14-09-18, 23:34
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Mum Drove Van & Screaming Kids into Ocean
Kids Screamed as Mom Drove Van into Ocean
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A pregnant South Carolina woman who drove a minivan carrying her three young children into the ocean surf off Florida faces attempted murder and other charges, with authorities saying the children were screaming to bystanders that she was trying to kill them.
Bystanders and officers helped rescue 32-year-old Ebony Wilkerson and her children, ages 3, 9 and 10, from their minivan as it was almost submerged on Tuesday on Daytona Beach.
Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said Wilkerson has denied trying to hurt her children. However, the children told investigators otherwise and witnesses said she tried to keep them from rescuing them. The windows were rolled up and the doors were locked, and one of the children tried to wrestle the steering wheel away from her, Johnson said.
"She told them to close their eyes and go to sleep. She was trying to take them to a better place," Johnson said.
One of the children lowered the windows and the siblings yelled for help, attracting the bystanders, a sheriff's office report said. Wilkerson told them "everyone was OK" but the children screamed that their mother was trying to kill them. As water rushed into the minivan, Wilkerson left the vehicle with her children inside, the report said.
Wilkerson was placed in custody of the sheriff's office Friday after she had been hospitalized for a mental evaluation since Tuesday. Her children were with the Department of Children and Families. Wilkerson faces three counts each of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, Johnson said.
"You're supposed to protect your children at all costs," Johnson said at a news conference. "You're not supposed to try to kill your children."
Hours before driving into the ocean, Wilkerson had talked about demons when she left her sister's house in Daytona Beach, a police report said. Her sister worriedly called Daytona Beach police.
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