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With the state riveted by the tragic and gruesome details coming out in the Harmony Montgomery murder trial, a child who was failed by the Division of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF), a new legislative special committee is getting started.

But the House Special Committee on the Division for Children, Youth and Families, announced Wednesday by Speaker Sherman Packard (R-Londonderry), isn’t looking at how to better protect children like Harmony who’ve fallen through the cracks. Instead, according to an announcement from the speaker’s office, the bipartisan committee “is charged with considering all matters on due process and practices concerning DCYF.”

The news creates a jarring juxtaposition with the news from the Manchester courtroom where Adam Montgomery is on trial for allegedly murdering his 5-year-old daughter, Harmony, and then hiding her body for months before he threw out her remains. It’s a terrible story that might have played out differently, critics say, if DCYF child protective policies had been more assertive.

Adam Montgomery’s uncle, Kevin Montgomery, called DCYF in July 2019 to report Harmony had been assaulted. According to testimony at the trial, Adam Montgomery gave his child a back eye so severe it changed the profile of her face.

“I beat the dog sh*t out of her,” Adam Montgomery allegedly told his uncle.

Former Child Protection staffer Demetrios Tsaros was assigned to investigate the abuse report, and he testified this week he went out to the Manchester home to make contact on July 29. As he was getting to the home, Tsaros said he saw Adam Montgomery and Harmony get into a car and drive away.

Tsaros guessed he was 30 to 40 feet away from Adam Montgomery and Harmony when he saw them for a matter of seconds.

Tsaros was able to get Adam Montgomery on the phone three days later and set up an appointment to see the girl a week out, Tsaros testified. Adam Montgomery claimed the children in the home were sick and could not be seen on Aug. 1.

By the time Tsaros was finally in the same room as Harmony, it was Aug. 7, and she had no black eye. Tsaros testified the girl had a red mark on her face and some redness in one of her eyes. Adam Montgomery claims the eye injury was from a play-related accident with her step-brothers.

Adam Montgomery is accused of beating Harmony to death months later, on Dec. 7, 2019. Tsaros ended up leaving DCYF in 2021 and is now a postal worker.

The new committee chair, Rep. Leah Cushman (R-Weare), has long championed parents who claim their constitutional rights were violated by DCYF. Last year, she solicited stories to help foster that case for the committee.

“Have you or someone you know had your constitutional rights of due process violated by the Department of Children and Family Services?” Cushman wrote on Facebook. “I have received many such anecdotes from the people and would like to help. In order to help, I need your stories.”

Cushman did not respond to calls and a text seeking comment, nor did other members named to the committee, like Rep. Lucy Weber (D-Walpole), Rep. Pat Long (D-Manchester), or Rep. Alicia Gregg (D-Nashua). 

Cushman did provide a written statement in Packard’s press release, in which she does not make any specific allegations that any parents are having their due process rights, or any other rights, violated by DCYF. 

“As representatives, we are here to listen to the issues our constituents face and, when possible, find solutions to mitigate their concerns. In this case, our committee is tasked with the important, non-partisan job of identifying – if any – deficiencies within the DCYF system as it relates to due process,” Cushman stated. “We will make recommendations to correct any deficiencies found, and if there are none, we will clarify that and see what needs to be done to alleviate the concerns raised.”

Packard’s announcement states the committee will hold hearings, gather testimony, and make recommendations for possible legislation.  

A Manchester alderman has asked the state’s attorney general to look into Mayor Joyce Craig’s office and its handling of a request for emails from the mother of Harmony Montgomery, the seven-year-old girl allegedly murdered by her father.

Now Gov. Chris Sununu has gotten involved, contacting the AG’s Office regarding the matter and decrying Craig’s lack of accountability.

“It is about leadership. You have to be able to be transparent, be responsible, be accountable. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a lot of accountability out of the mayor’s office,” Sununu told NHJournal Thursday.

Sununu contacted Attorney General John Formella’s office after hearing complaints from Manchester Alderman Joseph Kelly Levasseur about Craig’s questionable handling of a Right to Know request.

“I received a message from local leadership in Manchester. I brought it to the attention of the attorney general and asked if they were looking at it,” Sununu said.

Michael Garrity, communications director for Formella’s office, said the matter is under review.

“We are aware of the matter. We have not made a determination regarding any potential next steps,” Garrity said.

NHJournal filed its Right to Know request with Craig’s office last month soon after the affidavit detailing Harmony’s gruesome murder was unsealed. It was the first time the public learned what police said happened to the little girl. Additionally, the affidavit also sheds light on the failures of the Division of Children, Youth and Families to keep tabs on a child known to be in an abusive home, as well as the response of other officials, like Craig.

NHJournal requested any emails sent to Craig by Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, as well as any response from the mayor’s office. Craig’s office ignored the request, made under the state’s RSA 91-A, and did not respond until contacted by an attorney well after the statutory deadline had passed.

The eventual response from the City of Manchester’s IT Department claimed there were no emails between Sorey and Craig’s office.

In reality, there were at least two: A Dec. 29, 2021, email from Sorey to Craig pleading for help finding her child; and a response from a member of Craig’s staff to Sorey declining to offer any aid and informing Sorey to call 911 if she felt her daughter was in danger.

At that point, Harmony Montgomery was already dead.

Craig’s mishandling of the matter is symptomatic of her failed leadership in Manchester across the board, from housing to education to the opioid crisis, Sununu said.

“Unfortunately, Manchester has had a leadership problem for quite some time. Joyce Craig’s leadership style is to hide under the desk and blame everyone else. And it’s a shame because with the unprecedented amount of money and support around schools and mental health and the opioid crisis, the rest of the state is redesigning their systems and providing opportunities for their citizens,” Sununu said.

“The people of Manchester should be furious that they’re being left behind.”

Craig isn’t seeking re-election, instead launching an exploratory committee for a bid for governor in 2024.

One candidate hoping to replace Craig in the mayor’s office, Republican Jay Ruais, said Craig and her staff should have done more for a desperate mother.

“When a person reaches out in crisis, every effort should be made to address their concerns, follow up, and assist in making appropriate connections while using the power of the office to make a difference,” Ruais said.

Ruais also faulted Craig and her team for ignoring a Right to Know request, saying it creates an atmosphere of distrust between the elected representatives and the public they are supposed to serve. 

“The mayor’s office needs to be accountable, transparent. and swift in its actions when working with the public. The failure to release these records contributes to the already growing distrust of our elected officials in Manchester,” Ruais said. “A good leader making good decisions should have no problem being open to the people who elected them. Manchester has a right, and the mayor’s office has an obligation, to communicate what is going on in City Hall. Anything less than full transparency is completely unacceptable.”

Levasseur is angry with the way Craig and her office seem to be covering up the emails. His email to Sununu, sent Wednesday night, demands some form of accountability.

“I would appreciate (an) AG’s Office investigation into the city of Manchester’s IT Department. Couldn’t find the email? How many other RTK requests has that department covered up for Craig?” Levasseur wrote.

Shannon MacLeod, Craig’s chief of staff, did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. MacLeod is also the staffer who initially ignored NHJournal’s Right to Know request for the emails.

“When an extremely important email sent to the mayor’s office goes missing- (could not be found after a FOIA request by the IT Department), it leads one to question the level of trust we can have in our city officials,” said Lavasseur. “I believe the attorney general of this state should be investigating the city’s IT Department and the mayor’s office to find the actual reason a specific email from Harmony’s mother could not be found. The answer from our IT Department raises more questions and concerns. The citizens of Manchester deserve answers.”

The puzzling aspect regarding Craig’s actions is the fact Sorey’s email to her office has already been reported in the press and is a matter of public knowledge. NHJournal sought a copy of the email as well as any response after the unsealing of the murder affidavit filed against Harmony’s father, Adam Montgomery. 

That affidavit, written by Manchester Police Detective John Dunleavy, states the investigation into Harmony’s disappearance started when representatives with the Division of Children, Youth and Families reported they could not find the girl on Dec. 27, 2021. 

Sorey had already called Manchester police on Nov. 18, 2021. The affidavit does not indicate police received any communication from Craig’s office following Sorey’s email to the mayor’s office.

It took less than a week for August to bring five homicides to New Hampshire, pushing the 2022 death toll higher than the typical yearly total with five months left to go.

Granite Staters are unnerved, not just by the number but the nature of the killings as well. Already in August, five more people have been killed, including two children in a Northfield triple homicide.

There have been 22 homicides recorded this year, well above the annual five-year average of 18. In the past week alone, a Northfield mother and two of her children, Kassandra Sweeney, 25, and Benjamin Sweeney, 4, and Mason Sweeney, 1, were found shot in the head in their Weathersfield Drive home. There have been no arrests and police have not named a suspect.

In Nashua, 53-year-old Lee Knoetig was allegedly shot and killed by 19-year-old Alexander Wheeler outside a gas station on Friday night.

Also on Friday, Julie Graichen, 34, was found dead of a stab wound in her Kinsley Street home. Miguel Ramirez, age 30 of Nashua, has been charged with second-degree murder.

And then there is the ongoing mystery of the deaths of Stephen and Desjwende Reid, their bodies found on a Concord trail in April. Little progress has been made since. On Friday, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office was again pleading with the public, this time to help identify a “person of interest.”

New Hampshire has consistently enjoyed one of the lowest homicide rates in the nation. But that appears likely to change this year. Another change, as evidenced in the case of the Sweeney brothers, is the uptick in murders of children. The grim trend can be traced back to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic-enforced lockdowns.

Since they started, eight New Hampshire children have been killed in homicides — not including a 15-day-old infant whose death is being investigated as suspicious. And New Hampshire law enforcement continues searching for Harmony Montgomery who went missing from her allegedly abusive Manchester home more than two years ago and has not been seen since.

Cassandra Sanchez, New Hampshire’s Child Advocate, said COVID lockdowns, job losses, and school closures, left vulnerable children and their families under tremendous pressure. And, she says, their effects are still being felt.

“I think we’re battling a lot with COVID,” Sanchez said. “A lot of high stress and the isolation period with COVID, and we’re now trying to get back to some kind of normalcy, which isn’t normal at all.”

Child safety workers with New Hampshire’s Division of Children Youth and Families were unable to get into the homes of children where abuse and neglect were suspected during long stretches during the pandemic shutdowns. Sanchez said that’s improved in recent months, but there are many holdovers from the crisis that will be seen for years to come.

“There is a mental health crisis spiking after COVID. We knew it was coming. We still don’t know how long it’s supposed to last, and we still don’t know if it’s peaked yet.”

 The lockdowns and isolation have created a social/emotional developmental gap for many children, similar to the learning gap children are suffering from because of the lockdowns closures. It could take years to deal with the increased need for treatment, and the current lack of resources, Sanchez said. 

At least three of the children killed or reported missing during the pandemic had contact with DCYF before their deaths — Manchester’s Mason Tremblay, 2, who was reportedly killed by his mother, Mercedes Tremblay, 25, before she killed herself; Elijah Lewis, 5, the Merrimack boy who was missing for a month before authorities were called. His body was eventually found in the woods in Massachusetts and now his mother, Danielle Dauphinais, 35, is currently charged with his murder. And Harmony Montgomery’s father, Adam Montgomery, is currently charged with assaulting the child before she went missing.

A report released by Gov. Chris Sununu’s office in March found New Hampshire’s DCYF missed several potentially key opportunities to protect Harmony Montgomery, then 7, before she was declared missing in December 2021.

Montgomery’s family was designated as high risk by DCYF during home visits in 2019, but case workers failed to track her down after learning she was no longer living in the same house in early 2020. It also took DCYF workers several months to disclose that the child was missing.

The DCYF failure to protect Harmony Montgomery is reminiscent of the failures that led to the murder of Nashua’s Brielle Gage in 2014. She was 3 when her mother, Katlyn Marin, beat her to death over a late-night snack the child took. Brielle Gage had been removed from her mother’s care a dozen times by DCYF before the murder because of the mother’s abuse. But in each instance, the agency returned the child to Marin.

The girl’s father, William Boucher, eventually settled a lawsuit with the state over the lack of protection for his daughter. The Gage case, and other high-profile DCYF failures, forced then-Gov. Maggie Hassan to initiate a third-party review of the agency that found it regularly failed to protect children, with managers forcing caseworkers to record abuse cases as unfounded and close them — despite evidence of abuse and neglect — in order to report better rates of closure.