Brooklyn mother who drowned 3 kids on Coney Island beach sentenced to 20 years to life

A Brooklyn woman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison Wednesday for drowning her three young children in the ocean near Coney Island’s famed boardwalk.

A Brooklyn woman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison Wednesday for drowning her three young children in the ocean near Coney Island’s famed boardwalk.

Subscribe to read this story ad-free

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

Erin Merdy, 34, pleaded guilty this year to first-degree murder in the 2022 killings of her 7-year-old son, Zachary; her 4-year-old daughter, Liliana; and her 3-month-old son, Oliver.

“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,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. He added that the children’s lives were taken “in the most heartbreaking and unthinkable way.”