Lakewood Mom Believed She Had To Kill Daughters For Religious Reasons: Document

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A Lakewood woman charged with murder in the deaths of her two daughters told authorities she believed she needed to kill them for religious purposes, according to court documents.

Naomi Elkins, 27, has been charged with two counts of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon in the deaths of her 1-year-old and 3-year-old daughters on Tuesday, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer has said.

She is accused of stabbing the 1-year-old, then drowning both girls in the home on Shenandoah Drive.

A relative of the family told The Lakewood Scoop that Elkins had suffered mental health issues for some time.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Elkins told Detective Alex Bromley from the prosecutor's office that she started having "concerning thoughts and spent the night praying," on Monday, after she returned from work at a child care facility.

On Tuesday she went to work, taking her daughters with her.

It was after she returned home with the girls that the slayings happened, she told Bromley.

"She said that once she was home, she believed that she needed to kill the children for religious purposess," according to the affidavit.

Elkins told authorities she stabbed the 1-year-old but "indicated that she only slightly punctured (the child) with the knife." She then took the 1-year-old into a bathroom and held her under water in the bathtub for 2-3 minutes, according to the affidavit. Authorities said in the document that the stab wound was a deep laceration.

The 3-year-old was drowned in another bathroom, according to the affidavit. Elkins held the girl underwater for several minutes, counting to 50 "multiple times to ensure she held them underwater for enough time," according to the affidavit.

Afterward Elkins realized she had done something wrong and called Hatzolah and told them she had hurt her children, and when they arrived told the EMTs where to find the two girls, the affidavit said. The Hatzolah responders called Lakewood police and said the children were in cardiac arrest and that the mother had said she had harmed them, the document said.

"During the interview, she indicated that she knew that it was illegal to kill her children and that what she did was wrong," the affidavit said.

Elkins and her daughters lived with her husband in an apartment in the basement of the house on Shenandoah Drive; her husband had left on an out-of-state business trip on Monday, according to the document.

The detective who interviewed Elkins confirmed she "read, wrote and understood the English language," and learned she has earned a master's degree. It did not say what her master's degree is in or where she attended college.

"The mother of the girls that committed this unthinkable act had a history of mental illness, specifically psychosis, though she was doing much better over the last year or so," the family member said in the letter published by the Lakewood Scoop.

"Apparently she tragically experienced some kind of psychotic episode without any warning signs," the family member said. "There simply are no words to describe the shock and pain."

Elkins is scheduled for a detention hearing on Monday, July 1, NJ.com reported.

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