The mother of the three children who drowned in Coney Island on Monday has been charged with murder, the NYPD said.
According to police, Erin Merdy, 30, of Brooklyn was charged Wednesday with three counts of murder for each child, one day after the city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled their deaths homicides.
The charges include murder with intent, murder with depraved indifference and murder for someone under the age of 11, according to the NYPD.
Police said at 1:40 a.m. on Monday, a family member called 911 saying they believed Merdy may have harmed her children.
Police then conducted a 90-minute search across the Brighton Beach boardwalk, the beach, nearby streets and the woman’s apartment.
An additional 911 call was made at 3:13 a.m., which directed officers to Brighton 6th Street and Boardwalk East, where they found Merdy — barefoot, soaking wet and despondent, police said.
The three children were found unconscious and unresponsive shortly after on the shoreline near West 35th Street and the Coney Island Boardwalk, the NYPD said.
The children — Oliver Bondarev, a 3-month-old boy, Lilana Merdy, a 4-year-old girl, and Zachary Merdy, a 7-year-old boy — were rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island, where they were pronounced dead, police said.