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Ariana Brockington
Trending News Reporter
New York authorities are investigating the death of six family members, including four children and their mother, suspecting that the grandmother might have been responsible.
The Mechanicville police are looking into the case after six individuals were found dead during a welfare check at a residence in upstate New York on June 23 around 6:20 p.m, according to a press release. Local authorities said neighbors alerted them that they had not seen the resident of a Mechanicville city apartment for a number of days. When police arrived, they discovered the bodies of four children and two adults.
In a press conference held June 25, Mechanicville police chief William Rabbitt confirmed that the residence belonged to 64-year-old Amy Steadman, who was one of the deceased, NBC News reported. Steadman’s daughter, Sarah Myers, 44, and her four grandchildren — Harper Harmon, 13, Hudson Harmon, 11, Gavin Harmon, 10, and Gracelynn Harmon, 10 — were also found dead in the apartment.
Although Steadman owned the apartment, Myers and her four children lived in another unit in the building, the police chief said.
Police found a handwritten note in the apartment that “strongly suggests that Amy Steadman was involved in the deaths,” Rabbitt said at the press conference. However, he did not share the contents of the note.
Rabbitt said that six autopsies conducted by Dr. Michael Sikarika at Albany Medical Center determined that one of the children “suffered fatal, sharp force injuries.”
The initial investigation also showed signs that the family had been dead for “an extended period of time,” he informed reporters. He said the deaths could involve poisoning as “recovered evidence inside the apartment” showed “numerous prescription and over-the-counter medications.”
He added that the manners of death for all six of the deceased require toxicology testing.
The father of the four children lives in Utah, Rabbitt said. No outside individuals are suspected to be involved in the deaths.
Local newspaper Times Union spoke to the father, Brady Harmon, who said he had not seen his children since 2019. But, according to him, he had planned to reunite with them next week after reaching a custody agreement.
“I went from, I’m seeing my kids to I’ll never see my kids again,” Harmon told the newspaper. “Hope to hell. Things happen, but nothing like this.”
A neighbor spoke to NBC News affiliate WNYT and said she had not seen the family in several days. She described the case as “very upsetting.”
“It’s, sorry, it’s just having a little guy and knowing that there’s just 4 little babies that are no longer with us, it’s very upsetting,” she said.
Ariana Brockington is a trending news reporter at TODAY digital. She is based in Los Angeles.
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