By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
The state maintains it did nothing wrong in the tragic events that led to the separate murders of Harmony Montgomery, Elijah Lewis, and Dennis Vaughn Jr., but it still agreed to pay the families more than $10 million in total.
Three different settlement agreements made public this week and finalized within the last several months show the state is paying the families who claimed failures by the Division for Children, Youth and Families resulted in the murders.
Attorney General John Formella said: “The state agreed to these settlements to avoid prolonged litigation and support closure for the families. We recognize their profound loss and hope this brings some measure of peace.”
Harmony Montgomery was 5 when her father, Adam Montgomery, murdered her in Manchester in 2019. Adam Montgomery is serving prison time after he was convicted of second-degree murder last year. He also is convicted on charges that he hid her body for months before dumping the corpse. Harmony’s body has never been found.
Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, obtained $2.25 million in her settlement reached in April, with half of that going to a trust fund for Harmony’s siblings, and the other half to Sorey.
Elijah Lewis was 5 when his mother, Danielle Dauphinais, tortured him to death in the family’s Merrimack home in 2021. Dauphinais is also locked up after pleading guilty last year.
Elijah’s father, Tim Lewis, settled for $2.25 million in December. Of that amount, Tim Lewis will keep 30 percent, with the rest going into a trust fund for Elijah’s half siblings.
Dennis Vaughn Jr. was 5 when his grandmother, Sherry Connor, 61, allegedly killed him in 2019. Connor was arrested for the murder in August, a month after the state settled with Dennis’ mother, Danielle Vaughn, for $5.75 million
Under the terms of that agreement, Danielle Vaughn will split the payment with her surviving children.
The settlements mean the state won’t be held responsible for the deaths, even though in each case DCYF employees failed in their duties to protect the children in their care.
Dennis Vaughn Jr. and his three siblings were placed with Connor by DCYF case workers as Danielle Vaughn struggled with drug addiction and domestic violence. Under the care of their grandmother, the Vaughn children were beaten, tortured, and starved, according to court records. Even after neighbors and school officials reported that the children were being abused by Connor, DCYF kept them in that home, according to the now settled lawsuit.
DCYF case workers also failed to find out where Elijah Lewis was after getting reports he was being abused. They reportedly took Danielle Dauphinais at her word that he had gone to live with relatives and did not bother to call those relatives for several months, according to court records. By then, Elijah Lewis was dead.
Harmony Montgomery’s story starts in Massachusetts in 2018 where a family court judge ordered that she live with her convicted-felon father. Once in Manchester, New Hampshire’s DCYF case workers failed to properly investigate abuse in the Montgomery home, allowing her to remain with her drug addicted father and step-mother. Harmony would be dead in months.