Chilling final text NY mom sent dad about ‘stomach bug’ before 4 kids killed in murder-suicide revealed
The twisted mom who teamed up with her own mother to kill her four children in an upstate New York murder-suicide told the kids’ dad the youngsters had “a little stomach bug” in a final text message on the day they died.
“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,” reads the newly released message that Sarah Myers allegedly sent to her ex-husband on the afternoon of June 10 – the same day Mechanicville police say she and the kids’ grandmother, Amy Steadman, “conspired in carrying out the murders of the four children before taking their own lives.”
The slain kids’ father, Brady Harmon, released screenshots of the now harrowing text exchange with Myers, 44, in a heart-wrenching Facebook post Tuesday.
“Okay I will keep painting then. Hopefully they feel better soon,” Harmon, who lives in Utah, wrote in response to Myers’ text – oblivious to the fact that, over 2,000 miles away, three of his children were killed in a suspected mass poisoning event, while the fourth was repeatedly knifed to death, according to cops.
The screenshots show the father tried to reach Myers the next day, writing in a text, “Are the kiddos feeling better?” before his 4:02 p.m. video call went unanswered.
By that time, 64-year-old Steadman, Myers and the children – Harper Harmon, 13; Hudson Harmon, 11, and 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn Harmon – were all already dead inside the Mechanicville apartment, Police Chief Bill Rabbitt said during a press conference Tuesday.
The crazed mother-daughter duo had carefully planned for and communicated about the killings by June 5, with Steadman visiting several pharmacies to pick up “multiple doses of over-the-counter sleep aids and multiple medications that had been prescribed to her,” Rabbitt said.
Disturbing text messages also revealed conversations between Myers and Steadman “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 told reporters.
During that period, Myers was also sending Harmon deceptively reassuring messages regarding plans for the kids to stay with him in the Beehive State for two months starting July 1.
“We are good for summer,” she wrote in a June 5 text to Harmon.
“Sometime before July 1st can we message on here re FaceTime calls and times for summer and birthday calls so I can have it in writing and there’s no error,” she wrote, and then, “And if you could, please put the child support in the account so I can get them some sneakers.”
The screenshots show Harmon made a video call to Myers’ phone that lasted 17 minutes on June 7 – which, the dad would later come to realize, was the final time he spoke with his children.
“They seemed like happy little kids” during that call, a heartbroken Harmon told The Post days after the six family members’ badly decomposed bodies were discovered inside the apartment on June 23.
On June 8, Harmon – who hadn’t seen his children in-person since 2019 – sent Myers an eager message asking for intel on the kids’ individual hobbies and interests.
“Since I have missed a significant amount of time with [the kids], I want to make sure their summer is enjoyable, engaging, and centered around things they genuinely like to do,” Harmon wrote.
Read more Vending machines installed in NYC subways as straphangers mourn human-manned newsstands
“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.”
The father also requested that Myers send over any medical records for the children so he could “properly care for them.”
In response, Myers wrote, “I’ll talk to the kiddos about the stuff they would like to do over the summer.”
In a text sent the following morning, she said: “And I’m getting together all the stuff you asked for so everyone has a safe fun time.”
Rabbitt told The Post that Harmon had previously shared the texts with investigators.
Investigators revealed Tuesday they found a note written by Steadman which stated that “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.”
Cops also found letters they suspect were written by Myers, in which she also claimed her children had been abused.
“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 told reporters.
“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.”
Brady Harmon has categorically denied the allegations, and Rabbitt revealed police couldn’t independently verify the claims of abuse against Myers or the children.
“I cannot understand how anyone could claim that this was done to ‘save’ my children from harm,” Harmon wrote alongside the screenshots on Facebook.
“The greatest possible harm was done to them. They were terrified, betrayed, and robbed of their lives by the very people who were supposed to protect them.
“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.”
Read more NYC apartment building erupts in flames, massive explosion after Bronx fire injures at least 5
“I believed I was preparing to welcome my children home,” he wrote.
