A grieving father has shared the last text exchanges he says he received from his former wife before authorities believe she killed their four children in a devastating murder-suicide.
For Brady Harmon, the unimaginable tragedy unfolded in June, when his children were discovered dead inside a home in upstate New York, along with their mother, 44-year-old Sarah Myers, and their grandmother, 64-year-old Amy Steadman.
Investigators have said Myers and Steadman are suspected of plotting the murder-suicide that took the lives of Harper, 13, Hudson, 11, and 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn.
Harmon has previously said the children mostly lived with Myers and that the former couple had been locked in a custody dispute before the shocking deaths. The children had been expected to spend time with him that summer — what would have been their first visit with their father since 2019.
Following a new update from the Mechanicville Police Department, Harmon posted the disturbing final messages on Facebook, after police said Myers and her mother had planned to kill the children before taking their own lives.
Mechanicville Police Chief Bill Rabbitt told reporters Tuesday that messages recovered by investigators showed the two women communicating in the days before the deaths about giving medications to the children.
After police released those details, Harmon made public portions of his own text conversation with Myers, including messages exchanged on the day the tragedy began to unfold.
‘According to information released by the Mechanicville Police Department, messages were being exchanged on June 10 concerning the planned murder of my children,’ Harmon wrote online.
Brady Harmon has revealed the last text messages between him and his ex-wife, Sarah Myers, before police believe she orchestrated a murder-suicide. He is pictured above with one of his children
Myers and her mother are accused of orchestrating the murder-suicide that left her children – Harper, 13, Hudson, 11, and 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn – dead, pictured above
On the same day, Myers sent a text to Harmon saying their children had the stomach bug, police also found messages to Steadman about their plan to medicate the kids
‘That was the same day I was told the kids had a stomach bug and was asked to postpone my scheduled FaceTime call.’
The messages began on May 31 after a series of unanswered and outgoing video calls. Harmon then sent Myers the flight information for the children’s visit.
A few days later, they went over the flight information and Myers confirmed that the children could fly out before July 1st, asking in a separate message if Harmon could send a child support payment so she could buy them sneakers. Then on June 8, Harmon asked Myers for activities that the children enjoyed.
‘My goal is to create opportunities for all of us to spend quality time together, stay active, enjoy the outdoors, make positive memories, and reconnect as a family,’ Harmon said.
The father then asked for the children’s medical information, including their physicians, medications and allergies.
‘I’ll talk to the kiddos about the stuff they would like to do over the summer,’ Myers responded.
On June 10, Myers texted: ‘The kids have gotten a little stomach bug throwing up is it okay to switch your online visit to tomorrow night at 4 pm your time please.’
Harmon responded that he would continue painting instead, adding that he hoped the kids would feel better soon.
The next day, he asked if the children were feeling better, and a video call went unanswered.
‘I have thought about sharing these final communications for a long time. I am now sharing the messages from May 31 through June 11 because they show what I was being told while I was planning for my children’s summer with me,’ Harmon wrote in the post.
‘I sent their flight information. I planned activities based on their interests. I requested their medical records, medications, allergies, doctors’ information, and other documents that were required under the parenting plan. I believed I was preparing to welcome my children home.’
Harmon said he believed the truth about his ex-wife and her mother would have come out if the children had the opportunity to stay with him in Utah for the summer.
‘My children were not pawns to be sacrificed when control was slipping away. They were four beautiful human beings with personalities, dreams, fears, laughter, and an entire family waiting to love them,’ he wrote.
On the same day that Myers texted Harmon that their children had a stomach bug, police uncovered messages between Myers and Steadman about their plan to medicate the kids.
‘Sarah Myers instructed Amy Steadman that the medications should be administered between 10.30am and noon so they could be finished before a scheduled telephone call at 6pm with the children’s father,’ Chief Rabbitt said at this week’s press conference.
He added that their plan appeared to take a turn later that morning, when ‘the children failed to respond in the manner that Steadman and Myers had anticipated.
Police found handwritten letters believed to be written by Steadman and Myers, including a signed confession from the grandmother
Harmon wrote in a post that his children were ‘four beautiful human beings with personalities, dreams, fears, laughter, and an entire family waiting to love them’
Around the same time, Rabbitt said one of the women – without specifying which – sent the other a sinister message: ‘It’s not working. We need another option.’
Investigators uncovered evidence pointing to a mass poisoning, though it has since been revealed that 10-year-old Gavin was ‘repeatedly’ stabbed to death with a knife.
The investigation found that Steadman had visited multiple pharmacies in the days leading up to the mass-poisoning event, the chief shared during Tuesday’s press conference.
Internet history recovered by authorities showed ‘searches about medication reactions, the effects of insulin on non-diabetics and the Utah court system,’ according to the chief.
Rabbitt said later searches included ‘Where is the most fatal place to be stabbed,’ which returned results detailing a specific artery as well as the neck.
Authorities also uncovered letters, including a handwritten confession signed by Steadman and unsigned notes believed to have been from Myers alleging that she and her children were abused while living in Utah.
