Zachary Merdy

Erin Merdy, a 34-year-old Brooklyn woman, was sentenced to decades in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the 2022 drowning deaths of her three children—ages 7, 4, and 3 months—in the Atlantic Ocean near Coney Island. The children were discovered on September 12, 2022, after a relative called 911 with concerns for their safety, and authorities later found Merdy barefoot and wet about two miles away. The medical examiner ruled the deaths homicides caused by drowning, with surveillance video showing Merdy walking toward the ocean with the children shortly before 1 a.m.