November 28, 2012

NYC nanny pleads not guilty to fatally stabbing 2 children

Yoselyn Ortega was arraigned Wednesday at a hospital where she has been treated for self-inflicted stab wounds.

Colleen Long / The Associated Press

NEW YORK — A nanny accused in the stabbing deaths of two children at their upscale Manhattan home pleaded not guilty Wednesday at a hospital where she's been treated for self-inflicted stab wounds.

Yoselyn Ortega, who was handcuffed to her hospital bed and wearing a blue hair net, entered the plea through her attorney. She appeared alert but didn't speak during the 10-minute hearing.

A judge ordered Ortega held without bail while she undergoes psychiatric exam. A court date was set for Jan. 16.

Police say that on the evening of Oct. 25, while the children's mother was out with a third child, Ortega repeatedly stabbed 6-year-old Lucia Krim and her 2-year-old brother, Leo.

When their mother, Marina Krim, returned with her 3-year-old daughter, she found their bodies in the bathtub, with Ortega lying on the bathroom floor with stab wounds to her neck. A kitchen knife was nearby.

The children's father, CNBC digital media executive Kevin Krim, had been away on a business trip when the killings occurred.

The couple's apartment building sits in one of the city's most idyllic neighborhoods, a block from Central Park, near the Museum of Natural History and blocks from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The neighborhood is home to many affluent families, and seeing children accompanied by nannies is an everyday part of life there.

Some of Ortega's friends and relatives said she appeared to be struggling emotionally and financially recently, but they still couldn't believe she could have committed such a heinous act.

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