Police in Mechanicville say mother may be behind tragic family deaths.

Police in Mechanicville, New York are refusing to close the door on one chilling possibility: the children's mother might have played a part in their deaths. The investigation into a brutal murder-suicide that claimed four young lives and two adults has just hit a new, unsettling note. Sarah Myers, 44, was found inside her apartment on June 23 alongside her three sons, Harper, 13; Hudson, 11; Gavin, 10, and daughter Gracelynn, also 10. Her mother, Amy Steadman, 64, died there as well.

The scene was a nightmare of medical tragedy and violence. Authorities found one child with a fatal sharp injury while the others showed clear signs of poisoning. Police Chief William Rabbitt told NBC 5 this week that evidence at the home strongly points to Steadman as the person responsible for the carnage. A handwritten note and scattered bottles of prescription and over-the-counter medicines were discovered inside. Yet, despite these indicators, Rabbitt insisted investigators have not ruled out Myers complicity in the deaths of her own children.

"We are still awaiting final toxicology results and the completion of other forensic testing," Rabbitt said, emphasizing that a great deal remains to be explained before the full story emerges. The case is active, and every detail counts.

This revelation lands hard for Brady Harmon, the father who has been separated from his kids since 2019. He claims he received ten letters over the years from Saratoga County Child Protective Services regarding investigations into his children's living conditions. The final letter warned that Myers was being investigated for Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Harmon told the Albany Times-Union that a therapist had previously concluded Myers was negligent in caring for her kids, but they were never in danger. "Nothing happened after that," he said. When he finally went to collect their belongings earlier this month, the apartment was a mess filled with cat urine and feces. The feline resident has since been rescued by Mechanicville Housing Authority management and found a permanent home.

Harmon does not know who tipped off Child Protective Services, though he suspects officials from the Mechanicville City School District may have done so. Those letters stopped once Myers pulled her children out of public school in 2024 to homeschool them. He is now trying to get his hands on their school records.

The tragedy unfolded after a fragile peace between ex-spouses began to crack. Harmon accused Myers of keeping the kids away from him to maintain control, yet they had an agreement for him to have custody from July through September. On June 7, he spoke with them via FaceTime, trying to get them excited for their trip to Utah. Then came a text on June 10: "Hey, the kids are sick, we'll talk to you on the 11th."

Harmon said his lawyer sent paperwork regarding an upcoming custody hearing that same day. Once he learned his children were ill, he called police multiple times for welfare checks. Steadman's neighbor, Stephanie Sweeney, also rang the cops after noticing a swarm of flies and a foul smell drifting from the unit. That is when officers made the grim discovery.

"I went from 'I'm seeing my kids' to 'I'll never see my kids again,'" Harmon lamented. He believes Steadman was resentful about him gaining custody for the summer. Harmon also suggested his decision to bring in a lawyer might have pushed Myers and Steadman over the edge. He speculated that they may have felt trapped, thinking there was no way out but to do the next best thing.

The toxicology reports are pending, and until then, questions swirl around who held what information and why it mattered so much. The public is left wondering how a family could vanish in such silence while authorities weighed every clue.

He'll never have access to these kids…" The words hang heavy in the air, marking a permanent loss of trust between a father and his children.

Megan Reed, a 38-year-old resident of the apartment complex where this tragedy unfolded, previously told the Times Union that Steadman was with Myers every single day to help her. Another neighbor described the grandmother and mother as inseparable best friends who shared everything. These claims paint a picture of deep affection, yet they now clash violently with the reality of those deaths.

Steadman's own Facebook history reveals a different struggle just before the end. In 2022, she posted a GoFundMe campaign to help her daughter get a domestic violence lawyer. The fundraiser, which has since vanished from the internet, showed Myers with her children in matching outfits as they pleaded for support. "Please help my daughter and grandchildren," Steadman wrote at that time. But Harmon denies these accusations entirely. He calls Myers the culprit rather than a victim, claiming his ex-wife once stabbed him in the face with a medicine dropper during a fight back in 2019.

Questions swirl now about exactly what happened to those children. It is believed Steadman felt resentment because Harmon was gaining custody of them for the summer. That shift in power dynamics might explain why neighbors saw such a change, or perhaps it didn't show at all until it was too late.

Harmon has said he retrieved their cremated remains and flew them home for a funeral earlier this month. "We could not bring their bodies home due to the horrific state they were in," he noted to the Times-Union. So he spread his children's ashes on top of a mountain, the same place where his father's ashes rest.

"It is devastating," Harmon said of the loss. The only thing I can keep as peace of mind is that my kids are safe in the arms of my father and other family members who loved them and not those who would hurt them. There is some relief, but there is a hole that could never be filled, he continued. He knows at least he will eventually see them again.