Reward upped to $25,000 for information on missing Roxborough man

As the search for 21-year-old Shane Montgomery entered its fifth day, the reward for information leading police to his whereabouts was raised to $25,000.Kildaire’s Irish Pub on Main Street in Manayunk — where he was last seen — added $10,000 to the reward money on Monday. The Montgomery family is offering $10,000 and the Fraternal Order of Police is contributing $5,000.

The Main Street bar released a statement on Monday that read as follows. 

At Kildare’s Restaurants we take every aspect of customer service and safety very seriously. The disappearance of Shane Montgomery is extremely upsetting to our staff and management, this hits home for us because one of Shane’s family members is an employee at Kildare’s Manayunk.

We have been working closely with the Philadelphia Police Department and the FBI. To facilitate the search efforts, Kildare’s is adding an additional $10,000 to the reward.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Shane’s family during this time. Shane was a well liked, friendly customer known to our staff and the establishment next door. As this is an active investigation, we are referring all questions to the FBI and/or Philadelphia Police Department.

On Sunday, FBI officials joined the search for Montgomery, a move that is often made in missing persons cases when the person disappears under “suspicious circumstances,” an FBI spokesperson told NewsWorks content partner NBC10. 

A push for more cameras

There is little surveillance footage available from the hours Montgomery was last seen. 

Montgomery, a student at West Chester University, was last seen early Thanksgiving morning leaving Kildaire’s after spending the night out on Main Street in Manayunk.

He was separated from his group and was escorted out of Kildare’s after knocking over a barstool, according to reports.

The incident occured around 1:45 a.m, and while Kildare’s has no surveillance, videos from other businesses along Main Street captured a man of similar height and build heading towards Green Lane on Main Street. Family members have been unable to confirm that man is Montgomery, however, due to poor video quality. 

On Monday, Fourth District Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. sent a letter to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter asking for city-administered cameras to be installed along Main Street in Manayunk. 

“Because Main Street in Manayunk has a high volume of individuals that leave drinking establishments late at night it makes sense to place these cameras throughout the Main Street corridor,” the letter read.

Background information

Montgomery’s last attempt at communication was a text message sent at 1:15 a.m. and a phone call at 1:38 a.m. Thursday morning. At 2:38 a.m. two Lower Merion cellphone towers picked up a ping from Montgomery’s phone — an Amazon Fire with a white speckled case — presumably as the phone lost its battery charge.

Members of the community, family, friends and police have scoured the area in the days since. 

A vigil for Montgomery was held Saturday night along the Manayunk Canal in lieu of the annual tree-lighting ceremony. 

“We have to keep praying,” Shane’s father, Kevin Montgomery, said to those gathered at the vigil. “That’s what this is about.”

Montgomery is described as a 5′ 11″ white male, weighing between 130 and 140 pounds with short brown hair and green eyes.

He was last seen wearing a gray button-down shirt, blue jeans, gray hooded sweatshirt and black sneakers, and has a tattoo of a Celtic cross on his shoulder blade.

Police are asking anyone with information to call the FBI at (215) 418-4000 or Northwest Detectives at (215) 686-3353/54.