Harmony Montgomery.Photo: Crystal Sorey
The stepmom ofHarmony Montgomery, the New Hampshire girl who vanished in 2019 but wasn’t reported missing for more than two years, was released from jail on bail Friday — a decision that has left the girl’s mom angry and bewildered.
Kayla Montgomery.Manchester NH Police/Facebook
In April, shewas hit with new criminal chargesof receiving or obtaining a rifle and a shotgun that Adam Montgomery — from whom she is now estranged — allegedly stole in 2019. She haspleaded not guiltyto all the charges.
Adam, 32, whois being held on charges of assault against Harmony in 2019, has additionallybeen charged witheight criminal counts in the gun case. Adamhas pleaded not guiltyto the charges.
Kayla Montgomery.Charles Krupa/AP/Shutterstock
Mom: ‘Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Gone Through’
Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, 31, of Massachusetts, tells PEOPLE she is a recovering heroin addict who hasn’t used drugs in almost three years. She last saw Harmony on a FaceTime call on Easter in 2019.
“It just baffles me,” she adds. “Where is the justice for Harmony? Where are all the promises that were made in the beginning, when Harmony’s case came out?”
“Nobody has gotten any answers,” she adds. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through in my life, and I’ve been through quite a few hard situations in my life.”
Harmony Montgomery.Crystal Sorey
When Kayla was arrested on the felony gun charges, Harmony’s uncle hoped that answers on Harmony’s whereabouts would be forthcoming.
“Hopefully that gets her to talk,” the uncle, Tim Flanagan Jr., told PEOPLE. “‘Cause I really believe there’s no way she doesn’t know what happened.”
Couple Was Seen with Other Children, But Not Harmony
Harmony was not reported missing for two years after she was last seen, according to atimelinein the case that Manchester police released in January.
Harmony Montgomery.MANCHESTER POLICE DEPARTMENT
“Multiple individuals” reported seeing the girl with Adam and Kayla in the days that followed, according to the January statement. But between Dec. 6-10, 2019, the couple was seen only with the two children they share — and not Harmony.
“This information leads police to believe that it was sometime during this window of approximately Nov. 28–Dec. 10, 2019, that Harmony Montgomery disappeared,” said the statement.
In her order, Messer wrote that Kayla “has a limited criminal history” and that her “contacts in the State are significant. The defendant is a nearly lifelong resident of New Hampshire and her children and extended family members are here. The defendant has also been participating in medically assisted treatment for substance use disorder while at the jail and intends to continue in treatment if released.”
Harmony Montgomery.Manchester Police Department
The order also mentioneda call Kayla made from jail to Adam’s father, in which she asked the father to pass along a message to her estranged husband that she still loves him, is there for him and that she is “not going [anywhere].”
The judge wrote in the order that while this call shows that Kayla violated the court’s no contact order with Adam, it still is not grounds “to deny her bail request altogether.” But, the judge wrote, if there is any further contact with Adam, either directly or indirectly, bail could immediately be revoked.
source: people.com
