A woman confessed to drowning her children in the waters off Coney Island Sept. 12, a family member claims.
The New York Post said 30-year-old Erin Merdy allegedly told the relative she “drowned all three kids.”
Cops found the 7-year-old boy, 4-year-old girl and 3-month-old boy on the beach near West 35th Street at around 4:45 a.m. The three were pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital.
A concerned relative called cops at 1:40 a.m. and told them she thought Merdy may have harmed the children, said NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey at a press conference.
When cops went to Merdy’s Neptune Avenue building, a man who said he was the father of one of the children shared similar concerns. He believed Merdy and the kids were on the Riegelmann Boardwalk, Corey said.
Cops searched the area and found Merdy with family members near the boardwalk at Brighton Sixth Street. The children were not with her.
Merdy was soaking wet and refused to answer officers’ questions, Corey said. She was taken to the 60th Precinct and later transferred to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn for a psychiatric evaluation. She has not been charged.
Dine Stephens, Merdy’s aunt, told the New York Daily News that her niece is mentally ill.