MECHANICVILLE, New York — Four children went to their grandmother’s apartment. None of them came home.
Harper, 13. Hudson, 11. And 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn. All four were found dead inside Amy Steadman’s Mechanicville apartment on June 23.
What police uncovered in the weeks that followed was worse than anyone initially feared.
She Had Been Planning This for Days
Steadman, 64, did not act alone. Investigators say she and the children’s mother, Sarah Myers, 44, coordinated every part of the plan through text messages — where it would happen, what medications to use, how to gather the children, and how to avoid suspicion.
Those messages were still going back and forth while the children were dying.
Search history recovered from Steadman’s home showed her looking up medication reactions, the effects of insulin on non-diabetics, and the words: “Where’s the most fatal place to be stabbed?”
She also searched: “Find the carotid artery in the neck.”
She had visited multiple pharmacies in the days before, picking up sleep aids and her own prescription medications.
One Child Reached Out as It Was Happening
When the poisoning did not work as planned, Steadman texted Myers: “It’s not working. We need another option.”
During that same window, Gracelynn sent a message of her own — describing pain in her stomach and asking why she was not being allowed to be sick.
Her brother Gavin was stabbed. He had a defensive wound on his body, a sign that he tried to fight back.
A Father Who Never Got to Say Goodbye
The children’s father, Brady Harmon, lives in Utah. He had custody of the kids every summer.
Letters left behind by both Steadman and Myers claimed the killings were meant to protect the children from alleged abuse by their father. Investigators recovered images and messages that appeared to document injuries, though no charges were ever filed against Harmon.
He told a local outlet he went from expecting to see his kids to learning he had lost all of them.
He said he wants to bring them home to Utah — to keep them as far away as possible.
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