Volunteers continue to search for Harmony Montgomery's remains in Massachusetts
REVERE - Volunteers gathered Saturday morning to search for the missing remains of 5-year-old Harmony Montgomery, who disappeared in 2019 but was not reported missing until 2021. In February, her father, Adam Montgomery, was convicted of her murder.
Harmony Montgomery never found
Searchers fanned out through growth and brush in the Rumney Marsh Reservation on the Revere/Saugus line, compelled by one mission: to find the little girl they never personally knew.
"It was a story that really had an impact on me when I heard about it initially. And the fact that there's still a little girl's bod who hasn't been returned to her mother," said volunteer Matthew Parlante.
"I just want to help bring Harmony home, you know, so she can get a proper burial," said Barbara Patti.
The search was organized by her mother Crystal Sorey, who says intuition brought her to the location, and it's not the first time she's called for help.
"I've had a lot of dreams, and this area's been in my dreams. I'm just trying to go with intuition, really because that's more powerful than anything, I think," said Sorey.
What happened to Harmony Montgomery?
Harmony's father, Adam Montgomery, was convicted of her murder back in February. She was reported missing in 2021, but authorities believe he killed her, brutally beating her in the family car, two years earlier and disposed of her remains.
A U-Haul truck they say he rented in March of 2020 was pinged on the Tobin Bridge, and Montgomery is from Revere. He's refused to say where the remains are.
"That's the only power he has left," said Sorey. "That's the one piece of control he still has left in his life. Why would he give it up?"
But Sorey and the volunteers are refusing to give up, using pink markers for anything that catches their attention off the main path. While investigators aren't involved today, they have also searched these marshy areas without success.
"It's time to bring her home. It's been too long," said Sorey.
Volunteers say that is what motivates them today. "If it was my kid, I'd want everyone out here looking, you know. You'd would that think other people would too," said Patti.
Sorey says she'll organize further searches until the weather turns cold, and usually posts the dates on social media. She also urges anyone with even the smallest piece of information about Harmony's whereabouts to come forward.
"There's nothing to lose. There's no reason to be afraid anymore."
Harmony's death put focus on state agencies
Harmony Montgomery's death has resulted in calls for change to make at-risk children safer, both in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu instructed the state's Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) to begin an "immediate review" of how it handled the case of missing 7-year-old girl Harmony Montgomery.
Police had said nearly a dozen 911 calls were placed around that time from the home where Harmony lived with her father, Adam Montgomery. The home had no central heat and was littered with trash. Police had previously contacted child services.
Meanwhile, the family that adopted Harmony Montgomery's brother made a plea at the Massachusetts State House for the state to overhaul the system and better protect foster children after what happened to the little girl.
Harmony was moved between the homes of her mother and her foster parents multiple times before Adam Montgomery received custody in 2019 and moved to New Hampshire.
Manchester, New Hampshire, Police Chief Adam Aldenberg has said he believes agencies in both states should be held accountable for putting Harmony in danger.
"I still firmly believe that some people in some other agencies need to be held accountable," Aldenberg said in February. "I'm asking for that. This little 5-year-old girl, she deserves somebody to be held accountable that failed along the way. We wouldn't be standing here today if other people had done their job."