When the case of missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery first went public, people were left with many questions.
The details at the time were unclear. All that was known was that somehow, Harmony had been missing for two years before any authorities were involved. Both of Harmony's parents were noted to have struggled with addiction. Her father, Adam Montgomery, had custody of her at the time she went missing and has been arrested in relation to her disappearance. His estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, was also arrested for welfare fraud after collecting benefits for Harmony for over a year when she did not live in their home.
The part of the story that initially went unheard was that of Harmony's biological mother, Crystal Sorey. In recent days, Sorey has spoken up about her role in this, the guilt she feels, and the hope she holds that her daughter is still alive.
Police are continuing the complicated search for missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery. Recent efforts have appeared to be focused on the home that Harmony was last known to live at in 2019, located in Manchester, New Hampshire. After days of searching the home, which is no longer owned by any member of the Montgomery family, produced no public results, those following the case began fearing the worst on January 11.
On January 10, the FBI Evidence Response Team was among the law enforcement groups at the home. Police reportedly brought in hot water piping to thaw the ground for apparent digging. Tents were set up to keep those outside of law enforcement from observing the scene. In the days since, nothing related to the search has been revealed.
Despite the authorities' efforts in this location, Harmony's biological mother, Crystal Sorey, doesn't believe anything will come of it.
"They're just scouring for any type of anything," Sorey told Brian Entin of NewsNation.
"I feel like they're wasting time, to be honest."
Many people have questioned Sorey's role in Harmony's life and how she managed to go two years without seeing or even speaking to her daughter. Sorey explains that she had custody of Harmony when she was younger. During that time, it was already clear that Adam Montgomery's behavior toward his child was problematic.
"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 at the house during visits. When they told me that, I completely didn't never let him have visits with her again," she shared.
The visits were being supervised, Sorey explained, but sometimes the supervising party would only be there for part of the visit. She believes it was during that time that he was abusing Harmony.
"My daughter, she's just like me. She talks a lot and she's excited and she's smart. She kind of thinks she might know a little bit more than you, even though she doesn't. That's just her, she's just beautiful like that," she said.
"I just don't ever see someone getting so angry they 'bash her around the house,' as he said. If that was the case and that's what you were planning on doing with her, why would you go for custody? To spite me. It was never out of love for her."
Sorey says she contacted the Division for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) after the visit to let them know she wasn't OK with what was going on. At the same time, Sorey was in the finishing steps of the adoption of Harmony's brother, Jameson, by a local couple. When she was given court dates in both cases on the same day, she asked for a continuance in Harmony's case.
At this point, Sorey says Montomgery was awarded custody. "They wanted to wash their hands of the case," she says she believes.
"The lady said 'it was open for four years too long.'"
For a while, Montgomery was allowing Sorey, as well as members of his family, to see and be around Harmony. As people voiced their opinions on his treatment of her, he started cutting them off.
"Anybody that questioned him about how he treated Harmony or what he was doing, he cut them off," Sorey shared.
She was cut off after pressing Montgomery about oddities she'd noticed on FaceTime calls with Harmony. She would catch him yelling at her for answering certain questions or revealing certain things. Many times, he would mute himself so Sorey couldn't hear what was going on.
The last time Sorey spoke with Harmony was a few days before Easter 2019, a holiday they'd planned to celebrate together. It was another phone call punctuated by Montgomery interrupting, muting the call, and answering for Harmony.
"I'm like 'what's going on? 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. You're acting weird Adam. We're coparenting, you're letting me have visits."
Montgomery didn't take well to the questions. "He said, 'I have sole custody, sole decision making. You don't get to ask me [expletive].' Then he hung up and he blocked me," she shared.
Sorey started working on reestablishing contact while struggling with her mental health and maintaining her sobriety. It was hard, but she continued to push forward.
Sorey recalled telling her therapist she felt like no one was hearing her as she was given the run-around between different agencies. Sorey believes that agencies may have been trying to cover their tracks during this time due to the fact she was told on several different occasions that Harmony would be removed from the home, though she never was because a personal connection allowed Montgomery to skate by.
In her growing frustration, Sorey reached out to the mayor's office with her story and expressed her frustration with all agencies involved. She stated her intention to take Harmony's story to the media.
An email from this time was recently obtained by The Daily Beast. In it, Sorey says DCYF failed to remove Harmony after they witnessed "her bruises & the house at the time had no running water."
"It's a year later & DCYF has done NOTHING to help me find her," the email continued.
"She's supposed to be in 1st grade, [Adam Montgomery] NEVER enrolled her into school this whole time. She's missed important doctors appointments she's had since a baby due to her disability in her eye."
Sorey says she got a phone call from Manchester Police, whom she had previously tried contacting on the matter, hours after her email. Two days later, Harmony's case was taken public.
Sorey is grappling with her own guilt about her role in this situation: "I played a part in this. I'm not going to sit here and act like I'm innocent. I'm a recovering addict. When I gave birth to her, I didn't know anything about being a parent, I didn't know anything about getting into recovery. But I never stopped trying."
After going from program to program trying to get better, Sorey hoped Harmony and Adam Montgomery would be proud of her. Now, she's just hoping for her little girl's safe return.
"There's a lot of shame and guilt that come with this, but it's not going to set me back," Sorey says. "It's going to motivate me to keep fighting for her, keep looking for her. Because if I can't speak for her, who else is going to? Look what happened for two years because I wasn't her voice, or I couldn't be, or nobody could hear me. I just want people to hear me and come forward and tell us something. Because somebody knows something."
Sorey firmly believes her daughter is still alive. She thinks that Montgomery may have hidden her with his mother, with whom no one else has a relationship, or that he may have sold her in exchange for drugs or money.
"I still believe she's here … I would know. Like I said before, a mother knows. You know when your baby's not here anymore. You feel it the day it happens," she says.
"Yeah, I've woken up with panic attacks and call family members freaking out because like, I just have a terrible feeling all the time, but it's not a feeling of she's not here anymore."
