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Harmony Montgomery | The Custody Decision That Lead To Her Death (Part 1)
02:16:51
In October of 2021, the body of five-year-old Elijah Lewis was found buried in a Massachusetts park. And when Crystal Sorey heard what had happened to that little boy, something inside her panicked- because she had been trying, for months, to get people to listen to her about her own missing child. Her daughter, Harmony Montgomery. Harmony was supposed to be in first grade. She was supposed to be wearing her glasses. She was supposed to be getting medical care for the condition that left her blind in one eye. She was supposed to be protected. Instead, by the time anyone officially started looking for her, Harmony had not been seen in two years. Harmony did not disappear from a life where everything seemed fine. She disappeared after years of warning signs, reports, custody battles, missed appointments, police calls, allegations of abuse, unstable homes, substance abuse, homelessness, and adults pointing fingers at every other adult in the room. Her mother failed her. Her father fa...
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- [00:00]
A
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- [01:11]
B
In October of 2021, the body of five year old Elijah Lewis was found buried in a Massachusetts park. And when Crystal Story heard what had happened to that little boy, something inside her panicked. Because she had been trying four months, but to get people to listen to her about her own missing child, her daughter, Harmony Montgomery. Harmony was supposed to be in the first grade. She was supposed to be wearing glasses. She was supposed to be getting medical care for the condition that left her blind in one eye. She was supposed to be protected. Instead, by the time anyone officially started looking for her, Harmony had not been seen in two years. Harmony did not disappear from a life where everything seemed fine. She disappeared after years of warning signs, reports, custody battles, missed appointments, police calls, allegations of abuse, unstable homes, substance abuse, homelessness, and adults pointing fingers at every other adult in the room. Her mother failed her. Her father failed her, her stepmother failed her. The courts failed her. Child protective services failed her. The systems built specifically to catch a little girl before she fell through the cracks. Watched those cracks open wider and wider. This was a child who had already spent so much of her tiny life being Moved from place to place, plan to plan, home to home. A child with medical needs, a child with a little brother who loved her, missed her, and kept looking for her at playgrounds because he believed the way children do, that if he looked hard enough, maybe she would just be there. But Harmony wasn't there. And for years, the people responsible for knowing where she was and. And making sure she was safe and cared for simply didn't. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow.
- [03:05]
A
And I'm Derek Levasseur.
- [03:06]
B
And today, as you could tell from the teaser, we are talking about Harmony Montgomery. Now, how did this series come to pass? Because we did a Crime Weekly news about Harmony Montgomery's father, Adam Montgomery, and his recent legal standing, which we'll get into. And it. It pissed me off because I was familiar with the case and Derek was not familiar with the case. And I was like, well, if you were familiar with the case, you know, you're already pissed off. You'd be more pissed off. And he was like, well, maybe you should do the case. And then I was like, yeah, maybe we should. And so we asked you guys, do you want us to do the case? And it was pretty unanimous. You were like, yes, do the case. And when I started researching it, after having that conversation with Derek on Crime Weekly News and seeing your response, I realized how much more was available because Adam Montgomery had gone on trial. So there was so much more available as far as police reports and Child Protective services reports. And when I started to see that full picture, then I got really mad.
- [04:07]
C
I got.
- [04:07]
B
I was already mad, but I got, like, enraged, like, cortisol spiking at my desk, like, I need to do something. I have to do something here. And so now we're on part one of Harmony Montgomery's series, and we're going to start laying the groundwork. And I mean, just. Just from this part one, there's going to be things that. And usually part ones are meant for, like, background and stuff, and this is background, but the background is the structure, the. The. The foundation for how all of this happened. So even the foundation and the background is going to. To piss you off. And that's before we get into even the. The serious details about what happened to Harmony. It's all going to piss you off. And you are going to wonder, like I have for weeks now, like, I don't even understand how this happened. And you have to also wonder, is it still happening? Which the answer is it probably is.
- [04:59]
A
So, yeah, I mean, when we covered it on Crime Weekly News, it was more so that this was now going to go to trial again because of. I guess we'll call it a technicality. Right. And then the charges being filed together when they should have been filed separately. Allegedly, you know. Yeah, exactly. And as we were starting to peel back the layers and it was just surface level, because that's kind of what Crime Weekly News is, we started to get a little bit of an insight into what this case involved. And just on the surface, I was pissed off. So. Yeah, I'm sure. And I said this in the Crime Weekly News episode. You were very passionate in the comments section of our Google Gmail. Kind of like our. When you sent me the script, so I was reading it while I was on vacation. I'm like, oh, I'm not going to read the script yet. But I can tell you usually don't put comments like that.
- [05:47]
B
I've never put a.
- [05:48]
A
You're right. In six years, you've never done it. So seeing that, I'm like, oh, man, we're in for a ride with this one. And, you know, I know we're going to get pissed off. It leaves you in a bad headspace after are listening or watching this episode. I know. I feel that way as we talk about it. But it's necessary because the only way to create change is by exposing the issues in our court systems and trying to use the platform that you guys have helped us grow here to do something positive with it. So as frustrating as it is, it's necessary.
- [06:17]
B
The way to induce change is to create an emotional reaction like I had when I was writing the script. Right. Like I was sitting at my desk, like, I'm about to get in my car. I'm going to. To drive to this place. I'm going to track down everything. I have their names, they're in court. I'm going to track down every single one of them and put them all in a room and torture them and make them answer, how did. How did this happen? Because, you know, no one wants to take accountability. Like, that's how I was feeling. Like I'm going to make a change real quick. So, yes, we are going to be inducing an emotional reaction, as we should, in Harmony Montgomery deserves your emotional reaction. So let's dive in. Harmony Montgomery was born on June 7, 2014 in Massachusetts to her parents, Crystal. Sorry. And Adam Montgomery. Now, at the time of Harmony's birth, Crystal and Adam were unmarried and not in a relationship. And Harmony was in the sole custody of Crystal because her father, Adam, was incarcerated. Okay. So Adam Montgomery was in prison when Harmony was born. But keep in mind, he still will very shortly get sole custody of her. All right, so Adam has a lengthy criminal history that we will discuss, but the offense that landed him in prison when Harmony was born happened in January of 2014 when police in Haverhill, Massachusetts, responded to a shooting. A man had been shot in the face during what was reportedly a drug deal gone wrong. According to reporting by Boston.com Adam Montgomery had allegedly met the man to buy heroin and then pulled a gu gun in an attempted robbery. The victim grabbed for the gun and the gun went off. And then Adam was later found with a bullet wound in his arm, and he was charged with armed robbery, armed assault to murder, carrying a firearm without a license, and discharging a firearm within 500ft of a building. So Adam Montgomery shoots a man in the face because he is there to buy heroin from the man. And instead of buying heroin, he's like, I'd rather just kill you and take the heroin. So not only is he like that avid of a drug user where he's willing to take a life, but also he's willing to take a life. So this is the kind of person we're dealing with at first glance. Derek, what do you think about this? Do you think that a man, this man that we're describing, should ever have been considered to have sole custody of his very young child?
- [08:42]
A
No. No, I don't. And then I get where you're coming from, and I do battle with it sometimes because there are people out there who have had to kill someone in a self defense situation. But every case is specific and you have to read it and you have to know every part of that story line by line. So on the surface, no, this is someone who.
- [09:05]
B
But because this wasn't self defense, he was just like, I want to steal your heroin.
- [09:09]
A
Correct, Correct. And so that's what I'm saying here. This is not self defense. And so, no, I would agree with you. This is if I'm the social worker or I'm the judge in charge of this. This person isn't my top choice not to be around children unsupervised.
- [09:24]
B
No, exactly. Because as we're going to find, both of Harmony's parents, Adam and Crystal, had substance abuse issues, but Adam also, it appears, had issues with violence. Right. So you know, when you're looking at both of these parents and you're thinking, which one are we going to really focus on reuniting Harmony with, is it going be the one who not only has drug issues, but is willing to shoot someone in the face to. To steal their drugs. So right now, shortly after birth, Harmony was diagnosed with a condition that would reportedly leave her blind in both eyes. But later her diagnosis would be changed to septo optic dysplasia. This is a rare congenital condition that affects early brain development. And it's usually defined by at least two of three main features. Underdeveloped optic nerves, abnormalities in the midline struct structures of the brain, and underdevelopment or dysfunction of the pituitary gland, which, as you know, controls many hormones. Now, because of this, symptoms can vary widely from person to person. Some children may have vision problems, abnormal eye movements, developmental delays, seizures, learning or behavioral challenges, growth issues, low blood sugar, thyroid or adrenal hormone problems, or puberty changes. Now, Harmony was diagnosed with developmental delays as well as visual impairment. She was blind in one eye, and she needed to wear corrective lenses from a very young age. And because of this, Harmony received early intervention services until the age of three from the Department of Public Health. So that same month that Harmony was born, In June of 2014, the Haverhill Area DCF office received three reports alleging that Crystal, Harmony's mother, had substance abuse issues and Harmony was being neglected. So DCF investigated and supported the allegations of neglect, which means they found evidence to support these allegations. They believe they were tr.
- [11:20]
A
Pretty self explanatory, right?
- [11:22]
B
Yeah. And at that time, DCF opened a case and began providing services to the family. So Harmony remained with Crystal at that time, and Adam Montgomery was still in prison and not involved in Harmony's life at all. In August of 2014, DCF received another two reports of concern for Harmony safety and well being. Apparently, despite Crystal's attempts to stop using drugs, she continued to struggle with drug addiction. So DCF then filed a care and protection petition in juvenile court. And this resulted in Harmony being legally removed from the custody of her mother, Crystal, as well as the custody of her father, Adam, who was still in prison and had never even met his daughter. So this isn't necessarily DCF saying, oh, Harmony is in Adam's custody. It's just because both Crystal and Adam are Harmony's parents, they legally would have some sort of, you know, claim to her. So this is a document that says you are not in the physical custody of either of your parents. And then Harmony was placed in foster care. And this was the first time that Harmony would be placed in foster care with Michelle and Timothy Raftery.
- [12:34]
C
You always start off, you get a phone call from dcf and they tell you a little bit about the child. And Harmony was 2 months old at the time, and she had a pretty intimidating diagnosis at first. So, you know, I did a lot of Google research, but I still knew that we wanted to say yes. And Harmony came and lived with us
- [12:52]
A
when she was two months old. What kind of child was Harmony Montgomery?
- [12:55]
B
She was a loving child.
- [12:57]
C
She was very sweet, very happy.
- [13:02]
A
She loved.
- [13:02]
B
She was super social.
- [13:03]
A
She loved to be with people.
- [13:05]
C
We used to joke around with her
- [13:06]
A
to leave a sparkle wherever she went, because wherever she went, she left people happy.
- [13:10]
C
And you knew that, you met her.
- [13:13]
B
So Harmony's mother, Crystal, said that Harmony was placed in foster care because of her Crystal's issues with drugs and her struggle to handle Harmony's medical diagnosis. Now, I briefly mentioned earlier that Harmony had initially been diagnosed with one thing that was, you know, very extreme and actually, you know, very serious. That was changed later. The initial condition was a brain stem disorder. And the doctors had told Crystal that Harmony was not only going to be blind in both eyes, they said that she probably wouldn't live past seven months old. So after Harmony was put into the foster care system, DCF gave her mother Crystal, an action plan, which is a written road map laying out steps that Crystal would have to take in order to address the concerns that led her to losing Harmony in the first place so that hopefully she could, you know, get everything together and get her daughter back. Yeah. So Crystal was instructed to go to individual therapy, to attend substance use disorder treatment, participate in random drug testing and parenting aid services, and have scheduled supervised visits with Harmony at her foster parents home. So In September of 2014, DCF also mailed Adam Montgomery his own action plan while he was still incarcerated. And he was instructed to engage in all the programs available to him in prison that would promote positive change. He also had to participate in anger management classes and gain an understanding of Harmony's medical needs. You know, DCF saying, hey, you're in prison, dude. What the hell else are you doing? Here is your daughter's medical diagnosis. Read up on it. Here's a bunch of.
- [14:50]
A
You got some free time?
- [14:51]
B
Yeah. Here's a bunch of literature you can look at to figure out what. What's going on so that hopefully get out of prison from shooting someone in the face, you will have an understanding of what's going on with your own child who you've had no interaction with and don't care to know. Now, between September and November of 2014, the DCF case management team tried to reach Adam multiple times to discuss his daughter Harmony and the action plan, but he was unresponsive. Once again, the dude's in prison. He's not busy working. He's not like, you know, all over the place or traveling. He's in prison, he's unresponsive, he doesn't want to talk to them. They were finally able to reach him in December of 2014, at which time he told them that he was in support of Harmony being returned to Crystal's custody. And he also requested a visit with Harmony. So In January of 2015, a six month old Harmony met her father for the first time during a supervised prison visit. That same month, Harmony was placed back into the care of her mother, Crystal, but she remained in the legal custody of dcf. So once again, this is not meaning that Crystal has regained custody. They're putting Harmony back with her and saying, let's see how it goes. But to make things easier and to make less paperwork, basically she, Harmony's going to stay in DCF's legal custody so that when we have to take her from you again, or in the event we have to take her again, it's not this huge thing we have to go through all over again and go to court and remove custody. It's going to kind of be like, up to us.
- [16:23]
A
Well, it's a transitional period. Right. Like, hey, we're going to allow her to be back with you. If you do things the right way,
- [16:29]
B
we can talk about that.
- [16:29]
A
We can lift this. But for the time being, we want you to know that you slip up even once, we're going to take your child from you again. And there's not going to be as much of a process to do. So.
- [16:41]
B
Yeah, it won't be as difficult. We don't have to. Please. Reports. Yeah, right.
- [16:45]
A
Trial period, probational period, if you will.
- [16:47]
B
Yeah. So at that time, Crystal had been following her action plan. She'd been going to therapy and substance abuse treatment for several months. And in the weeks leading up to Harmony's return to her, she had completed multiple successful overnight visits with Harmony. So DCF had brought Harmony there. And, you know, at first they're doing supervised things and then they're like, okay, let's see how you do with overnight. Crystal was doing great. So DCF told Crystal that in order to keep her daughter, she needed to continue to do all of this and also ensure that Harmony was getting her early intervention and medical treatment. Right. So keep bringing her to doctor's appointments. Make sure you're keeping up with all of this. And by this time, the diagnosis had been reversed. So now the doctors weren't saying, your daughter's not going to live to be a year old. The new diagnosis had been put in place, and Crystal felt that this new medical diagnosis was more manageable for her. And I think more like emotionally manageable. Right. Like, oh, I'm not going to be just sitting with my daughter every day, knowing, waiting for her to die. Yeah, yeah.
- [17:49]
A
And also you had. I'd asked you about this after Crime Weekly News, just to confirm. She was blind in one eye, not both eyes. So although certain things would be difficult, it wasn't going to be completely debilitating. She was still going to be able to go out there and live a pretty normal life. A lot of people are out there right now with one eye, and they. You wouldn't know. A shout out to Michael Bisping, which is going to mean nothing to 90% of you.
- [18:10]
B
Oh, the UFC guy.
- [18:11]
A
Yeah, yeah. UFC fighter. He actually fought in the UFC.
- [18:13]
B
He has a glass eye.
- [18:14]
A
Yeah, with one eye. Absolute savage. But anyways, the point being here, difficult
- [18:20]
B
for Harmony to adapt, and it's going
- [18:23]
A
to be the norm for her.
- [18:24]
B
Not as difficult for her caregivers either.
- [18:26]
A
Right. There are many parents out there right now listening or watching this who have children with special needs and have to deal with much more than with one eye. And so to think that this is that big of a hurdle. I'm sure a lot of those parents are laughing at that as they're listening to this episode.
- [18:43]
B
So we will take a quick break. We'll be right back. I don't know about you, but once summer hits, I basically stop tolerating uncomfortable clothing.
- [18:55]
A
That's fair. I feel like in the summertime, I'm. I'm more in line with just like, hey, whatever actually feels good opposed to what actually looks good. That's what I'm rolling with, Especially when I'm out in the yard or if I'm just going to a. A family event.
- [19:07]
B
Yeah. Because it's hot. You know, it's hot. Like it's already. You're uncomfortable with your clothes. Now you're going to be extra uncomfortable because you're hot. So if something wrinkles weird, feels heavy, doesn't breathe, or requires a whole strategy to where I'm not interested. I want pieces that are comfortable, easy, and somehow still made to look good and make it look like I put effort into getting dressed. And that's why we love Quince. I mean, we know Derek loves Quince.
- [19:30]
A
Yeah. You've talked about it. I've talked about it. It's not just something that we're saying because it's a sponsor. When I have something big coming up, whether it's an event or even a television show, most of the time when I'm going through my closet, I'm picking out things that I like and that I feel look good on me. Usually it's quints.
- [19:45]
B
Yeah. And because they actually make the kind of stuff that I want to wear. Their linen pieces are amazing in the summer. Lightweight, breathable, they look put together without feeling fuss and they use really, really nice materials. Organic cotton, washable silk, European linen. But without those luxury store prices. Actually, I just got this. Oh, it's gorgeous. It's like a, a deep green. I love green. Deep green long silk dress from Quince. And I was stunned at the price tag by the way.
- [20:14]
A
Yeah. And Stephanie, do you know why the price tag didn't look like something you should be paying for for a nice dress?
- [20:19]
B
Why?
- [20:19]
A
That's because Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middleman. So you're paying for quality instead of that giant markup that you were just referring to. And that's why they're able to offer products that are often 50 to 80% less than similar brands. And honestly, it's not just clothes anymore. Every time I go to their site I'm looking at bedding, home goods and even kitchen stuff.
- [20:39]
B
Now we want you to check out quints as well so you can see for yourself that this is basically a one stop shop for anything that you want to be good, look good and not cost a ton. So elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to Quince.comCrimeWeekly for free shipping on your order. And 365 day return. Now available in Canada too. A that's Quince.comCrimeWeekly, for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N C E.comCrimeWeekly, for Free Shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.comCrimeWeekly. All right, we're back. So January of 2015, Harmony goes back to live with her mother Crystal. Sorry, but sadly, four months later, in April of 2015, a then 10 month old Harmony was taken from her mother and placed back in foster care with Michelle and Timothy Raftery. In June of 2015, during a foster care review, a DCF panel determined that Crystal was making efforts to stabilize herself in treatment and was working towards getting her daughter back. At that time, DSF's permanency goal for Harmony was reunification with her mother. But then the following month, the DCF case management team convened a permanency planning conference for Harmony. And at that time, they changed her permanency goal from reunification to adoption based on the fact that Harmony had been in foster care a total of seven months out of her first year of life. Once again, I'm not sure why DCF would say it one month in June, like, yeah, our permanency goal is to have Harmony go back to her mother, and then the next month be like, actually, no psych. It's adoption. But it just kind of shows you that they don't always really know what's going on, you know, and it. Did something necessarily happen to change their minds, or was there another voice that got involved? And in this case, I believe it was a judge that was kind of like, hey, this kid's been in foster care for the majority of her life. What are we doing here? You know, we've given Harmony back to her mother, Crystal, a few times. We have to keep removing her. What's in the best interest of the child at this point?
- [22:49]
A
No, absolutely. And I have talked to you on camera, off camera. I'm not going to generalize a whole profession. I always call people out for doing that when it comes to law enforcement. Right. But I will tell you that I've had some. And I've talked to you about this. I've had some really negative experiences with dcf. And it sometimes has taken me going over the caseworker's head to get something done where I was saying off camera, before we started today, I had cases where we would conduct a search warrant on a house, find a ton of drugs, be able to prove that there was a lot of criminal activity occurring under the roof where these children were living. And yet the social worker would come in, I would explain this to them, and they'd look at me like, I have three heads.
- [23:32]
B
They'd be like, yeah, the kids clothes are clean and there's food in their face.
- [23:35]
A
Well, they're not. They're not dealing the drugs. And I'm like, yeah, but there's people paying for sex in the room right next to them. You know, like, these kids have to
- [23:42]
B
go to school, but there's a crack rock hidden under the baby's mattress.
- [23:45]
A
And that was the story I had told you about. There was literally probably two or three thousand dollars worth of crack cocaine underneath a baby mattress. And one of the responses were, the baby's physically incapable of grabbing it at this point. So it's not a real danger. Again, you go above their heads and you speak to their supervisors. And sometimes things can get changed. Or unfortunately, sometimes it takes a judge who's impartial, who has a lot more power than me to get involved, to go, hey, what are we doing here?
- [24:08]
C
Here?
- [24:09]
A
But unfortunately, in some instances, it's too late.
- [24:12]
B
Yes, exactly. In some instances, it is too late.
- [24:15]
A
Something bad has to happen before people actually do something.
- [24:18]
B
We've, we've seen these cases time and time again. And once, like, like you, I'm not going to sit here ever and say that any child protective care worker is. That the whole profession is bad. It's definitely not. I give so much respect to people who can do that because it is emotionally, mentally, and often physically taxing in every way and you don't get a break. And there's never a day where you go into work and say, oh, there's no children that are being abused or neglected today. Right. That does not happen. There's no days off from that. So I do think that a lot of these people get burned out and they get desensitized because of the amount of pain and abuse and neglect that they're seeing. And, and they would even tell you themselves, there's a place where they get like, like they lose hope. Like, they're, they're hopeless. They're disheartened.
- [25:04]
A
All they see is the negative side of things. Same thing with cops. No, but you're right. And it's a big responsibility that they have because even though police officers are sworn in and can take someone's freedom by arrest, we don't have the legal authority, unless there's an emergency situation, to remove a child from a home. Right. Unless there's an immediate danger. There's been so many cases where we have no input. So these particular workers, they do have that ability. And separating a child from their parents, especially when they're a little bit older and they know it's occurring, that is a heavy decision to make. So I am right there with you. I may bring up some negative experiences, but I couldn't agree with you.
- [25:42]
B
These are not generalizations. Yeah.
- [25:43]
A
Their job is extremely difficult. What they have to do, for sure.
- [25:47]
B
And I also want to say that we can be angry at the people involved in this case, though.
- [25:52]
A
Specific.
- [25:52]
B
Yeah, okay. We're going to specifically be angry at the people involved in this case and for, for our own mental health. Everyone needs to let us do that and not take it personal.
- [26:01]
A
Yes. Because it is a toug job, but it is your job. And when you fail, it could result in.
- [26:06]
B
When.
- [26:06]
A
When you fail something really bad.
- [26:08]
B
Miserably.
- [26:08]
A
Yeah, okay. Yeah, that's irreparable, by the way. Can't go back and fix it.
- [26:13]
B
So after this permanency planning conference where they were like, okay, we're changing her, you know, permanency plan to adoption, a judge, during a separate hearing, awarded DCF permanent custody of Harmony. So this isn't just a. A kind of thing where it's like, oh, you know, until it's like, now you are the ones who are Harmony's legal guardian. This gives DCF even more power and kind of control over what happens with Harmony. So at the end of July 2015, Harmony had another visit with her father, Adam Montgomery, in prison. And at that time, he told the DCF team that he expected to be released from prison the following September.
- [26:53]
C
Yay.
- [26:55]
B
I hate this.
- [26:56]
A
I'm sorry. I'm. If my enjoyment is not there for him, I'm.
- [26:59]
B
I hate this man. With a burning passion. So during the next year and a half, Harmony remained with the Rafteries, and she grew very close to both Timothy and Michelle.
- [27:10]
A
What did she call you? Mama. Your husband, Tim. What did she call him?
- [27:17]
C
She called him Dada and papa.
- [27:19]
B
So as you can see at this point, Harmony's been with the Raftery so much for. For so long and. And been raised by them. She thinks of them as her. Yeah.
- [27:28]
A
Yeah.
- [27:29]
B
And it was also during this time that the Rafterees began working on potty training with Harmony.
- [27:34]
A
Ms. Rafferty, was Harmony potty trained when she was in your care? Yes, she was.
- [27:40]
C
She started at our house, and then she finished when she moved back with her mother.
- [27:45]
A
And how old would she have been at that point in her life?
- [27:47]
C
So at two and a half, going on three, she was potty trained.
- [27:52]
A
What steps did you take to. You said she started at your house. What steps did you take to potty train her?
- [27:58]
C
Harmony was very easy to potty train. She didn't like to have, you know, soiled clothes on, and she wanted to be like the bigger kids that were in our house. So she would tell us that it was pretty much Harmony potty trained herself.
- [28:11]
A
And you said that Crystal Sori finished her potty training?
- [28:15]
C
Yes.
- [28:15]
A
Did Harmony return to your care after that?
- [28:17]
B
She did, yes.
- [28:19]
A
And after. After Harmony returned to your care, did she have any. Any bathroom accidents?
- [28:23]
B
Absolutely not. Now, you may wonder why. Why are we playing this clip? Why are we talking about potty training? This is one small aspect of a child's. You know being raised and their development. This is important. This is very important. And we will come back to it several times because ultimately, once again, for anyone familiar with the case, we know that the reason given for why Adam Montgomery killed his daughter was because she was having bathroom accidents. So we'll come back to that. In June of 2016, a foster care review panel determined that in the year since the previous panel had happened In June of 2015, Crystal Sorry. Had been inconsistent with her therapy and treatment. She was not regularly attending her supervised visits with Harmony. Now, as far as Harmony's father, Adam, DCF claimed that due to his limited cooperation, they didn't really know what was going on with him. It appeared he was no longer in prison. Remember, he was getting out in September of 2015, but they couldn't confirm his address or find out if he was working on his action plan. I guarantee you that dude didn't even look at the action plan. Okay. The following September. So September of 2016, now Adam finally called DCF and he was like, yes, I have admittedly been out of prison for a year. And yes, I made no attempt during that year that I've been out to contact you, dcf, or to see my daughter Harmony. This is all true. But Adam claimed he was now living in New Hampshire with his girlfriend Kayla, and he was sober and working full time. And now he wanted to know what he had to do to have his child in his life. So the following month, Adam met with the DCF team and agreed to attend supervised visits with Harmony, which was followed by Adam seeing Harmony in mid October. This is the third time he had seen her in her two and a half years of life. So between October of 2016 and February of 2017, DCF offered Adam Montgomery several opportunities to visit with his daughter Harmony. But he ended up often canceling these visits, claiming he was having family or transportation issues.
- [30:26]
A
Hey, priorities, Stephanie.
- [30:27]
B
Yes, of course.
- [30:28]
A
Haven't seen your daughter more than a handful of times in two years, but
- [30:31]
B
in her entire life.
- [30:32]
A
Yeah, you know, can't take a taxi.
- [30:34]
B
Can't, you know, out of prison for a year, no attempt to see her.
- [30:38]
A
Yep. Did we not see Con Air? Nicholas Cage. Okay, we know what a father would do to get back to his child
- [30:44]
B
if he wanted to, he would.
- [30:46]
A
Con Air, baby. What a great movie. Have you seen Conair?
- [30:48]
B
Of course. I love what a great movie.
- [30:50]
A
What a great movie.
- [30:52]
B
Anyways, so Adam was able to see Harmony at least once a month. However, and during these visits, it was noted that while he was highly attentive to Harmony. He sometimes did not have age appropriate responses to her. Another thing to understand is Adam's then girlfriend, future wife Kayla, was present during these visits. Visits. But for some reason, there's no documentation in case records of how she interacted with Harmony at all. Which is.
- [31:19]
A
And that should be documented.
- [31:20]
B
Yes, it should be, of course. So In December of 2016, another foster care review determined that Harmony's mother, Crystal, was once again making efforts to improve her situation. She had started visiting with Harmony regularly again, going back to therapy, doing all the stuff. But DCF also noted that Adam had met with them in October and he'd received his action plan in November because they had to send it to him again. Right. They it to him in prison. He never, you know, talked about getting it or working on it. So they sent it to him again in November. But he had not completed the required comprehensive assessment that goes along with this action plan. So the following month, In January of 2017, Harmony's case was transferred to the Jackson Square Area DCF when Crystal moved to Boston. And in February, another permanency planning conference determined that the goal should now be changed in. Changed back from adoption to reunification. So now we're not talking about adoption anymore, we're talking about reunification again. But with who? Okay. So the next month, Harmony was returned to her mother, Crystal, although she still remained in the legal custody of dcf.
- [32:30]
A
When the two of you were living together, how was Harmony?
- [32:35]
C
Amazing. Rambunctious, you know, very smart. By the time she was two, you know, she could tell you her whole life story.
- [32:45]
A
She was talkative.
- [32:46]
C
Yes. People didn't believe she was 2.
- [32:51]
A
When you got custody and were reunified with Harmony in those two places, did you work and finish potty training with Harmony?
- [32:59]
B
Yes, I did.
- [33:00]
A
How did she take to that?
- [33:02]
C
She did very well. Honestly, I was kind of surprised. She was just really excited to be a big sister. You know, her brother had diapers, and I told her, babies wear diapers and you're not a baby anymore, you're a big sissy. So she was right on it. And she did so well.
- [33:30]
A
Yeah. So I'll let you talk about the video itself because there was something mentioned in there that I'm hearing about for the first time. But. But I do wanna say that I think this transfer of this case to Jackson Square is important and it speaks to a larger conversation that goes along with the court systems, dcf, law enforcement, any agency, that government agency you can think of. That's the unfortunate thing about the society we live in right now. Is it's very subjective, and it can depend a lot on who's overseeing your case and what jurisdiction it's in. Because as you've been mentioning, at one point when it was in a different area, it was being looked at as an adoption case. Right. And now it's changing to a reunification case. And that could be a totality of things. It could be that Crystal had showed improvement. Whatever the case may be, there maybe the fact that they're looking at it as the father, Adam is starting to be more involved. But on the other hand, it could just be simply someone reading the same report and interpreting it differently. And that's. That's the scary thing, because it can
- [34:34]
B
work both ways or that that's. That specific office is more focused on reunification and keeping the kids with the family at all costs. Because we do see that in DCF sometimes that this is a more intense kind of focus for this specific office and not so much for another one.
- [34:51]
A
Yeah. Same thing happens with judges. Right. Depending on what. What judge you get get and what they ate for lunch that day or what's going on in their own personal life, they could look at the exact same set of facts and. And come to a different conclusion. So it's unfortunate, and it just. It just speaks to a larger issue that we have. And frankly, I don't have the solution, but it's something that's very frustrating.
- [35:12]
B
Yes. So in that video, that was Crystal. Sorry, Harmony's mother. And you heard Crystal mention Harmony's little brother.
- [35:18]
A
Yes.
- [35:18]
B
His name is Jameson. He was born on December 2, 2016. And like Harmony, Jameson had been removed from his mother's care more than once because of the same reasons Crystal's inability to sort of stop using drugs and how that affected her children. At times, he and Harmony would be in. In the same foster home together, but at other times, they would be separated. Now, I. I kind of got some flack for this when I covered Harmony's case years ago, but my opinion hasn't changed. Although we will come to find that Crystal. Sorry. Was, you know, vehement to. To get Harmony back and all of these things. There was a chance for her during all of these years to really get it together and place her children as a priority over this drug use and to do something to make it so that Harmony would never fall in Adam's hands. And while everybody wants to say, oh, you know, she was suffering, she. She had an addiction. I get it. She also continued having more kids even though her first child was consistently being removed from her care. And then when she had another child, her son Jameson, he would consistently be removed from her care. So now you're not only traumatizing one child, you've. You for some reason have had another one to continue traumatizing. If you are an active drug user and that is resulting in your children having to be shuffled around in the system and placed in foster care, then maybe at least if you can't stop using drugs, you should use some form of birth control. Is that wrong for me to say?
- [36:55]
A
No. No, it's not. And I think it goes back to a saying that I've said numerous times and even when it involves actual crime, in most cases that I've worked, not the, the more serious ones. But in most cases, it's good people who are making bad decisions. And if you're deciding to use drugs initially and then you can't stop, there is an addiction there. Right? It's not as simple as making a choice, but it's a choice to get up every day and make those right decisions. And I do think having more children, just from more of a broad perspective,
- [37:25]
B
not gonna put less pressure on you,
- [37:28]
A
is a result of a bad decision. Now, as simple as using the proper birth control in order to prevent that, if they're making decisions that are affecting their health and their potential wellbeing down the road, this might not be a top consideration. I think it's one thing to say that she could have made better decisions, which is how I'm interpreting what you're saying. And then it's another thing to say by putting more children in that situation intentionally is not right to the children. It doesn't make her necessarily a bad person. From that little clip that you just showed us, she seems like, at least in this video, she's got things together. And we know there are many, many hundreds, thousands of success stories out there of people who have gone through substance abuse issues and have turned their life around and had not only a great life with their own children, but it have made a real impact on their communities in a positive way. So by no means am I interpreting what you're saying as like, oh, people who have substance abuse issues shouldn't have children. But if you're going through a tough time, maybe make a top priority to not bring other human beings into the world at that point point, until you have your stuff taken care of.
- [38:37]
B
People who have active substance abuse issues that they know from their own experiences, they are having a hard time getting under control, should hold off on growing their family, because as we know A lot of triggers for relapsing. Stress is stress.
- [38:53]
A
Yeah.
- [38:53]
B
And kids bring money problems. All the things that kids bring do contribute not because of their own fault, just because of the world we live in. Right. So that's.
- [39:03]
A
But accidents do happen, happen, and you gotta, you gotta try to make the best of it. So I don't take anything negative from what you're saying, but I do think there is a bigger. There is a bigger purpose here. And it does seem like Crystal was trying to get her stuff together, even though she hadn't always made the best decisions. And in the context of what we're talking about for the series, without me knowing any of the specifics, I'm reserving the right to change my mind here. It doesn't seem like the main culprit of what we're dealing with is the result of Crystal. But maybe you're going to hit me with information that's going to change that opinion.
- [39:35]
B
No, I wouldn't say that. But obviously a contributing factor.
- [39:38]
A
I think. Of course, it's all factor. Right. It's all, it's all.
- [39:41]
B
And we, and we shouldn't, you know, we shouldn't be told like we're wrong for saying that when it is a contributing factor. And I know people are sensitive and.
- [39:49]
A
Yeah, it's an element.
- [39:50]
B
It is a contributing factor. In order to understand these cases and, and how they progress to where they progressed, we have to include in analysis of all the factors. Yeah.
- [39:58]
A
And let me play devil's advocate for a second. Not just in this case, but in any case, there would be a possibility that even if Crystal was completely clean.
- [40:05]
B
Right.
- [40:06]
A
Had all of her stuff together, the way the courts work, and this is a negative thing, I'm saying it more towards them than anybody else. You can have a deadbeat father or a deadbeat mother and you're doing all the right things and you don't feel safe around your kids with them alone. And you express that to the courts and yet they still allow it and something bad happens. That's not what happened here. But we know it's not a standard
- [40:27]
B
that Crystal could have been completely fine, not had a drug addiction issue, been a good. Adam has not had any issues with CPS or anything. And Adam could have come out of prison and all of a sudden decided, I want to be a part of my daughter's life.
- [40:39]
A
And for sure.
- [40:40]
B
But he would not have been granted full custody.
- [40:41]
A
No, not full custody. Correct. You're right. And that's why it's a case by case thing. We're not. We're not villainizing Crystal here, but there are specific circumstances. No two stories are the same, right?
- [40:51]
C
Yeah.
- [40:52]
A
And I don't think you pointing that out is a bad thing. It's part of the story. And to do justice for Harmony, we have to be honest about everything.
- [40:59]
B
That's what I'm saying. My concern here is Harmony. My concern is telling their story accurately. And that includes all the people who could have intervened and didn't.
- [41:07]
A
What's Crime Weekly? The question is always asked at the beginning, how did we get here? And this is part of Harmony story.
- [41:13]
B
I'm not worried about protecting anybody's feelings. I'm worried about telling Harmony's story in a valid and fact based way way so that everyone understands what I'm talking.
- [41:20]
A
Absolutely.
- [41:21]
B
Now, it was also during the same time that Adam Montgomery stopped responding to DCF again. But in April of 2017, Crystal, sorry, called up DCF and told them that Adam had contacted her and he had talked to Harmony on the phone. And DCF was very clear in their response back to her. That's not allowed. All contact between Harmony and her father needs to be monitored by dcf because even though Harmony was legally allowed to be with Crystal, DCF still had legal custody of Harmony and they were the only ones who could make a decision about who Harmony would be in contact with. Now, even with this clarity, Crystal told DCF on two separate occasions in May that Adam had contacted her and that she was once again reminded any communication between Adam and Harmony needed to be approved and then supervised by dcf. So DCF can't even be like, yeah, let Harmony talk to her dad. They got to supervise it. It. They're being very clear about this. It's in the records. And Crystal, sorry, was like, yeah, I understand. I get it. And then In September of 2017, Adam Montgomery called DCF for the first time since the previous February, even though once again, they had been trying to contact him multiple times. And during this call, Adam claimed he had picked Harmony up from crystals for the past four Fridays and kept Harmony throughout the entire weekend. So first, the DCF team, they deal with Adam, they inform Adam, you don't have the authority to do that. Crystal doesn't have the authority to allow you to do that. All of your unsupervised visits with your daughter, Harmony, need to stop immediately. And then any further contact with Harmony needs to be approved and arranged by dcf. So then DCF goes to Crystal and they're like, what's going on? Why. Why is. Why is your Daughter spending weekends with this man that we told you she couldn't even talk to him on the phone.
- [43:08]
C
Right.
- [43:08]
A
Pretty self explanatory. It should be common sense that if we're not allowing you to have an unsupervised call. Phone call with this individual, we're probably not gonna be okay with this unsupervised visit.
- [43:19]
B
They were clear. They said any and all contact.
- [43:21]
A
Yeah.
- [43:21]
B
Okay.
- [43:22]
A
That is something that Crystal should have been aware of. And I would go out on a limb and say she was aware of it and basically just went against their wishes. Knowing that she was doing that. Knowing that. That she was in violation of what they had ordered.
- [43:33]
B
Ordered, yes, Crystal did know she was in violation, but she claimed that Adam had forced her to allow these visits, these weekend visits, by threatening to seek sole custody of Harmony if she didn't allow the visits. So.
- [43:46]
A
Which, by the way, may have been true.
- [43:47]
B
Absolutely. I believe.
- [43:48]
A
Doesn't make. It doesn't. Doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.
- [43:51]
B
Then you call DCF and you're like, this guy's threatening to. Like, then that goes in the record. So if he tries to get sole custody, you know. Okay, so DCF then urgently set up a meeting with Adam to assess his current situation and to see how he was progressing through the steps of his action plan that he had been in possession of for a year. The one I guarantee you, he didn't even look at. But DCF claims they met with Adam at the end of September 2017. And at that time, he was. He was annoyed. He was frustrated with the need to have supervised visits with his daughter, and he was also frustrated with the tasks he needed to do in his action plan to prove that he cared enough about his child to.
- [44:31]
A
It was suitable to be around a child. A child unsupervised. Oh, yeah.
- [44:35]
B
Yeah.
- [44:35]
A
So guy who was in prison. Prison for shooting someone in the face during a robbery.
- [44:38]
B
In the face over a heroin deal. Because he'd rather kill someone than pay for his heroin. So Adam then told them that while he'd been in prison, he'd completed an anger management course and a parenting course in 2015. This is never verified, by the way, but okay. DCF also claims that at this time, Adam provided them proof of his sobriety and compliance with his substance abuse treatment in New Hampshire. He also signed releases for DCF to verify his housing situation, and he agreed to provide pay stubs to prove he had a stable job. So DCF told Adam, keep on keeping on. Keep doing your action plan. That you're mad that you have to do. And they agreed to set up supervised visits with him and Harmony at a New Hampshire DCF office so that he didn't have to go to Boston to see Harmony. And then he took advantage of these visits, at least one shortly after this meeting. But then Adam dropped off the map again for another year.
- [45:33]
A
Bye. Bye, Adam.
- [45:34]
B
All right, so we're getting to the elevated Stephanie. So we're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. I think one of the biggest changes I've made over the last few years is realizing that more skin care isn't necessarily better skin care?
- [45:50]
A
Yeah. Social media would have us believe we need, like, 17 different products.
- [45:54]
B
Honestly, at some point, I just started to ask myself, do I actually need all of this, or do I just need products that are just doing something meaningful? And that's what I like about One Skin. The reason it stood out to me in the first place is because it's rooted in actual science.
- [46:07]
A
That's the key point here, Right? It's not just marketing science.
- [46:10]
B
The founders of One Skin are longevity researchers. They focus on something called sentient cells, or what a lot of people call zombie cells, which sounds cooler. So these damaged cells build up over time, and they contribute to things like wrinkles, loss of elasticity, and other visible signs of aging.
- [46:25]
A
And that's where the OS 1 peptide comes in. It's One Skin's proprietary peptide, and it's the first ingredient proven to switch off those damaged cells, helping address skin aging at the source instead of just covering it up.
- [46:37]
B
Yeah, they're the. The peptide is shutting off the zombie cells. It's turning the zombie. Turning the zombie cells back into regular people. What I've noticed personally is that my skin just feels healthier overall. The texture feels smoother, it looks more balanced, and it fits easily into my routine without adding a bunch of. Of steps.
- [46:56]
A
Yeah, and it's actually backed with real research, too.
- [46:58]
B
Yep. Four peer reviewed clinical studies, more than 10,000 five star reviews. I'm one of them. And recognition from Bloomberg as a leader in skin longevity. So it's not just us saying this. And honestly, that's what I appreciate the most. You don't need a complicated routine to take good care of your skin. Listen, you guys have to check out One Skin. I highly suggest trying out the eye cream, the only eye cream I've ever used that I like, that works in long term and I'm not having to switch it out. So check it out, because it's born from over a Decade of longevity research. One Skin's OS1 peptide is proven to target the visible signs of aging, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age and for a limited time, try one skin with 15 off using code crime weekly at Oneskin Co Crime weekly. So like I said, check it out now you got a deal. You have 15 off. There's no reason not to. That's 15 off at One Skin Co with code crime weekly. And after you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. All right, so In January of 2018, a now 3 and a half year old Harmony was removed from her mother's care again due to Crystal's substance abuse. During this time and the previous times they had Harmony, Michelle and Timothy Raftery were open and close with Crystal. Crystal considered them family and she knew how much they loved and cared for Harmony.
- [48:19]
C
Just so much, so much life filled with so much life. We would walk. I was in a program when I had gotten her back, you know, I was, I was always fighting to get clean. You know, that was one thing that she did for me was. She made me realize that life, there was more to life than just the bad things. You know, drugs and parties and, you know, toxicity. You know, when she was born, I realized I didn't want that anymore and I wanted things to be different. I wanted to break the cycle. So I just kept going to programs and I tried to make it so she didn't really know. She called it our adventure because I tried not to let her know that this was a sober house. You know, I tried to let her think that this is just where we had to be right now so that mommy could be better. And she didn't care because she had all these friends and life was normal as it could be for her, you know. You know, she was going to school and she had all these friends and there was always activities going on, always birthday parties and events and, you know, they were always doing these amazing things for the kids, you know, so she was happy, you know, and I just, I just want to emphasize that so much that like, her life wasn't always bad. It was only bad when he got her. She was very much loved by everybody who met her. Like, you know, her, her daycare people, they, they still reach out to me and, you know, you know, really anybody that she, she left a mark on, I'm very close with her. Her foster parents, they've been my family from day one. You know, they believed in me when no One else did. No, Michelle would have adopted her.
- [50:31]
A
And who is Michelle? For folks at home who don't know
- [50:34]
C
her foster mother when, When I didn't have her, Michelle did. That's her. Her. Her other mummy. And Tim, her husband, will always be Harmony's real father, the only man that showed her what real fatherly love was like. Truly, she loved him very much. And I want people to know as well that Harmony didn't call Adam dad. She called him Adam. I really want people to let that sink in.
- [51:12]
B
Now, according to the child advocate investigative report that was put together after what happened to Harmony, I mean, after her death, basically, and after the realization that she was no longer alive, which happened two years after nobody had seen her, according to this investigative report, shortly after this third placement, this third foster care placement, the Rafteries expressed concern to the DCF case management team about the impact to Harmony from these repeated reunification attempts with her mother. So while yes, Tim and Michelle were supportive of Crystal and they were supportive of Crystal's relationship with Harmony, they were also looking at the facts just like we are and saying, at what cost at this point? Because this has been three times now, we've had her cumulatively for years, and we would like to adopt her. If her mother's not going to get her together and this is going to keep going on, we would like to take her in permanently. Right. And the rafter is believed that Harmony was experiencing trauma from the repeated return and removal from Crystal Sorry's character care.
- [52:23]
A
You know, dcf Department of Children and Families. I don't know if it was intentional, but the, the first thing mentioned there is the children. And, and what this agency, in my opinion, their number one priority is, is,
- [52:37]
B
is what's in the best interest of the children.
- [52:38]
A
What's in the best interest of the child or children. Right. Family is something you want to have be the end result where this, this child who you're protecting is ultimately reunited with the people who brought them into this world. And so that it can be a happy ending story. But I do think common sense has to come into it at some point. And this is by no way shape or form demonizing Crystal or anybody out there who has experienced similar things. But I do think you have to step back at some point from a pragmatic, commonsensical approach and take out emotion and say, how many times can we do this? Not because Crystal can't handle it. Right.
- [53:14]
B
Right.
- [53:15]
A
She's trying to get things right. It truly feels to me like she was trying to do the right thing. But if there is a consistent pattern there of her relapsing and having difficulties, you do have to ask the question, what type of residual impact is this having on this child? Even though we're trying to do the right thing, we're trying to have her be with her biological mother, what type of long term effect is that going to have on this child without having this consistent family environment where they're taken care of? It's not necessarily because she's in danger when she's back with Crystal. It's just overall we know the developmental process and, and how much of an impact it could have on a child to have multiple households living in different environments, having, you know, two mommies, one daddy, and then this other guy called Adam. I guess the question I'm asking more than making a statement is to everybody out there right now who's either heard of this case before or you're hearing about it for the first time, where is the line, in your opinion? And there's no right or wrong answer, but where is the line for you where you're trying to reunite this girl with her mother who's clearly going through some tough times? At what point do you say, okay, unfortunately, at this point there's gotta be a longer duration or we have to go through the adoption process. Because I don't think five years from now would be a better time to do it now that now the child's been with the foster family for five years. So I know this is a difficult decision to make because once you make it, there's really no going back. But I pose the question to all of you. In your opinion, what is just in a general perspective, what is the right move here? Because I don't know the answer.
- [54:51]
B
I, I don't know the answer either. I, I feel like at this point everything should be compiling into a written account, which it is. But at what time do we look at that written account and see patterns and say, what is in the best interest of Harmony? It's supposed to be what we care about.
- [55:06]
A
We might not be able to family part, but we damn sure can get the child part right.
- [55:10]
B
Yeah, exactly. So the following April, Crystal requested a hearing to have Harmony placed back in her care. This hearing was scheduled for February of 2019. In August of 2018, Adam Montgomery started having visits with Harmony again. And this was after him not seeing her for the past 11 months. So at that time, Adam and his girlfriend Kayla had gotten married. And then a few months later, In October of 2018, Adam Montgomery also requested a hearing to Have Harmony placed in his care. And his hearing was scheduled on the same date as Crystal's hearing in February of 2019. And this is when things seem to have shifted. At an early December 2018 foster care review, the panel looked at both parents and decided that Crystal, Sorry. Was no longer doing well enough to be the main reunification option. She was unstable in her sobriety. She was inconsistent with her visits with Harmony. Meanwhile, while allegedly Adam Montgomery had recently started looking better on paper because beginning in August 2018, he was communicating with DCF and attending supervised visits with Harmony. So the panel kept Harmony's overall goal as reunification, meaning they still wanted her placed back with a biological parent instead of immediately moving towards adoption. But for the first time, the focus shifted away from reunifying Harmony with Crystal and toward placing Harmony with Adam him. Why, I don't know. However, because Adam lived in New Hampshire and Harmony was under the care of Massachusetts dcf, he could not just be handed custody casually, even though some might say that's exactly what happened. But that's neither here nor there right now. So there was supposed to be an ICPC home study done. This is an interstate safety check used when a child in one state's custody may be placed with a caregiver in another state. So New Hampshire would need to assess Adam's home, his stability, whether he could safely care for Harmony, and. And if that was approved, DCF would then create a transition and reunification plan, meaning Harmony would gradually move into Adam's care with oversight. So the foster care review panel projected placement with Adam for December 2019, a full year later. Now, that suggests they were not saying give Harmony to Adam now. They were saying, explore this. Do the home study, make sure it's safe, maybe work towards placement over the next year. But then one week later, at a separate permanency planning conference, difference, Harmony's goal was changed to adoption because DCF was concerned that she'd spent most of her life in foster care without any permanent resolution. Then later In December of 2018, a juvenile court judge ordered an expedited ICPC to explore placing Harmony with Adam in New Hampshire. So what it looks like, from what I can tell, it means the court was pushing the atom placement option forward more quickly. And it seemed DCF's process was, let's move slowly and cautiously. And the court timeline was like, let's move fast and get her with a parent. Because this constant, like, back and forth isn't good for her.
- [58:05]
A
That's how I'm reading it. And it's important to point that out because that we kind of started the. The episode talking about how I've had some negative experiences with dcf and it doesn't seem like at this point, at least, they're the main culprit here that was kind of pushing this forward faster than it should have been.
- [58:21]
B
Been is. Yes, some part of the system was, but maybe the other parts of the system weren't.
- [58:26]
A
Well, the judge who's got 100 cases that day is going, what are we doing here?
- [58:29]
B
She's got a father that wants her. See if he's okay to have her. Yeah.
- [58:32]
A
Yep. Yep.
- [58:33]
B
So In February of 2019, both Crystal and Adam's hearings were scheduled, but Crystal, sorry, was not present in court.
- [58:41]
A
I'm a lawyer, and I've. And I've gone through and tried to figure out. Out what happened at this hearing where Adam ended up getting custody. And is it true that you were in the courthouse, in a different courtroom, taking care of another matter involving one of your other children in front of a different judge, and the judge that was handling Harmony's case went forward without you in the room because. Because you were in front of another judge involving your other child?
- [59:18]
C
Yes, actually, I wasn't in the same building. So Jameson's case, because he was born in Boston, his case was out of Boston, I had to pick between the two hearings, and it was basically, if I was at either one of them, if I wasn't at either one of them, them, it was going to go bad for me. So I called my lawyer frantic, and Lawrence and I said, I sent over from that courthouse to the other courthouse that I was proof that I was there. They said, he said, I will. I will, quote, fight for a continuance. That never happened. There was no continuance granted. There was no continuance fought for. And they moved forward and handed him custody. So in the same day, not only did my son get adopted, but my daughter got handed over to the one person that I begged them never to give her to. There were so many family members that had stepped up. There were family members that had been vetted and still denied it. There's just so many, many things that people don't know that what really happened. Like, there were family that wanted her. You know, Michelle would have adopted her.
- [60:38]
A
I'm a little confused here, and I'm hoping you can clarify for me, because here's my thought from seeing that video for the first time, gone through many court cases, both professionally and. And personally. Right. Just, you know, civil issues, whatever. And if you have an issue with A court date. You're giving ample amount of time. You're notified about that court date, and then you can contact the court clerk, let them know the situation, and then the judge can decide whether or not to grant you it. So you could easily reach out to them yourself or through a lawyer and say, hey, listen, there's a conflict on that date. Here's the reason I have to assume most cases, they're gonna say, oh, yeah, you can't be in two places at once. They're both important. We're not expecting you to choose between children. We'll move one of them. Right. That was my first thought. And then when I'm hearing from Crystal, I'm a little confused because it sounds like she did reach out to her attorney.
- [61:26]
B
She did reach out to her lawyer. Yeah.
- [61:28]
A
But I'm wonder, because it's not specified in there, did she reach out to them prior to the hearings and say, hey, I need you to file for a continuance here or a different court date because I'm not going to be able to make it. Or did she file it after the fact or, like, try to get a continuance after the fact? Like, hey, here's the proof that I was at the. Because she said something along the lines of, I can prove that I was at the other place. So did she not follow up beforehand? And did she just reach out to her attorney after the fact and say, hey, hey, that shouldn't have happened. I was at another court date. So I would need clarification on that, because on one hand, if she didn't address this prior to the court dates, that's on her. If she did and the lawyer just didn't follow up with it when they said they would, it's on them. And if the judge was aware of this at court when this was occurring, where the attorney let them know, she can't be here, she's in Boston or in the Boston area, then that's on the judge. So there's three different. Different scenarios here, and I don't know who to blame yet.
- [62:26]
B
So it's very confusing, actually, because there's a lot of. Clearly, once again, all of this stuff came out after it was discovered what happened to Harmony. Right. So when you start asking these questions, everybody sort of points the finger at each other.
- [62:45]
A
Of course they do.
- [62:46]
B
Yeah.
- [62:47]
A
So this is a pivotal moment right here. That's why I'm. I'm really focusing on it. This is. This is a big moment in this story.
- [62:54]
B
The. The February 2019 court date, because she wasn't there. And they gave custody.
- [62:59]
A
Custody to Adam. Yeah, that's. That's the. Right here. This is the fork in the road where in another world, Crystal is there, and there's joint custody given, or there's another decision made where maybe Adam doesn't have any custody of. Of the. Of Harmony. I don't know. We'll never know. But to me, this is a pivotal moment in this case where if something different had occurred, you and I might not be sitting here right now talking about it. But I will say, based on the direction this was going, Adam was fighting for custody there. Even if he only had partial custody, this still could have occurred. So.
- [63:32]
B
So here's what I think is going on.
- [63:35]
A
Yeah, Please.
- [63:36]
B
The official report doesn't specifically say that Crystal tried to reschedule that February 2019 court date. It says that Crystal's own specific review and redetermination hearing did not go forward. Forward because she was not present. That doesn't mean that the separate review and redetermination hearing that Adam Montgomery requested wouldn't go forward. It just means that hers didn't. And so I don't know if they were looking at them in a combined way at this point, but Crystal's lawyer telling the court, Crystal can't be there on this date because she's has a conflict. They might reschedule hers, but Adams would still be scheduled.
- [64:13]
A
Yeah, well. Well, there's more to it, though, because this.
- [64:15]
B
There is definitely more to it, and I'll. I'll look into it, and maybe somebody watching has the answer to that. Yeah, yeah.
- [64:20]
A
If. If these are two. Because the way I'm looking at it, from just a layman perspective, on the outside looking in, it sounds like there were two child custody hearings in two different courts. Right. In one court, it was being decided whether Jameson was going to be staying with Crystal or up for adoption.
- [64:36]
B
He was up for adoption. Yeah.
- [64:37]
A
Right. And in the other court, it was a custody battle of, is Harmony gonna stay with Crystal? Is Harmony gonna go with Adam, or is there gonna be just a split kind of parent situation where they're gonna both have shared custody of Harmony? And it sounds like because Crystal wasn't there, the judge said, okay, well, clearly one parent cares and one parent doesn't. I'm sticking Harmony with the parent that's currently here and present. So to me, there's no doubt that at court, the judge made the decision based on the fact that Crystal didn't show up. I have to imagine. And if I'm wrong, I will absolutely destroy this judge in the next episode. But if the judge knew that Crystal was in another courtroom with another child and still made this determination, we're going to be in their ass. Right. I have a hard time believing that's the case.
- [65:25]
B
Yeah, I'll look into it. I made a note already that this is something I'll be looking into. And the answer might not be there because the judge might be like, no, I didn't know.
- [65:34]
A
I'm going to imagine the judge didn't know. Yeah. The only two possibilities that look the most plausible to me right now is either one, Crystal didn't inform the court until after the fact of why she wasn't there, or two, she let her attorney know, hey, please contact the court and let them know that I'm not going to be able to attend on this day. And the lawyer said, yeah, no problem. And never actually followed through with it, which wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility. Where the lawyer has other cases, this one slips through the cracks, doesn't make the call or follow up with the court clerk. And there's an issue with the process because nobody ever notified the court that Crystal wouldn't be able to make it. So that's really the two angles I see that are most plausible here. And either way, not good because of that technicality, whether it was Crystal just not handling what she needed to do or the lawyer not following up on what they said they were going to do, that was the reason that Harmony ended up ended up in custody of Adam. But either way, I know you'll, you'll look into it, you'll follow up on it, guys, in the comments, let us know. But. But that's where we are as of right now.
- [66:39]
B
Yes, I will look into it and try to get as clear an answer as I can. Given that there was a lot of finger pointing and blame shifting going on.
- [66:45]
A
This is important. This is an important part. So we'll get to the bottom of it.
- [66:48]
B
Okay, so as we know, Adam Montgomery was awarded full custody of 4 year old Harmony even though all the safety checks that were supposed to have happened had not been completed. And we know this because DCF's attorney at that time objected to Harmony being Adam. And a major reason for that was because the icpc, because Harmony was a Massachusetts child in DCF custody and Adam lived in New Hampshire. As we talked about, New Hampshire was supposed to evaluate whether Adam's home was safe and appropriate before Harmony was moved there. And that would usually include not only, you know, looking at the home, the Caregiver, the household members, the child's needs, whether the placement would actually be safe. You know, there's a lot of things that need to be done with this study. But by this time In February of 2019, New Hampshire had not completed that home study at all. And part of the reason they hadn't completed it was because they said they didn't have enough information specifically about Kayla Montgomery substance use treatment in New Hampshire. Kayla was Adam's wife, and she would be living in the home with Harmony. So her fitness and stability mattered, too. Now, during the hearing, additionally, during the hearing, Adam Montgomery's housing and employment status was not confirmed. There was was no evidence presented about Adam's fitness or willingness to care for Harmony. And there was almost no evidence presented about Harmony and her special needs, because Harmony wasn't just a child being moved from one home to another. She was visually impaired. She had medical needs, behavioral health needs, special education service needs. So the court should have been asking things like, did Adam understand her visual impairment? Did he know what medical care she needed? Did he understand her educational services? Was his home physically safe for a child who was blind in one eye? Could Kayla help care for Harmony? Was the household stable? Had New Hampshire checked any of this? Okay, and. And not only like, I want you to understand, Adam Montgomery said he had a job. They did not verify this.
- [68:43]
A
Right? No verification of employment. Nothing.
- [68:46]
B
Nothing. So then the judge decided that the ICPC didn't apply, meaning the interstate home study was no longer required. And because of that, New Hampshire never completed. Never. Even after this. Never completed that comprehensive evaluation of Adam's parenting ability or his home. You know what else was never brought up during this hearing? Not even by the DCF lawyer who was apparently fighting for Harmony not to be placed with Adam at that time. What wasn't brought up was Adam Montgomery's severe and troubling criminal history, which we're going to talk about after this next break. You know what happens every summer? I convince myself that because it's warm outside, somehow all the rules stop applying. Everything gets a little bit more flexible.
- [69:32]
A
Also known as vacation brain.
- [69:34]
B
Exactly. Suddenly there's a barbecue every weekend, somebody wants to go out for ice cream. Like every night that somebody's me. You're traveling, you're staying up later because it's, you know, sunny out later, and before you know it, all those healthy habits you spent months building start slipping over away.
- [69:49]
A
Yeah, it's easy to lose momentum when your routine changes.
- [69:52]
B
And that's why I think having a flexible plan matters so much. Because let's be honest, most people aren't trying to spend their entire summer counting every bite of food or skipping events with friends. I'm not. And that's why we really like Weight Watchers. It's designed to fit into your actual life. You can enjoy the cookouts, the vacations, the dinners out while still, you know, working towards your goals and not feeling like you're just letting it all go to the wayside.
- [70:13]
A
So it's not an all or nothing thing.
- [70:15]
B
Exactly. And their Core plus program is built exactly around that idea. The app adapts to your goals and your lifestyle and you got access to coaches, expert guidance, and a community that's there when you need support who are going through the same thing you're going through.
- [70:28]
A
Yeah, which is a lot different than trying to figure it all out on your own.
- [70:31]
B
Right. Cuz life changes week to week. Your health plan should be able to change with it. And I like that. It's not about chasing some magical summer body. It's about feeling good, building sustainable habits and becoming the healthiest version of yourself. So don't miss out on anything this summer. Joint Weight Watchers Core plus for one weight loss support that fits into your real life so you can enjoy summer while still hitting your goals. Go to weight watchers.com crimeweekly to get a special offer for our listeners. That's weight watchers.com crimeweekly for a special offer.
- [71:05]
A
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- [71:40]
B
Okay, we're back. So like I said, Adam Montgomery is sitting in court February of 2019 saying I want my young daughter and nothing is being proved about whether he has the home or the household.
- [71:51]
A
Yeah, just a complete lapse in judgment. And right Now I'm, I'm side eyeing not only the judge, but also the prosecutor, the attorney for dcf. They clearly didn't fight hard enough.
- [72:01]
B
They didn't. And so also, like I said, Adam Montgomery is in prison when Harmony's born. But this was not his first offense. And you would think, think that all of this stuff should be brought up by the DCF lawyer who's aware of it. Okay, so let's go over it. It started young. In 2006, when Adam was 16 and living in Bedford, Massachusetts, he was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds. In July of 2007, he was accused of following a 15 year old girl into her home on Plainfield street after shouting that the girl had stolen his cell phone. He was charged, charged with burglary and misdemeanor simple assault. But the case was dismissed in January of 2008. No idea why. In September of 2007, the Bedford Police charged Adam with criminally threatening his 15 year old ex girlfriend with a knife. And he was sentenced to 110 days in jail. In February of 2008, Adam Montgomery broke into the apartment of two Malden women with a pellet gun and the intention to rob them. When the police arrived, he turned the gun on one of the officers before he was wrestled to the ground. He later pleaded guilty to armed robbery, assault, battery, a dangerous weapon, one count of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, and other minor drug possession offenses. In May of 2008, when he was 18, Adam was charged with stabbing a youth in the leg and pushing him out of a moving vehicle near Bridge and Belmont streets in Manchester. The incident had resulted from Adam believing that he'd been sold fake drugs. He was sentenced to four years in prison, but served 383 days. And then of course, we have the crime that landed him in prison months before his daughter Harmony was born. Shooting a man in the face after crossing state lines, attempting to buy 3 grams of heroin outside the victim's apartment. And even though DCF objected during the hearing, they didn't bring this stuff up. They didn't object hard enough. And once the judge gave Adam full custody, DCF's legal team did not challenge it any further. They didn't appeal the decision. They were just kind of like, well, we trust ride, you know, bye Harmony. Have fun in New Hampshire. That was it. And it's estimated that between Harmony's birth and the time of Adam taking full custody of her in 2019, she had spent a total of approximately 40 hours of supervised visits with her father. And this was what was happening.
- [74:19]
A
It's insane. I mean, I could sit here and pick apart every single thing that you just mentioned, but this person has a predisposition to violence, have some substance abuse issues, emotional regulation problems. I'm not a psychiatrist, you know, I'm not gonna. It's. But I have common sense. I have a brain. And this would not be the person that I would want having full custody or sole supervision and being alone with a child without a substantial amount of evidence proving that they have turned a corner, have changed their ways, and have shown an equal amount of history that they have seen the era of their ways and changed the person that they once were.
- [74:54]
B
When once again, you have this child's foster mother who has had her the majority of her life, saying, I will adopt.
- [75:00]
A
This is such a. A tough area. Right. Because, you know, we talked about it earlier with Crystal to a lesser degree. Adam. Adam has, in my opinion, no standing to. To have any type of custody for this child. But you do think about moments in every case that could have resulted in a different outcome in the story and. And a simple one, and there's a lot more layers to it. It's not always that simple. But a simple one would be that. That if Tim and Michelle had sole custody of Harmony, I think it's a reasonable assumption to say that she would still be alive today.
- [75:33]
B
Yes.
- [75:33]
A
And that's tough.
- [75:34]
B
Yes, I think that's very obvious. Yeah.
- [75:37]
A
I'm also saying without saying it, that if Crystal no longer had custody of her child, she would still be alive. And it's not meant to demonize to Crystal, but that is the reality of it. For adoption to the rafteries, Harmony would still be with us. More than unlikely. Now, that doesn't mean in hindsight, down the road, after many years of fighting, that Adam or Crystal couldn't have gotten some type of custody of Harmony. But it would have been a lot more difficult.
- [76:02]
B
Yeah. I mean, they could have. They could have. That's the.
- [76:04]
A
But they would have to show a lot more evidence to overrule adoption, which
- [76:08]
B
is a good thing. Okay.
- [76:09]
A
The burden would have been on them to show consistency. Right. Including with Crystal. She would have to show years of working on herself and turning a corner and. And doing all the right stuff. And same thing with Adam. He would have had to show years of. Of. Of becoming a different person. And with it still being kind of in limbo and having a judge who was impatient and not really giving a. About the child. That's what happened here.
- [76:31]
B
So that's that's where we're at now. Harmony's with Adam. Okay. And when Adam and Kayla Montgomery took Harmony home with them, they were living at 77 Guilford street in Manchester, New Hampshire. The house had originally belonged to Adam's grandmother, Helen. And Kayla and Adam moved in around April or May of 2018. So at that time, the couple lived there, along with their son Seamus, who'd been born in June of 2017. Helen also still lived there, as did Adam's uncle, Kevin Montgomery, Adam's brother Michael Montgomery, and Michael's girlfriend, who was also named Kayla. So Harmony would be staying in a room that had previously belonged to Helen. And before she got there In February of 2019, Kayla and Adam bought a new Minnie Mouse bed set and decorated the wall walls with Minnie Mouse decals. Now Kayla's gonna give testimony during the trial and everything, and she's like, we, we. We really redecorated her entire room and made it one. And then the attorney was like, what did you do? And she's like, we bought a comforter and put decals on the wall. So, yeah, that's what they did. Now, according to Kayla Montgomery, Harmony was completely potty trained by the time she came to live with them, and she did not have any accidents. This is now from Kayla. This is from Crystal. This is from Michelle Rafter Factory. Harmony's completely potty trained. No accidents. On February 25, 2019, three days after Adam was given full custody, Kayla Montgomery added Harmony to her New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services account. And this increased Kayla's benefits by $129 a month starting on March 1, 2019. So this was money that she was adding to an EBT card and was meant to be used for eligible food purchase purchases. Remember that because it's important. No surprise to anybody that was not used for eligible food purchases. In fact, a drug dealer later testified and, and, you know, admitted that he was accepting, you know, EBT benefits in exchange for drugs that he was selling to Kayla and Adam because, surprise, surprise, they were still using drugs. So according to Crystal story, after Adam was given custody In February of 2019, she was allowed to have only limited contact with home Harmony for about two months.
- [78:39]
A
What, if any, visits did you have with Harmony after she went to live with Adam Montgomery?
- [78:47]
C
I had two physical visits with her, and then I had two FaceTime calls, both very brief.
- [78:59]
A
The physical visits, where did you visit her?
- [79:01]
C
Guilford Street.
- [79:02]
A
Did you visit with her outside the home or inside the home?
- [79:06]
B
Inside the home.
- [79:07]
A
Did you see where her room was
- [79:09]
C
no, he never showed me. I was only allowed in the living room or the bathroom.
- [79:15]
A
How did you communicate with Adam at that time?
- [79:19]
C
Facebook. Facebook? Yeah. He wouldn't give me his number.
- [79:23]
B
Crystal said that at these visits, she was tiptoeing around Adam, quote, any little thing he told me I could or couldn't do, I did because I knew he would make me never see her again. I knew it finally had the control he wanted and he was going to use it. End quote. At some point, Crystal was starting a new job, and she had to wait to see what her schedule was going to be like, and she had to go to some training before being able to plan visits. So she and Adam agreed that she could have some video calls with Harmony while that was being sorted out right away.
- [79:53]
C
The fa. The face times were chaotic, just very chaotic. There was like, you know, he's muting it, pausing it, shutting the camera off, and just every single time, she just looks terrified. And he's, you know, I'm asking questions, he's yelling at me, saying, I can't ask her that, or she's not going to answer that, or, you know, just. I knew in my gut, man, it was. It was all wrong. He was acting erratic. I knew he was getting high.
- [80:21]
B
The last time that Crystal saw or spoke to her daughter was right before Easter in 2019.
- [80:27]
A
And what did she seem like when you saw her on FaceTime?
- [80:30]
C
Terrified. She. I would say, hey, you know, what's going on? You know, what'd you eat for lunch? What'd you do today? You know, are you going to school yet? Like, you know, how are your brothers and sisters? You got any friends? You know, little questions like, I'm her mom. Like, I want to know these things. I want to know she's happy. And every time I asked these things, he would pause it and he'd tell, whatever you say to her, I can't hear him. He'd mute it, and he'd be like, don't tell her. And she'd be like. Like, you know, and I'm watching her. So he'd unmute it. And I'm like, what's going on? Like, 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? Like, you're acting weird, Adam. I'm like, what's going on? Like, we're. We're co. Parenting. Like, we're. You're letting me have visits. Like, what's going on? He's like, he's Like I have sole custody, sole decision making. You don't get to ask me. And he hangs up and blocks me. And that was the last thing I had contact with her and saw her at all.
- [81:31]
B
Now, just for the record, because I was thinking about this when we were watching the clip, how I said Crystal should have probably, you know, not had kids while she was dealing with active drug addiction and trying to get her life together. The same obviously goes for Adam and Kate. Kayla, you know, I don't want anybody in the comments being like, oh, you say the woman shouldn't have kids, but the man can just. No, no. Adam and Kayla went on to have other children. They shouldn't have either. And if anybody thinks that I'm over here, like, like I, like I have any sympathy for Adam after, you know, clearly me saying, I, I hate this man. Yeah, that's, that's on you at this point.
- [82:08]
A
But I think, and I'm gonna say it a hundred more times throughout this episode, episode the series. For me, when we sit here and talk about this case, it's always from the perspective of what's best for the child. And we are not conflating the two when it comes to Adam and it comes to Crystal. Two very different issues. But I think everybody can look at it logically and say they were both experiencing things that weren't suitable for a child at that point. One more extreme than the other. Crystal, the substance abuse demons that she was trying to overcome. And we know that's not always the easiest process. And if she was able to do that, no problems, she should be with Harmony. That's how it should be. She doesn't have any history of violence, etc. Adam, on the other hand, even if he wasn't using the drugs, still an amount of evidence that says this guy is not safe to be around children. So two completely different things. But no, at the core, when we look at these people that are currently the players in this game. Game, the only people that are really in a position to, to take care of Harmony at this point in this story is, Is Tim and Michelle.
- [83:12]
B
Yeah. So. And you, like you said, I think in Crystal's case, it was like a good person trying to do the right thing, making mistakes. You know, it's a, it's a hell of a.
- [83:20]
A
Substance abuse is tough man.
- [83:22]
B
With Adam, I think you have a evil person.
- [83:26]
A
Right.
- [83:26]
B
Intentionally knowing he's going to keep making mistakes and thinking he's entitled to have this child anyways, even though it didn't seem like he really wanted her it was a power and control.
- [83:35]
A
Think about the comparison, right? We have one person, right? Without saying names, we have one person who has a substance abuse issue who is really impacting themselves and nobody else. And you have another person with substance abuse issues where they. When they don't get what they need to support that substance abuse habit, they'll
- [83:49]
B
shoot you in the face.
- [83:51]
A
Right. With A and B, you choose who would be the person that is has a higher probability of being able to redeem themselves and come back and take care of their child.
- [84:00]
B
Yeah. And never once in all of Crystal's, you know, yo yoing and going back and forth did she just drop out of sight for a year and not make any effort to contact Harmony, whereas Adam was allowed to do that multiple times.
- [84:13]
A
It's very clear to me as we're approaching, you know, we're further into this episode, that Crystal really was going through it and was not always making the best decisions, but was trying, was truly trying to get her life straightened out so that she could be there for her kids. And unfortunately, it's not always like we see in the movies, where there's a positive ending. Right. It just. She wasn't able to get there yet. It's not to say she wouldn't have gotten there, but at this point in the story, she just wasn't in that in a good place. And it allowed an opening for the judicial system to come in and play parent. And they got it wrong. Simple as that.
- [84:50]
B
I think they got it right to remove Harmony and keep an eye on
- [84:54]
A
her and have the situation give custody to Adam.
- [84:56]
B
I don't know what the hell happened there.
- [84:58]
A
What are we doing there?
- [84:59]
B
Don't know. I don't know. Somebody needs to answer for this. So, yep, on November 18, 2021, Crystal Sor called the Manchester Police Department and reported that she had not seen her daughter Harmony since the spring of 2019. Crystal said, quote, he stopped my visits three days before Easter 2019 because of the last FaceTime I had with her. He totally blocked me and everything. I right away had a bad feeling because of how he was acting in the visits. He would sit on top of us, basically. I barely could have any Privacy with her. FaceTimes he was muting it, yelling at her, telling her what to say, what not to say. It was all suspicious to me. All of end of May, beginning of June 2019 was the very first time I called DCF in Massachusetts to ask them if there was any transition plan, if they'd been checking on her. Mass. DCF basically Never did the transition plan. They never once checked on her. Mass DCF is supposed to keep a case open for six months after placement to make sure you're doing the right thing. I don't understand to this day why he was able to just take her and run to New Hampshire. It blows my mind. End quote. So basically she's saying is Harmony's leaving Massachusetts, going to New Hampshire. But Massachusetts DCF is still supposed to keep in touch with Adam as they did with. With Crystal when. When Harmony was placed back in her care for those periods. Keeping a checking in, making sure everything's okay. And if it's not, removing Harmony and putting her back in foster care until Crystal can get it together with Adam, he ran off to a different state, and that was it. No one was checking on Harmony. Harmony? Yep.
- [86:23]
A
She's not wrong.
- [86:24]
B
According to Crystal, when she called the police, she said Adam had never enrolled Harmony in school. She'd missed several doctor's appointments. Adam was homeless. He was using drugs. So then the police contacted DCF to get a list of previous addresses for Adam Montgomery. And police officers checked those addresses, but they were unable to locate Harmony. Now, Remember, this is 2021. On December 27, 2021, DCF notified the Manchester police that they too were unable to locate Harmony Montgomery, which triggered the police to open an investigation into har whereabouts. Over the following days, the police learned that Harmony had not been physically seen since the fall of 2019. And as it turned out, Adam and Kayla, along with their now three children, had been evicted from the Guilford street house. But they had continued squatting there for a time. And remember, I said that when Harmony moved in with her father, his mother Helen had been living there, along with his uncle Kevin, his brother Michael, and Michael's girlfriend Ken. Kayla. Well, it seems that Helen moved out in May of 2019. She moved to Florida. And then in mid July of 2019, Michael and his girlfriend Kayla also moved out and joined Helen in Florida. And also in July, Adam's uncle Kevin Montgomery left New Hampshire and flew to Florida for three weeks to spend some time with his mother, Helen, who had recently undergone triple bypass heart surgery. So during that time when Kevin Montgomery's gone on and it's just Adam, Kayla and their kids in Harmony living in the Guilford street house, stuff goes down. All right? So on July 7, Kayla Montgomery called the Manchester police department on a man named Alex call. She claimed he was high and refusing to leave the house, which resulted in the police officially trespassing him from the property. Now, prior to that Alex call had been a friend of Adam and Kayla's who was a relapsed drug user abuser and who was staying with Adam and Kayla on Guilford street during the summer of 2019. On July 10, the Manchester Police were called again when someone reported that a male and female inside the home on Guilford street were fighting. The person who called reported that there was children in the home. They could hear banging and screaming. A female left the house and a man screamed at her to get back inside. Now, when Kevin Montgomery got back to Manchester in New Hampshire towards the end of July, he returned to the house on Guilford Street.
- [88:44]
A
Did you come back to Manchester that same day after you got off the flight?
- [88:47]
C
I did.
- [88:48]
A
Did you go to visit 77 Guilford Street?
- [88:52]
B
Did you go home?
- [88:52]
C
I did.
- [88:54]
A
Let me ask you,
- [88:56]
B
when you got
- [88:57]
A
home, did you see Harmony there?
- [89:02]
C
I did.
- [89:04]
A
Where did you see her?
- [89:07]
C
I seen her as the. Standing in the kitchen.
- [89:10]
A
And when you saw her in the kitchen, how did she look to you? She had a black eye. Can you describe it for us? How did the black eye look?
- [89:31]
C
Full.
- [89:33]
A
Like a raccoon's eye. Black and blue. Black and blue?
- [89:41]
C
Yes.
- [89:43]
A
And when you say full, what do you mean by full? Can you give us a good.
- [89:47]
C
All the way around.
- [89:48]
A
All the way around. And I see just there. You were pointing to your right eye. Did you see it on her right eye?
- [89:56]
C
I honestly can't recall, but I think the left.
- [90:00]
A
Okay, you think the left. Okay, you said you saw her in the kitchen with this black eye.
- [90:04]
C
Yes.
- [90:05]
A
Okay, so when you saw her in the kitchen with this black eye, what, if anything, did you say?
- [90:12]
C
Something along the words of, oh, my
- [90:18]
B
God, what did you do, Harmony?
- [90:21]
A
And who answered that question?
- [90:25]
C
My nephew Adam.
- [90:27]
A
Where was he
- [90:31]
C
standing? Right behind her.
- [90:33]
A
And what did Adam say?
- [90:36]
C
She didn't do anything.
- [90:39]
A
I bashed her around the house. Did Harmony ever say anything in response to the question or just Adam saying, I bashed her around the house? I think just Adam. Can you say it the way that he. He said it so that we understand? I'm not sure if I had to
- [91:00]
C
describe it to the best of my ability to be like a cocky son of a bitch.
- [91:07]
A
Did Adam tell you why he bashed her around the house and caused the black eye? He did. What did he say?
- [91:15]
C
He said he was in the bathroom
- [91:19]
A
moving his bowels and that he put
- [91:25]
C
Harmony in charge to watch Declan.
- [91:31]
A
And when he came out, Harmony had
- [91:36]
C
her hands over his mouth and I
- [91:39]
B
guess his lips were supposedly blow.
- [91:43]
C
That's what.
- [91:44]
A
What Was explained. That's what Adam explained to you?
- [91:47]
C
Correct.
- [91:48]
A
And after he explained that, how did he say he caused the black eye? By bashing her on the house? Yeah. So that's tough to hear. And I don't know this guy Kevin that well. I don't know anything about him. I know it doesn't seem like he intervened more than he should have, so.
- [92:06]
B
Well, he will. He will.
- [92:08]
A
Okay, good. That's how you know. I didn't read ahead, but he. He. You could tell is a genuine reaction to what. What he. What he witnessed and then what he's hearing. And I'll reserve judgment on anything else because you're telling me he's gonna. He's gonna get involved more. So we'll see.
- [92:23]
B
Yeah. So Kevin Montgomery said that he stayed the night at the house. He left the next day, and he never stayed there again. But he told people what he had seen. He told a lot of people. He told his mother, Helen, his sisters Aaron and Janine, his son's mother, his brothers, Sean, Michael and Richard, Adam, friends Nick and Aaron, Harmony's mother, Crystal, Harmony's foster mother, Michelle. He also called DCYF. On July 29, child protection social worker Demetrius Toros arrived at 77 Guilford street to do an unannounced investigation. Right. When the caseworker arrived at the home, Adam Montgomery was already leaving. He was getting into a car with Harmony. Toro said that he recognized Adam from prior contacts. Now, what that really meant was that Tauros had known Adam Montgomery since Adam was a teenager. Fifteen years before being assigned to Harmony's case. Demetrios Toros had worked as a youth counselor at the Sununu Youth Services Center. And during that time, Adam was a juvenile held at the facility. Tauros had been directly assigned as Adam's youth counselor. But before this, Tauros was a police officer with the New Hampshire Hospital Campus police department until 2001, when he resigned mind due to a domestic violence incident. His file states that he had come into work with a cast on his hand the year before this and told his supervisor, Deputy Chief Don Palmer, that he'd become angry at home and smashed his hand into a wall. Now, a note was made that Palmer believed there had been a prior domestic violence incident a few years before this. And Palmer said he didn't feel Tauros was a particularly good employee and he felt he had very little respect for women. Demetrios Taurus later pled no contest to one count of obstruction obstructing the reporting of a crime, and one count of simple Assault. And reportedly, the convictions would be dismissed from his record after two years if he met the conditions of good behavior, went to anger management and batterers counseling. In 2010, the Police Standards and Training Council agreed to restore his certification. But in 2001, when Demetrios Toros had surrendered his certification after the domestic violence incident, that same month, he got his youth counselor job with the Youth Services center where he came into contact with Adam Montgomery. And at that time, his domestic violence conviction had not yet been wiped away. That wouldn't happen for two years, and it should have shown on his record. So he was kind of allowed to have a job in a time and a place where what had happened, the fact that he was a batterer should have been noted. Then In May of 2002, Tauros was reported for making sexually harassing comments to a female co worker. And the investigation into that complaint resulted in the finding that he had made several harassing comments and he was fired for violating DHHS policy in July of 2002. But Demetrios Toros appealed that decision and then reached a settlement with the state Department of Health and Human Services before withdrawing his appeal in September of 2002. He remained on that job for several more years before becoming a child Protective service worker with DC CYF in 2011, eight years before Kevin Montgomery reported that he'd seen his niece with a horrible black eye. And remember, Harmony is blind in one eye. Harmony is blind in one eye. Now, when Kevin's asked on the stand, which I was it, he said he thinks it was the left eye, which is the eye that Harmony's blind in. Now, as we'll come to find from Demetrios Tauros's report, it was actually her right eye. So she's blind in her left eye. And then her final father is beating in her one eye that she can see with. Just remember that. So when Kevin Montgomery called CPS and reported this and told Demetrius Tauros about the black eye, he also told Tauros that he believed Adam was using heroin again. And according to Kevin, Tauros told him, I've known Adam since he was 15, and I know Adam's not like this. So we have what's called a conflict of interest here.
- [96:17]
A
Yeah, I mean, Tauros is a. Was an idiot. Obviously. You just went down the whole resume of all the reasons he shouldn't be in any type of work like this, from law enforcement to being a caseworker,
- [96:28]
B
to be a youth services counselor.
- [96:31]
A
Yeah, not the person that should be in any of those types of positions.
- [96:34]
B
You want a batterer of women to advise the troubled youth.
- [96:38]
A
Yeah. No.
- [96:39]
B
On how they should be better.
- [96:40]
A
Absolutely not. And just another. Another pivotal moment here where Kevin notifies basically everybody. From what you're saying, he just tells everybody he can, including dcyf. Right. And then. And by the way, if I sometimes say dcyf, that's what it's referred to here. I know it's DCF in this episode, but it's sometimes. It's.
- [96:58]
B
Sometimes they are referred to as dcyf.
- [97:01]
A
If I say it. If I do say it, just so you guys know, I'm saying it because it's the same thing. But, yeah, so he did what he
- [97:07]
B
had to do, and he keeps. He keeps trying to do something. By the way, he's not done.
- [97:10]
A
All right, good. Well, that's good. But, you know, you can report it to anybody you want, but if the people in charge of actually investigating it are people like this guy Tauros, you're. It's going to be uphill battle. Yeah.
- [97:20]
B
So on July 29, when Demetrius Tauros did this unannounced visit and went to check on Harmony, he saw her leaving the house with her father, and he didn't stop them. So he didn't see Harmony close up. He didn't make an effort to speak with Harmony. He did speak to Adam's wife, Kayla Montgomery, and Tauros explained to Kayla why he was there. And she told. Told him, yeah, we've expected a visit from DCYF because a friend of ours, Alex Call, had been staying with us at our house, and, quote, alex was in recovery, and they made it clear to him that they would not tolerate drug use in the home. She and Adam are in recovery, and they have kids there. Kayla said that Alex relapsed and his paraphernalia was discovered by Adam's uncle, who comes into the home when they're not there, end quote. So Kayla's starting a narrative. So Demetrius Toros wrote in his report that he saw a generator in the driveway, and Kayla told him the power. Power had been shut off, which is why Adam had left, because he was going to go get gas for the generator. And Demetrius Tauros was like, well, can I go on the house? And Kayla was like, sure, he goes in the house. He noted at that time that it was a bit messy and it smelled a little bit like dog. When he asked Kayla where she and Adam were going for treatment, she replied, quote, the good place, not the place where they give people way too much methadone, end quote. And so we Have Demetrius Tauros, who then goes in the house. He says he sees Kayla and Adam's other kids. They look happy, they look healthy, they have clean clothes, and. And that's pretty much it. Right. And then he. He leaves.
- [98:45]
A
Yeah. And that's. That's the guy you want making these judgment calls with. With his history.
- [98:49]
B
Yeah. Well, I think it's projection. Like he feels like he was wrongly persecuted in the past, so, you know, everybody must be. And he's got past history with Adam, so there's that. Now, understand that although Demetrius ts never saw Harmony up close, he never spoke to her. He wrote in his report that he did not observe any concerns. In fact, he sent an email to the Manchester Police Department saying, quote, I think you folks are all set. I saw the children and did not observe any bruises, marks, etc, end quote.
- [99:18]
A
Children being the key word there.
- [99:20]
B
He never saw Harmony, so he saw the other children. What children did you see? Not Harmony.
- [99:26]
A
So he's not technically lying, but he's also not telling the full truth.
- [99:30]
B
He's not. Not so. Demetrius Toros left the Montgomery home that day reporting no concerns. And I want also you to understand there's no indication in his report from July 29 that he asked Kayla about Harmony's black eye. There's no indication in his report that when he called later and talked to Adam Montgomery that afternoon that he asked Adam about Harmony's black eye. He only asked about the drug paraphernalia in the home. And as Derek has said multiple times in Crime Weekly, his history. If it's not in the report, it didn't happen.
- [100:01]
A
Preach.
- [100:02]
B
Right?
- [100:02]
A
Preach.
- [100:02]
B
So Demetrius Toros can can say till the cows come home? Yeah, of course I asked them about her black eye. That's why I was there. You didn't write in the report. All you wrote was about that drug paraphernalia. And Kayla's like, yeah, it was our friend Alex who was a relapse drug user, and we got him kicked out. Why is it still there?
- [100:18]
A
Well, you know who else he didn't ask about the black eye?
- [100:20]
B
Harmony.
- [100:21]
A
Bingo.
- [100:23]
B
So now that we're thoroughly upset, let's take our last break, and we'll be right, right back. Can I ask a question? Why have we all collectively accepted the idea of paying fees to access our own money?
- [100:37]
A
That's a great question. Because I feel like I. That's where I'm at right now.
- [100:41]
B
I mean, when you really think about it, it is kind of ridiculous. Monthly fees, overdraft fees, ATM fees.
- [100:46]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [100:46]
B
I hate it sometimes it feels like your bank is rooting against you. And that's one of the reasons I was interested in Chime. But because it's fee free banking built for you, not for the 1%.
- [100:56]
A
Yeah. And they actually reward people for using it.
- [100:58]
B
I know, that's. That's crazy, right? That's what it should do. It should reward people who are loyal customers. And that is what Chime does. Because with direct deposit, members can get up to $1,150 in annual rewards fee free. You can earn 5% cash back on things you're already buying like groceries and gas. Grow your savings faster with a 3.7% APY and even get track travel perks like airport lounge Access and a 24.7Travel Concierge. The airport lounge access great perk. I will tell you that right now.
- [101:28]
A
Yeah. Plus there are some really practical features as well, things people can actually use. Spot Me lets eligible members overdraft up to 200 fee free. And MyPay gives qualifying members access to up to 500 of their pay early. They also have thousands of fee free ATMs and real customer support available to 24 7.
- [101:47]
B
My younger self definitely would have benefited from something like this. Especially being able to access money, your own money, you know, early. And maybe not the. The airport lounge access. It's a more me now thing. But all of this stuff that you're talking about, it feels great. I think that it feels like banking that actually works for regular people. Chime is not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. Head to Chime.comCrimeWeek weekly. That's Chime.comCrimeWeekly. it only takes a few minutes to sign up. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services for MyPay and Chimecard provided by Chimes Bank Partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stated annual percentage yield and cash back for Chime prime only. No minimum balance required. Checking account ranking based on the J.D. power survey published October 20, 2025. For more information on APY rates, my pay spot me and travel perks, go to chime.com disclosures. Okay, we're back. So on July 29, the same day that Demetrios Toros goes to Kayla and Adams House, Kevin Montgomery called DCYF again because he wanted to know what had happened with his previous report. And he became frustrated when he was told that the information was confidential. At this time, Kevin repeated that he had seen his niece with a, quote, vibrant black eye with bruising on the bottom of her eyelid, extending to the cheekbone on the corner of her eye, on her nose and on her chin temple. End quote. And he had heard his nephew admit to giving that black eye to Harmony. Kevin said that Adam had claimed Harmony's hand was over Declan's mouth in an attempt to stop Declan from crying, and that Adam had said he had, quote, bounced her off every fing wall in this place. I explained to her why later. End quote. This is in the DCF report.
- [103:34]
A
Unbelievable.
- [103:35]
B
Kevin also said that at some point he had seen Adam and Kayla leave the house with their other children, and they had left Harmony alone with a man named Alex K. Call, who had recently become a relapsed drug user. So Kevin comes in and he's like, what the hell are you doing here? And then Alex Call left the house, leaving Harmony with Kevin, who took her to run some errands. And when Kevin texted Adam to let him know that Harmony was with him, Adam responded that Harmony was being punished, and she, quote, is never to leave that house under no circumstances, end quote. Kevin further reported witnessing Harmony being punished by being made to scrub the bathroom with a toothbrush, and she was spanked several times a week. He had heard Kayla call Harmony disgusting, as well as other names. And he said the house didn't have electricity. There was no hot water, and it was filthy inside and out. When the DCYF worker taking this call questioned Kevin about the accuracy of his dates, Kevin became more frustrated and said, quote, this is why children die. End quote. And also, quote, this child was punched clear in the eye socket with. With full force, end quote. Kevin also made sure the person he was talking to understood that Harmony had been born legally blind and had health concerns. Kevin ended the call by saying he was going to call every goddamn day until something was done. Now, two additional reports of abuse concerning Harmony Montgomery were received by DCYF on July 29th. Both anonymous. Kevin Montgomery called again on July 30th, and he once again brought up Harmony's eye, which he described as looking as if she'd been in a boxing match. Kevin had more information as well this time. He said that on July 24, when he'd arrived to the home to find only Harmony and Alex called there. He'd taken Harmony to run errands with him. He'd brought her to Dunkin Donuts. This was around 400pm and she told him that it was the first food she'd had all day. Kevin also revealed one Occasion when Adam had made Harmony stand in the corner between five and eight hours because Adam felt this would help him, quote, unquote, break Harmony. And Harmony had also been made to stay in bed from the time she'd woken up in the morning in until 4pm Kevin also mentioned that abuse might be going on with a child of Kayla's from a previous relationship who did not live with Kayla but who would sometimes visit. Now, understand the CPS caseworker, Demetrios Toros, he never talked to this child that Kevin Montgomery mentioned. He did speak to Kevin Montgomery's ex girlfriend. And at that time she also stated similar concerns for Harmony's well being and similar concerns that Adam Montgomery was using drugs. Drugs again. That same day, July 30, someone named Pamela called DCYF and said she'd been at the Montgomery house for a few days and she had noted the same things that Kevin Montgomery had mentioned. She said that during that time Adam would not let five year old Harmony leave her room because she was being punished. There was no food in the refrigerator, There was drug paraphernalia around the house and the generator that they were using to have power in the house, it was only powerful enough to keep the air conditioning and the refrigerator going. Pamela explicitly told DCYF that Harmony was legally blind in one eye and stated, quote, this girl is being physically abused and no one is doing anything about it. End quote. Demetrius Toros never contacted or interviewed Pamela. However, he did talk to Adam Montgomery on August 1st when Adam called to cancel their scheduled home visit. And when Tauros called Adam the next day to reschedule, he was unable to get in touch with with Adam and unable to leave a voicemail. On August 2, DCYF received a call from someone named Christina. She was listed as a relative and she made the same claims of abuse and neglect that Kevin Montgomery and Pamela and these anonymous people calling DCYF had said. Now, this was Christina Lubin, Kayla Montgomery's mother. And she listed her concerns about ongoing drug use in the home. Physical abuse of Harmony, isolation of Harmony, severe punishment of Harmony. Harmony. Christina reported that she did not believe Harmony had been seen by a doctor one single time since being in Adam's custody. Despite this being the third person to even give their name to call DCYF about Harmony in like a five day window. Demetrios Toros did not escalate the case. He did not intervene. He did not go over and do another unannounced visit.
- [107:46]
A
Okay, so we have, we have another enemy of crime weekly Demetrios is definitely on that list because we had talked a lot about, about the court case and how through a. We'll just call it a technicality with the paperwork and scheduling, Adam was given custody of Harmony. Big deal. We all agree on that.
- [108:06]
B
Yeah, we didn't want that.
- [108:07]
A
However, there were opportunities, many opportunities after he was given custody of Harmony to correct this wrong, to right this wrong and make. And get Harmony out of it there. And we're not going to just say DCF in its entirety. I don't know if there was just one person involved or there were multiple. The one person we do know of is Demetrios. And I don't know where this story is going from here. We've already talked about his background and some of the preconceived notions he may have about the justice system and how it can, quote, unquote, you know, pinpoint crimes on wrong people in his mind.
- [108:43]
B
That's what we believe.
- [108:43]
A
Yes, but let's even put that aside for a second. A second. That's not what I'm hearing here from you. I'm just hearing about a person who's really at their job. Right. This is a person who's lazy, doesn't care, is completely complacent in this entire thing and is just not doing what they're supposed to do. And after the first call, Demetrios should have been over there speaking directly with Harmony, getting eyes on her, getting a full perspective of not only the residents that she was. Was in, but also her physical well being at that point. Can I see any remnants of this, of this black eye? Would have been easy to tell. Right. It's going to take a while. A while for that to go away.
- [109:22]
B
Yes. Because it happened on July 24th. He was there on the 29th.
- [109:26]
A
There you go. So not only is it still going to be black and blue, but at minimum it's going to be like that yellowish greenish color at that point, going to be very easy to see. And you can have a conversation with her directly about it.
- [109:38]
C
And.
- [109:38]
A
And yet that wasn't done. And then fast forward, you have multiple other people giving you a similar story. Now you have corroboration about these allegations from different parties not connected to each other, may not even be interacting with each other, but they're all telling you the same thing. And yet again, you do nothing.
- [109:56]
B
You don't know if they're interacting with each other. But it's not your job to determine whether you think they are or not. You could think that Kevin Montgomery was calling everyone he knew and having them file DCYF reports. And it's still. You could believe that. And it's still not your job to make that determination. It's your job to go and look into every claim that's made.
- [110:16]
A
Right, exactly. And he didn't do that. And he should have went over there immediately. And when Adam called to reschedule, that should have. If everything else didn't raise a red flag, that should have. And even if you. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, which, by the way, I'm not. If he was looking at these allegations that were coming, coming in late July and saying, you know what? I can use this August 1st appointment as my way in. Not going to raise any red flags. It's going to be a couple days. I'll wait. By the way, that's the wrong approach. He should have been there, right there, that second with police. But if in some way his pea brain processed it that way, where it's like, oh, it's going to raise less suspicion if I go in on August 1, the minute that Adam tried to reschedule, you're over there with police officers. Officers, well being check. Not only does the DCF caseworker have the ability to go in there, but so doesn't law enforcement. If they believe there's a. A direct danger to one of the children inside exit. In circumstances, you don't need a search warrant. You go in, you make sure they're okay. None of that was done.
- [111:17]
B
And then he. None of that was done to reschedule it the next day. And he's just like.
- [111:21]
A
Which should be red flag number two.
- [111:23]
B
So, yeah, he sucks. Demetrius Sora sucks. So on August 5, 2019, a neighbor called the Manchester Police Department to report that they believed Adam and Kayla Montgomery were squad conferences setting in the home on Guilford Street. They said the house does not appear to have electricity. There's garbage everywhere. This neighbor said she was worried about the young children living in the home. The police went to check on this report, and they said everyone was home. The generator was running, there was food in the home, everyone was healthy, and, quote, all is well. Still working with Demetrius from dcyf. End quote. So two days later, Demetrius Toros returned to Guilford street, where he met with Adam and the kids for a scheduled home Visit. This is the 7th of August. Now, he wrote that Adam appeared to be lucid and sober. The home had been picked up and the long grass in the yard had been cut. At this time, Demetrius did see Harmony, who He said was sitting on the couch watching a movie. He said Harmony appeared to be healthy with no visible concerns. But, quote, this worker observed a red mark in her right eye and some faded bruising under the eyelid. End quote. So Adam Montgomery told Demetrius TS that he had not hurt Harmony. He said his younger son, Sheamus, had accidentally hit Harmony in the eye with a foam bat while the kids had been playing. And then when Harmony was asked what happened, Tauros reported that she told him a similar version of what Adam had told him. He doesn't give the version. He just says it's a similar version. And Adam also showed Demetrius Tauros a text from Kevin Montgomery to his wife Kayla, offering Kayla 500 to have harmony come and live with relatives in Florida, to which Kayla told him, absolutely not. At no point in any of the reports does Toro say that he asked Harmony if she was punished by being made to stand in the corner for hours or stay in her room for days at a time or scrub the bathroom with a toothbrush. He asked her if her eyes still hurt, if anything had happened to make her feel scared or sad, if anyone had done anything recently to hurt her, and if she felt safe in the home. These are not questions that he should be asking, and he shouldn't be asking her answer a place where she can be heard by Adam or Kayla. And he also, Demetrius T.S. also in his position at DCYF, should have understood. This child may have been coached to tell me what. What she, you know, to match her father's story or threatened with more punishment and more abuse if she doesn't follow along and, And. And do what she's told. But he didn't. Even though he saw that her own eye had been injured. And this is what, weeks later. This is August 7th. The injury happened on July 24th.
- [114:00]
A
August 7th. Yeah.
- [114:01]
B
And he just believes, oh, my younger son hit her in the eye with a foam bat. Even though you got multiple people calling and saying she's been punched in the eye.
- [114:08]
A
I would have, in this case, because you have multiple people giving a similar story, I would have recommended, whether it was with their. With their assistance bringing her there or myself, if I was Demetrius, I would have brought her to a facility like Day One, have her interviewed by someone who has training in this and can and can deal with this in a way that's going to allow the child to be more receptive and feel comfortable and safe in an environment where, if they do tell the truth at that moment, they're not going to have to stay in that home. That they're being abused in.
- [114:46]
B
Yeah, they can be told. If you tell us that this happened, you will not be made to go back.
- [114:51]
A
We're going to keep you here with us.
- [114:52]
B
Yeah.
- [114:53]
A
You know, listen, she's young, but Harmony can read between the lines here. That more than likely, based on her experiences, she's not going anywhere, regardless of what she says. And she can probably as much as human beings are reading other human. Other adults, kids are reading adults as well, and they're reading. And Harmony's probably picking up that Demetrius isn't going to do anything. And maybe even the tone in which he's asking her if, by the way, he asked her these questions at all. We're under the assumption, based on what he's telling us, that he even asked these questions. But just for this conversation, let's say he did. Just the mannerism and the tone in which he used may have indicated to her that he didn't believe anything was wrong.
- [115:32]
B
Yeah.
- [115:32]
C
Or.
- [115:33]
B
Or that she went with it. Right. Like, make my job easier. Just tell me what I want to hear. Your dad says that this happened. Is that true? So. And understand these reports came in on July 29 about Harmony getting punched in in the eye. He does not see her until August 7th. He doesn't see her or speak to her.
- [115:50]
A
And you have physical evidence to support it still?
- [115:52]
B
Yes, until August 7th. So then on August 8th, both Kevin Montgomery and Christina Lubin called DCYF again. They spoke to a supervisor. They reiterated their concerns about Adam Montgomery's use of heroin. Understand, this is not just people calling in. This is Kayla Montgomery's mother and Adam Montgomery's uncle, relations to the people living in the house who are in charge of the these children. So that same day, Demetrios Turos made a note in his contact log that he had spoken to a Dr. Morrison, and this doctor had told him that the Montgomery children were up to date medically and there were no concerns of abuse or neglect. Now, this is interesting because this is another instance of Demetrius Taurus using choice, selected words, because he's talking about Dr. Julie Morrison, the Montgomery family's pediatrician. And as we would come to find, Demetrios Toros never asked about Harmony Montgomery specifically. He simply asked the doctor about the medical status of the children in the household. And it wouldn't be until two years later, after Harmony was already dead, that investigators would follow up with Dr. Morrison about this contact with DCYF caseworker Demetrios Toros. On March 3, 2021, Dr. Morrison explicitly stated to the police that she had never once seen or treated Harmony Montgomery, that she had only ever provided medical care to Harmony's two younger half brothers, Adam and Kaylis Chelsea children. So when she was asked by Tauros about the children in the household, she of course, only answered for the two patients in her care, the only two patients she was aware of. He never asked her about Harmony specifically because a lot of the calls coming in were like, we're worried that Harmony's not going to the doctor. She's missing medical appointments. She needs to go to the doctor because of her health concerns. So Demetrius Taurus is like, let me call the doctor. And he's like, how are the children in the house? Are they being abused by. Are they getting medical care? And Dr. Morrison was like, yeah, they are getting medical care, and I have no concerns about abuse. He never said Harmony Montgomery's name to this doctor, even though that's the person he was there to investigate.
- [117:51]
A
This is just a mountain of information that's just made making me hate this guy even more and more. So I don't know how many ways I can say it, but this guy's horrible at his job.
- [118:02]
B
Yes. It almost seems intentional.
- [118:03]
A
That's being kind. I know that's being kind.
- [118:06]
B
On August 15, a family friend called DCYF on behalf of Harmony's grandmother, Helen Montgomery. This caller repeated the same concerns that had been reported to DCF time and time again. The caller went on to state that she was worried that Harmony would end up like Bella, the little girl that was found dead on Deer island because she had been beaten by her mother's boyfriend. This was in reference to two year old Bella Bond, whose body was found in a trash bag at Deer island in Winthrop, Massachusetts on June 25, 2015. In May of that year, Bella's mother's boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, entered the toddler's room to force her to go to sleep. According to court testimony from Bella's mother, Rochelle Bond, McCarthy brutally punched Bella in the abdomen so hard that her body bounced off the bed and caused fatal injuries. It is actually chilling how this family friend seemed to predict what would happen with Harmony Montgomery. Because, mirroring how Harmony's body would be hidden, Michael McCarthy kept Bella's body inside a refrigerator for, they believe, up to a month. He later placed her remains in a duffel bag weighed down with plumbing weights and dumped her in Boston Harbor. When the body washed ashore on Deer island, investigators couldn't even identify the child. It took nearly three months until a family acquaintance learned the truth and tipped off the police, leading to Bella's positive identification in September of 2015. So this caller who's like, yeah, I'm worried that Harmony's going to end up like Bella Bond. They also told DCYF that Adam had been in jail for six to seven years and that Kayla Montgomery was afraid of him. Once again, there's nothing in any DCYF reports that Demetrios Toros contacted this caller. He also did not contact another caller named Thelma, who made a similar report on August 16 with the same concerns about Harmony Montgomery. Now, later that month, Adam Montgomery called the Manchester police and reported his Uncle Kevin for harassment assessment, claiming that Kevin had been calling DCYF and making false reports. A few days later, on August 21, the Manchester Police were called back to 77 Guilford to check the security of the building. At that time, they reported that Adam Montgomery was being evicted. There was no electricity in the home. There was trash all over the place. And they'd been getting numerous calls about that address. They also made note that Adam's Uncle Kevin had been calling them to check on Harmony and quote, quote, unquote, harassing Adam and DCYF was involved. Then Thelma called DCYF again on August 23rd, and she reported concerns about the house, broken glass in the yard from a fight that had happened two days prior, and the lack of electricity at the house. Thelma asked DCYF if they were waiting for the children to die before something got done. Once again, Demetrius Toros did not contact Thelma. At least there is no report that he did.
- [120:47]
A
And as far as the process is concerned, what. What it looks like is that these people are calling the main line for dcyf. They're giving the information. They're. They're saying everything they want to say. And that's being relayed to Demetrios.
- [121:00]
B
Yes, it is, because.
- [121:02]
A
Or whatever process. And he's just not following up. So, yeah, he's a horrible, horrible investigator, horrible human being. And without even hearing more of the story, it's my opinion, just based on what I've learned so far, that he is, at minimum, a contributing factor to why Harmony Montgomery is no longer with
- [121:21]
B
us a million percent.
- [121:23]
A
And that's. I mean, I think at this point, it's indisputable. You think about all of these forks in the road. That's what I've been kind of referring to in this whole episode where there are pivotal moments in this story where depending on what decision was made, we could have had a different outcome. And what we have now is a series of forks in the road where Demetrios was at that point fork. And whenever there was an opportunity to correct. Course he never did.
- [121:49]
B
I don't think he cared.
- [121:51]
A
And you know what's even more concerning? Think about all the other cases that this guy was in charge of.
- [121:57]
B
I. I don't want to think about that.
- [121:59]
A
Right. Think about it, because I can tell you this. He wasn't working just one case. Probably had hundreds, if not thousands. So how many other cases of. Of child abuse slipped through the cracks because of this?
- [122:11]
B
I don't want to think about that. I mean, you would hope that it's like, well, maybe because he had past history with Adam and they had some sort of, like, buddy, buddy thing. Maybe that's why. No, exactly.
- [122:21]
A
Nope. Nope. This is. This is the way this guy operates. And I've seen. I've seen investigators work like this. Cops work like this. I mean, it's not just one case they're terrible at. It's. It's who they are.
- [122:31]
B
I mean, later, he was. He told. Allegedly told Harmony's family, and, you know, that he was like, I shouldn't have been on the case because there was a conflict of interest.
- [122:40]
A
Right. Shouldn't have been on the case because I shouldn't have had this job. That would have been a better answer.
- [122:45]
B
So that's. That's what's happening. So then on September 5, 2019, another call came into the police. This caller was concerned that the Montgomery's dog was being abused because she could hear people inside the house yelling at the dog, and the dog would yelp, followed by more yelling. The report states, quote, she says it's an ongoing problem, says the dog then gets put outside, end quote. On September 11th, Kevin Montgomery called DCYF again. He told them about his previous attempts to report this suspected child abuse. He told them that the house at 77 Guilford had been foreclosed on and that the eviction proceedings had started. He said there was still no electricity at the house, and it was starting to get colder at night. He also said there was an unplugged refrigerator blocking the back door because the lock for that door was broken. The person at DCYF taking the report noted that according to Demetrius Traffic Taurus, the family had a generator that was powering the stove, refrigerator, and electricity in the house. And this person was actually referring to taurus's report from July 29, a whole last month and a half prior to the date of Kevin Montgomery's call on September 5th and then Helen Montgomery herself called DCYF on September 11th. She stated she was the one who owned the home on Guilford Street. But when she tried to enter that day, Adam would not let her. She reported the house. House was in shambles. It was filthy, smelled like urine. There was a refrigerator barricading the back door. There was no hot water. Helen also said that she had personally seen Harmony put in the corner for hours as punishment. She said Harmony had not been going to school. She believed drugs were being sold out of the house. Despite this report from Harmony's grandmother, from Adam's mother, by the way, from the legal and actual owner of the house Harmony was living in, Demetrius Tauros never followed up on any of these claims. And even worse, he never even contacted Helen to interview her. Now, at this point, Demetrios Tus had physically not seen Harmony Montgomery for an entire month, despite multiple calls to DCYF claiming abuse and neglect. And with all of this, Adam Montgomery had the audacity to call the police on his Uncle Kevin, claiming that Kevin had showed up at the house, broken in, thrown things around and tried to take items, items he claimed belonged to him. Now, on September 12th, Manchester Police Detective Mike Bergenon called DCYF about what he had seen when he responded to this call. He said while he was at the house, he noted there was clutter in every room consisting of clothing and empty food containers. So we have the police now calling DCYF and saying, maybe these aren't the best conditions for kids.
- [125:14]
A
You know how many times I've had to do that? At this point, I would guarantee you law enforcement isn't aware of the history.
- [125:20]
B
No, but they're still saying, I don't think this is a good place for kids.
- [125:23]
A
Yeah. Now they're involved. And I've had that happen as well. Where I'm there, I can see things that don't look good. I'm there for a completely separate reason. But I witnessed some things that on the surface, do not look like a
- [125:35]
B
good environment for children that make you call dcyf.
- [125:38]
A
Yeah, I can't. I can't take the kids. I can't remove them now. If there's an emergency, I can. If there's an emergency, if law enforcement sees something and it's indisputable that there's some type of abuse going on, neglect, I can remove those kids. I don't have to leave them behind. But if it's something where it's just more of a hunch, you got to
- [125:55]
B
call dcyf, which he did so he's there for. Because stupid Adam's calling on Kevin and he's there to handle this domestic dispute he sees, yeah, there's kids here. This doesn't look great, you know, so I'm gonna call dcyf.
- [126:07]
A
A guy who's not even. That's not even his main purpose has already identified within a short period of time that this isn't a suitable environment for. For children.
- [126:14]
B
And DCYF is like, yeah, we do have a history of reports. No, because what happened there is no documentation that Demetrius Toros ever contacted this detective or followed up on his report. Now, on September 16, DCYF spoke to both Kevin and Helen Montgomery, who were once again concerned about the fact that there was no heat or hot water in the house and temperatures were dropping into the 40s at night. Then on September 24th, Harmony's mother, Crystal, sorry, called these CYF and she provided new allegations and information. She said she had done the necessary investigation and discovered that her daughter, 5 year old Harmony, had not been in school since she'd been placed in Adam's custody. So she's not going to school. Finally, on October 1st, Demetrius Toros, he goes to the Guilford street home unannounced. He reported that both Adam and Kayla appeared lucid and sober. Adam told him that the house had been foreclosed on, but they were going to stay in the until they absolutely had to leave because they'd been able to pay the electric bill and get the electricity back on. Tauros did note that the generator was gone, and he briefly popped into the house. He said it was messy, a bit messy, but he noticed no safety concerns. Tauros writes that Adam told him that he thought the report was closed and the meaning the report of this abuse. And Tauros was like, yes, it. It's. It is almost closed. It's almost ready to be closed. I just was hoping to see the kids one more time. And then I want Kayla to sign a form that allows me to talk to her methadone counselor. So Kayla had already left to go somewhere by that point. So Tauros left the form with Adam and asked him to have Kayla sign it the next time she went to treatment. Demetrios ts then wrote that he saw Harmony sitting on the couch watching tv. Quote, I said hi to her, and she said hi back. She appeared to be fine with no visible concerns, end quote. So about two hours after Tauros left the house, he called, called Adam, and he writes in his report, quote, I apologized for bothering him and explained that I forgot to Ask why Harmony was not in school. He explained that he tried to get Harmony into kindergarten, but he was told by the staff at Parker V. That he couldn't prove she was a New Hampshire resident. I told him that if he had issues with registration that he could give them my name and number and they could speak to me. It would help. He thanked me for offering this, and he would try to get her into conflict. Kindergarten. End quote. Now, not only is there no evidence that Demetrius Torres did not do anything to follow up on Adam's claims besides taking his word for it, but if he had done any work at all, Tauros would have found out that Adam had all the necessary legal documents showing that he had legal custody of Harmony, which would have given her no issues with school registration. And not only that, he and his family were receiving EBT benefits from New Hampshire for Harmony. Harmony. So you were able to prove to EBT that you could get money for Harmony, but you're not able to prove to the school district that you have custody of her and you can put her in school? Demetrios Toros, as. As a DCOIF worker should have known all of this anyways. He should have been like, what do you mean you've got legal documents like, why can't you get her in school? He went to the house and he didn't even ask, why is Harmony not in school? He forgot and then called Adam and he's like, I'm sorry, buddy, I totally forgot to ask why you're five, daughter hasn't been in school, and then did no investigation after to even see if Adam was telling the truth about that.
- [129:25]
A
Well, that's what I was gonna say. Let's just say he wasn't aware of what paperwork would be needed or the practices involved with getting your child into a new school. Yes, Adam just told you something and now you have something that you can go and verify not only for that specific reason, not only for that specific incident, but also just to judge the credibility of this person you're speaking with. For example, he tells you he can't get her into the school because of certain reasons. You ask him with a follow up question. Who'd you speak with? Oh, I don't remember. That's okay.
- [129:57]
B
He didn't even call the school district and ask if Adam had attempted to enroll Harmony.
- [130:02]
A
That's my point. He could have gone there and said, hey, at any point, has anybody from your office spoke with this individual? He probably would have quickly learned that nobody had so much. Now he can go back to Adam and say one, you didn't go to the school. So that's a problem, that she's not in school. But more importantly, it makes me question everything that I've asked you because this,
- [130:22]
B
your integrity, your honesty, what your motives are, right?
- [130:26]
A
In the grand scheme of everything that's been alleged here, this is at the bottom of that scale, right? Like her not being in school is not my. It's a concern, but not based on some of the other allegations that have been made. But how am I to believe anything you say, regardless of whether it's significant or not, where you can't even tell me the truth about you attempting to get her into school? How am I supposed to believe that the visible injuries to Harmony's face was caused by what you're telling me? It was caused by. I can't. I can't trust anymore.
- [130:56]
B
How am I supposed to believe anything you say? How am I supposed to believe you're not on drugs? How am I supposed to believe that you actually care about this child you fought so hard to get, but you don't want to put her in school and you know she has special education needs?
- [131:07]
A
This is basic interview Interrogation 101. When you ask questions that aren't always the critical questions you need answered, sometimes they're just there to gauge the person you're dealing with. Are they being truthful or not? It doesn't have to be the smoking gun question that you need the answer to because more than likely, if it's incriminating, they're not going to give you the real answer. But you can start with the small stuff and you can gauge the person that you're speaking with to decide whether or not this is a reliable source. And if he had done that at any point and just cross referenced any of the information that Adam was relaying to him, he would have deduced very quickly that this is not someone that is reliable or that can be trusted going forward. And therefore, you have to exhaust all the resources you have to investigate whatever allegations are being made by people other than Adam. You can't use him as a source.
- [131:56]
B
Absolutely. And this is October 1st, right after October 1st first. Crystal. Sorry, Harmony's mother. She keeps calling DCYF. Kevin Montgomery, Adam's uncle, he keeps calling DCYF. But that did not stop Demetrius Tauros from notifying Adam Montgomery by letter on October 17, 2019, that DCYF had determined through their investigation that the allegations against him were unfounded and Harmony's case was closed. Then Harmony would be dead at the hands of her father. Father. Less than two months later. So he closes the investigation into child abuse, and then the abuse of Harmony is so bad and drastic that she's dead two months later. Less than two months later.
- [132:38]
A
I don't know where this story goes or as far as. As far as everybody involved. I mean, I know where we are right now and that Adam's going to be getting a new trial. That's no secret here. We covered it on cwn. But I'm really interested in Demetrios at this point, and I hope by the end of the series we have some. Some information regarding his accountability in all of this.
- [132:58]
B
Not really.
- [132:59]
A
Okay, well, maybe that needs to be done, especially with everyone taking a second look at Harmony's case at this point, because what is the immunity here as far as. Just because you have this job, if there's a clear sign of incompetence, negligence, whatever you want to call it. Right. I would say almost to a level, a criminal level. How does someone not pursue charges against this. This person? It almost seems deliberate.
- [133:24]
B
I know.
- [133:24]
A
Maybe because of the pre existing relationship. Who knows? But how is. How is the law enforcement agencies in that community not investigating Demetrios?
- [133:33]
B
Well, he's referred to. He does testify in the trial.
- [133:38]
A
Oh, I'm looking up pictures as you're talking. The guy looks like a complete idiot.
- [133:41]
B
Yeah, he does testify in the trial. He's referred to as former DCYF worker.
- [133:45]
A
Oh, yeah, he's.
- [133:46]
B
No, yeah, former. But you should be in jail.
- [133:50]
A
I agree.
- [133:51]
B
You should be considered an accessory to murder at this point.
- [133:54]
A
I mean, listen, I won't go to that extreme, but I just did. You did what? I will say that being the most extreme, but even at a minimum level, just having some type of civil liability where the people responsible for Harmony, the family members, can go after.
- [134:13]
B
Well, they did. There's a lawsuit in 2024, so we'll talk about that. But.
- [134:17]
A
Okay, okay.
- [134:18]
B
Yeah, no, he should be. He should be in prison for accessory.
- [134:22]
A
I don't disagree with that statement. There should have been some type of charges, some type of charges brought against him for sure, because he absolutely. Indirectly contributed to Harmony's death.
- [134:31]
B
In my opinion, he was the person responsible for taking her out of the home or protecting her on the. On the. The side of the state, and he didn't do that. So. Yeah, I think it's an understatement to say he endured directly. He just. He allowed it to happen.
- [134:48]
A
I'm going to look into that as well, because I don't know how that. I don't know how that happens.
- [134:52]
B
You know, we haven't even started, really. That's just the beginning. And we are just in part one. So we will pick up with this in part two. And it gets worse. But.
- [135:01]
A
Well, there's a lot of blame to go around. Obviously, the most of it falls at the foot of. Of Adam. Right. I mean, we're not going to. We're not going to diffuse this and kind of take the blame anywhere else than where it needs to be. But there are. These cases are so difficult to cover because now in hindsight, we can pinpoint all the opportunities to course correct and avoid this whole situation. And we say it all the time. I mean, these cases are tough to cover, especially when it involves children. But the reason you have to cover it is not only to make sure that everyone's aware of what happened here, but so that future caseworkers, because I guarantee you there's caseworkers watching or listening to this episode right now. They can see what can happen here. Maybe not because they would do something similar to Demetrios.
- [135:49]
B
I haven't had any training to be a caseworker, and I know there's things he. A million things he should have done that he didn't. I have zero training, no doubt.
- [135:57]
A
But I just think it's important to reiterate and remind these investigators because as. As you mentioned, there can be this level of complacency when it comes to doing this job over and over because you're burnt out or whatever the reasons are. This is how important your job is. So for any of the caseworkers out there, we respect what you do, and we hope you understand how important your job is, because even though you're not law enforcement, in some ways, you have more authority and more power than they do. And you could be the difference between life or death when it comes to these children. Because it's going to start small and then it's going to evolve, and it can evolve rapidly. And by the time you actually decide to do something about. May be too late.
- [136:43]
B
Absolutely. So I'm infuriated.
- [136:45]
A
But anything else from you before we wrap this one up? I know we got more to cover, and it is infuriating, and it does make you want to punch a hole in the screen. But, you know, we're going to go through the whole thing.
- [136:57]
B
We'll.
- [136:58]
A
We'll digest this part. I do want to look into the whole Demetrios things. I was looking him up as you were speaking as well. There's got to be something to it that I'm not going to like. But there's a reasoning. He wasn't charged because just based on what you've told me so far, the level of, of, of negligence here, I don't know how, I don't know how it happens, but we'll get there. We want to hear from you guys about all of this. Please let us know what you think about this case, whether you've heard about it before or not. Stephanie had posed a question to you guys regarding the timeline of events when it comes to this court hearing where Crystal had the opportunity to go and fight against Adam getting custody of Harmony in the first place. And for some reason, she couldn't be there. And it wasn't postponed, it wasn't continued. And I would love to know whether that was Crystal fault, the attorney's fault or the judge's fault that he was he or she aware of this and just decided to move forward with it. Anyways, I want to know more. We want to hear from you guys. We want your thoughts and opinions on this entire case. So until next week, everyone please stay safe out there. We'll see you soon.
- [138:03]
B
Bye.
- [138:20]
A
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