Mother Who Drowned Children Committed for 150 Years

ByNJ Breaking News

A New Jersey court has ruled that a 27-year-old mother who drowned her two toddlers in separate bathtubs was legally insane at the time of the killings. Naomi Elkins was found not guilty by reason of insanity but will spend up to 150 years—two lifetime sentences—in a secure psychiatric facility following the deaths of her 1-year-old and 3-year-old daughters last summer.

Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan delivered the verdict last week, concluding that while Elkins was responsible for killing her children on June 25, 2025, at her Lakewood home, she suffered from severe mental illness that prevented her from understanding the nature of her actions, according to NBC News.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys alike acknowledged the tragic nature of the case, with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office describing it as a “tragedy of epic proportions” while agreeing that Elkins met the legal definition of insanity at the time of the drownings.

Photo Source: https://www.fox29.com/news/nj-mom-who-fatally-drowned-her-2-young-kids-found-not-guilty-reason-insanity

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Religious Delusions Led to Unthinkable Actions

Court testimony revealed that Elkins drowned her daughters while in the grip of profound religious delusions. Psychologist Gianni Pirelli, who evaluated Elkins, testified that she was “undoubtedly psychotic” during the killings and believed either she or her husband might be the Messiah.

“She thought that if she destroyed her children, she would be destroying all the evil in the world,” Pirelli told the court, describing the severe break from reality that drove Elkins’ actions.

The details of the drownings, as recounted in court, paint a horrifying picture of a mind completely detached from reality. Elkins admitted to police that she first stabbed her younger daughter in the chest, but when she believed that wouldn’t kill her, she placed the child in a bathtub and held her underwater for several minutes, counting to 50 multiple times.

When her 3-year-old daughter witnessed what happened and attempted to flee, Elkins pursued her to another bathroom, where she climbed on top of the toddler and held her down as the bathtub filled with water, according to Fox 29.

“How Could a Jewish Mother Do That?”: Self-Recrimination After Psychosis

Following her arrest, Elkins wrote a letter that offers a glimpse into her mental state after the psychotic episode subsided. The letter, parts of which were read in court, shows her grappling with what she had done while addressing God directly.

“I thought I loved you, God, my creator… 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,” she wrote in the letter read aloud by Pirelli during testimony.

Judge Ryan also quoted from this letter during his ruling, highlighting Elkins’ own inability to comprehend her actions once the psychotic episode had passed: “I put me before my kids. How could a Jewish mother do that? How? How is it possible?”

Witnesses described Elkins as appearing “emotionless” immediately after the incident, another indication of her profound psychiatric disturbance. Defense attorneys confirmed that Elkins had a documented history of mental illness before the tragedy.

Psychiatric Commitment Versus Prison: The Legal Distinction

While a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity means Elkins avoids a criminal conviction, the court’s order commits her to a secure psychiatric facility for what could amount to the rest of her life. Under New Jersey law, each lifetime sentence equals 75 years, resulting in a 150-year commitment period.

Defense attorney Mitchell Ansell explained that Elkins will undergo periodic court evaluations but will remain institutionalized unless she reaches a point where mental health professionals and the court determine she no longer poses a danger to herself or others—a threshold that may never be reached given the severity of her actions.

The insanity defense, while often controversial in public discourse, is rarely successful in court and requires substantial evidence that the defendant suffered from a mental disease or defect that prevented them from understanding the nature or wrongfulness of their conduct.

In this case, both the prosecution and defense agreed that Elkins’ severe psychosis met this legal standard, leading to the unanimous conclusion that psychiatric treatment, rather than imprisonment, was the appropriate outcome.

Photo Source: https://x.com/Walltspost/status/1910724523395330161

First Responders Encountered Unimaginable Scene

Emergency personnel who responded to Elkins’ home on Shenandoah Drive in Lakewood on June 25 faced a scene of unimaginable tragedy. Police arrived to find volunteer ambulance responders already attempting life-saving measures on the two children, who were in cardiac arrest.

Despite these efforts, both children were pronounced dead at the scene. Medical examiners confirmed drowning as the cause of death for both girls, with the younger child also suffering a stab wound to the chest—consistent with Elkins’ account of her actions.

Elkins herself had called emergency services following the drownings, though court documents do not clarify her mental state at the time of the call or what specifically she reported to dispatchers.

As the community continues to process this tragedy, mental health advocates emphasize the importance of recognizing severe psychiatric symptoms before they escalate to violence, though they acknowledge that even with appropriate intervention, predicting or preventing such rare but catastrophic events remains extremely difficult.

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