Brooklyn Mother Charged With Murder After Allegedly Drowning 3 Children Near Coney Island

Thirty-year-old Erin Merdy has been arrested and charged with three counts of second-degree murder after she allegedly drowned her three children near Coney Island in New York City.

Police were first called to Merdy’s apartment at 1:40 a.m. for a welfare check after she allegedly called relatives saying “the babies are gone” and “the kids are gone.” The father of one of the children reportedly expressed concerns to officers and believed Merdy had taken her children to a local boardwalk.

Merdy’s aunt Dine Stephen told The Daily Beast that: “Basically, people have mental issues, and that’s what needs to be focused on. A lot of people are struggling nowadays, and she was one of them. She struggled.”

Police searched the beaches near Coney Island for a few hours before receiving a phone call at 3:13 a.m. with reports of a dispondent woman at Brighton 6th Street and Boardwalk East. When police began asking Merdy questions, she stated she was dreaming of walking with her children into the water, according to People.

The bodies of all three children, 7-year-old Zachary, 4-year-old Liliana, and 3-month-old Oliver, were found near the shoreline at West 35th Street and Boardwalk at 4:40 a.m. They were unconscious and unresponsive according to police. Despite the life saving measures from first responders, they were all pronounced dead at local hospitals.

Erin Merdy was arrested Monday and then sent to a local hospital for psychological evaluation. She was processed Wednesday and charged with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of depraved indifference to human life, and three counts of murder with the victims under 11 years old.

Zachary Merdy has been described by his father, Derrick Merdy as a kind and generous boy with a sense of humility. Derrick Merdy told CNN that “Anybody who met my son they would know that he is special.”