Erin Merdy, 34, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. The victims were Zachary Merdy, 7, Liliana Stephens Merdy, 4, and Oliver Bondarev, 3 months. On Sept. 12, 2022, she took the children to the beach near West 35th Street in Coney Island and drowned them in the ocean. About an hour later, she left the beach alone and walked more than two miles toward the Brighton Beach apartment of the children’s father, making distressed calls to relatives. After relatives contacted 911, police found the children unresponsive and soaked along the shoreline, and they were pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital. When relatives later found Merdy, she was wet and barefoot and repeatedly said the children were gone and that she was sorry.
"Erin Merdy, the Brooklyn mother convicted of drowning her three young children in the ocean near their Coney Island home in 2022, has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, according to a press release from the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. The victims were just 7 years old, 4 years old, and 3 months old."
"On Sept. 12, 2022, at approximately 12:37 a.m., Merdy took her children, Zachary Merdy, 7, Liliana Stephens Merdy, 4, and Oliver Bondarev, 3 months, to the beach near West 35th Street in Coney Island, where she drowned them in the ocean. Roughly an hour later, at about 1:25 a.m., authorities said Merdy left the beach alone and walked more than two miles toward the Brighton Beach apartment of Oliver's father."
"During that time, she made distressed phone calls to relatives. When family members asked where the children were, she refused to answer, prompting relatives and the baby's father to search for her and contact 911. Police launched a search and, at approximately 4:30 a.m., discovered the children unresponsive and soaked along the shoreline near West 35th Street. They were later pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital."
"According to investigators, when relatives eventually located Merdy in Brighton Beach, she was wet, barefoot, and repeatedly stated that the children were gone and that she was sorry. On May 20, Merdy, 34, was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to 20 years to life in prison, despite prosecutors seeking a harsher sentence. She pleaded guilty on March 4, 2026, to three counts of first-degree murder."
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