CONFIRMED

Medical Examiner Rules Deaths of 3 Children on Coney Island Homicides

No one has been charged with the murder of the three siblings, but authorities have ruled foul play was involved.

The deaths of three children on a Coney Island beach have been ruled homicides, the medical examiner’s office in New York City said Tuesday. The children, a boy and two girls, were found unconscious on the sand before 5 a.m. Monday. Efforts to revive them were unsuccessful, police said, and their mother was found soaking wet nearby. Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, confirmed Zachary Merdy, 7; Liliana Merdy, 4; and Oliver Bondarev, 3 months old, all died from drowning. Police said Tuesday that no one had been charged over the matter and the investigation was ongoing. A police source told the New York Daily News that the children’s mother, Erin Merdy, called a cousin and confessed to drowning her kids. Police are investigating whether postpartum depression is a possible motive, according to ABC News.