Police searching for children of Erin Merdy. Source: New York Daily News / Getty
The Coney Island mother accused of drowning her three young children has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder. She is currently being hospitalized for further psychological evaluation.
According to The New York Daily News, 30-year-old Erin Merdy is currently being held in a psychiatric facility. She became a suspect in her children’s death, aged seven, four and three months old, after she was seen wandering soaking wet in a bath robe on the Coney Island boardwalk after their bodies were discovered. They were later pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital.
The police went searching for the children on Sept. 12 after Merdy’s sister called 911 around 1:40 a.m. Erin Merdy called a cousin and admitted to drowning her three children, the News reported. She’s been charged with three counts of murder for each child, including murder with depraved indifference to human life and murder with victim under 11.
Her family told the News that she had mental health issues. Her mother Jacqueline Scott suspected she was dealing with postpartum depression. Merdy had just given birth three months prior.
“She might have been going through postpartum depression,” Scott said in an exclusive interview. “She was a good mother.”
Her uncle Eddy Stephen also said “she wasn’t in her right mind.”
Merdy was under stress before the children’s killing. Along with being sued by her landlord for not paying her rent since July 2021, Merdy’s mother said she didn’t get along with her youngest child’s father. Merdy had been taking off from work as a home health aide to care for her newborn. Her 7-year-old son’s football coach said he always showed up to practice hungry as well.
“Something that was noticeable was when we fed him the pasta it was always, ‘Can I have some more, can I have another?’” he told the Daily News. “We used to bring him over and feed him at practice.”
