Father’s Day horror as dad gets chilling message before all four of his kids found dead

The bodies of a grandmother, her daughter and four grandchildren were found in a suspected poisoning in Mechanicville, New York, and the children’s father has spoken out about the Father’s Day tragedy

A heartbroken father has shared the horrifying moment his four children were discovered dead in their home, alongside their mother and grandmother, in a suspected poisoning incident.

The six bodies were discovered within their flat on Tuesday in the small town of Mechanicville, New York State. They have been identified as Amy Steadman, 64, her daughter, Sarah Myers, 44, and four grandchildren, Harper, 13, Hudson, 11, and Gavin and Gracelynn, both 10.

The grim discovery was made by police officers responding to a welfare check, according to Mechanicville Police Department Chief William Rabbitt. He stated that authorities found evidence suggesting “intentional poisoning” and added that an autopsy revealed one of the children had suffered fatal blunt-force injuries.

The chief disclosed that a note found at the crime scene, coupled with circumstantial evidence, “strongly suggested” Amy Steadman’s involvement.

Now, the children’s father, Brady Harmon, has spoken out for the first time, revealing he was embroiled in a custody dispute with Sarah Myers and that the children were due to spend the summer with him in Utah, reports the Mirror.

Brady detailed how he and Myers wed in 2015 but separated four years later, marking the last time he saw his children. He last spoke to his children on June 7, he said, after receiving a message from Myers on June 10 stating they were unwell.

“She messaged me, ‘Hey, the kids are sick, we’ll talk to you on the 11th,'” he told the US Sun. That very same day his solicitor sent Myers documentation regarding an upcoming custody hearing on the 29th.

“So, I don’t know if that pushed them over the edge because like, ‘Oh my gosh, he actually has a lawyer that’s going to do his job. And we don’t know a way out of this, so let’s do the next best thing. He’ll never have access to these kids…’ and then do what they did,” he speculated.

Brady revealed he contacted police numerous times requesting welfare checks after discovering the children were unwell. He described how he would regularly chat to the youngsters on FaceTime and attempted to build their excitement about the upcoming visit to Utah.

He told the New York Post his children were “happy little kids,” adding: “Harper and Grace would show me their drawings, Hudson would show me their cat and Gavin would show me something he built.”

Brady said he learnt his kids had vanished just two days before Father’s Day. “No mother, no sane mother, parent or anything would sit there and allow that to happen,” he told local ABC affiliate News 10.

“Who could do that to a child, especially your own child or grandchild? It is so sickening to think that they did that.”

Steadman’s former husband, John Bauman, told Spectrum News that she adored the kids, as did her daughter. He said he did not believe they had anything to do with their deaths.

In 2022 Steadman posted a GoFundMe on her Facebook page to gather funds for her daughter to “help get a domestic violence lawyer”. Brady refuted the claims in his interview with the US Sun, stating Myers was the “culprit” rather than a “victim”.

He also made an allegation that she stabbed him in the face with a medicine dropper during an altercation in 2019, claiming that his former wife was preventing the children from seeing him as a means of maintaining “control”.

Police have reassured locals that there is no ongoing danger to the public, but with scant information released about how the tragedy occurred the tight-knit community has been profoundly unsettled by the fatalities.