NY - 3 children found dead on shoreline, 30-y/o mother suspected to be murderer, Coney Island, September 12, 2022

[Knox]

“Last I spoke to Erin she was struggling. However I did not realize it was this bad,” Merdy’s aunt Dine Stephen told the Daily News. “Many family members have struggled with mental illness.”
[snip]
”I’m very saddened to see this turn of events,” said Dine Stephen, Merdiy’s aunt. “We lost Erin’s father, my brother, a few years back and now his precious grandchildren are gone.”

“We’re kind of high achieving,” she said of her family. “We have Masters’ degrees, we own businesses, we have good jobs. To see her like that, that’s not us. We’re usually... we have our lives in order.”
Disturbed mom of Coney Island kids found dying told family she drowned them: ‘She was struggling’

The BBM direct quotes from the aunt of this mother do not make me feel warm and fuzzy. They didn't know how bad she was struggling and yet many other family members have struggled with mental illness. And yet they are also all highly educated and achievers and all have their lives in order. except this mother. What a tragic case. I wish I could explain how off putting the above quotes are to me but I cannot figure out how to do so within TOS

I don't think this is a case I should follow.

I agree with you, how dismissive is that statement? If someone is struggling, check in with them- OFTEN!!!
Grrr ... I'll read up before commenting further, just wanted to commiserate with you on how tragic and even potentially unnecessary this loss of life might have been.

 

[realanastasia]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/nyregion/coney-island-drownings-children-mother.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-variants-shadow-lda-unique-time-cutoff-30&alpha=0.05&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=841541443&impression_id=7ffb78b5-3758-11ed-9c15-83eb2491a145&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=pool%2F91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1&region=footer&req_id=325105046&shadow_vec_sim=0.4212793842956203&surface=eos-most-popular-story&variant=0_bandit-eng30s-shadow-lda-unique

“Ms. Merdy, the 30-year-old mother of Zachary, Liliana and baby Oliver, hailed from a section of Coney Island known for tough streets. But she did not seem destined to be defined by them.
[…]
She was overcome by mental health problems, custody battles, unpaid bills and legal and financial troubles. A pending eviction could have landed her and the children back in the homeless shelter system they had escaped last year.”
[…]
”On Friday, Ms. Merdy was arraigned by videoconference while still confined to a psychiatric unit at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn. From her bed, wearing a yellow gown, close-cropped hair and a blank stare, she murmured “yes” to indicate she understood the counts of first- and second-degree murder being read to her.

None of her numerous family members in the borough showed up at the Brooklyn Courthouse for the hearing.

Ms. Merdy’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. Ms. Merdy herself could not be contacted, and relatives were either unreachable or reluctant to comment.”

The bolded parts above seem to align with my initial take on how the situation was able to deteriorate to the point where such a horrific action may have seemed like the only option to a desperate woman.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

On Sept. 12 of last year, three siblings drowned in the middle of the night in Coney Island.

Their mother, Erin Merdy, was indicted on multiple counts of first- and second-degree murder.

NY1 confirmed she had a case history with the Administration for Children’s Services.

On March 9, NY1 asked Jess Dannhauser, the commissioner of ACS, where the investigation stands and what ACS could have done differently to save those children.

“That’s what we’re diving into right now, to understand our involvement, to understand other folks’ involvement, to make sure there’s an active investigation,” he said. “We will make sure that we learn from that and get it right.”

But according to documents from the New York state Office of Children and Family Services, which regulates and monitors ACS, the ACS report on the case had been closed months earlier, on Oct. 2, 2022.

While the report, as is standard, does not name those involved, it does detail its investigation into how ACS handled a case in Brooklyn where a mother was charged with drowning her three children on the morning of Sept. 12, 2022.

The Merdy children were the only victims of a triple homicide reported by the NYPD that day.

According to the OCFS report, ACS did get things wrong, and the commissioner did not let the public know.

The state released the report on March 2, a week prior to NY1’s interview with the commissioner.

It cited ACS for a number of concerns and directed the agency to submit a Performance Improvement Plan within 45 days to identify actions ACS has taken, or will take, to address the cited issues.

The state report says that dating back to 2020, ACS had a substantiated case for “educational neglect” — describing the mother as “unstable,” “overwhelmed and extremely depressed. As a result… she was unable to adequately care for” her children.

Furthermore, “the record did not reflect that the fathers of the deceased siblings were notified of the report in writing,” the report said.

This week Derrick Merdy, father of 7-year-old Zachary who died that night, said he still has not been contacted by ACS regarding its investigation or past case history with his son.

“Just like everything else, I’ve been shut out.”

N.Y. review has concerns over ACS actions prior to siblings' deaths

State review highlights concerns over ACS's case history.

www.ny1.com

 

[KooshBall]

The aunt's description of the mother is way different than her actual history. I thought the aunt was describing mild post partum depression, but the truth seems to be that she was suffering severe mental health issues and it was not at all safe for the children.

 

[realanastasia]

“On March 9, NY1 asked Jess Dannhauser, the commissioner of ACS, where the investigation stands and what ACS could have done differently to save those children.

“That’s what we’re diving into right now, to understand our involvement, to understand other folks’ involvement, to make sure there’s an active investigation,” he said. “We will make sure that we learn from that and get it right.”

IMO, this non-answer is a slap in the face to the family of these kids. Skeptical that things will change or that consequences will be meted out to those ACS workers who turned a blind eye to the peril of the murdered children.