New toxicology results indicate that an Upstate New York mother and grandmother died by consuming lethal levels of diphenhydramine, a common allergy medication, after fatally poisoning four young children. The Mechanicsville Police Department confirmed that Amy Steadman, 64, and her daughter Sarah Myers, 44, ingested fatal amounts of the antihistamine.
Myers’ four children – Harper, 13; Hudson, 11; and 10-year-old twins Gracelynn and Gavin Harmon – also received lethal doses of the medication. Police Chief Bill Rabbitt stated that the children also had mitragynine, a compound found in Kratom, in their systems.
The incident, which police are investigating as a murder-suicide, resulted in the deaths of all six individuals. The toxicology findings shed light on the method used in the tragic event, identifying diphenhydramine as the primary agent in both the children's deaths and the suicides of Steadman and Myers.