Woman charged with killing her children, 1 and 3, in Lakewood

A New Jersey mother killed her 1-year-old and 3-year-old daughters by drowning them on Tuesday afternoon in their Lakewood home, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

Naomi Elkins, 27, was arrested Tuesday and is being held on two counts of murder and weapons charges in connection with her children’s deaths.

Lakewood Township police arrived at the home on Shenandoah Drive at 4:50 p.m. in response to a report of two children in cardiac arrest, the prosecutor’s office said. Officers attempted to give life-saving aid but were unsuccessful. Both children were pronounced dead at the scene.

Both girls had been drowned, with the 1-year-old also having been stabbed, officials said.

Elkins was taken into custody at the scene without incident. She attended a court hearing on Wednesday by video conference from the medical wing of the Ocean County Correctional Facility, NJ.com reported. Elkins will appear in court again on Monday morning, when a detention hearing is scheduled at the same time, the news outlet reported. She will remain in Ocean County jail until then.

Lakewood is about 68 miles from Philadelphia and has a population of nearly 140,000.