(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Flanked by two posters of missing girl Harmony Montgomery, Manchester police Chief Allen Aldenberg addresses media representatives Monday afternoon. Among the developments in the search for the girl is the establishment of a dedicated tip line that accepts calls and text messages.

MANCHESTER — Police chief Allen Aldenberg announced at a news conference Monday that a new tip line has been set up and dedicated to the mission to find Harmony Montgomery.

The girl, who would be age 7 now, was 5 when she was last seen in Manchester in October 2019.

Aldenberg said Monday that “until someone shows me otherwise, we believe she is alive, and we will do everything possible to find her.”

The tip line, 603-203-6060, accepts phone calls and text messages and will be manned around the clock by police detectives. Aldenberg said a detective will answer the phone, or the text, and calls will not go to voice mail.

It was also announced Monday that a $10,000 reward has been offered by local businessmen Dick Anagnost and Arthur Sullivan. An additional $2,500 has been pledged by the Manchester Crime Line.

The search remains a “rescue mission,” Aldenberg emphasized, and is not a “recovery mission.”

“We believe Harmony is alive, and we want to find her that way,” he said.

Harmony is white, approximately 4 feet tall, 50 pounds, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and should be wearing glasses. She is blind in one eye.

Aldenberg urged people to “key in on the glasses and the child’s eye issue,” referring to a characteristic that is readily noticeable.

He confirmed that the state Division of Children, Youth and Families, and its Massachusetts counterpart, are involved in the case.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is also directly involved, Aldenberg added.

The FBI was in on a conference call about the case Monday and is available, as needed, to provide additional resources.

Aldenberg said there was contact with the child’s family that included the whereabouts of the child in October 2019, which was a combination of police and DCYF presence at a residence.

On Sunday, detectives arrived at a small house at 77 Gilford Street on Manchester’s West Side. The crime scene processing van was parked in the driveway, which was surrounded by crime scene tape. Detectives and officers set up tents and tarps in the small backyard of the house and gathered items.

Aldenberg said the current owner and residents of the house have no involvement in the case. They purchased the house after the Montgomery family moved out.

The current owner has been very helpful and cooperative, Aldenberg said. He urged media and others to respect the current owner’s privacy.

The house was sold in 2020, according to real estate transfer records. Prior to the sale, the father of the missing child, Adam Montgomery, was listed in an online database as one of the people living at the address that was searched.

Several social media posts have shared names of relatives and theories. At the news conference, Aldenberg said he doesn’t want people “playing detective and coming up with theories.”

Instead, he said, anyone with any information are urged to contact the tip line.

Aldenberg, who became emotional at times, said he had up to 35 detectives working full time on the case, and they will continue to do so until the child is found.

Aldenberg said several family members have been spoken to but would not elaborate on who. He also reminded the public to concentrate on finding Harmony, and said they are not looking for anyone else.

Several times at the news conference, an emotional Aldenberg said, “someone knows something.” He said investigators were two years behind the curve so there was a large gap of time. He said, “be an adult and remember it is a 7-year-old girl, enough is enough. Somewhere out there this little girl needs help.”

He also asked people to come together as a community and realizes Manchester is a big community by New Hampshire standards, but a close-knit community.

Aldenberg said that where Harmony should have been, and who she should have been with, was not correct.

Anyone with information is urged to call the new tip line, or the Manchester CrimeLine at 624-4040.

–JEFFREY HASTINGS