Four children from upstate New York who authorities say were poisoned and killed by their mother and grandmother had both a sedating allergy medication and kratom in their systems, according to a newly reported toxicology finding.
The toxicology report, obtained through sources cited by NewsChannel 13, sheds new light on the June murder-suicide that devastated the village of Mechanicville.
Harper Harmon, 13, and his younger siblings — Hudson, 11; Gracelynn, 10; and Gavin, 10 — were given kratom and diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, before their deaths, the report found.
Kratom, sometimes referred to as “gas station heroin,” is a psychoactive plant extract that can have opioid-like effects, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Investigators have said the children were killed by their mother, Sarah Myers, 44, and their grandmother, Amy Steadman, 64, before the two women died by suicide.
Authorities said Harper, Hudson and Gracelynn died from poisoning, while Gavin was stabbed as he tried to defend himself.
The killings came amid a contentious custody dispute between Myers and her former husband, Brady Harmon, who lives in Utah and had not seen the children in person since November 2019.
The children were killed shortly before they were scheduled to spend the summer with their father in Utah, known as the Beehive State.
In a sick letter discovered by authorities after the slayings, Myers alleged that Harom had abused her and her children, and that the killings were the only way to save them from further abuse.
Harmon denied the claims of abuse, and said there’s “a special place in hell” for his ex-wife.
“My kids suffered,” Harmon told a local station. “To poison them and also to stab them – there’s a special place in hell for people like that.”
