New York City children’s drowning deaths at Coney Island ruled homicide, medical examiner says

The New York City Medical Examiner ruled that the drowning deaths of three children on a Coney Island beach in the early hours of Monday morning were homicides. 

The siblings – 7-year-old Zachary Merdy, 4-year-old Lilana Merdy and 3-month-old Oliver Bondarev – were found unresponsive by law enforcement on Monday morning around 4:30 a.m. 

Their mother, 30-year-old Erin Merdy, was still in custody on Tuesday. She was found about two miles down the boardwalk from the area that she lived. 

THREE CHILDREN DEAD AFTER DROWNING INCIDENT AT CONEY ISLAND BEACH, MOTHER BEING QUESTIONED 

Merdy’s mother told the New York Daily News that her daughter had been struggling recently. 

“She might have been going through postpartum depression,” Jacqueline Scott, 56, told the local news outlet. 

“I reached out to her yesterday and she said she was doing laundry and I said I wanted to speak to the kids… I tried to call her twice on the phone after that and there was no answer.”

A relative of the mother had called police around 1:40 a.m. on Monday to report that the woman may harm her children. 

No charges have been filed as of Tuesday evening. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.