Volunteers search Rumney Marsh for remains of Harmony Montgomery

And while the volunteer Although the efforts did not result in the discovery of the child’s remains, participants vowed to continue the search.

“Don’t give up,” said Susan Vandecasteele, a state representative from Salem, New Hampshire. “I would search the entire earth for my child.”

Investigators believe Harmony’s father, Adam Montgomery, 34, disposed of the girl’s remains in the early morning hours of March 4, 2020, while he was driving a car. Benjamin Agati, head of the homicide unit at the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement Friday that he took a U-Haul van from Manchester to Massachusetts.

During the trip, Montgomery drove twice through the northbound turnpikes and once through the southbound turnpikes over the Tobin Bridge, which spans the Mystic River. and connects Chelsea and Boston. The girl’s remains were wrapped multiple times and likely placed in a brown maternity bag from Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, Agati said.

“If you see this bag or hear information about it, please report it,” Agati said. “Even if you’re just out for a walk or walking your dog, any disturbance or sighting that seems out of the ordinary could be significant.”

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has also called for help in finding Harmony’s remains.

In addition to the swamp, police have previously searched nearby areas: Chelsea Creek, Sales Creek and North Shore Road in Revere, the city where Montgomery grew up, Agati said.

On Saturday, Joe Rizzuti, a retired Revere police officer, was one of the volunteers hunting and fishing in the swamp.

“She’s a baby that someone loved,” he said.

Rossy and Dexter Lawrence, a couple from Revere, used broken branches they found in the swamp to move brush and branches.

“She’s a little girl,” Rossy Lawrence said. “I think she deserves better. She deserves to rest in a better place.”

Harmony’s plight came to light in November 2021, when Sorey, 33, reported the girl missing to police and said she had not seen her in 2½ years. Sorey lost custody of Harmony in 2018 after she struggled with a substance use disorder. The following year, a Massachusetts juvenile court judge awarded custody of the child to Montgomery, despite his lengthy and violent criminal history.

After Sorey went to police, detectives launched a massive search for Harmony, eventually saying they discovered that Montgomery had beaten the girl to death in December 2019 after she soiled herself in a car where they were living following an eviction.

Harmony’s death exposed dangerous shortcomings within child protective services in two states, in part because her disappearance in 2019 went largely unnoticed by authorities in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts for two years.

In February, a New Hampshire jury convicted Montgomery of second-degree murder. He was later sentenced to a minimum of 56 years in prison.

During the hearing, Agati offered to seek a more lenient sentence for Montgomery if he would reveal where he had hidden Harmony’s remains.

Montgomery did not respond to the offer, which Agati interpreted as a refusal.

On Saturday, Sorey said she does not expect Montgomery to reveal where he left his daughter’s body.

“That’s the only power he has left,” she said. “That’s the only bit of control he has left in his life.”

Police records and testimony from Montgomery’s estranged wife, Kayla, reveal some details about his efforts to hide Harmony’s remains.

Kayla Montgomery said Montgomery took the brown maternity bag containing Harmony’s remains when he left their Manchester apartment and drove to Massachusetts.

When he returned home, she said, Montgomery no longer had the bag. At his trial, she testified that she did not know where he had taken the remains. Kayla Montgomery pleaded guilty to perjury in connection with the case and was released in May.

During Saturday’s search, volunteers had to walk through waist-high scrub and areas that are flooded at high tide.

Tom Seretta of Everett, who volunteered in the search, brought along two metal detectors and binoculars.

“I want to help find Harmony and bring her home to her family,” he said.

Barbara Patti said she grew up near the swamp and has been following Harmony’s story since Sorey reported her missing.

“I know if it was my child or a family member’s child, I would want whoever is available to come and try to bring her home and give her a proper burial,” she said.

Patti said Harmony was abandoned by government agencies that should have protected her.

“She slipped through the net,” she said.

Sorey’s fiancé, Ken Morris, helped with the search. Morris said he never met Harmony.

“There will be more searches,” he said. “We will continue to search until she is found. She will be brought home.”

Manchester police are monitoring a tip line for information on Harmony’s whereabouts at 603-932-8997.

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.