{"id":239028,"date":"2026-05-21T07:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T07:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239028\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T07:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T07:17:09","slug":"brooklyn-mom-who-drowned-3-children-in-ocean-near-coney-island-sentenced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239028\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn mom who drowned 3 children in ocean near Coney Island sentenced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

A Brooklyn woman<\/a> who drowned her three children in the Atlantic Ocean near Coney Island\u2019s famous boardwalk will spend decades behind bars.<\/p>\n

Erin Merdy, 34, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty earlier this year to first-degree murder charges<\/a> in the 2022 deaths of her 7-year-old son Zachary, her 4-year-old daughter Liliana and her 3-month-old son Oliver.<\/p>\n

“No sentence can fully measure the loss of a seven-year-old, a four-year-old and a three-month-old baby, or the grief their loved ones will carry forever,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“We sought the strongest possible accountability in this devastating case, and while nothing can bring these children back, this sentence ensures the defendant will be held responsible for taking their lives,” he added.<\/p>\n

JUDGE SENTENCES NEVADA MOM FOR DROWNING YOUNG SON, DAUGHTER: ‘I WILL REMEMBER YOUR CASE FOREVER’<\/a><\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

New York Police investigators examine a stretch of beach at Coney Island where three children were found dead in the surf, Sept. 12, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo\/Joseph Frederick)<\/p>\n

Gonzalez said the children\u2019s lives were taken “in the most heartbreaking and unthinkable way.”<\/p>\n

The children were found the morning of Sept. 12, 2022, after one of Merdy\u2019s relatives called 911 expressing concern the children might be in danger.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Merdy left the beach around 1:25 a.m. and began walking toward the apartment of the father of her youngest child.<\/p>\n

COLLEGE STUDENT ACCUSED OF LETTING NEWBORN DROWN \u2013 POLICE REVEAL PHONE PHOTOS OF \u2018HATED MOM\u2019 CASEY ANTHONY<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The children of Erin Merdy, 30, were found unconscious near the shoreline of Coney Island Beach during a frantic overnight search early Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. (Theodore Parisienne\/New York Daily News\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Authorities later found Merdy barefoot and soaking wet about two miles from where the children were discovered.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, Merdy repeatedly said the children were gone and that she was sorry.<\/p>\n

The children\u2019s bodies were recovered hours later along the shoreline just steps from the boardwalk.<\/p>\n

MELODEE BUZZARD\u2019S GRANDMOTHER SHREDS POSSIBLE INSANITY DEFENSE FOR ACCUSED KILLER MOM: \u2018PLANNED EVERYTHING\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Erin <\/p>\n

A Brooklyn woman was sentenced to decades in prison in connection with the drowning deaths of her three children. (Theodore Parisienne\/New York Daily News\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The city medical examiner ruled the deaths homicides caused by drowning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Merdy walking toward the ocean with the children shortly before 1 a.m.<\/p>\n

Merdy\u2019s mother told the New York Daily News at the time that her daughter had recently struggled with mental health issues and may have been experiencing postpartum depression.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

“I reached out to her yesterday and she said she was doing laundry and I said I wanted to speak to the kids,” Jacqueline Scott, 56, told the outlet. “I tried to call her twice on the phone after that and there was no answer.”<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Brooklyn woman who drowned her three children in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,1027,74037,560,9,24,63,9460],"class_list":["post-239028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-homicide","tag-in-court","tag-kids","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-parents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}