Story highlights "She actually told them to close their eyes and go to sleep," sheriff says 
 
 Ebony Wilkerson is charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder 
 
 She's also charged with three counts of aggravated child abuse 
 
 Witnesses say she drove into surf, struggled with rescuers trying to free her children 
 
 A woman accused of driving a minivan into the Atlantic Ocean with her three children in Florida was arrested Friday on three counts of attempted first-degree murder, Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said. 
 
 Investigators say they think Ebony Wilkerson was trying to kill her children -- ages 3, 9 and 10 -- when she drove into the surf Tuesday in Daytona Beach, Johnson said. 
 
 "She actually told them to close their eyes and go to sleep, she was taking them to a better place," he said. 
 
 Bystanders and beach rangers went into the water and rescued the children, witnesses and police said. Wilkerson tried to keep rescuers from pulling her children from the minivan and at one point was fighting her son for control of the steering wheel, Johnson said. 
 
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 Johnson said Wilkerson told investigators she was trying to drive out of the surf, not into it, and has denied trying to harm her children. 
 
 Tim Tesseneer was driving along Daytona Beach on Tuesday with his wife when they noticed the minivan driving through shallow water. They heard the screams, he said, of two children, who were crying and waving for help out of one of the rear windows. 
 
 Tesseneer threw the car in park and raced over to help. One child was screaming, Tesseneer recalled Wednesday to CNN's Piers Morgan. " 'Please help us, our mom is trying to kill us.' " 
 
 The other child he could see was wrestling a woman for the steering wheel. But the woman just kept saying, " 'We're OK. We're OK. We're OK,' " as another man joined Tesseneer trying to get the driver to stop. 
 
 With the minivan in the cold, heavy surf of the Atlantic, the second man, Stacy Robinson, opened a door and pulled out the two panicked children. There was a good chance if he and Tesseneer hadn't been there, the children, ages 10 and 9, would have drowned inside the van as it pitched in the water, officials said. 
 
 Another child, a 3-year-old girl, was strapped in a car seat. A lifeguard dived in through a front window and unbuckled the child and handed her to another lifeguard as the vehicle bobbed in water about 3 feet deep. 
 
 The mother just walked away, Tesseneer said, silent with a strange, almost "possessed" look on her face. 
 
 While there is no evidence that drugs or alcohol were involved, Johnson said one goal of charging her was to make sure she gets help for any possible mental issues. 
 
 "This is a tragic event. And our goal is to get her into the system so that we can protect the children and take whatever action we need to help her, too," he said. 
 
 Wilkerson also is being held on three counts of aggravated child abuse, Johnson said. She has not yet requested an attorney, he said. 

 The Volusia County Sheriff's Office has announced charges of attempted murder against a pregnant mother who drove her three children into the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday. 
 
 Ebony Wilkerson, 32, was taken into deputy custody Friday on three counts of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of child abuse. Sheriff Ben Johnson said she is being booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail. 
 
 
 
 The Sheriff's Office posted on Twitter that it would announce its decision Friday afternoon: 
 
 Volusia County Sheriff's Office to announce charging decision at 1 p.m. today regarding woman who drove van with children into the ocean. — VCSO PIO (@VolusiaSheriff) March 7, 2014 
 
 "Ebony Wilkerson acted with premeditated design to kill her three children," the Sheriff's Office said in the charging affidavit. 
 
 Investigators said the 32-year-old mother was 27 weeks pregnant when she drove her 2012 Honda Odyssey into the rough surf at Daytona Beach. Deputies said she locked the doors, put up the windows and told her three frightened children to close their eyes on go to sleep, ignoring their pleas for help and insisting she was taking them all to "a safer place." 
 
 
 
 Wilkerson was arrested Friday morning at Halifax Health Medical Center, where she had been taken Tuesday for a mental health evaluation. Sheriff Johnson said Wilkerson was being booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail without bond. 
 
 According to family members, Wilkerson came to Florida from South Carolina to escape an abusive husband. 
 
 In the arrest affidavit, Wilkerson's sister had taken the woman to a hospital for a mental evaluation check, but Wilkerson left the hospital despite the advice of medical staff. 
 
 Hours before Wilkerson drove into the ocean, her sister called 911 requesting a well-being check. The sister and a friend asked the dispatcher to send police to stop Wilkerson from leaving. 
 
 Caller's friend: She was just released from the hospital. Mom's sister: And she's pregnant. Friend: And they put her on medication to make her drowsy. 911 dispatcher: OK, has she left? Sister: Yeah, she's gone. 
 
 Wilkerson took off when her children, a 3-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, in the van. 
 
 A Daytona Beach police officer pulled her over, but ended up letting her go. The officer reported while it was clear she was suffering from some form of mental illness, the traffic stop "did not provide any signs that she met Baker Act requirements." 
 
 
 
 Under the Baker Act, the officer could have detained the woman on a psychiatric hold, but Sheriff Johnson said there were no grounds to Baker-Act Wilkerson based on the officer's report. 
 
 
 
 Moments later, a lifeguard spotted the van driving erratically on the beach before the woman turned sharply toward the ocean, plowing into the water. Deputies said Wilkerson then got out of the van, leaving her children inside. 
 
 
 
 Lifeguards and several beachgoers jumped into action, rescuing the three children as rough waves rocked and nearly submerged the minivan. The kids were carried safely to shore before being taken to Halifax Health. 
 
 
 
 In the arrest affidavit, Wilkerson told rescuers "it was something I had to do." She said she was taking her and her children "to a safer place." 
 
 
 
 While at the hospital, deputies said the children told them, "Mom tried to kill us." The 10-year-old girl told Volusia County Beach Safety officers that their mother took them to the beach "so we could die." 
 
 
 
 Deputies said at one point, the 10-year-old grabbed the steering wheel of the van in attempt to steer it away from the water, but was unsuccessful. A witness reported seeing a child on Wilkerson's lap and the two fighting for control of the steering wheel. 
 
 One of the children pushed the power button to lower the windows, and the children started screaming for help, saying their mother was trying to kill them. Their yelling got the attention of the bystanders who ran to save them. 
 
 
 
 One witness said beach safety officers had to fend off Wilkerson, who tried to stop them from entering the van. 
 
 
 
 Investigators said a family member told them that Wilkerson was in an abusive relationship, and she came to Florida with her children to escape her husband. The relative added Wilkerson had no prior history of mental illness. 

 By Alexandra Seltzer 
 
 Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 
 
 UPDATE: The Associated Press has reported that Ebony Wilkerson, 32, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and three counts of child abuse causing great bodily harm. A Volusia County Judge has set her bond at $1.2 million. 
 
 This is a developing story. Check back for details. 
 
 ORIGINAL STORY: As a busy single father, Douglas Krane admits he hasn’t been paying attention to the news this week. But after a friend called Friday morning to tell him about the South Carolina woman who investigators say drove herself and her three children into the Daytona Beach surf, he says he cried. 
 
 “All of a sudden my heart broke. Any kind of thing that says her name automatically rings a bell,” the 42-year-old Fort Lauderdale man said. “There’s not too many Ebony Wilkersons around. I just hope her kids are OK.” 
 
 Seven years ago Krane’s and Wilkerson’s lives collided in Delray Beach while both were driving north on Interstate 95. Authorities blamed Wilkerson for changing lanes and hitting Krane’s Nissan. The crash sent the Nissan across the highway and into a wall. Krane’s wife, Jennifer, died several days later. 
 
 Wilkerson was never arrested for the wreck, but is now in a Volusia County Jail facing three attempted first-degree murder charges and three aggravated child abuse charges after her children told authorities their mother tried killing them Tuesday by driving them into the ocean. 
 
 Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson held a news conference Friday announcing the criminal charges and said Wilkerson, 32, was taken into custody after her release from the hospital. While Wilkerson, who is 27 weeks pregnant, told authorities she tried driving out of the surf, witnesses and the woman’s children say she drove into it. 
 
 “She definitely tried to kill her children, from everything we have seen,” Johnson said. “It’s a very disappointing thing because you’re supposed to protect your children at all costs. You’re not supposed to be trying to kill your children. And that disappoints me greatly. And it’s not only here. It’s everywhere.” 
 
 In the 2007 wreck, investigators cited Wilkerson for violating the changing lanes statute, and she was sentenced to community service, records show. Krane said he always believed Wilkerson should have been sentenced to jail time. 
 
 Douglas and Jennifer Krane were on their way to Jupiter to visit Douglas’ mother. The couple’s son Jayden, only 20 days old at the time, was fussy and Jennifer Krane sat in the back with him. The couple were deciding whether to feed Jayden, and Jennifer unbuckled her seat belt to grab formula. 
 
 “First she screamed ‘Oh my God’ and then she laid on top of the baby,” Douglas Krane recalled. “I guess when we hit that wall as hard as we did, her neck and head slammed against the window pretty good.” 
 
 When asked if he was hurt, Krane answered: “Only by losing her.” 
 
 Wilkerson, who according to records lived in both Boynton Beach and Delray Beach from at least 2005 to 2010, doesn’t have a criminal history in Palm Beach County. However, her husband, Lutful Ronjon, was arrested in May 2005 after Wilkerson told Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies he punched her after they fought over receipts. 
 
 Ronjon’s wife “had a small, red slight bruise on her cheek on the right side,” a deputy wrote in an incident report. 
 
 Wilkerson’s sister Jessica Harrell told deputies she witnessed the fight. 
 
 The Palm Beach County State Attorney decided not to prosecute the domestic battery charge, records show. 
 
 The Volusia County sheriff said an investigation is ongoing in South Carolina regarding claims of domestic violence between the couple, but authorities haven’t found any evidence of a history of mental illness. 
 
 Wilkerson’s children told authorities they went to Harrell’s home in Daytona Beach three days before the incident on the beach because their mother wanted to get away from their father. Ronjon told investigators he’d be in town Thursday to speak with investigators, but by the time of the news conference, he still hadn’t shown up. 
 
 Harrell called Daytona Beach police Tuesday to alert them that her sister was “talking about demons” before leaving her home and she seemed “off.” Around 3 p.m. police caught up with Wilkerson driving a black Honda Odyssey. 
 
 “It was clear during my conversation that Wilkerson was suffering from some form of mental illness,” an investigator wrote in the incident report. “But she was lucid and did not provide any signs that she met Baker Act requirements.” 
 
 That Florida statute allows a person to be involuntarily examined if believed to have a mental illness and refuses voluntary examination or is unable to determine if examination is necessary, or if the person is likely to harm to harm him or herself, or others. 
 
 It was about two hours later when authorities spotted Wilkerson driving the Honda into the ocean. Tim Tesseneer and Stacy Robinson were at the beach and helped officers rescue the children. 
 
 Wilkerson reportedly told her children, “I am keeping all of us safe” and to close their eyes and go to sleep. 
 
 The children — ages 10, 9 and 3 — yelled for help, and one fought for the steering wheel. They later told investigators their parents have a history of domestic violence. And, ever since they got to Florida to get away from their father, their mother had been acting crazy and said they were going to have “freedom.” 
 
 Wilkerson’s father told investigators his daughter was involved in an abusive relationship. He said his other daughter, Harrell, brought Wilkerson for a mental health evaluation Monday, but Wilkerson left against the staff’s advice.
– The 32-year-old mother who drove her three kids into the Atlantic Ocean has been charged with attempted murder, reports CNN. Ebony Wilkerson has denied trying to harm her kids, but they and witnesses at the scene in Daytona Beach tell a much different story. "She actually told them to close their eyes and go to sleep, she was taking them to a better place," said Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson. Bystanders entered the surf and got the kids out of the minivan, and police say Wilkerson—who was outside the vehicle—tried to block them from doing so, reports News13. Family members say Wilkerson, who is pregnant, spoke of demons earlier in the day, and Johnson said the criminal charges will help ensure she gets whatever mental health treatment is necessary. The Palm Beach Post reports that Wilkerson was involved in a fatal car accident in 2007. Police say she switched lanes and hit another vehicle, killing a 35-year-old new mom inside.