Massachusetts Court To Review Missing NH Girl Custody Decision

CONCORD, NH — Massachusetts court officials will be conducting a review of how the father of a missing New Hampshire girl, with a violent criminal past, was granted custody of the girl months before she disappeared.

Chief Justice Kimberly Budd of the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court was requested to look into the Harmony Montgomery custody decision by Gov. Chris Sununu on Jan. 18. Harmony Montgomery, 7, has been missing since December 2019. In the letter, Sununu said, both states, appeared to be communicating about the girl, and then, strangely, a judge in Massachusetts granted her father, Adam Montgomery, custody. Adam Montgomery, 31, has a long and sordid criminal history dating back to when he was a teenager growing up in Bedford, NH. Most recently, he became a suspect in an unsolved shooting in Lynn, MA, from 2008.

After hearing about the letter, Gov. Charlie Baker, said he, too, wanted answers but would wait for a report by the state’s child advocate.

However, Budd wrote back to Sununu on Jan. 21 and agreed the custody decisions needed to be reviewed, in light of the “heartbreaking situation” involving the girl.

“I share your view that we need to learn as much as we can about what happened,” she wrote.

Along with the child advocate review, Budd said the members of the state supreme court had also directed her to conduct a review of the matter.

“We will take all responsive measures warranted by the facts and the law,” she added. “I know we both want to do all we can to protect the safety and wellbeing of children in our systems.”

According to a report in the Boston Globe, Mark Newman was the Lawrence, MA, judge who made the custody decision. Information about the case is not publicly accessible due to a juvenile being involved with the case.

Sununu said on Thursday he appreciated Budd’s decision.

“Finding Harmony remains everyone’s top priority and will take an all-hands-on-deck effort,” he said. “I appreciate the court’s willingness to join us in reviewing this very serious issue. Getting answers to the questions raised in my letter is paramount, and I am confident we all share this goal.”

Investigators reported on Monday they shifted their evidentiary timeline of when Harmony Montgomery was last seen based on the family’s eviction from a home in Manchester after Thanksgiving 2019. That home, on Gilford Street, has been searched twice by investigators.

The Montgomery family was living out of two cars in Manchester during this time period. Witnesses have told police at first, Harmony Montgomery was seen with the family. And then, in early December 2019, she was no longer seen with them.

The case update was released hours after Kayla Montgomery, the girl’s stepmother, was arraigned on theft and welfare fraud charges, accused of collecting food stamps and other benefits for the girl even though she was not living with them.

Adam Montgomery is being held on felony second-degree assault and other charges connected to an incident where he was accused of assaulting the girl in 2019.

Police in Manchester have an active 24-hour tip line dedicated to the case: 603-203-6060.

ALSO READ:

• New Evidence: Missing NH Girl May Have Disappeared After Eviction
• Stepmother Of Missing NH Girl Arraigned On New Charges
• Missing NH Girl's Father Suspect In 2008 MA Murder: Reports
• Baker On Missing NH Girl Case: 'I Feel Tremendous Amount Of Pain'
• Governor Requests Mass. Judge Provide Docs On Missing NH Girl
• Stepmom In Missing New Hampshire Girl Case Has Charge Revised
• Manchester Police Increase Reward To $104K For Missing NH Girl
• Manchester Police, FBI Team Clear NH Missing Girl Search Site
• FBI Evidence Response Team Working At Manchester Home
• Police Still At House Where Missing NH Girl Last Seen In 2019
• Investigators Return To Home Connected To Missing NH Girl Case
• Missing Girl's Father: 16 Years Of Crime In NH, Massachusetts
• Kayla Montgomery, Stepmother Of Missing NH Girl, Appears In Court
• Stepmother Of Missing NH Girl Arrested On Welfare Fraud Charge
• Court Docs Claim Father Of Missing NH Girl Admitted To Assault
• Father Of Missing New Hampshire Girl Arrested: Attorney General
• New Investigation Tip Line Set Up For Missing Manchester Girl
• Manchester Police Search House In Missing Child Investigation
• New Hampshire Child Last Seen In 2019; Police Seek Help With Case

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