Attack type Stabbing Deaths 2 | Weapons Knife Non-fatal injuries 1 (the suspect) | |
Location Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, United States Date October 25, 2012 (2012-10-25) (EST) | ||
In the late afternoon of October 25, 2012, Lucia and Leo Krim were killed at the La Rochelle apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The children's part-time nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, is accused of stabbing the children to death while their mother Marina Krim and three-year-old sister Nessie were a few blocks away at a swimming lesson. Upon returning home, their mother and sister found Lucia and Leo dead in a bathtub at the family apartment. Ortega then began stabbing herself repeatedly in the neck and throat. The stabbings were reported by the international press.
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Background
The children had lived with their parents, Marina and Kevin Krim, in New York City. The couple moved there from San Francisco in 2010. Kevin Krim was an executive at the television network CNBC and Marina Krim was a stay-at-home mother, art teacher and blogger who chronicled the children's lives in New York City. On October 25, 2012, at about 5:30 pm, Marina Krim returned to her apartment at 57 West 75th Street in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She discovered her two-year-old son, Leo Krim, and six-year-old daughter, Lucia "Lulu" Krim, stabbed in a bathtub in the family apartment. It was later reported that the children were still breathing when their mother arrived, but were pronounced dead by medics on the way to the hospital. After seeing Marina Krim discover what had happened to her children, their nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, began to stab her own throat. This scene was also witnessed by the apartment building's superintendent and his 10-year-old son.
Ortega was originally from Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic and was 50 years old at the time of the incident. She was living in Manhattan's Hamilton Heights neighborhood with her teenage son, among others. In subsequent interviews with the NYPD Ortega claimed she was upset that her employer, Marina Krim, responded to her inquiry about needing more hours (due to money troubles) by suggesting she could do housework. The NYPD and friends of the nanny agreed she was upset because the Krims would not pay her more money. However, family and friends who knew the Krims, as well as Ortega's own family, confirmed that Ortega was close to the children and was treated very well by the Krims. They paid for her plane tickets to see her family in the Dominican Republic and, on one occasion, accompanied her on vacation there.
Ortega survived her self-inflicted wounds, and since then has been deemed by two New York state psychiatrists to be mentally competent to stand trial. She was incarcerated at a New York City psychiatric hospital and preparing for trial with a court-appointed public defender.
Lulu & Leo Fund
The Krims have subsequently set up the Lulu & Leo Fund, a non-profit charity that supports arts programs for disadvantaged children. The Krim family posts photos and memories of their children on the Lulu & Leo Fund public Facebook page, including fundraising events and photos of art made by their children.