New Hampshire officials will hand over $2.25m to the mother of Harmony Montgomery, a five-year-old girl who was murdered by her father in 2019.
Her mother, Crystal Sorey, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the state Division for Children, Youth and Families last year.
She claimed the agency failed to take action after several people reported concerns about her daughter’s welfare once the girl’s father, Adam Montgomery, 34, was given full custody in February 2019. Harmony had been placed in state custody earlier in her life and a judge determined she should live with her father, even though he had a violent criminal history.
One report claimed Harmony returned home with a black eye after the two went on a trip to Florida.
She disappeared in 2019 but wasn’t reported missing until 2021. Her body has still not been found.