The father and stepmother of missing 7-year-old New Hampshire girl Harmony Montgomery were indicted this week on charges initially brought against them in January.
Adam Montgomery, 30, of Manchester, was indicted on a charge of second degree assault for allegedly knowingly causing bodily injury to Harmony by striking her in the face. He was arrested Jan. 4 on a warrant charging him with felony second-degree assault arising from 2019 conduct against Harmony, as well as one misdemeanor charge of interference with custody and two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child pertaining to his daughter.
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Kayla Montgomery, 31, also of Manchester, was indicted on one charge of theft by deception, alleging that she lied last year that Harmony was in her household to claim food stamp benefits exceeding $1,500. She was originally arrested on Jan. 5.
Both Adam and Kayla Montgomery have pleaded not guilty and are being held at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections.
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An indictment is a formal way of charging someone with a felony, and it means a grand jury determined after hearing evidence that there was sufficient probable cause for prosecution to proceed.
Both cases are now scheduled for hearings later this year. Kayla Montgomery is scheduled to appear in court on April 7 and Adam Montgomery on June 28.
Police continue to investigate Harmonyâs disappearance, which they believe occurred between Nov. 28 and Dec. 10 of 2019. But they did not learn she was missing until two years later. She was last seen in Manchester.
In September, someone known to be a âclose contactâ of Harmonyâs mother, Crystal Sorey, contacted the division and âraised concernsâ that Sorey hadnât seen her daughter since 2019 and hadnât been able to contact Adam Montgomery, the review said. The division confirmed that Harmony had never been registered for school in the public school system.
The division attempted to find the Montgomery family and speak with Sorey, who later told police she hadnât seen her daughter since a Facetime call around Easter 2019.
Anyone with information about Harmony's disappearance or current whereabouts is asked to call the Manchester Police Department's 24-hour tip line at 603-203-6060. Manchester police said Friday that the reward for information that helps find Harmony has increased to $150,000.
"Manchester Police are working on Harmony's case every day and following up on all tips that come in," the department said in a statement. "While the volume of tips has decreased, we are still getting calls on our dedicated tipline."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
