KILL SPREE
• She stabs 2 kids • Mom finds them in
A DERANGED nanny savagely murdered a media executive’s two young kids inside a posh upper West Side apartment Thursday — and then slit her own throat in a botched suicide attempt, police said.
The children’s mother, Marina Krim, walked into her W. 75th St. apartment about 5:25 p.m. and found a scene of unimaginable horror: her 6-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son lying motionless in a blood-soaked bathtub. Each had multiple stab wounds.
On the floor beside them was the kids’ critically injured nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, and the kitchen knife she used to carry out the heinous attack, police said.
Krim, who had just arrived home with another child, her 3-year-old daughter, immediately started wailing — her piercing shrieks echoing outside the eight-story building known as La Rochelle.
“I could hear really loud, hysterical screaming — world-class screaming,” said an elderly neighbor, who lives down the hall from the Krim family on the second floor. “I didn’t want to go out of my apartment.”
The neighbor said he eventually opened his door and spotted his super standing outside the family’s door.
“He’s also screaming at the top of his lungs,” the neighbor said. “He said, ‘The kids are dead! The kids are dead! And the nanny has something sticking out of her throat!’ ”
The children, Lucia and Leo, were pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital. The 50-year-old Ortega, who was so close to the Krims that they spent time with her family in the Dominican Republic, was taken to Cornell Medical Center with wounds to her neck and throat. Ortega, who has not yet been charged, was listed in critical but stable condition.
“It’s about the worst thing you can hear or imagine,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
The children’s father — Kevin Krim, CNBC’s general manager of digital content — was on a plane from California when the kids were found. Krim, a Harvard grad who previously held high-level jobs at Yahoo and Bloomberg, returned home Thursday night.
The Krims relocated to New York from California about three years ago and had a dog, a greyhound named Babar, neighbors said.
Just three hours before she discovered her two kids dead, Marina Krim posted a tender message about little Leo on her blog — “Life with the little Krim kids.”
“Leo speaks in the most adorable way possible,” reads the 2:33 p.m. post.
“Firstly, he speaks super clearly, so you can understand every word is (sic) he is saying. And he does things like, ‘(I) want a fresh bagel’ and ‘Dito (what he calls himself) wants cold milk’ and most adorable of all, ‘No thank you’ — he never uses ‘No’ alone, it’s always paired with ‘thank you.’ ”
The blog is filled with pictures and videos of the Krims’ adorable children — picking pumpkins, playing outside phone booths and sleeping next to their toys.
There’s a picture of 3-year-old Nessie, a navy blue bow in her hair, on her first day of school. There’s a beaming Leo, flanked by his sisters in matching striped pajamas, staring at a plate of cupcakes with pink frosting. And an image of the three kids huddled inside a bright red bin.
“I am very proud that the 3 kids absolutely love to play together and never seem to get bored at home,” the post reads. “They are
constant- ly thinking up fun things to do in the house.”
Ortega, who lived in Hamilton Heights, was described by shocked neighbors as a kind-hearted woman who loved taking care of kids.
“She just seems like a calm, normal person,” said neighbor Kenia Gelao, 25. “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.”
The Krims spent several days with Lopez’s family in Santiago during a February vacation to the Dominican Republic.
Marina Krim raved about the trip on her blog, posting photos of her kids with Ortega’s family and locals chopping down coconuts in their nanny’s sister’s backyard. She refers to Ortega as Josie. “We spent the past 9 days in the Dominican Republic,” she wrote on Feb. 28.
“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!!”
Police said Marina Krim discovered the bodies after she returned home from Nessie’s swimming practice.
The apartment was pitch-black and dead quiet, prompting her to go downstairs and ask a doorman if he saw Ortega
He’s screaming at the top of his lungs, ‘The kids are dead! The kids are dead! And the nanny has something sticking out of her throat!’
leave with her kids, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
After the doorman said no, she went back upstairs, flicked on the light in the blood-spattered bathroom and started screaming.
“I heard a lot of screams, wailings coming from inside,” said Johnny Din, 29, who lives on the block. “It was really loud and scary.”
Neighbor Sandy Marcus said the mother “looked beyond frantic.”
“She came home and found all of this,” said Marcus, who lives on the third floor, one floor above the crime scene. “She was very distressed.”
“It’s just unbelievable,” said Charles Zimmerman, who also lives on the third floor.
Hordes of cops stormed the building after the mother’s neighbor heard her screams and dialed 911. Marina Krim, who neighbors said may have worked as a pediatrician, was seen afterward being escorted into an ambulance, tightly clutching her surviving daughter Nessie.
“She was mumbling words, incoherent,” said Stephanie Herman, 58. “I can’t imagine experiencing something like this.
“This is a very family-oriented area. You see moms and their strollers a lot. Many people hire nannies here. This is everyone’s worst nightmare.”
Sources said blood was found in the kitchen, suggesting that’s where the attack may have started or where Ortega might have first tried to take her own life.
It was unclear how long Ortega had worked for the family or what might have set her off, cops said. The police would not say how many times the children had been stabbed.
The prewar, 81-unit La Rochelle — boasting white-gloved doormen and a lobby bathed in marble — is less than a block from Central Park. Three-bedroom apartments rent for nearly $11,000 a month.
The barbaric crime in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods left neighbors horrified. “It’s awful. It makes me sick to my stomach,” said Jill Pace, 27, who lives in the area. “I can’t even look at the building. You have to wonder what goes through someone’s mind to do such a horrible thing.”
Segundo Mores, 48, said the murders will likely make parents more vigilant when screening nannies.
“Obviously, parents need to do criminal and even psychological background checks,” Mores said. “These are your kids. Your most precious possession. Oftentimes, people hire nannies from word of mouth. That is not going to be enough anymore.” With Joe Kemp, Denis Slattery and
Rocco Parascandola