Mother arraigned in Coney Island drowning deaths of 3 kids

NEW YORK (AP) — A mother charged with drowning her three children at New York’s Coney Island beach has been arraigned on murder charges. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office says 30-year-old Erin Merdy has been charged with first and second-degree murder in the deaths of her children, 7-year-old Zachary Merdy, 4-year-old Liliana Stephens-Merdy and 3-month-old Oliver Bondarev. Merdy was arraigned remotely on Friday from the hospital where she was sent for a psychiatric examination. Her attorney from Brooklyn Defender Services said he had no comment. The children were found unresponsive at the shoreline early Monday. Their deaths have been ruled homicides by drowning.