MANCHESTER, N.H. (NewsNation Now) — New details are emerging in the case of Harmony Montgomery, the young New Hampshire girl who was missing for two years before her disappearance was reported to police.
Montgomery was 5 years old when she was last seen in October of 2019, when police and family services were called to her home. Police say they only recently learned she’s been missing for more than two years.
It is still unknown who reported her missing last, but a nationwide search for her has now been launched.
The little girl’s great-uncle, Kevin Montgomery, told NewsNation he gave plenty of warning to family services that she was in danger. He said he’s been worried about her safety and well-being for years and claimed police didn’t take her situation seriously.
He told The Daily Beast he called authorities to the house twice, in July of 2019 when Harmony had a black eye, and again Oct. 19 — the last day anyone saw the 5-year-old.
Investigators have not confirmed custodial details, but a Boston TV station is reporting they obtained records showing Harmony went from foster care to the custody of her father, who had a criminal record, seven months before she disappeared.
On Sunday, police searched a New Hampshire home that belonged to Montogmery’s family in 2019. It has since sold but the new owner is cooperating fully, according to police.
Montgomery would now be 7 and is estimated to be about 4 feet tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is blind in her right eye and should be wearing glasses. Police said she should still look very similar to the photos that accompany this story.
Her mother has begged on social media for anyone who saw Montogomery, or her father, to call police.
“HARMONY- MOMMYS COMING FOR YOU. I PROMISE & I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO!!!! HANG ON BABY!!!!” she wrote on Twitter.
Callahan Walsh, a child advocate for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said these types of cases can be particularly challenging for investigators.
“At the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, last year, we dealt with over 30,000 missing children’s cases,” Walsh said. “Only 100 cases were of this type, which we consider a LIM, that’s lost, injured or otherwise missing.”
He said police were forced to play catch-up with this case from the start.
“It’s basically when we have almost no information to go on, where a child just … seemingly has vanished into thin air. And really that’s what’s the problem with this case … there’s such little information that we understand at this point. It makes it very difficult and the clock is working against us. We’re two years late on this missing child.”