New York police have released new details from their investigation into a possible murder-suicide incident that makes a grandmother the lead suspect.
On Tuesday evening 2 adults and 4 children were found dead inside of the home in Mechanicville, a small town north of Albany.
‘Many residents knew the family involved, have children and grandchildren of their own, or simply cannot comprehend the loss of six lives under such heartbreaking circumstances.’
The adults were later identified as 64-year-old Amy Steadman, her 44-year-old daughter Sarah Myers, and her four children, 13-year-old Harper Harmon, 11-year-old Hudson Harmon, 10-year-old Gavin Harmon, and 10-year-old Gracelynn Harmon.
Mechanicville Police Chief William Rabbitt said Thursday that police were called for a welfare check on the family after a neighbor said they had not been seen in many days.
He said the bodies had been dead for an undetermined period of time before they were found.
“I can’t speculate as to the number of days, but it was such that making identification at the house was difficult,” he said.
Rabbitt said “numerous” prescriptions and over-the-counter medications were found at the home that led police to believe the cause of death was intentional poisoning. The official cause of death are yet to be determined officially.
One of the children had also suffered from sharp-force injuries, he added. A handwritten note found at the home indicated that Steadman was responsible for the deaths, but the investigation was ongoing.
“I cannot get into the authorship of the note at this time nor the contents of what was in it,” he said. “Until we get the cause and manner certified, we can’t speculate on the involvement of all persons.”
Rabbitt said there was no threat to the public.
Investigators contacted the father of the children, Brady Harmon, who lives in Utah. Harmon spoke to WRGB-TV and said he had been the subject of false rumors and accusations on social media.
Harmon said they were in a custody dispute but denied the online allegation that he had abused his children.
“Never touched my kids. And this is coming from someone who has been abused. Unless you’re in that room and living a day-to-day, you know, life with her, you know nothing,” he said.
Court documents did not indicate any allegations of abuse related to the couple, but Harmon told WRBG that he had been assaulted by Myers on the last day he saw his children in person in 2019.
“I was called a sperm donor, nothing more than an ATM, deadbeat father. I put my hand up and then she opened the door and stabbed me in the face with a medicine dropper,” he claimed.
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Social media users also uncovered a GoFundMe started by Steadman, the maternal grandmother, that was titled, “Help get a domestic violence lawyer save my kids.”
Harmon said that Myers had not come to Utah for any of the legal hearings in more than 6 years, and had only appeared via Zoom.
Sheriff Rabbitt described how the horrible incident affected the residents of the city.
“Mechanicville is a close-knit city,” he said. “Many residents knew the family involved, have children and grandchildren of their own, or simply cannot comprehend the loss of six lives under such heartbreaking circumstances.”
The town has about 5,200 residents.
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