New details are emerging about the deaths of four children who were killed in a family murder-suicide earlier this year, after authorities released a toxicology report showing that all six people who died had a potentially fatal amount of an allergy medication in their systems.
The children, ages 10 to 13, were found dead at their grandmother’s home in Mechanicville, New York, on June 23. Police determined that their mother, Sarah Myers, 44, and grandmother, Amy Steadman, 64, killed the children before taking their own lives.
According to a summary of the toxicology report shared with PEOPLE, all six had diphenhydramine in their systems. The medication is an over-the-counter antihistamine and the main active ingredient in Benadryl. Authorities said the levels were fatal or lethal.
Four of the six also had mitragynine, the main active compound in kratom. The substance has been described as a “Drug and Chemical of Concern” by the Drug Enforcement Administration and can have sedative effects at high doses. Police have not released individual toxicology reports showing which people had both substances.
Investigators also confirmed that one of the children, 10-year-old Gavin Harmon, had been stabbed in addition to being poisoned. The children were discovered after police were called to the home for a welfare check.
The tragedy came after a long custody dispute involving the children’s parents. Their father, Brady Harmon, had been trying to gain custody for years and was preparing for the children to spend the summer with him in Utah shortly before the killings.
Brady later described the loss as devastating, saying he had felt as though he was close to finally bringing his children home when everything was taken away.
The newly released toxicology findings provide more information about the final hours of the children’s lives, although police have not released every detail of the investigation. The case has left relatives and the community searching for answers about how the family tragedy unfolded.