A Lakewood, New Jersey, mother has been charged with murdering her two toddlers.
Police arrested Naomi Elkins, 27, after receiving a report of two children in cardiac arrest on Tuesday, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release on Wednesday.
Officers responded to the scene to find emergency personnel from Hatzolah, a volunteer Jewish ambulance program that operates in religious areas, in an attempt to save the children, but both were pronounced dead at the scene. According to the prosecutor’s office, they were 1 and 3 years old.
The children had drowned and the younger victim had also been stabbed, the prosecutor’s office said.
Elkins was charged with two counts of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon. She was taken into custody “without incident,” the news release said.
Ocean County jail records show Elkins is married and has a master’s degree. She is being held without bail and a hearing will be held Monday, according to Ocean County Superior Court.
Attorney information for Elkins was not available. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said it had no additional information on the case, and Lakewood Township police did not immediately return calls from NBC News.
Lakewood, which has a population of nearly 140,000, is about 40 miles east of Trenton, the state capital. It is home to a large Orthodox Jewish population.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
