Overview
- Prosecutors say Erin Merdy drowned her three children after taking them to the beach on Sept. 12, 2022, and she pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in March 2026.
- Relatives raised alarms early that morning and officers later found Merdy soaked and barefoot while the children’s bodies were recovered from the Atlantic shoreline and pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital.
- The city medical examiner ruled the deaths homicides by drowning and prosecutors cited video showing Merdy walking toward the ocean with the children just before 1 a.m.
- On May 20, 2026, a judge sentenced Merdy to 20 years to life and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the office sought the strongest possible accountability for the deaths.
- Family members told reporters she may have been experiencing postpartum depression at the time but those claims were reported by relatives and were not adjudicated in court; the case is likely to keep attention on mental health supports for new mothers and how prosecutors use forensic evidence in child-death cases.