Distraught father hopes that nanny who murdered his two children 'rots and dies' in prison
"She should live, rot and die!" were the words of a distraught father speaking about the murderous nanny who stabbed two of his kids in 2012. The woman has now been sentenced to a lifetime in prison without a chance for parole.
Yoselyn Ortega, the nanny, worked for Marina and Kevin Krim for two years when she killed two of their children, six-year-old Lulu and two-year-old Leo, in New York, on October 15, 2012. In the years she had been in their service, Ortega had not given them a cause for complaint.
On that fateful day, at about 5:35 pm, receiving no news from nanny Josie, as the children called her, Marina returned with her 3-year-old daughter, Nessie, to her apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and found her Lulu and Leo lying clothed in the bathtub filled with blood — each stabbed multiple times.
The reason for the nanny's behavior is a mystery because on the day Marina arrived at the scene, she saw Ortega sitting near the bathtub trying to stab her own neck with a kitchen knife. A remorseful Ortega, before the sentencing, said using an interpreter, "I am very sorry for everything that happened. My life is in the hands of god."
Ortega, who was found guilty last month on two counts each of first-degree and second-degree murder, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Her defense attorney, Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg, argued she was "suffering from severe psychosis" and "dissociation" at the time of the killings.
In Kevin's victim impact story, he pleaded to the judge that Ortega "never leaves the prison alive." He also called her an "evil and utterly dangerous narcissist" and that she should "live, rot and die" in prison.
According to a report by Abc News, the mother made a statement saying, "Lulu and Leo are powerful forces, they are two stars now that will lead us forward. She also addressed her daughter, Nessie, now nine years old, is happy, funny, confident, hard-worker" who loves school and "can adapt to any situation you put her in with ease."
"Each time she makes a wish, it's always for Lulu and Leo to come back to be with us. Nessie knows this wish will never come true. She knows from experience that life is not fair. But she is inspired by Lulu and Leo every day," Marina added.
The murdered children's parents also called out Ortega's family and claimed that they lied about her previous experience and her references to make her look qualified as a nanny for the children. Ortega is a naturalized US citizen and a native of the Dominican Republic. At the time of the murders she was living in Manhattan with her son, her sister and her niece, police said.
The Krims came in contact with Ortega through a family friend and had been working with them for two years, police said. Since there is no law stating it as illegal, the Krims are pushing forward to make the falsifying for job qualifications and references for someone working in childcare a criminal act. "Lulu and Leo's law" has been introduced in the New York state legislature "in direct response" to this case, he said.
Marina said that during the trial, Ortega's son Jesus called his mother's heinous act as an "accident" and she also said he winked and grinned at the jury "as if it was some kind of reality TV show". A clearly livid Marina said calling the killings an "accident" shows Ortega's family has "still not taken responsibility for their roles in these murders. They're still trying to cover up for her and themselves."
The Krims have had two more children, Felix and Linus. They also founded The Lulu & Leo Fund and Choose Creativity, an organization that offers parents and schools a curriculum based on 10 principles of creativity "that can help anyone thrive and build resiliency in all facets of their lives," according to the fund website.