A New York City mother police said is suspected of drowning her three children while in the throes of a postpartum breakdown is now facing homicide charges.
The mother, 30-year-old Erin Merdy, was charged with three counts of second-degree murder, according to the New York Police Department. For each victim, she is charged with murder, murder with depraved indifference to human life and murder of a victim under 11 years old, officials said.
The charges were filed even as Merdy is undergoing psychiatric evaluation at a hospital and came a day after New York City’s chief medical examiner determined her three children — a 7-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 3-month-old daughter — died from drowning and that the manner of death was homicide.
Worried relatives and police found Merdy soaking wet, barefoot and alone early Monday on the Coney Island boardwalk after she called family members and allegedly threatened to harm her children, according to police. One official briefed on the probe told ABC News that the mother was “nearly catatonic” when police attempted to speak with her and are probing whether postpartum depression played a role in the alleged triple slaying.
