A New Jersey mother has been charged with murder after police say she drowned her two young children in a bathtub.
Naomi Elkins, 27, is facing several charges including murder and weapon possession. Elkins drowned her two daughters, aged three and one, on Tuesday, police said. Officers also found the baby with stab wounds.
Officers arrived at Elkins’ Lakewood home, an hour south of Newark, after they received a report that her two children were in cardiac arrest on Tuesday evening, according to NBC Philadelphia.
Emergency crews tried to rescue the children but both of them died at the scene.
She is facing two murder charges and two unlawful possession of a weapon charges, according to Ocean County public records.
Elkins is being held without bail, according to public records. The 27-year-old is married and holds a master’s degree. Her first hearing is set for Wednesday afternoon, followed by a detention hearing on Monday morning, NJ.com reported.
There were no officers at the scene early on Wednesday and the house was not blocked off with crime scene tape.
“I saw a ton of police cars and ambulances...I saw someone doing CPR in the ambulance,” one witness told News 12 New Jersey on Tuesday evening.
Last week, a father was arrested in New Haven, Connecticut after police said that he tried to drown his children in the Long Island Sound.
The children were rescued after a West Haven police officer heard screaming around 2.30am on Saturday while patroling. When he arrived on the scene, he saw Romney Desronvil in the water with his two children. Desronvil reportedly told him to stay back.
The officer saved both children, who were taken to hospital. They have since been discharged from the intensive care unit, local outlet WTNH reports.
