Yoselyn Ortega, the 50-year-old nanny allegedly responsible for the stabbing deaths of two small children on the Upper West Side in New York City is in a medically induced coma.
Marina Krim, the mother of the slain children, walked into the horrifying scene unfolding in her apartment on Thursday. She found 2-year-old Leo Krim and his sister, 6-year-old Lucia Krim, dead in the family’s bathtub. Ortega lay on the floor, near a bloody knife, with what authorities believe were self-inflicted slash wounds to her throat.
Krim, a mother of three, took her 3-year-old daughter to a swimming lesson earlier that day. According to a statement made by NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Ortega was scheduled to meet Krim and the 3-year-old at a dance studio after the swimming lesson. When they failed to show up, Ms. Krim returned home to the tragic scene.
Friends of Ortega say she was having a turbulent year, after losing her apartment in the Bronx and being forced to move back into her sister’s apartment located in Harlem. Those who knew her say “she had changed for the worse, looking harried, gaunt and older in recent months,” according to the New York Times. Family members also believe Ortega may have also been visiting a psychologist.
However, what compelled her to murder the children–who many say she was extremely devoted to–remains unclear. Investigators are hoping Ortega’s recovery will reveal some answers.
