{"id":313635,"date":"2026-08-04T18:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T18:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/313635\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T18:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T18:32:18","slug":"harrowing-confession-letter-revealed-after-ny-grandma-and-mom-kill-kids-in-murder-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/313635\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrowing confession letter revealed after NY grandma and mom kill kids in murder-suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The grandmother and mom who murdered four children in an upstate New York apartment<\/a> before taking their own lives carefully planned for and communicated about the killings, cops revealed Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A handwritten confession letter left inside the Mechanicville home where Amy Steadman, 64,<\/a> was found dead alongside her 44-year-old daughter, Sarah Myers, and Myers\u2019 four children \u2013 Harper Harmon, 13; Hudson Harmon, 11, and 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn Harmon \u2013 was signed with the grandmother\u2019s name, Mechanicville Police Chief Bill Rabbitt said during a press conference.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn that letter, 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,\u201d Rabbitt told reporters, adding that police could not independently verify any allegations of abuse against Myers or the children.<\/p>\n

Amy Steadman with her grandkids Harper Harmon, Hudson Harmon, Gavin Harmon, and Gracelynn Harmon \u2014 who were found dead on Tuesday in Mechanicville, New York. Facebook \/ Amy Steadman<\/p>\n

The kids were supposed to travel to Utah to stay with their father, Brady Harmon, for two months starting just days after they were found dead on June 23. <\/a>Brady denied all abuse allegations in his interview with Mechanicville police, the chief added.<\/p>\n

In the confession letter, \u201cThe 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,\u201d Rabbitt said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cops also recovered a series of handwritten notes believed to be penned by Myers inside the apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough those writings were unsigned, the author repeatedly referred to \u2018my babies,\u2019 expressed anger toward the Utah family court system, made allegations that she and the children had been abused while living in Utah and complained that she had been unable to obtain legal representation,\u201d Rabbitt said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The chief also revealed the harrowing evidence that led investigators to believe that the mom and grandma \u201cconspired in carrying out the murders of the four children before taking their own lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sarah Myers and her mother killed themselves and her four children. Facebook \/ Sarah Myers<\/p>\n

The investigation found that Steadman had visited multiple pharmacies leading up to the days of the murders, when she and Myers were frequently communicating via text messages about how they were going to carry out the twisted scheme, the chief explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurveillance footage, purchase records and evidence collected through search warrants documented that [Steadman] obtained multiple doses of over-the-counter sleep aids and multiple medications that had been prescribed to her,\u201d Rabbitt said, adding that \u201cthose purchases became even more significant\u201d in light of disturbing text messages sent between the mom and grandma.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those exchanges revealed \u201cdiscussions 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,\u201d the chief said.<\/p>\n

Amy Steadman (pictured) signed the confession letter. Facebook \/ Amy Steadman<\/p>\n

\u201cThose communications confirmed that planning had begun no later than June 5, 2026\u201d \u2013 five days before Gavin was repeatedly stabbed to death and the rest of the children were killed by a suspected mass poisoning event<\/a>, according to Rabbitt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Disturbing text messages from June 10 reveal the harrowing series of events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one exchange, Sarah Myers instructed Amy Steadman that the medications should be administered between 10:30 a.m. and noon so they could be finished before a scheduled telephone call at 6 p.m. with the children\u2019s father,\u201d the chief said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A clean-up crew removes debris from the apartment where the family was found decomposing in Mechanicville, NY, on June 25. Albany Times Union via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Later that morning, \u201cas the children failed to respond in the manner that Steadman and Myers had anticipated,\u201d one of the women messaged the other saying: \u201c\u2018It\u2019s not working. We need another option,\u2019\u201d Rabbitt said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestigators also recovered a message from Gracelynn, that began, \u2018Why would you do that? You both won\u2019t let me puke,\u2019 before describing increasing pain in her stomach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLater that evening, Amy Steadman sent a final disturbing message stating, \u2018Gracie is aware,\u2019\u201d the chief said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investigators also recovered Steadman\u2019s chilling internet search history, which showed \u201csearches about medication reactions, the effects of insulin on non-diabetics and the Utah court system,\u201d Rabbitt said.<\/p>\n

The letter claimed the children\u2019s father, Brady Harmon (pictured), was going to abuse them in Utah. Facebook\/Brady Harmon<\/p>\n

\u201cLater searches included, \u2018Where is the most fatal place to be stabbed\u2019,\u201d which produced results about a specific artery as well as the neck, the chief added.<\/p>\n

Gavin, who had been repeatedly stabbed using a knife, also had a defensive wound, \u201cindicating that he attempted to protect himself during the attack,\u201d the chief heart-wrenchingly revealed.<\/p>\n

The final text communication between the mother-daughter duo was received at around 8:41 p.m. on June 10, an hour before surveillance footage captured Steadman visiting a local gas station. She then returned to her apartment, Rabbitt said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The apartment were the two adults and four children were found dead in Mechanicville on June 24, 2026. Cindy Schultz for NY Post<\/p>\n

The six family members were found dead last month after a neighbor requested a third welfare check since the relatives hadn\u2019t been seen in 13 days. Cops hadn\u2019t entered the apartment when they were previously called on June 13 and 17, the chief said Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bodies were too badly decomposed for responding officers to immediately identify them, he said at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rabbitt said that the investigation remains ongoing and that detectives are still waiting for the children\u2019s final toxicology results, though they will likely not share those findings with the public, as they don\u2019t want others repeating the killers\u2019 behaviors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAmy Steadman and Sarah Myers consistently portrayed these murders as a way of protecting the children,\u201d the chief said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever they believed justified their actions, the deliberate murder of four children cannot be described as protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brady Harmon did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The grandmother and mom who murdered four children in an upstate New York apartment before taking their own…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[303,15476,14034,9,24,55,54,56,817,58],"class_list":["post-313635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-crime","tag-grandparents","tag-murder-suicide","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-upstate-new-york","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}