Coney Island mom faced eviction and financial strife before drowning of kids; deaths ruled homicides

The troubled Brooklyn mother suspected of drowning her three young children in the ocean off Coney Island remained inside a psychiatric facility Tuesday as the city’s medical examiner’s office ruled the deaths homicides.

Authorities were investigating whether the deaths could be linked to possible postpartum depression, a police source told the Daily News. Probable criminal charges remained pending against young mother Erin Merdy, 30, who gave birth to her youngest son just three months ago.

The city medical examiner’s office confirmed late Tuesday that the deaths were due to drowning.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily News hours after the children’s deaths, Merdy’s own mother said she thought her daughter might be suffering of postpartum depression.

Merdy did not give statements to the police and was hospitalized immediately after being detained, and the police did not ask her for details about what happened in the dark, the source added.

She had called a cousin with word that drowned the children before the police arrived and the bodies were discoveredsaid the source. As of Tuesday, authorities were still talking to possible witnesses and awaiting the results of autopsies on the three children, another source said.

“It’s just a tragedy,” Merdy’s uncle, Eddy Stephen, said Tuesday, adding that he had last seen his niece years ago at her father’s funeral. “She was not in her right mind. We are in mourning, our family.”

Merdy, described by other relatives as struggling with mental health issues, received an eviction notice on Jan. 12 stating that she was more than $5,000 behind on her monthly rent payments of $1,531.

A soccer coach of his 7-year-old son, who was found dying on Coney Island Beach with his two younger brothers, said the boy regularly came to team practices hungry until he left the team last year.

The selfless mother of the child. he rarely attended games to watch his son play and often left early when he showed up, said Coney Island Youth Training Program head coach Allen McFarland.

“One thing that was noticeable was that when we gave him the pasta he always said: ‘Can I have a little more, can I have another one?'” he recalled. “We used to bring him in and feed him in practice.”

McFarland said he and other coaches would stop by the home of 7-year-old Zachary Merdy and escort the elementary school boy to practice. His attempts to bring him back for this year’s team failed, he added.

Zachary and his siblings, 3-month-old Oliver and 4-year-old Liliana, were found unconscious on the beach near their apartment early Monday morning, and their mother was seen soaking wet and walking aimlessly on the nearby sand, barefoot and with a bathrobe, authorities said.

On Tuesday morning, a police officer stood at the door of the apartment where the mother lived alone with her three children. Neighbors were shocked by the deaths.

“It takes a town to raise a child, so imagine three,” said Latima Edward, 34, whose son played soccer with Zachary. “She needed help. And she wishes that she really got the help that she (she needed). But it was too late.”

The mother’s sister called the police at 1:40 a.m. Monday to report her fears that Merdy had harmed the children, and police arrived to find the mother’s apartment door open and no no one was inside. About 90 minutes later, police received a 911 call directing them to neighboring Brighton Beach and found Merdy intoxicated with other family members, according to sources.

Authorities located the three children, who were pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital later that morning.

The father of one of the missing children was inside the apartment building where the family lived when police arrived. He too expressed fears about the fate of the children before the bodies were finally discovered.