The mother who drove her minivan with her three children into the Atlantic Ocean in Florida was arrested on three counts of attempted first degree murder and three counts of first degree child abuse, authorities announced Friday at a news conference. Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said that an investigation had found that the woman, Ebony Wilkerson, tried to stop the rescuers from helping the children, and that her son was at one time trying to fight her for the steering wheel. “She did intentionally try to kill the children,” Johnson told reporters. He said that Wilkerson told the children to “close their eyes and go to sleep, she was taking them to a better place.” The three children were saved by rescuers who charged into the water on Tuesday afternoon at Daytona Beach.
