A New Jersey mother, 27-year-old Naomi Elkins, was charged with murder for allegedly drowning her two children, ages 1 and 3, in June 2024. Elkins allegedly claimed that she had killed her children for "religious purposes." Less than a year later, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
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According to an Ocean County Prosecutor's Office
press release, Lakewood Township police officers arrived at a Shenandoah Drive residence. They had received reports of two children in cardiac arrest. Despite lifesaving aid being provided by medical services, both children were pronounced dead at the scene.An investigation later identified both children as Elkins's children. The one-year-old was stabbed, and both of them were drowned. The prosecutor's office alleged at the time that Naomi Elkins was the one responsible.
During the trial, Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan revealed further details about the gruesome events of June 2024. Ryan, as per Asbury Park Press, said that Elkins first stabbed the one-year-old and held the child underwater, "counting to 50 several times."
The judge would then state that the older child attempted to hide from Elkins. She, however, much stronger than her three-year-old, "climbed on top of her and held her down while the bathtub filled up."
Elkins herself would then call 911. According to Ryan, she told the dispatcher, "I did something to my kids," and "They're drowning."
'Religious Purposes'
During the trial, psychologist Gianni Pirelli testified on Tuesday, April 1, that Naomi Elkins thought that if she killed her children, "she would be destroying all the evil in the world," as per Asbury Park Press. Pirelli went on to say that, after hours of interviews with Elkins, the suspect was "experiencing a psychotic episode when she killed her children and did not understand that her actions were wrong."
Moreover, Pirelli testified that Elkins thought she or her husband was the Messiah. Having suffered from mental illness in the past, as per NBC10, Elkins's mental state was further destabilized by what Pirelli said was postpartum psychosis.
Pirelli then read letters written by Elkins and directed to God. These read, "I thought I loved you, God, my creator," and, "You are evil. I'm deserving of death and destruction. I don't know what I was. I loved my children, but I loved you more." It was then that Pirelli revealed that, after a night of praying, Elkins "believed that she needed to kill the children for religious purposes."
As a result of these troubling revelations, Naomi Elkins was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The court, however, ruled that Elkins did kill her children. Judge Ryan ordered Elkins to spend two lifetimes in a psychiatric hospital.
