NJ mom, 27, drowned 2 children: ‘Not guilty by reason of insanity’

⭕ Woman had severe mental illness
⭕ Worked at daycare, alone with victims
⭕ Will remain in psychiatric hospital

LAKEWOOD — A 27-year-old township woman who killed both of her young daughters last year has been found not guilty by reason of insanity. That does not mean, however, that she walks free.

Naomi Elkins, of Lakewood, stabbed her 1-year-old child and then drowned her in a bathtub.

She then chased the older, 3-year-old girl and drowned her in a separate tub, authorities said.

During a single-day trial in Ocean County Superior Court, the sole testimony came from a psychologist who said that Elkins suffered from postpartum psychosis, Asbury Park Press reported.

Considered a rare psychiatric emergency, the condition requires hospitalization, according to the National Library of Medicine.

The severe mental illness presents with extreme confusion, loss of touch with reality, paranoia, delusions, disorganized thought process and hallucinations.

It affects around one to two per 1,000 women after giving birth, typically within days to the first six weeks after delivery.

Unhinged mother

Elkins’ husband had left for a business trip in June 2024.

On June 25, 2024, the afflicted mother went to work at a preschool, where she cared for other young children while her daughters also attended the facility.

She then brought them home to the basement apartment they rented in a house along Shenandoah Drive, where another family also lived.

After killing her second child, Elkins called the local squad of Hatzolah Medical Services.

Hatzolah is the country’s largest volunteer-based emergency medical services and ambulance provider. The historically all-male squads treat any patient, regardless of religion, while being trained and sensitive to needs of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Around 4:50 p.m., Lakewood Police responded to the home for a report of two children in cardiac arrest as EMS workers were trying to resuscitate the young victims.

On Tuesday, Elkins was found not guilty by reason of insanity, Asbury Park Press was first to report.

Superior Court Judge Guy Ryan, sitting in Coean County, ordered that she be committed to a secure psychiatric hospital for two lifetime terms.

READ MORE: What does it mean to be 'not guilty by reason of insanity'?

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