Killer nanny trial: A tragic tale of rich mum, poor mum

A nanny in New York is on trial for killing two children in a case that has cast the spotlight on the city's widening class divide. The murder trial is expected to go on for three months. The killings inspired a best-selling novel, half a world away in France, on the relationship between a seemingly perfect nanny and her wealthy employers, and brought into sharper focus the divide between the rich and the poor in New York City.

Killer nanny trial
Killer nanny trial: A tragic tale of rich mum, poor mum
PUBLISHED MAR 4, 2018, 5:00 AM SGT
    ...
Yoselyn Ortega, the nanny who stabbed herself in the throat and was charged with killing the two children she was caring for in October 20
appearing in court in 2013. Ortega, a naturalised US citizen from the Dominican Republic, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. PHOTO:
11 of
2
WORLDWORLD  United States Europe Middle East Americas Africa

A nanny in New York is on trial for killing two children in a case that has cast the spotlight on
widening class divide
Nur Asyiqin Mohamad
Salleh
The entire apartment was dark, except for a sliver of light below the bathroom door - a sight that filled
Krim with mounting dread.
When she pushed it open, still clutching the hand of her three-year-old daughter, Nessie, after a wild d
search of her two other children, she found Lucia "Lulu", six, and Leo, two, drenched in blood in the ba
slit, eyes staring vacantly.
On the bathroom floor was their nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, wrists bleeding from a series of slashes as she
into her own neck.
"It's so awful. It's like a total horror movie," Ms Krim told a silent courtroom last week through anguish
down the hall and I see the light on under the back of the door, and I'm like 'Oh God, it's so quiet in he
is it so... quiet?' And I open the door, oh God."
On March 1, more than five years after the gruesome October 2012 killings, employer and nanny came
once more, in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Ms Krim, 41, was the first witness to testify in the murder trial, which will put Ortega, 55, behind bars f
her life if convicted.
The killings inspired a best-selling novel, half a world away in France, on the relationship between a se
nanny and her wealthy employers, and brought into sharper focus the divide between the rich and the
York City.
Lucia and Leo
were found
drenched in
blood in a
bathtub.
PHOTOS: LULU &
LEO


FUND/FACEBOOK
On the first day of the trial, emotions ran high as Ms Krim turned to address Ortega, who has pleaded
reason of insanity.
Stopping to confront her on the way to the witness stand, she stared down her former nanny, telling h
good look at you."
And after a harrowing testimony that left jurors in tears, she snapped at Ortega: "You're disgusting!"
Ortega, a naturalised US citizen, started working for the Krims in 2010, and was warmly accepted by th
The three children fondly nicknamed her Josie, and just nine months before the murders, the family ha
trip back to the Dominican Republic. In fact, they travelled there with her, staying a few days at her sis
Ortega, said Ms Krim in court, had been punctual and reliable, "always where I needed her to be".
But on Oct 25, 2012, she was not at the dance school as promised.
A dance instructor informed Ms Krim, who had hurried over after Nessie's swimming lesson, that Orteg
come by with Lucia and Leo.
Ms Kim fired off a series of anxious texts to her nanny, then went on to make frantic phone calls that w
voicemail.
Panicking, she raced back to her luxury Manhattan apartment - and into the blood-soaked bathroom.
It turned out that Ortega had taken the siblings to the park before the three headed home.
There, she selected two knives from the kitchen, and used them to stab Leo five times, and Lucia 30 ti
The cuts on their throats were so severe that first responders thought the siblings had been decapitate
district attorney Courtney Groves last Thursday in a chilling opening statement that laid bare the vicio
killings.
"There was no way to save them," she said. "The devastation the defendant had inflicted on their little
much."
Lucia had fought back, she said, and Leo was so wet with blood that the officer who lifted him from the
about losing his grip.
Ortega, she said, waited until Ms Krim had stumbled on the scene before stabbing herself so "she coul
reaction to the carnage".
Related Story
‘You‘You’re evil!re evil!’: Mother rages at nanny: Mother rages at nanny
during US murder trialduring US murder trial


Ms Krim, who traded a job as marketing director for full-time motherhood, recalled banging her head in
against the marble pillars of her apartment building.
She said: "I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare that I knew wasn't a nightmare. It was real... S
best friends. These two kids were my best friends."
Her husband, Kevin, then a CNBC executive, received the bad news at the airport, where he was met b
night after landing home from a business trip.
The defence painted a portrait of a woman living under the weight of chronic mental illness, dogged fo
life by hallucinations and disembodied voices.
Friends and relatives said that in the weeks leading up to the murders, Ortega seemed to be unravellin
seeing a psychiatrist. Her sister was jolted awake three days before the killings by Ortega tossing pots
around in the kitchen, and banging her head against the wall.
On the morning of the killings, she demanded to be let into her neighbour's home, muttering: "I can't b
afraid."
Ms Krim took the stand for a second time last Friday to testify that Ortega was "not her normal self" in
before the killing, but that there was nothing in their 21/2 years together to suggest that her nanny wa
unstable.
The prosecution says Ortega was driven by malice, not madness.
She had plotted the murders, fuelled by resentment towards Ms Krim, whom she saw as being the mot
never be.
She had left her son in the Dominican Republic, before taking him to New York just a few months befor
But Ortega - who was earning about US$500 (S$660) week - struggled to support him. She had him se
school instead of a public one, where he would have to repeat a grade.
She told police in 2012 that she hurt the children because she had money problems, and was angry at
who constantly changed her schedule and offered her an extra US$100 a week to clean as well - a ges
family said was meant to help her out financially.
The case of a New York nanny turned killer carried with it the fraught issues of income inequality and t
class divide.
The Krims and Ms Ortega may have all lived in Manhattan, but they occupied vastly different worlds.
Ortega lived in a rundown, overcrowded apartment building, sharing a small flat with her son, sister an
selling cheap make-up and jewellery to earn more cash.
The Krims' pre-war condominium, a short stroll from Central Park, came with its own doorman. They ho
often, having met for the first time in Venice.
Mr Krim, who now heads a data analytics firm, held a string of high-flying jobs with big-name companie
Yahoo and Bloomberg.
After moving from San Francisco to New York in 2009, the family decided to hire a nanny to shuttle the
around to an array of activities that included ballet classes, swimming lessons and second-language co
In 2014, the US Census declared that the gap between Manhattan's rich and poor was the country's gr

per cent of households e earned US$864,394 - a whopping 88 times as much as the poorest 20 per ce
Those at the bottom "may even be losing ground", said sociologist Andrew A. Beveridge then, noting t
housing and living costs soared, public assistance for needy families has remained scarce.
The murder trial - which began after five years of delays and hearings about Ortega's mental fitness -
on for three months.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on March 04, 2018, with the headline 'A tragic tale of rich mum,
Print Edition | Subscribe
TOPICS: MURDER/MANSLAUGHTERUS CRIME
Recommended by
FROM AROUND THE WEB
    ...
Looking at inequality: An
analyst's view
Mar 14, 2018
High Court dismisses claims
that multi-million-dollar
investments were illegal
loans
Mar 13, 2018
Kranji Marshes: A beacon
for bird lovers
Mar 14, 2018
Sticking to what works
Mar 14, 2018
Shark from Shark tank
joins…
news.sportyco
Leonardo DiCaprio Buys
Malibu Beachfront…
Mansion Global
Pete Sampras Lists His Los…
Mansion Global
At Just 19, Kylie Jenner…
Mansion Global

Recommended by
Top 10 Antivirus For Mac…
My Antivirus Review
Warren Buffett Beat The
Hedge…
mediabotox.com
Have You Tried This
Clever…
Honey
Doctor Warns: Don't Cover
up…
Vital Updates
ST VIDEOS
Donald Trump fires top…
Renowned British physicist Stephen…

Recommended by
Britain seeks support at…
Google co-founder Larry…
BRANDED CONTENT
SPONSORED CONTENT
How universities transform lives
Skills activate your knowledge

Available for
iPhones and iPads
Available in
Google Play
SUBSCRIBE TO
call6388-3838
or click hereclick here
Here’s how to keep fit without breaking a sweat
UOB Asset Management: Why China holds promise
FOLLOW ST
SINGAPORE
POLITICS
ASIA
WORLD
VIDEOS
MULTIMEDIA
LIFESTYLE
FOOD
FORUM
OPINION
BUSINESS
SPORT
TECH

SPH Digital News / Copyright © 2018 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved
    
Terms & Conditions Data Protection Policy
Need help? Reach us here. Advertise with us
 
 