A New York woman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on Wednesday, March 20, for killing her three young children, nearly four years after their bodies were found along the shoreline in Coney Island, prosecutors said.Erin Merdy, 34, pleaded guilty in March to three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of her son Zachary Merdy, 7, her daughter Liliana Stephens Merdy, 4, and her 3-month-old son Oliver Bondarev, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. Erin Merdy was sentenced "over the objection of prosecutors," the district attorney's office said in a news release.Authorities had accused Erin Merdy of drowning the children in the ocean near their home in Coney Island. The children were found unresponsive early on Sept. 12, 2022, following a three-hour search that began when a relative called 911 to report she was concerned that the mother may have harmed her three children.Kenneth Corey, who was the NYPD Chief of Department at the time of the incident, said officers had canvassed the Coney Island beach, boardwalk, and neighborhood streets for 90 minutes before discovering the woman, who was barefoot and "soaking wet."About two days later, Erin Merdy was arrested and charged with murder, USA TODAY previously reported. The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that the deaths of the children were homicides by drowning."Zachary, Liliana and Oliver were innocent children whose lives were taken in the most heartbreaking and unthinkable way," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. "No sentence can fully measure the loss of a seven-year-old, a four-year-old and a three-month-old baby, or the grief their loved ones will carry forever."Prosecutors: Children found unresponsive, wet along Coney Island shorelineAccording to the district attorney's office, Erin Merdy took her children to the beach near West 35th Street in Coney Island at about 12:37 a.m. local time on Sept. 12, 2022, and drowned them in the ocean.At around 1:25 a.m. local time, prosecutors said she walked from the beach toward the apartment of the father of the youngest child in Brighton Beach, more than two miles away, and called family members. She was upset and would not answer questions about where the children were, according to prosecutors.Her relatives and the father of the youngest child then went to look for her and called 911, prosecutors said. USA TODAY reported that officers found Erin Merdy with family members, but not her children, and did not respond to questions from police."When the defendant’s family members found her in Brighton Beach wet and barefoot, she repeatedly said that the children were gone and that she was sorry," the district attorney's office said.Police began a search, and at about 4:30 a.m. local time, they found the children unresponsive and wet about two miles down the boardwalk from where they found the mother and three blocks from her apartment building. Officers attempted to revive the children using CPR, but they were pronounced dead at the Coney Island Hospital, according to police and prosecutors.At the time, police said that there was no "indication of prior history of abuse or neglect of these children." The Associated Press reported that relatives had said Erin Merdy may have been going through postpartum depression during the incident.According to The New York Times, Erin Merdy was taken to a Brooklyn hospital for psychiatric evaluation after she was taken in for questioning. Derrick Merdy, the father of Zachary Merdy, told the Times that he had been in a custody battle with his ex-wife and that his son had described to him instances of abuse, including not having food and having to relieve himself in a bowl during their stays at homeless shelters.Contributing: Cady Stanton, USA TODAY