A Brooklyn mother was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison over the drowning deaths of her three young children off Coney Island.
Erin Merdy, 34, learned her fate on Wednesday after pleading guilty to first-degree murder charges earlier this year in the 2022 killings of her children: seven-year-old Zachary, four-year-old daughter Liliana, and her three-month-old son Oliver, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
On September 12 of that year, Merdy took her children to New York’s Brighton Beach around 12.30am and drowned them in the ocean.
About an hour later, Merdy began walking from the beach toward an apartment that belonged to Oliver’s father, calling family members completely distraught, but was unclear about where the kids were.
The father then called 911, prompting police to start looking for the children. Around 4.30am, they were found unresponsive and soaking wet.
The three of them were pronounced dead at the hospital, and a medical examiner later ruled their deaths homicides by drowning.
Merdy was found by officers, barefoot and wet, about two miles down the boardwalk. She told cops the children were gone and that she was sorry, according to prosecutors.
After news broke about the tragedy, Merdy’s family said the mother was battling severe postpartum depression when she took her kids’ lives.
Erin Merdy, 34, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison over the drowning deaths of her three young children off Coney Island
Seven-year-old Zachary (left), his four-year-old sister Liliana (right), and their three-month-old brother, Oliver, were drowned in the ocean by their mother, Merdy, on September 12, 2022
Derek Merdy, her ex-husband and Zachary’s father, and Shamir Small, Liliana’s father, filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of New York against the City of New York, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), and the current and former commissioner of the ACS, among others.
In the suit, both fathers alleged that the agencies failed them and that Merdy had a history of mental health issues, a long history with the ACS, and should never have had custody of their children.
‘Merdy was an unstable mother, known by all defendants to have severe mental health problems; to be physically abusive to the children; to neglect the children, inclusive of withholding food from them; and to disappear and leave the children unsupervised and in danger,’ the lawsuit obtained by The Daily Beast stated.
The filing documented several different instances when Merdy reportedly broke the custody agreement by taking the children without letting their fathers know, and displayed ‘erratic and dangerous behavior.’
The lawsuit claimed that two reports were filed with the ACS, but the agency closed its investigation each time despite knowing that Merdy was not getting help for her mental health issues, and each time allowed her to keep her children.
Following her sentencing, Gonzalez made a statement about the three children who lost their lives that day.
‘Zachary, Liliana and Oliver were innocent children whose lives were taken in the most heartbreaking and unthinkable way.
‘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.
The scene on the beach of Coney Island where Merdy drowned her three young children
‘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,’ the DA said.
A couple of weeks after his beloved daughter was killed, Small laid her to rest during a funeral in Queens.
During the service, Small said that Merdy loved their four-year-old daughter, Liliana.
‘Contrary to what happened, she was loved by her mother,’ he said at the time.
‘I don’t care what no one says,’ he said, ‘What [Merdy] did was monstrous, but she herself is not a monster.’
Small also said he wanted his daughter to be remembered for how she lived, and not how she died.
‘I don’t want her to be remembered or known as how she passed,’ he said, ‘I don’t even want to hear about it anymore.
‘Don’t want to see it, read it, or nothing. I just want everyone to remember that Lily, for four years, was loved by all her family members.’
The little girl was dressed in a pink dress before being laid out in a white casket, which was buried in Cypress, Queens. A Barbie doll was placed inside her coffin with her.
A couple of weeks after his beloved daughter was killed, Small laid her to rest during a funeral in Queens. During the service, Smalls said that Merdy loved their four-year-old daughter Liliana (pictured together)
Cops had previously responded to six domestic incidents involving the distressed mother, including one on July 2, 2022, where she refused to hand over the children to her husband.
Court records indicated that Merdy had been threatened with eviction because she was thousands of dollars behind on her rent.
Joseph, 60, a maintenance worker in the building where Merdy lives, previously told the Daily Mail he was shocked after hearing about the kids’ deaths.
‘I’m speechless… To go and drown your children – I wonder what was on her mind and what led up to that.
‘People love their children, was she overwhelmed by the responsibility? It’s just a sad situation.’
