Four children who were killed by their mother and grandmother in a horrific murder-suicide in New York had allergy medication and a herbal substance in their systems when they died.
Toxicology reports have indicated Harper Harmon, 13, Hudson Harmon, 11, and 10-year-olds Gavin Harmon and Gracelynn Harmon, were given diphenhydramine — an ingredient found in Benadryl which causes drowsiness, according to WNYT.
The herbal substance Kratom, a psychoactive herbal extract which is sold as an energy booster and pain reliever due to its opioid-like effects was also found in their children’s blood.
A full toxicology report is expected to be released in the coming days.
Mechanicville police chief William Rabbitt told WRGB Albany: ‘Preliminarily, there is nothing in the toxicology findings that has surprised investigators or is inconsistent with the direction of our investigation.
‘Once we receive the complete report and have had an opportunity to thoroughly review the findings, I will issue a statement with additional information.’
The four children were found dead at a home in Mechanicville on June 23 alongside the bodies of their grandmother Amy Steadman, 64, and 44-year-old mother Sarah Myers, just days before they were due to travel to Utah to stay with dad Brady Harmon.
Their father raised the alarm after the children missed a scheduled video call with them on June 13.
neighbor Stephanie Sweeney also later requested a welfare check after saying she had not heard from them in days and saw flies gathering around the window of their apartment.
Local authorities who discovered the bodies said three of the children were fatally poisoned, while 10-year-old Gavin had been stabbed, with injuries indicating he had tried to protect himself during the attack.
Rabbitt told reporters that the two women ‘conspired in carrying out the murders of the four children before taking their own lives’.
A handwritten confession signed by Steadman was also found inside the property.
According to reports, Myers had been locked in a custody battle with Harmon — who had not seen his children in person since 2019 — in the weeks leading up to the killings.
He had been planning to take them home with him for the summer and Myers had been due in court for a custody hearing on June 29 amid claims she had not been sticking to the parenting plan.
She claimed on social media that she was a victim of domestic violence — a claim Harmon stringently denies — and shared a GoFundMe created by a friend weeks before her death which said she needed to raise money to travel to Utah for a custody battle, and to find a lawyer.
Investigators have said that the note which was found at the scene made reference to this, saying: ‘The author accepts responsibility for what occurred and states that they believed killing the children was the only way to keep them safe from alleged abuse in Utah.’
They added: ‘The author also claimed that Sarah Myers had done everything she could and that no one would help her, and acknowledged that the events did not unfold as they planned.’
The extent of the plot was revealed last month, with police saying that Steadman’s chilling internet history included searches about medication reactions, the effects of insulin on non-diabetics, and the Utah court system, as well as information on ‘the most fatal place to be stabbed’ and ‘the carotid artery in the neck’.
Further distressing revelations about the case reveal Steadman visited several pharmacies in the days leading up to the killings, and had exchanged disturbing texts with her daughter about the plot.
These included ‘discussions regarding obtaining medications, where the murders would occur, how those medications would be administered, how the children would be brought together, what they would be told, and how suspicion could be avoided’.
However, further messages suggested that their plan had not gone as they intended, with Rabbitt explaining that ‘the children failed to respond in the way that Steadman and Myers intended’, and that one exchange between the two read: ‘It’s not working, we need another option.’
Daughter Gracelynn also sent her own message complaining that her stomach was hurting and saying ‘Why would you do that? You both won’t let me puke’, prompting Steadman to send one final horrifying text that evening which read simply: ‘Gracie is aware’.
Rabbitt said: ‘Those communications are important because they document far more than planning. They show that Steadman and Myers were communicating and coordinating while the murders were taking place.’
Harmon later told the Scottish Sun that the killings were ‘a horrendous, spiteful act’.
‘I cannot understand what would go through those sick, sadistic, twisted minds to carry out this horrendous, spiteful act on harming my children because I have access to them for 60 days.
‘You stab Gavin. Gracelynn is trying to communicate and say, “I need help”, and you guys give them nothing. Just more pain. More fear. That’s a father’s worst fear.’
The ashes of the four children have since been laid to rest in Utah.