and when the volunteer Although the child’s remains were not found despite the effort, participants vowed to continue the search.
“Don’t give up,” said state Representative Suzanne Vandecasteele of Salem, New Hampshire. “I will scour the earth looking for my child.”
Investigators believe Harmony’s father, 34-year-old Adam Montgomery, disposed of the girl’s remains in the early morning hours of March 4, 2020, while he was driving a car. A man was killed in a U-Haul van traveling from Manchester to Massachusetts, Benjamin Agati, head of the homicide unit at the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement Friday.
During the trip, Montgomery traveled twice through the northbound toll and once through the southbound toll on the Tobin Bridge, which crosses the Mystic River and links Chelsea and Boston. Agati said the girl’s remains were wrapped several times and possibly placed in a tan maternity bag from Manchester’s Catholic Medical Center.
“If you see this bag or have any information about it, please report it,” Agati said. “Even if you’re just out for a walk or taking your dog out, anything amiss or unusual-looking could be important.”
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has also called for help in finding Harmony’s remains.
In addition to the swamp, Agati said, police had previously searched nearby locations: Chelsea Creek, Sells Creek, and North Shore Road in Revere (the city where Montgomery grew up).
One volunteer Saturday was Joe Rizzuti, a retired Revere police officer who hunted and fished in the swamp as a child.
“She is a child who was loved by someone,” he said.
Rossi and Dexter Lawrence, a married couple from Revere, used broken wood from the swamp to remove bushes and branches.
“It’s a little girl,” Rossi Lawrence said. “I think she deserves better than that. She deserves to rest in a better place.”
Harmony’s plight came to light in November 2021 when Soare, 33, told police the girl was missing and that she had not seen her in two and a half years. Soare lost custody of Harmony in 2018 as she struggled with a substance abuse disorder. The following year, a Massachusetts juvenile court judge awarded custody of the child to Montgomery, despite her long and violent criminal history.
After Sorey went to police, investigators began looking for Harmony. Eventually, they said they learned that Montgomery had beaten the girl to death in December 2019 after she soiled herself inside a car where they were living after an eviction.
Harmony’s death exposed dangerous flaws in two states’ child protective services, in part because her disappearance in 2019 went unnoticed by authorities in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts for two years.
In February, a New Hampshire jury convicted Montgomery of second-degree murder, and he was later sentenced to at least 56 years in prison.
During the sentencing hearing, Agati asked for a more lenient sentence for Montgomery provided she would reveal where she had hidden Harmony’s remains.
Montgomery did not respond to the offer, which Agati interpreted as a refusal.
On Saturday, Soare said he did not expect Montgomery to reveal where she left her daughter’s body.
“That’s the only power he has left,” she said. “That’s the only control he has left in his life.”
Police records and testimony from Montgomery’s estranged wife, Kayla, have revealed some details about his efforts to hide Harmony’s remains.
Kayla Montgomery has said that when the Montgomerys left their apartment in Manchester and moved to Massachusetts, they took with them a tan-colored maternity bag containing Harmony’s remains.
He said Montgomery didn’t have the bag when he returned home. At his trial, he testified he didn’t know where he took the remains. Kayla Montgomery pleaded guilty to charges of perjury in connection with the case and was released on parole in May.
During the search on Saturday, volunteers traveled through waist-high bushes and through areas that would fill with water during high tide.
Tom Cerreta of Everett, who volunteered in the search, brought two metal detectors and binoculars.
“I want to help find Harmony and get her back to her family,” he said.
Barbara Petty said she grew up near the swamp and has been following Harmony’s story since Sorey reported her missing.
“I know if that were my child or any of my family members’ child, I would want whoever is available to step forward and try to help bring her home and give her a proper funeral,” she said.
Patty said Harmony was failed by the government agencies that were supposed to protect her.
“She fell through the cracks,” he said.
Sorey’s fiancé, Ken Morris, helped with the search. Morris said he had never met Harmony.
He said, “There will be more search operations. We will keep searching until she is found. She will be brought home.”
A tip line is being monitored by Manchester police for information about Harmony’s body, which can be reached at 603-932-8997.
Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on @lauracrimaldi,
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