by CHRISTINE ABRAHAM Photographer
A mother returned to her luxury apartment in Manhattan on the Upper East Side to find two of her children stabbed to death in a bathtub, and their wounded nanny nearby with self-inflicted stab wounds. Yoselyn Ortega, 50, was found near a knife and brought to the hospital in critical condition. Ortega is suspected of killing the children, who were announced dead at the hospital. No charges have been filed yet, and Ortega remains in police custody. The horror began for Marina Krim, the mother of the children, and her third child, 3-year-old Nessie, when they returned to their home at Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Thursday evening. Confused by her dark apartment, she went back down to the lobby to ask the doorman if the nanny and the children had gone out. After she was told otherwise, Krim entered her apartment again, finding her two children, 2-year-old Leo and 6-year-old Lucia, stabbed to death in the bathtub, and Ortega lying nearby with multiple stab wounds. The amount of times the children were stabbed is still unclear. “There was some kind of screaming about, ‘You slit her throat!'” said music therapist Rima Starr, who lives on the same floor as the Krim family and heard screams around 5:30 p.m. Neighbors told Fox 5 news that the mother’s screams were so intensely sharp that neighbors could hear them from half a block away. “Oh my goodness. That is absolutely terrifying,” said sophmore Jacqueline Hur. “It’s devastating. There is no way that woman will ever be able to get along with her life.” The children’s father, CNBC digital media executive Kevin Krim, was on a business trip. Once he heard of the news, he was escorted by police from the airport to the hospital immediately. “It’s unclear how long the nanny had worked for the family and the police investigation is ongoing. No charges had been filed,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Starr said that she believed the nanny had just been hired. “I met her in the elevator, the day before yesterday, and was making small talk,” she said. Starr said that the mother remained in the building’s lobby, screaming hysterically and holding her surviving child tightly after the police had arrived. The couple’s apartment building is in one of the city’s most idyllic neighborhoods, near the Museum of Natural History, a block away from Central Park, and blocks away from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The neighborhood is filled with many rich families who have nannies for their children, making this violent crime even more disturbing for residents. The children’s mother keeps a blog called “Life with the Little Krim Kids” describing her as a devoted mother, showing her amused daily observations and latest tricks by her beloved children. The blog also contains many pictures of all the children smiling happily. In her February entry, Krim writes about her visit to the Dominican Republic and meeting her children’s nanny’s family. She refers to the nanny as Josie, making it unclear whether or not it is the same nanny that harmed the children. “We met Josie’s amazing familia!!! And the Dominican Republic is a wonderful country!!” she wrote. She also described how her 6-year-old daughter loves “all things princess” and art projects, while Leo has a huge obsession with crocs and just began to learn how to walk. Fernando Mercado, the superintendent of the building where Ortega lives, told “The Wall Street Journal” that “she was a very nice lady and very religious”. “To me, she has always been very, very stable,” he said. It is still unknown how long Ortega worked for the family, what her motives were for doing something like this, or if she has a critical medical condition.