Nanny Yoselyn Ortega, pictured with Lucia Krim (right) and surviving daughter Nessie, 3 (obscured). Image via nydailynews.
Why did a Manhattan nanny stab Marina Krim's two children to death?
Authorities are at present still trying to piece together the horrific events of last night's double murders at West 75th st which saw 50 year old nanny, Yoselyn Ortega purportedly kill two children, 6 year old Lulu and 3 year old Leo Krim in her care.
At present authorities who have been amassing evidence and interviewing friends and relatives as well as the Krims themselves in the hope of shedding light on last night's affairs have at present been reluctant to draw inference of what may have compelled Ms Ortega to act out. Instead they have publicly held that at present they have no motive.
That said authorities are hopeful that more light may be shed once Ms Ortega who remains in critical care comes to after a failed suicide attempt which saw her attempting to slit her own throat and wrists which hints at degrees of guilt and complicity in the murder of the two toddlers.
The murders themselves have widely alarmed many working New Yorkers, many of whom have taken into their household nannies to help with the day to day rigors of living in NYC, albeit as some commentators have cryptically reflected a well to do lifestyle reserved for the few…
Gaining a sense of Yoselyn Ortega's character and a clue as to any motive that may have played a part in her supposed role in the murder of Marina and Kevin Krim's two children has at best been a fraught enterprise given the grimly circumstances at hand.
Courtesy of the nydailynews, building superintendent Fernando Mercado where Ms Ortega lived in the immigrant enclave of Hamilton Heights had this to offer:
"I heard she loved those kids. We were all shocked. She's a very nice woman. It sounded strange. All the time she was a nice lady, very religious. To me she has always been very, very stable."
Then there was this description by neighbor Kenia Gelao: "She just seems like a calm, normal person. She's always very good with my kids. She's never had no problems. I guess you never know what can happen. Sometimes, people just break."
Although there may have been signs that something was not all fine, as Ms Ortega's niece, Katherine Garcia reiterated : 'She was acting kind of nervous lately.'
Of course who amongst us hasn't had a bad day or an emotionally volatile period in their lives which may encourage thoughts, feelings and behavior that one would be loathe to act out on any other day…?
Nevertheless Ms Ortega who had been in the service of Marina and Kevin Krim for just over a year was much adored by her employer, the Krim family and she in turn it is said was very much enraptured by them, having even compelled the Krim family to visit her family home in the Dominican Republic.
Wrote Marina Krim in her blog (since suspended) during the family's nine day stay this past February.
"We spent half the time at our nanny, Josie's sisters home in Santiago . . . We met Josie's amazing familia!!! And the Dominican Republic is a wonderful country!! More pics to come!!"
And yet at the end of the day the visage of a hunkered 50 year old woman with her own throat and wrists slit at her own hand who was said to have loved the children as if her own just makes no sense. And yet perhaps this is what most find so unsettling, that someone who is given so much trust and who to date had shown few signs of irregularity would resort to such a violent crime.
Could it come down to a perceived sleight at the hands of the Krim family that eventually forced Ms Ortega's hand, was there a lingering sense of betrayal, an offense or even Ms Ortega suddenly snapping at something that the children may have done that led her to doing the unthinkable?
One also wonders if and how the socio economic aspects of the Krim's social standing may have also tempered the family nanny who one assumes was probably paid quite well but that too may have played a part in a sense of resentment and alienation against the well to do Krims who are said to have paid $10 000 a month for their stately Manhattan abode.
Then again why should a family's social standing ever be a factor when an employee decides to do the unthinkable and murder a family's most cherished beings, its children…?
Marina Krim and Leo and Lulu.
Scores of pictures on the online blog show the three children playing happily together at the home.
