Inside the Tragic Confession Letter Left After New York Family Murder-Suicide

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

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

“In 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,” Rabbitt told reporters, adding that police could not independently verify any allegations of abuse against Myers or the children.

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. Brady denied all abuse allegations in his interview with Mechanicville police, the chief added.

In the confession letter, “The 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,” Rabbitt said.

Cops also recovered a series of handwritten notes believed to be penned by Myers inside the apartment.

“Although those writings were unsigned, the author repeatedly referred to ‘my babies,’ 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,” Rabbitt said.

The chief also revealed the harrowing evidence that led investigators to believe that the mom and grandma “conspired in carrying out the murders of the four children before taking their own lives.”

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.

“Surveillance 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,” Rabbitt said, adding that “those purchases became even more significant” in light of disturbing text messages sent between the mom and grandma.

Those exchanges revealed “discussions 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,” the chief said.

“Those communications confirmed that planning had begun no later than June 5, 2026” – five days before Gavin was repeatedly stabbed to death and the rest of the children were killed by a suspected mass poisoning event, according to Rabbitt.

Disturbing text messages from June 10 reveal the harrowing series of events.

“In 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’s father,” the chief said.

Later that morning, “as the children failed to respond in the manner that Steadman and Myers had anticipated,” one of the women messaged the other saying: “‘It’s not working. We need another option,’” Rabbitt said.

“Investigators also recovered a message from Gracelynn, that began, ‘Why would you do that? You both won’t let me puke,’ before describing increasing pain in her stomach.

“Later that evening, Amy Steadman sent a final disturbing message stating, ‘Gracie is aware,’” the chief said.

Investigators also recovered Steadman’s chilling internet search history, which showed “searches about medication reactions, the effects of insulin on non-diabetics and the Utah court system,” Rabbitt said.

“Later searches included, ‘Where is the most fatal place to be stabbed’,” which produced results about a specific artery as well as the neck, the chief added.

Gavin, who had been repeatedly stabbed using a knife, also had a defensive wound, “indicating that he attempted to protect himself during the attack,” the chief heart-wrenchingly revealed.

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.

The six family members were found dead last month after a neighbor requested a third welfare check since the relatives hadn’t been seen in 13 days. Cops hadn’t entered the apartment when they were previously called on June 13 and 17, the chief said Tuesday.

The bodies were too badly decomposed for responding officers to immediately identify them, he said at the time.

Rabbitt said that the investigation remains ongoing and that detectives are still waiting for the children’s final toxicology results, though they will likely not share those findings with the public, as they don’t want others repeating the killers’ behaviors.

“Amy Steadman and Sarah Myers consistently portrayed these murders as a way of protecting the children,” the chief said.

“Whatever they believed justified their actions, the deliberate murder of four children cannot be described as protection.”