Police and Grieving Father Firmly Reject Killers’ “Protection” Defense in Upstate New York Mass Murder Investigation
Law enforcement officials and family members have forcefully dismantled the self-serving rationalizations left behind by the perpetrators of the catastrophic mass murder-suicide inside an upstate New York apartment. Following comprehensive forensic reviews and the public release of investigative findings, Mechanicville Police Chief William Rabbitt and the children’s father, Brady Harmon, directly addressed claims made by 44-year-old Sarah Myers and 64-year-old Amy Steadman, who attempted to frame the premeditated slaughter of four young children as a defensive measure.
According to police case files, investigators recovered a handwritten confession letter signed by grandmother Amy Steadman alongside notes written by mother Sarah Myers. The documents expressed intense hostility toward the Utah family court system and alleged that the children had faced abuse while living in or visiting Utah. The notes argued that killing the youngsters was the “only way to keep them safe” from returning to their father under a disputed multi-year custody agreement.
Father Brady Harmon, who had been locked in a bitter interstate custody battle and had not seen his children in person since November 2019, categorically denied every abuse allegation. Harmon emphasized that the children were legally scheduled to spend the upcoming summer with him in Utah just days after the tragedy occurred, noting that the accusations were completely fabricated to mask the perpetrators’ refusal to comply with court-ordered visitation.
Law enforcement leadership firmly backed the father’s denials. Police Chief William Rabbitt confirmed that detectives found zero factual or investigative evidence to substantiate any claims of abuse, shutting down the killers’ twisted attempts to justify the massacre. In a statement addressing the community, Chief Rabbitt drew a hard line against the perpetrators’ rationalizations:
"Whatever they believed justified their actions, the deliberate murder of four children cannot be described as protection."
The investigation established that the mass killing was meticulously planned weeks in advance, utilizing over-the-counter sleep aids and prescription medications to systematically poison 13-year-old Harper, 11-year-old Hudson, and 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn. When initial dosages failed to act quickly enough, the plot escalated to physical violence, with forensic evidence revealing that 10-year-old Gavin suffered fatal sharp-force injuries while courageously trying to defend himself. Following the murders, Myers and Steadman took their own lives before their bodies were discovered during a welfare check on June 23.
As local authorities finalize their comprehensive investigative reports, child advocacy groups and public officials continue to highlight the critical dangers associated with unmanaged, high-conflict family court disputes.
