Amy Steadman, Mechanicville, New York grandmom killed her daughter & 4 grandchildren then self to prevent child custody visit with children’s dad, Brady Harmon of Utah.
An Upstate state NY grandmother is alleged to have poisoned her daughter and four grandchildren along with stabbing one of them in a murder-suicide plot, after becoming incensed that the children’s father had been given recent child custody rights.
Amy Steadman, 64, was found dead inside a Mechanicville, New York apartment on Tuesday alongside her daughter, 44-year-old Sarah Myers, and four grandchildren, Harper, 13, Hudson, 11, and Gavin and Gracelynn, both 10.
Days after the horrific crime scene was discovered, Mechanicville Police Chief William Rabbitt said evidence ‘strong suggests’ the grandmother was responsible.
Grandmom resentful over grandchildren’s dad gaining child custody
Rabbitt pointed to a handwritten note as well as bottles of prescription and over-the-counter medicines found in the home that indicated a possible poisoning, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
Sources also told NewsChannel 13 that the grandmother was resentful over her grandchildren’s father recently gaining custody of them.
Autopsies by the Albany Medical Center revealed that one of the four children died from ‘fatal sharp-force injuries,’ Chief Rabbitt said.
Toxicology reports are pending the official said.
Myers and her children also lived in the same building, part of the John S Moore Homes development, in a separate apartment.
Police discovered their bodies at around 6.20pm on Tuesday after they had not been seen for several days led to a request for a welfare check.
Children’s dad had been days from seeing kids once again
A resident in the apartment complex, Megan Reed, 38, told the Times Union that the grandmother lived in an apartment in the same building, and was ‘with [Myers] every single day to help her.’
She added: ‘Those kids don’t deserve this.‘
Another neighbor told the outlet that the grandmother and mother were ‘inseparable’, and were ‘like best friends.’
Sarah Myers and her ex, Brady Harmon had been married for several years, living in Utah, until November 2019, when he claims Myers left with the kids without notice and went to New York.
He filed for divorce in 2020 and has been fighting to see his kids ever since.
‘I went from, ‘I’m seeing my kids,’ to ‘I’ll never see my kids again,’’ Harmon told WRGB. ‘Hope to hell. Things happen, but nothing like this.’
