's not here anymore. You know, you literally, you feel it the day it happens. Right. Okay, that's total BS. That's technical legal term. And you may wonder why I'm angry. I'm angry because I keep thinking of my twins, John, David, and Lucy at age five

and how vulnerable and defenseless they were at that age and really still are. And how everybody could stand by and let this happen to this beautiful little girl, Harmony. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. First of all, Lisa Daddio, former police lieutenant, New Haven PD, senior lecturer and director for Center for Advanced Policing, University of New Haven. Dr. Jory Cross and psychologist, faculty, St. Leo University, consultant with the Blue Wall Institute and author of Operation SOS. And boy, do we need a shrink. High profile lawyer joining me out of Houston, former felony prosecutor Nicole DeBoer Hotchglobe. And you can find her at HoustonCriminalDefense.com.

Special guest joining us. And I now feel that we are friends over the airwaves. Blair Miller. Now, Blair Miller, who you may see on air, he's a reporter and anchor with Cox Media Group in Washington with their news bureau. Blair Miller is really, as far as I can tell, the only one who actually tried to do something about Harmony's horrible situation. He tried to adopt her. And you know why? Because he and his partner adopted her little brother, Jameson. Then they find out Jameson has a sister. So Jameson wants his sister, of course. So they try to get Harmony to open up their home and formally adopt her. And they are told by Department of

Family and Children's Services, no, we're going to reunite her with her abusive father, the one with the rap sheet, including shooting somebody in the face. Blair Miller is with us who desperately tried to get Harmony and give her a happy life in a loving home. Blair Miller, tick, tock, tick, tock. As the days pass by, what do you think? Well, we're very concerned. And as much of this keeps going on, you know, our concerns grow. And it feels like it's been a lifetime since the last time you and I spoke about this. We obviously were very concerned when we first learned about this at the end of December. Now, you know, we still have that optimism and hope and really for our son on our son Jameson's behalf that we can bring his sister home. I just thank God in heaven that you have

Jameson. That's one life that was spared. Now Jameson has a real chance at a future with a loving family. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Jax Miller is the news writer for Oxygen.com, my old TV home, true crime author of Hell in the Heartland, Murder and Meth in the Case of Two Missing Girls. My goodness, Jax Miller. Two Missing Girls. Well, you got a missing girl right here, and you just heard her bio mom talking about, I would know. I would know if she was dead.

That is bull, because she apparently didn't know when her daughter was getting beaten in the face and did nothing about it. What's the very, let me get off the mom. Let's talk about what we know about Harmony right now. What's the latest, Jax Miller? So I think everyone's trying to scramble and catch up because we have this two-year span of time.

That's two years of evidence that's lost, that's opportunities to scramble and catch up because we have this this two-year span of time that's two years of evidence that's lost that that opportunities to speak with people who may have known something just out the window so i think everyone's trying to hit the ground running but we're still trying to play catch up um there's been a lot of developments in the recent weeks including the arrests of of anthony montgomery um or I'm sorry, Adam Montgomery. Who is the bio dad. For those of you just joining us, Harmony Montgomery's missing. Her bio dad is Adam Montgomery.

The one I told you about with the big rap sheet, including shooting somebody in the face during a drug deal. How many children does he have, Blair Miller? Three that we know of or four? We think it's three, but, you know, it's kind of hard to know. One is Jameson that you have. One is Harmony that's been missing for two years. And Jameson has a brother, correct?

Jameson has a brother as well, a biological brother. And obviously Harmony has a biological sister. So those are the three that we know of. Guys, speaking of the father, Adam Montgomery, he's the one. Didn't he claim, Jax Miller, that he, quote, bashed a little girl around the house? Yeah, that's what's being reported, that he had said that he'd done that. There are reports that he had forced Harmony to stand in the corner for hours and that she had to clean the house with a toothbrush, including the toilet, which is just so incredibly excessive and just horrible to even think about. You know, I'm listening to this and

I need to shrink. Dr. Jory Crawson, psychologist, faculty, St. Leo University, forcing a child to clean the bathroom, including the commode, with their toothbrush, making her stand in the corner for hours on end until she couldn't even stand up anymore, giving her a black eye. Why? That comes from his just abusive nature, the aggressiveness of him. First off, he should have never had this child in the custody of himself. That gets back to the DCYF and their protocol. He repeatedly, from his behavior, showed this aggressive nature and violence and only can't really tell what has happened to her, but it's not going to turn out well.

What I'm saying is, why does a grown adult feel the need to torture a little child, a five-year-old little girl? She weighed, as I recall, maybe 50 pounds. She's only four feet tall, and she's blind in one eye. Why would you give a little girl like that a black eye? Make her stand in the corner for hours until she can't stand up anymore. Make her clean the whole house with a toothbrush. Her toothbrush. Explain that to me.

Usually the research shows that the daughter or the child is related to the other parent. So he's basically focusing his hatred, his anger on her mother through her by making, enforcing that control over her. Okay, let me tell you a technical legal term, Dr. Jory Croson, that you may not have learned in psychology when you were getting your doctorate. It's called an a-hole, all right? And now, I'm not giving you the full Latin word, but to you, Nicole DeBoer, Hotch Globe, you've been a felony prosecutor now, veteran defense attorney, high profile lawyer,

joining me out of Houston. You heard of those, right? A-holes where they don't really need a reason. Because yeah, I'm all for you shrinking it, Dr. Jory Croson, about he's taking out his feelings against his wife, blah, blah, blah. On the door, BFs, foul on that.

Why did he shoot somebody in the face? Why does he have assault, stalking, theft charges? Was all that acted out because of his anger at his ex-wife? No. He is what we call in the law, Nicole Hotchglobe, an a-hole. He needs to be in jail. Well, and he definitely doesn't need to have custody of a small child and it's shocking to me knowing what we know now with what appears to be minimal

research after she went missing or was reported missing that his record is a mile long i don't understand how the people in charge of making sure that this child was in safe hands allowed that child despite many reports potentially continuing, allowed that child, despite many reports, potentially continuing abuse, allowed her to stay in that home. Take a listen to our Cut 27. This is Harmony's bio mother again, Crystal Sori. And I know Blair Miller is who has now full adoptive custody of Harmony's little brother. He's not going to say one bad word about the bio mom, because that is

his son's bio mom we're talking about. So I'm not going to ask you to comment on this, Blair. I'll do the heavy lifting. Take a listen. And he's short tempered, you know, so he, you know, as soon as he gets the second or loses his temper, he's going to hit her, you know? And my daughter is, she's just like me, you know? She talks a lot and she's excited and she's smart. You know, she kind of even thinks she might even know a little bit more than you, you know, even though she doesn't. But that's just her. And she's just beautiful like that. But I just don't ever see someone getting so angry to where they bash her around the house, as he said. You know, I just don't I I just don't ever see someone getting so angry to where they they bash her around the house as he said you know I just don't I just don't understand

if that was the case and that's what you planned on doing with her why go for custody spite me to spite me that's all it was it was never for love for harmony oh so mom thinks it's all about her now Now, listen to this. Let's analyze what I just heard. The mother, Crystal Story, is saying he's short tempered. He's going to hit her. And she's like me. She talks a lot. She's smart.

She thinks she knows more than you do. Well, would that be that hard to know more than the mother and the father? The father who shot somebody in the face, the mother who let her daughter be with this guy, even getting custody. Now she explains, she explains how that whole thing happened. Jax Miller joining me from oxygen.com. How is it the dad got custody? Well, I think that's the million dollar question. And I think everyone is hoping that there's going to be an internal review with DCYF, because how does a child go back with the biological father when he has a rap sheet like this?

I mean, his rap sheet includes stabbing other people, pulling knives on people, stalking people, armed robberies, shooting people in the head. It's pretty lengthy. So I think we're all waiting to see what the outcome of a review will be. You know, interesting that the mom knows the dad is violent. Take a listen to Our Cut 26. This is Crystal Sori speaking with Brian Enten. Have you ever seen Adam be violent? Yeah, when I was in a relationship with him, he used to choke me.

I was pregnant with him, he'd choke me. Like all kinds of stuff. If you did more than him, he'd choke you. If you were texting and he didn't want you to, or somebody he didn't like, he would do whatever to you, scream at you, get in your face, whatever. He uses his intimidation and manipulation to get what he wants. Always has.

Have you ever seen him be violent towards Harmony? Towards her, not me seeing this, but we had a play therapist that she had while he was getting visits when I had custody of her, and even my play therapist had made a report before he got custody, mind you. I still had custody of her at this point. The play therapist made a report of abuse saying there was definite abuse going on in the house during visits. And when she told me that, I completely never let him have visits with her again, you know.

Okay, now this is the mother's explanation of what went wrong, how Adam Montgomery got custody of little Harmony, and now many people believe Harmony is dead. Take a listen to our cut 28, Crystal Sorrey-Bryant. You're doing extreme punishments to her. All kinds of stuff, like the therapist had gotten out of her just by playing dolls in a dollhouse. Imagine?

I was horrified. I was like, no. I told DCF and that was that. Like months later, they hand over custody. How is it possible she got to stay with him after all of that? I don't understand. I still don't understand to this day. I had a court date on the same day of that hearing for Jameson's adoption.

So I sent over to get a continuance from the courthouse saying, hey, we need a different court date. I can't cut myself in half. They denied my continuance and just handed him over custody because they wanted to wash their hands of the case. You know, they were done with it. The lady said it was open four years too long. I find that very hard to believe. You know, they were done with it. It was four, the lady said it was open four years too long. I find that very hard to believe.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To you, Blair Miller, the adoptive dad of Harmony's little brother, Jameson, do you remember that court date where you had the adoption hearing regarding Jameson? We had a couple different hearings. As far as the focus on Harmony's timeline, as far as her court dates, we didn't know her court dates. So there could be some court dates to go back. We were told that Harmony had been reunited with her father officially by the state in February of 2019. We adopted Jameson.

We were matched with him in June, and then we officially adopted him on National Adoption Day in November, about a week before Thanksgiving. And if you've been following part of the timeline, that's where some of the last people have seen Harmony was about a week later. Right. So you get Jameson and then about a week later, Harmony is seen. Is that when she had the black eye? I think that was maybe around October. As far as when she was last seen, we've heard some reports maybe around Thanksgiving of 2019. So when we adopted Jameson on National Adoption Day, because I work in TV news, it was something that was covered in Boston extensively on TV.

And we just find it very interesting that Jameson was adopted in a very public way right before Thanksgiving. And then his sister last name when we see her is maybe a week later. That tells me a lot was going on, not only for Jameson, but Harmony as well. Now, tell me something. With Jameson's adoption being so high profile, do you think that had anything to do with Harmony's disappearance? I don't know, but I know it's something we shared with police when we started hearing some new reports of when Harmony was last seen being around Thanksgiving of 2019. My husband and I both went back over our timeline and thought, wow, so Jameson was adopted five days before that? That doesn't, that just seems really unusual.

And so we shared that with police. We talked with them about that. And we don't know where that's gone from there, but it certainly raises a lot of questions for us. To Lisa Dadia, a former police lieutenant joining us, director of Center for Advanced Policing. Lisa, thank you so much for being with us. You know, I always say there is no coincidence in criminal law. I don't know what the connection could be between Jameson getting adopted in a high-profile adoption, which is covered on TV for National Adoption Day extensively. And then within a couple of days, Harmony is never seen again. Lisa, I want you

to listen to our cut 30. It's the mother again, speaking to Brian Anton. I feel like he sold her. I think he sold her because the same week that they're saying this happened, the day after Thanksgiving to December 6th, was the week after my son legally got adopted on the news.

You know what I mean? And he knew what my son looked like. He, you know, that's my daughter's brother. So he saw that and I really think it's connected. I think like he got that idea from seeing that and was like, oh, I can do it illegally, you know. So Lisa Daddio from reports that the mother has given the bio mom.

She believes the dad, Adam Montgomery, sold this little five-year-old girl blind in one eye. What about it? I mean, it's obviously something that has to be looked into, especially given his history, not just with the violence, but also his substance abuse issues that he also had. And selling her to someone, a group, in order to get money to further his whatever is definitely possible. And we all know of cases that this has happened throughout the country, where children are sold in order for their parent or parents to get money. So it's something that law enforcement definitely has to run down, but it's going to be money. So it's something that law enforcement definitely has to run down, but it's going to be hard. The best thing they could do is just keep, you know,

blasting all media sources continually with her picture and asking for somebody to step up if they're aware of any information, which I know they're doing. but we're now two years behind when this poor child went missing. To Jax Miller joining us from Oxygen.com, author of Hell in the Heartland, Murder and Meth, and The Case of Two Missing Girls. Jax Miller, again,odgeglobe, Dr. Jory Croson, Lisa Daddio are saying, the reality is the time is ticking by. Cops are two years late. They went to the home when the little girl had the black eye. They were there. They left her there. Can you tell me, Jax Miller, was there ever a home study done like you're supposed to do before you hand over custody with the father, Adam Montgomery, before they just handed up this little girl on a silver platter? Yeah, I spoke to the Manchester Police Department. I was in contact with the spokesperson, Heather Hamill, who confirmed that that the police did do a home visit back in 2019 at her Manchester home, and they confirmed that she was there.

We know that after that, the house seemingly went into foreclosure. That's on the Guilford Street where they had done the search. So I think it's that timeline from there after they moved, what happened? I feel like Harmony's case is a bar of soap, and you have all these people, all these agencies, all these relatives trying to get a grip, but nobody has a firm grip on where this girl is for the next two years. But a home study, a home study. I mean, Blair Miller, you adopted Jameson Harmony's little brother. I'm sure they did a home study before you got Jameson, right? Absolutely. When we adopted all three of our boys, after we were placed with them and after we had our adoption. In our case, we adopted there in Boston with Jameson,

and then we ended up moving to the D.C. area, and the social services here in Virginia came into our house for six months to make sure we were doing the right thing. Jameson was in school. He was going to doctors. He was in a good setting. He had a bedroom, and he was able to sleep healthy and be healthy. And so we went through that, and those are many of the questions we're asking right now is what happened in this case? Why didn't Harmony go through the same thing? No home study for Harmony,

because you'd think they'd figure out her dad shot somebody in the face and was on dope. I mean, and then you've got Blair Miller who holds down not just a job, but an incredible job, stable, happy home. He's got three boys now that they have adopted. He can tell you all about home studies. They look at everything, but nothing was done for harmony. So all this time, what is mom doing? Take a listen to Our Cut 24 News Nation. What did she seem like when you saw her on FaceTime? Terrified. She, I would say, hey, you know, what's going on?

You know, what'd you eat for lunch? What'd you do today? You know, are you going to school yet? Like, you know, how are your brothers and sisters? You got any friends? You know, little questions like, I'm her mom. Like, I want to know these things. I want to know she's happy.

And every time I asked these things, he would pause it and he'd tell, whatever he'd say to her. I can't hear him. He's muted. And he'd be like, don't tell her. And she'd be like, like, you know, and I'm watching her. So he'd unmute it. And I'm like, what's going on? Like, why are you

muting it every time I ask her a question why aren't you letting her talk to me why are you answering for her like you're acting weird Adam I'm like what's going on like we're we're co-parenting like we're you're letting me have visits like what's going on he's like no he's like I have sole custody sole decision making you don't get to ask me s**t. And he hangs up and blocks me. Okay, so at that point, Jax Miller, when the dad reportedly blocks her from calling or emailing her daughter, what, if anything, does she do? You know, from what I understand, she was sending emails. But I think the big thing is, is that there were 13 calls made to Harmony's home within a five month period in 2019 and 29 calls between 2018 and 2020. There was a report that the home had no electricity and no food.

But then, according to authorities, when DCYF checked in on the girl, they said there was electricity and there was food. So that adds to the confusion. And, of course, enter the next player in this scenario, the so-called evil stepmother. Take a listen to our friend at WMUR, Amy Covino, in our cut 39. These are the criminal complaints filed late this afternoon against 32-year-old Kayla Montgomery. Alleging between November 30th, 2019 and June 2nd, 2021, Kayla fraudulently represented to DHHS that Harmony Montgomery was a member of her household. The purpose, prosecutors say, was to receive undeserved food stamp benefits in excess of $1,500.

The police affidavit provides a timeline of Harmony's life in New Hampshire. On February 25, 2019, Kayla allegedly filed a report with DHHS adding Harmony as a new household member. The affidavit states at a Montgomery, Harmony's father was granted full custody of her February 22nd, 2019. And the DHHS records show 800 EBT card transactions during that time period and state that on three occasions in 2020, Kayla applied for SNAP benefits listing Harmony as a family member. In February 2021, Kayla stopped listing Harmony as a beneficiary for food assistance and in June 2021 told a DHHS caseworker that Harmony had moved back with her mother and could be removed from the case. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

So long story short, Nicole DeBoer Hotchklob, you're the high-profile lawyer joining us out of Texas. For literally years, this evil stepmother gets government benefits in Harmony's name, knowing Harmony doesn't live there. That doesn't look good. Well, not only does it not look good, it's a crime. So she's receiving funds from the government, wants to tell the government what she knows, tell law enforcement what she knows to help everyone find harmony. I would keep her behind bars on this fraud until she told me something. Guys, take a listen to our cut 33.

Now, this is behavioral evidence that a defense team could attack a trial. They claim it means nothing. I think it means a lot. Take a listen to Maura Barrett, NBC News. Adam Montgomery is charged with second-degree assault, interference with custody, and endangering the welfare of a child. One of those instances? Investigators say Adam struck Harmony in the face, causing a black eye in 2019. Kevin Montgomery, Adam's uncle, was visiting the home around that time.

I walked in the house and Harmony had a black eye like you see in a box match between two men. He bashed her around the apartment, kind of with her, with his exact words. According to court documents, Kevin says he and other family members made multiple reports to New Hampshire's Division for Children, Youth and Families. And I don't know how they missed the black guy that I saw. Police say they found Adam sleeping in his car with his new girlfriend on New Year's Eve. He told police he'd given Harmony back to her biological mother around Thanksgiving back in 2019. Her mother, Crystal Sori, disputes this, according to the court documents. Police say he made some contradictory statements and, quote, did not exhibit much emotion or reaction to the fact

that Harmony hadn't been seen in two years. You know, I'll just never forget Lisa Daddio, when my son, John David, who's about two and a half, three at the time, went and hid inside a superstore, Babies R Us. I was looking for this organic sunscreen lotion and was digging through piles of sunscreen. I turned around. There was Lucy, no John David. I started screaming. I took Lucy under my arm like a football and started running, screaming for them to lock the doors. He was hiding about two aisles away. He had no idea the panic he had caused. But I find it really interesting that when they told Adam Montgomery Harmony hasn't been seen in two years, he showed no emotion whatsoever. Yeah, you know, it's and I've been in that position, too, with my youngest son, Nancy.

I mean, it's the worst feeling in the whole world. So there's just so many things about this case, both from biological mom and biological. Lisa Daddio, you're a former police lieutenant, right? Yes, ma'am. Call it. It's BS. It stinks to high heaven. He showed no emotion. I mean, when my cat went missing, I screamed till I couldn't scream. I lost my voice. I couldn't be on the air the next day. I screamed and screamed and looked till midnight till we found the cat. And he shows no emotion. That's BS. Nancy, I agree with you a hundred percent,

but look at this guy's past and his history. And I'm not making excuses for him. Trust me, I would never do that. But he's void of everything. And so in light of everything, it doesn't shock me. But I always think when someone doesn't react the way that we think they should react, what is the reason why? Exactly. There is a 24-7-365 tip line devoted to Harmony's whereabouts. 603-203- 6060. Repeat. 603-203- 6060.

The reward is now over $104,000. $104,000 $104,000 and climbing. Please help us bring home Jameson's sister. Take a listen now to our friend Jason Law at Boston 25. What do you think happened to Harmony? The answers lie in him.

Tuesday, Boston 25 spoke with Harmony's maternal grandfather, Tim Flanagan. He says his daughter was estranged from Adam Montgomery. Court documents show the mother last spoke to her daughter sometime in the spring of 2019. A lot of people may wonder, you know, why wasn't the mom more involved? Why didn't she see Harmony in the last two years? Because the father would not let her.

Every time that he didn't let her, she would call the Department of Social Services, and Social Services would say one thing, yes, we'll get on it. And they never did. Why is it, Nicole, to Board Hodge Globe that Department of Family and Children's Services cannot be held accountable? I've been asking that for many, many years when they leave children in horrible situations and then the child is murdered. Here's a great example.

The Josh Powell case where Susan Powell goes missing and the children draw pictures of mommy in a car trunk and being buried by daddy. And then he still has visitation and he murders them and blows up the house. I mean, it goes on and on and on about how children are mistreated and DFAX does nothing. Why aren't they prosecuted, Nicole? Well, I think that they could be. And there is immunity when you're a government agency from certain types of liability. But when you exceed this type of negligence,

I think there's a real question about whether or not there is now the possibility of seeking redress for civil rights violations, for due process rights violations. She's dead. She's probably dead. And they left her in an abusive home. Civil money. What money? What money does Adam Montgomery have? I mean, money from defects? I think they need to go to jail, Nicole. Possibly, which is unfortunate.

Well, the problem is that finding one particular individual liable could be extremely difficult in a criminal context. And it may take a civil lawsuit to get the agency to pay attention. You know, look, I look at Crystal here as another victim. I mean, she did everything she could to alert this system that she thought that there was a problem. She'd lost custody. They continued to treat her like trash and ignore everything that she said, despite the fact that she gave them multiple warnings. Well, you're right about that.

She did. According to her, she sent multiple emails to Department of Family and Children's Services, which they ignored. They discounted her because she had had problems in the past. But they do that to a lot of people. Totally blow them off. Don't pay any attention to what they're saying. And the child ends up dead. She's not alone.

Neighbors called. The uncle called. The uncle called police to the home. And still nothing was done. And DFAC sits on their thumb and lets it happen. And now she's gone. So right now, this is what we know about the current search. Take a listen. Manchester police, along with the FBI, set up tents in this backyard and brought ground

thawing equipment over the weekend as the search for her continues. This aerial view shows about a dozen investigators and heavy equipment on the property Monday morning before it was taken down and packed up by the afternoon. Authorities tight-lipped about what investigators uncovered or discovered, if anything. The search of the property is the latest in the investigation police launched over a week ago. To you, Jax Miller, joining us from Oxygen.com, what do you know about the ground thawing equipment used in the backyard where Harmony was last seen? So I know that it's in the hands of new owners. The new owners are being very cooperative with police. When I contacted Heather Hamill, the spokesperson for

the Manchester Police Department, they could not comment on what they had found, if anything. So I think that's something hopefully we'll learn more about in the near future. Well, the fact that nothing was announced and no charges were developed, and by the way, you were hearing our friend Oscar Margain at NBC Boston talking about the ground thawing equipment in order to use ground penetrating sonar, which I've used many times along with cadaver dogs, you can, have you ever seen a metal detector, people going up and down the beach with them? You run the, put the groundbreaking sonar over the earth and you can get kind of like a sonogram of what's below and you can see whether earth has been disturbed. In other words, whether somebody was buried there and the earth was

relocated, the soil was relocated. Sometimes you can pick up if there's an object there, like you would pick up in a sonogram where you see the outline of the baby. That's what it kind of looks like. You have to know what you're doing to read it. That's why they would need ground thawing equipment to either dig or using ground-penetrating sonar, and that's not good. If they're at the point where they're ready to dig for evidence, that means they're looking for her remains. To Blair Miller, the adoptive father of Harmony's little

brother, Jameson, reporter anchor with CMG in the Washington News Bureau. Blair, how much of this does Jameson know? Does he understand what's happening? Yeah, Nancy, we haven't talked to him about it yet, largely because we just don't know how to really, we don't have the answers for him. We don't know how to process this for a five-year-old or help a five-year-old process this. Adults can't even figure this out right now. So what are we supposed to tell Jameson? But I will tell you that's our motivation behind everything. You know, one day when he's 15, when he's 20, when he's 30 or 40, he's going to have some serious questions along the way. And we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to be able to do what he

would want us to do right now. And that's, you know, trying to keep the hope and optimism out there and keep the attention out there. Because yes, two years have gone by, but we know how fast paced things move right now in people's lives. And they're eventually going to forget about this. And it's our job to not let people forget. Blair Miller, we will do everything in our power to help you on your mission. And you're right. Why would you tell Jameson now? You don't know what to tell him. That she's missing, that she's dead, that she had a black eye.

Why would you tell him any of that until you have some answers? God willing, we get answers. Again, the tip line, 603-203-6060. Harmony, where are you? Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.