Trial Begins for Ocean County Mother Charged in Drowning of Daughters

Naomi Elkins Charged with Killing Her Two Toddlers

Trial Begins for Ocean County Mother Charged in Drowning of Daughters

According to NJ.com , a Lakewood woman who drowned her toddlers and told investigators she felt compelled to do it for religious reasons was declared not guilty by reason of insanity and given a life sentence in a mental health facility.

Naomi Elkins, 27, was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Elkins was on trial Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan on two charges of murder in connection with the deaths of her kids, ages three and twenty-two months, in June 2024.

A psychologist gave testimony and according to the report, Elkins, 27, told him in a series of interviews that she thought she or her husband was the Messiah and that she thought the deaths of her girls would end evil in the world

According to the prosecutor's office at the time, Elkins was taken into custody on June 25 at her residence on Shenandoah Drive after police arrived at the scene of a call indicating that two toddlers were experiencing cardiac arrest and saw Hatzolah Medical Services EMTs attempting to revive them. At the scene, both kids were declared deceased.

According to the prosecutor's office, investigators found that Elkins was accountable for the deaths of both children, who had drowned and the younger one had been stabbed.

According to the affidavit submitted in the case, she informed detectives that she had been having trouble hearing voices for a few hours and felt compelled to kill the children for religious reasons. "During the interview, she indicated that she knew that it was illegal to kill her children and that what she did was wrong," stated the affidavit.

Elkins was confined to a mental hospital for two lifetimes, each of which is 75 years according to state law, when Ryan discovered that she had slain her children but was not guilty due to insanity,>/big>