New York woman sentenced to more than 20 years in prison after drowning her three children in the ocean: 'I was on autopilot'
A Brooklyn, New York, woman was sentenced Wednesday, May 20, to 20 years to life in prison after she drowned her three children in the ocean near the Coney Island Pier.
PHOTO: Youtube video capture/Inside Edition
Erin Merdy, 34, pleaded guilty earlier this year to murder charges in the 2022 murders of her son Zachary, 7, daughter Liliana, 4, and son Oliver, 3 months, in 2022, ABC News reports.
“No sentence can fully measure the loss of a seven-year-old, a four-year-old and a three-month-old baby, or the pain that those close to them will carry forever.”said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
He added that children's lives were taken “in the most heartbreaking and unimaginable way.”
The New York Post notes that the murders were related to the woman's mental health issues, particularly postpartum depression, which she said drove her “over the limit” on the night of September 12, 2022.
“If I had to describe it, I was on autopilot”the mother told jurors, saying she doesn't remember much of what happened the night the children died.
She expressed remorse for the murders, and said she “loved” her children, but had experienced postpartum depression after each of her three births, especially after giving birth to her third child.
“Their deaths are not in vain. I spent a lot of time at Rikers Island talking to other women with postpartum depression and they made me feel less alone.”said the woman.
Merdy's explanations were not well received by relatives, particularly Jim Kobal, the 3-month-old's uncle, who called the woman “a monster” who stole their joy and replaced it with “a lifetime of pain.”
“There will forever be a void in our hearts because of this hideous monster,” Kobal said, adding that there is “a special place in hell” for her.
On the night of the tragedy, Erin Merdy's relatives alerted the police, fearing that the woman, possibly under the influence of alcohol and suffering from postpartum depression, could harm the children.
Police found her barefoot and disoriented on the beach in Coney Island after she told relatives that “drowned all three children”.
The toddlers were later found lifeless on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, and investigators determined they had drowned.
Among the evidence was video footage of the woman walking to the ocean with the children before the tragedy. At the time of the incident, Merdy was facing eviction and had accumulated more than $10,000 in rent arrears.
What the children's father says
Shamir Small, the father of little Liliana Stephens Merdy, said that she was afraid to go to her mother.
“The last thing Lily said to me and my mom — and it will haunt me forever — was, 'I'm afraid to go back to mommy and I want to stay here with you and grandma.'” Small said in an emotional statement presented in court.
The judge said Wednesday that the sentence of life in prison without parole is “reserved for special circumstances“.
“Life in prison without parole would not have been the most appropriate sentence, even if it took the lives of those three children”the judge said.
