A new toxicology report has revealed disturbing new details in the deaths of four children whose mother and grandmother allegedly planned to kill them before taking their own lives in an upstate New York murder-suicide.
Police discovered six bodies inside a Mechanicville apartment during a welfare check on June 23.
The children were identified as 13-year-old Harper Harmon, 11-year-old Hudson Harmon and 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn Harmon.
Their mother, 44-year-old Sarah Myers, and grandmother, 64-year-old Amy Steadman, were also found dead inside the apartment.
Police believe the children were killed on June 10.
Mechanicville Police Chief Bill Rabbitt has described the case as a “mass killing” and said investigators believe Steadman and Myers began planning the children’s deaths days earlier.
According to police, Steadman began visiting multiple pharmacies as early as June 5 to purchase over-the-counter sleep aids and medication that had been prescribed to her.
Investigators also reportedly found searches in Steadman’s online history about what insulin could do to someone who did not have diabetes.
Authorities say messages exchanged between Steadman and Myers showed they intended to drug the children sometime between 10:30 a.m. and noon on June 10.
That timing was significant because the children were scheduled to speak with their father, Brady Harmon, who lives in Utah, during a 6 p.m. phone call.
Harmon said he received a message that day claiming the children had stomach aches and would call him the following day.
They never did.
He said repeated calls and text messages afterward went unanswered.
Investigators believe three of the children were poisoned.
Gavin, however, was also stabbed with a knife and may have tried to defend himself, according to police.
Rabbitt said investigators discovered online searches asking, “Where’s the most fatal place to be stabbed?” and “Find the carotid artery.”
Messages between Steadman and Myers allegedly showed growing concern when the drugs did not appear to be working as expected.
One message reportedly read, “It’s not working, we need another option.”
Gracelynn also reportedly wrote a message on her iPad complaining about severe stomach pain.
“Why would you do that? You won’t let me puke,” the 10-year-old allegedly wrote.
Rabbitt said Steadman later sent an especially chilling message: “Gracie is aware.”
New toxicology findings have now added another layer to the investigation.
Sources told WNYT-TV that diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, was detected in the children’s bodies.
Kratom was also reportedly found.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers about kratom because of potential serious side effects, including liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder. The agency has also said deaths have been associated with kratom in rare cases, though it is often found alongside other drugs.
Investigators found several letters inside the apartment.
One letter, believed to have been written by Steadman, reportedly claimed responsibility for killing the children and alleged that the deaths were intended to protect them from abuse by their father.
Another handwritten letter believed to have been written by Myers also accused Harmon of abusing the children when they lived in Utah and expressed anger toward the Utah family court system.
Harmon has strongly denied those accusations.
“Never touched my kids,” he said.
Harmon said he had not seen his children since November 2019 and claimed Myers had prevented him from maintaining a relationship with them.
He also alleged that Myers assaulted him the last time he saw the children.
“I put my hand up, and then she opened the door and stabbed me in the face with a medicine dropper,” he said.
Harmon said he had received about 10 letters from Saratoga County Child Protective Services involving investigations into alleged inadequate guardianship and educational neglect.
He also claimed Myers had delayed court-ordered visitation the previous summer until she said the children needed to return to school.
Harmon said he felt he had been reduced to little more than financial support.
“I was called a sperm donor, nothing more than an ATM, deadbeat father,” he said.
After learning how his children died, Harmon condemned the idea that the killings had somehow been intended to protect them.
“They stabbed my son; they poisoned my children,” he said. “All in the delusional state of, ‘We’re doing this for your benefit.’”
He said Myers had become “sick enough to believe her own lies.”
“My kids suffered,” Harmon said. “To poison them and also to stab them — there’s a special place in hell for people like that.”
“You don’t do that to someone you love,” he added.
Rabbitt expressed a similar sentiment.
“The deliberate murder of four children cannot be described as protection,” the police chief said.
He urged the community to honor the children by supporting one another and helping prevent future tragedies.
Court records show Myers and Harmon married in Salt Lake City in December 2015, separated in 2019 and divorced in 2020.
Both parents were awarded joint custody.
Additional court paperwork reportedly showed Myers had been ordered to appear in a Utah courtroom on June 29 for a hearing involving enforcement of the divorce and custody agreement.
Harmon said another court order would have allowed the children to stay with him from July 1 through Sept. 1.
Instead, their cremated remains were flown to Utah on July 2.
Harmon later scattered his children’s ashes on a mountaintop.
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