Overview

• Naomi Elkins, a 27-year-old mother from Lakewood, NJ, drowned her two daughters, aged 1 and 3, in June 2024, citing 'religious purposes' to eliminate evil.
• A court found Elkins not guilty by reason of insanity, sentencing her to two lifetime terms—totaling 150 years—in a secure psychiatric hospital.
• Psychologist Gianni Pirelli testified that Elkins suffered from severe mental illness, including postpartum psychosis, and was in a psychotic state during the killings.
• Evidence presented included Elkins' belief that killing her children would rid the world of evil, alongside delusions that she or her husband was the Messiah.
• Elkins' mental health will be periodically reviewed, and she will remain institutionalized unless deemed no longer a danger to herself or others.