‘Heartbreaking and unthinkable’: Brooklyn mom sentenced for drowning her 3 children near Coney Island boardwalk
05/21/2026 11:00 am PDT
NEW YORK (TCN) -- A mother has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the 2022 drowning deaths of her three children.
Erin Merdy, 34, was indicted on first-degree murder charges on Oct. 6, 2022, for the deaths of 7-year-old Zachary Merdy, 4-year-old Liliana Stephens Merdy, and 3-month-old Oliver Bondarev, the Brooklyn District Attorney announced at the time.
According to the DA, Merdy took her children to the beach near the Coney Island boardwalk shortly after midnight on Sept. 12, 2022, and drowned them in the ocean. After the drownings, she reportedly walked 2 miles toward the home of Bondarev’s father while making phone calls to relatives.
They became concerned when she told them that the children were gone and that she was sorry; Bondarev’s father then dialed 911.
According to the DA, the bodies of all three children were found on the shore at about 4:30 a.m. They were pronounced dead at an area hospital.
Yahoo! News reports that during a psychiatric evaluation later that day, Merdy said she had had a nightmare about her children being in the water. “I keep having bad dreams that I was holding my baby and the baby was crying… I was in the water and my boy was crying and trying to help. I couldn’t save him. I know I was wet and I was trying to kill myself. I am having a bad dream.”
Investigators learned Merdy had been in a custody dispute with Bondarev’s father and had then gone to the boardwalk to hurt herself. Yahoo! News reports Merdy has a history of mental health issues and had checked herself into the hospital for postpartum depression after Bondarev was born in May 2022. After the drownings, Merdy was behind on rent and was facing eviction, The New York Post reported. She owed more than $10,000 in back rent, according to the outlet.
Merdy pleaded guilty to all three counts in March and was sentenced on May 20, according to the Brooklyn DA.
Brookyln District Attorney Eric Gonzales said, “No sentence can fully measure the loss of a 7-year-old, a 4-year-old, and a 3-month-old baby, or the grief their loved ones will carry forever… Zachary, Liliana, and Oliver were innocent children whose lives were taken in the most heartbreaking and unthinkable way.”
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