Stepmother Of Missing NH Girl Arrested On Welfare Fraud Charge

CONCORD, NH — The case of a girl from Manchester, not seen since October 2019, took another turn on Thursday with the announcement that the girl’s stepmother had also been arrested — a day after the girl's father was arrested on assault charges.

Kayla Montgomery, 31, of Manchester was arrested on Wednesday on a felony welfare fraud charge. According to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, between December 2019 and June 2021, Kayla Montgomery collected food stamp benefits for Harmony Montgomery, 7, but failed to notify the state’s Division of Family Assistance her stepdaughter was no longer living with her.

Investigators, during the course of the search for Harmony Montgomery, gathered evidence showing she was not living with her father, Adam Montgomery, sometime during the fall of 2019 when she was last seen alive.

Adam Montgomery was arrested on Tuesday on felony second-degree assault, child endangerment, and custody interference charges. According to a family member, he admitted to assaulting Harmony Montgomery not long before she was last seen, court documents stated.

Kayla Montgomery is scheduled to be arraigned at 11 a.m. in Hillsborough County Superior Court North.

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“Officials are continuing to search for Harmony and are requesting the public’s assistance in locating her,” Jesse O’Neill, an assistant attorney general said.

The reward for information about the case has been raised to $43,000 after another New Hampshire business leader made a commitment of $10,000 more toward the effort.

Harmony Montgomery, who was was 5 when she was last seen, is white, about 4 feet tall, and weighs around 50 pounds. She has blonde hair, blue eyes, and should be wearing glasses. Harmony Montgomery is also blind in one eye.

Anyone with information about Harmony Montgomery is asked to call the Manchester Police Department's dedicated tip line at 603-203-6060, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

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