A Lakewood, New Jersey, mother has been charged with killing her two toddlers.
Police arrested Naomi Elkins, 27, after receiving a report Tuesday of two children in cardiac arrest, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release Wednesday.
Responding officers arrived to find emergency personnel with Hatzolah, a volunteer Jewish ambulance program that operates in religious areas, trying to save the children, but both were pronounced dead at the scene. They were 1 and 3 years old, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The children had been 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,” according to the press release.
Ocean County Jail records show Elkins is married and holds a master’s degree. She is being held without bail and is scheduled to have a detention hearing Monday, according to the Ocean County Superior Court.
Attorney information for Elkins was not known. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said it had no additional information about the case, and the Lakewood Township Police Department did not immediately return a call from NBC News.
Lakewood, which has almost 140,000 residents, is located about 37 miles east of Trenton, the state’s capital. It is home to a large Orthodox Jewish population.
