The New Jersey woman accused of drowning her two young daughters late last month told detectives that she killed her children “for religious purposes.”
According to the probable cause affidavit, 27-year-old Noami Elkins admitted during questioning that she had to kill her 1-year-old and 3-year-old daughters after experiencing “concerning thoughts” in the days leading up to the June 25 incident in which she stabbed her younger daughter before drowning her and then her older sister in their Lakewood, New Jersey apartment.
Elkins claimed that these “concerning thoughts” prompted her to bring her children to the daycare center where she worked on Monday, June 24. She then spent the night praying.
The following day, Elkins said she took her daughters to work again before returning to the basement apartment she rented in a Lakewood house. She told detectives that when she arrived home with the girls, she knew she needed to kill them “for religious purposes.”
Elkins admitted using a serrated knife to stab the younger girl in the back and stomach. She placed the child on the couch to run a bath, the affidavit said.
Elkins then carried the 1-year-old into the bathroom and held her head underwater for several minutes. At that point, the 3-year-old came into the bathroom “because she was scared,” Elkins said.
Elkins left the 1-year-old in the bathtub and took the older child to the other bathroom where she filled the tub with water and drowned the 3-year-old.
Elkins told detectives that she counted to 50 several times to make sure the 3-year-old was dead.
Elkins is married but her 40-year-old husband had been away on business since May 24 and was not home at the time she murdered their children.
Lakewood, New Jersey is home to a large population of Orthodox Jews.
After killing her two daughters, Elkins tried to contact Hatzolah Medical Services, the private Jewish ambulance service in Lakewood at about 4:50 p.m. on June 25. However, Elkins dialed a Hatzolah office in Brooklyn which connected her to the local Hatzolah office.
The ambulance arrived at the scene and medics attempted to revive the girls before pronouncing them both dead and calling the police.
Elkins faces two counts of murder and unlawful weapons charges.