A New York City mother was arraigned on murder charges Friday after being charged with drowning her three children at the Coney Island beach.
Erin Merdy, 30, was arraigned remotely from the hospital where she was sent for a psychiatric evaluation.
Her attorney from Brooklyn Defender Services told The Associated Press he had no comment.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said Merdy was charged with first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of her children: 7-year-old Zachary Merdy, 4-year-old Liliana Stephens-Merdy and 3-month-old Oliver Bondarev.
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Police searched the shoreline at Coney Island Monday after a relative called 911.
In a criminal complaint, Merdy had reportedly told the relative “that she had hurt her children and that they are gone.”
The authorities found Merdy on the Coney Island boardwalk. She was wet and barefoot about two miles from where the children were located.
The three kids were found unresponsive at the Atlantic Ocean’s edge and later pronounced dead at a hospital.
The city medical examiner’s office ruled their deaths homicides by drowning.
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The complaint said video showed Merdy walking toward the ocean with the children shortly before 1 a.m. Monday.
In interviews, relatives said Merdy seemed to be struggling with the children.
Her ex-husband, Derrick Merdy, told The New York Times that Zachary, his son, would show up to visits unclean and complaining he wasn’t getting enough to eat.
Others told different publications she loved the children.
Court records indicated Merdy had previously been threatened with eviction for being thousands of dollars behind on her rent.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
