Four children from upstate New York who authorities say were poisoned and killed by their mother and grandmother had kratom and a drowsiness-inducing allergy medication in their systems, according to a newly revealed report.
The grim findings from the June murder-suicide in Mechanicsville were detailed in a toxicology report, sources told NewsChannel 13.
Harper Harmon, 13, and his younger siblings — Hudson, 11; Gracelynn, 10; and Gavin, 10 — had all been 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 herbal extract that can cause opioid-like effects, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Authorities have said the four children were allegedly killed by their mother, Sarah Myers, 44, and their grandmother, Amy Steadman, 64, before the two women took their own lives.
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Harper, Hudson and Gracelynn all died after they were poisoned, while Gavin was knifed while trying to defend himself, authorities said.
Myers had been locked in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband Brady Harmon, who lives in Utah and hadn’t seen his children in person since November 2019.
The children were murdered shortly before they were expexted to spend the summer with their father in 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.”