Huge debts and lawsuits due to guardianship: what is known about the woman who is suspected of drowning her 3 children

A Brooklyn mom suspected of drowning her three children was threatened with eviction from her apartment. She also struggled with custody issues and suffered from a mental breakdown before she allegedly killed the children, reports New York Post.

Erin Murdy, 30, from Coney Island, owed more than $10 for her Neptune Avenue apartment where she lived with her children. She has been threatened with eviction since January, after the state's moratorium on eviction due to COVID-000 expired.

The mother told relatives that she drowned her children - 3-month-old Oliver, 4-year-old Liliana and 7-year-old Zachary - on a nearby beach in the early hours of September 12. She stopped paying rent of $1531 a month in July 2021. She was sent an eviction notice a few days before the moratorium expired in January.

Relatives said that Merdy seemed unstable in recent years.

And that she had trouble maintaining a steady relationship.

“There was a time when Erin and I kept in touch. But in 2015-2016, she disappeared. I didn’t know how to contact her,” said Murdy’s uncle, Levy Steven.

“Now I blame myself for it. She obviously needed help, and it's impossible not to think, “Maybe I could… I can't find the words. It's not every day you lose three family members in one day,” he said. “Nobody wants to go to a funeral and see those three bodies.”

Another uncle, Gene Steven, 64, said Murdy didn't seem to have a personal life.

“I think she couldn't handle a relationship or something like that. She seemed like that kind of person. It does not appear that her condition is stable,” the relative said. “Anyone can go anywhere and just play pranks, but a stable person lives with one person. She didn't have a normal personal life."

Around XNUMX a.m. on Monday, concerned relatives called the police to report that Merdy might be drunk. And she could harm her children. A few hours later, police found the mom walking barefoot on the sand at Coney Island Beach, wearing a bathrobe. She looked stunned.

On the subject: Three lifeless children found on the waterfront of Coney Island: the police suspect that their mother drowned them

Before the police found her, she told relatives that she had drowned all three children.

The children were later found unconscious along the coastline, just three blocks from their home on Neptune Avenue. Shortly thereafter, they were pronounced dead at a Coney Island hospital.

Murdy's aunt, Dina Stephen, said she knew her niece was having trouble. But I didn't realize how much.

“I knew she was struggling, trying to find her way in life. In the family we have a history of mental illness to varying degrees. Some of us have struggled with bipolar disorder. But I didn’t know about her mental problems,” the aunt said. “I just knew she was trying to find a way for her children, a way to get back on her feet. … But mental problems took over.”

Another uncle, Eddie Stephen, said he was speechless when he heard that Erin had killed her three children.

“She did some crazy little things, but nothing that could harm her children or herself,” Eddie said.

“She used to like to party, drink a little. But I didn't see any drug abuse or her being irresponsible. It's just a tragedy. I dont know. She never gave us a sign that she would hurt her children. She loved her children."

Murdy's uncle Levy said his niece was in the midst of a custody dispute with 7-year-old Zachary's father ahead of Monday's horror.

“As far as I understand, she had problems with the way she raised the child,” Levy said. - After that, she kind of disappeared from the network, changed her numbers. She wasn't on social media so I could find her."

Murdy did not bring her son for the custody exchange in July before a scheduled six-week visit with the child's father.

According to his coach, in May, Murdy pulled Zachary from the youth football team without explanation.

“She never gave a definitive answer to the question of why he stopped playing,” said CITY Silverbacks head coach Allen McFarland.

During the 34 football season, coaches from the athletic youth mentoring program regularly took Zachary to practice, McFarland, 2021, said. They fed him dinner after the games and took him home.

They tried to convince Murdy to bring back Zachary, who loved football, to the team, but to no avail.

“We felt it would be positive for him to get him out of the house and get him to work,” the head coach said. We train four times a week for three hours a day. It would be a good relief for the family.”

The exact cause of death of children has not yet been established.

McFarland stifled tears as he imagined the horror Zachary must have endured at the end of his life.

“The person you trust most in the world is your mom,” he said. The 7-year-old child was happy to go to the beach. I can only imagine what this guy was thinking at that moment.”

The coach broke the tragic news to the boy's former teammates at practice on Monday night. Young football players released balloons with the number 15 (as on Zachary's T-shirt) into the sky over Coney Island. And shouted "Zachary, we love you" as a last goodbye.

No charges have been filed against Murdy, who was taken to NYU Langone Hospital on Monday morning for a psychiatric evaluation.

“How will she come back to life? Even if you regain your sanity, how can you come to terms with the fact that you killed your children? Levy said. It is a shadow that will hang over her for the rest of her life. That's what I'm worried about. I don't think there is a support group for people who have committed such a heinous crime. Are there normal people who have done this?”