New Hampshire police chief says state agencies need to be held accountable for Harmony Montgomery's death
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The police chief in Manchester, New Hampshire said he believes there are people in state agencies that need to be held accountable for the role they played in the death of 5-year-old Harmony Montgomery.
Harmony's father Adam Montgomery was found guilty Thursday on all charges connected to her death.
Investigators believe Harmony was killed in December 2019. Police did not learn she was missing until 2021 and her body has never been found.
"There's been some failures here. Those failures were not on the part of the Manchester Police Department. I will stand by that until the end of my career and beyond," Manchester police chief Adam Aldenberg told reporters after jurors convicted Adam Montgomery.
The disappearance of Harmony Montgomery, who was born in Massachusetts to unmarried parents with a history of substance abuse, exposed weaknesses in child protection systems and provoked calls to prioritize the well-being of children over parents in custody matters.
Harmony was moved between the homes of her mother and her foster parents multiple times before Adam Montgomery received custody in 2019 and moved to New Hampshire.
The Manchester police chief said the fact that Harmony went unseen for two years "Blows my mind."
"I still firmly believe that some people in some other agencies need to be held accountable," Aldenberg said. "I'm asking for that. This little 5-year-old girl, she deserves somebody to be held accountable that failed along the way. We wouldn't be standing here today if other people had done their job."
Aldenberg was asked if he meant state agencies in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
"Yeah, I do. I'm being honest with you. Will that ever happen? I don't know. But the man ultimately who is responsible for this act has been found guilty of a brutal, brutal murder," he said.
