A Brooklyn mother has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after admitting she drowned her three young children in the ocean near their Coney Island home.
Erin Merdy, 34, learned her sentence Wednesday, May 20, in the deaths of her children: 7-year-old Zachary Merdy, 4-year-old Lilana Stephens Merdy, and 3-month-old Oliver Bondarev.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Merdy pleaded guilty on March 4, 2026, to three counts of first-degree murder.
According to prosecutors, the horrific killings happened shortly after midnight on Sept. 12, 2022.
Investigators said Merdy took her three children to the beach near West 35th Street in Coney Island and drowned them in the ocean.
About an hour later, prosecutors said Merdy walked away from the beach alone and headed toward Brighton Beach, where the father of her youngest child lived more than two miles away.
Family members became alarmed after Merdy called relatives while upset but would not answer questions about where her children were.
Relatives and the child’s father began searching for her and called 911.
Police launched a search and found the three children around 4:30 a.m. on the shoreline near West 35th Street. They were wet and unresponsive.
The children were taken to Coney Island Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
According to prosecutors, when family members found Merdy in Brighton Beach, she was wet and barefoot. Investigators said she repeatedly told them the children were gone and that she was sorry.
Relatives said at the time that Merdy may have been suffering from postpartum depression, according to the Associated Press.
Merdy was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to 20 years to life in prison. Prosecutors said the sentence was imposed over their objection.
Gonzalez called the deaths of Zachary, Liliana and Oliver “heartbreaking and unthinkable.”
“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,” he said.
The district attorney said his office sought the strongest possible accountability in the devastating case.
“While nothing can bring these children back, this sentence ensures the defendant will be held responsible for taking their lives,” Gonzalez said.
The case remains one of the most painful tragedies to hit Coney Island, where three young children lost their lives in the water just steps from home.