Police: Nanny stabbed herself upon mother's arrival
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Nothing appeared amiss between the nanny and children, a resident says
- The mother returned home to find the crime scene in a bathroom
- The family vacationed with Ortega in her native Dominican Republic
- The slain children were 2 and 6 years old
"We believe now that the nanny began to stab herself as the woman entered the room," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters in a revised account of Thursday's events.
"We initially thought that had already been done but now information is coming out that she did it as the mother entered the bathroom."
Earlier, police had said that Marina Krim found nanny Yoselyn Ortega, 50, on the bathroom floor of the family's Upper West Side luxury apartment with self-inflicted wounds.
In the tub lay the clothed bodies of two of Krim's children: Leo, who had recently celebrated his second birthday with "Pinkalicious-inspired cupcakes;" and his 6-year-old sister, Lucia, who had performed "beautifully in her ballet recital" in May.
Both children had been repeatedly stabbed, police said.
Ortega started stabbing herself in the neck with a kitchen knife, police said. Her wrists were slit.
"The charge is still to be determined," Kelly said.
A mother's greatest fear
Krim had left the two children with the nanny, known as "Josie," to take her third child, 3-year-old Nessie, to a swim lesson at a nearby YMCA, Kelly said. She had expected to meet the nanny at a dance class for the 6-year-old around 5:30 p.m.
When the nanny and children didn't show up, Krim went up to the apartment, where she found the lights were off, police said. Krim then returned to the lobby and asked a doorman whether he had seen her two other children leave with the nanny; he had not.
"There comes a time when she goes looking for her children and enters the bathroom and finds her 6-year-old daughter and son stabbed to death in the tub," Kelly said.
Leo, left, and Lucia Krim were discovered dead in a bathtub by their mother. That's when neighbors heard a scream.
The children's father, Kevin Krim, a senior vice president for CNBC Digital and former Yahoo executive, was en route back home from the West Coast. Police broke the news to him at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
"A member of the CNBC family has suffered an unimaginable loss," NBC Universal said in a statement. "The sadness that we all feel for Kevin, Marina and their family is without measure."
The nanny was taken to a hospital, where she was in critical but stable condition.
The bodies of the two children were removed from the building on a single stretcher and taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead.
Ortega was heavily sedated and under police watch on Friday at Weill Cornell Medical Center, said Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.
Kelly said she was breathing with the aid of a tube and unable to talk.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Ortega had been a naturalized U.S. citizen for 10 years.
Friends had introduced the family to Ortega, and she had worked for them since Leo's birth two years ago, police said.
She lives at another address on Manhattan's West Side with her son, her sister and her niece, Kelly said.
"We're just grieving. Worst nightmare anyone could ever imagine," said grandmother Karen Krim, who lives in California. "We don't have a clue what set her off."
Police on Thursday evening escorted from the apartment building the mother and her 3-year-old daughter, covering them with a white sheet to shield them from photographers and gawkers. The mother was treated at a hospital for trauma, police said.
More at: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/26/us/new-york-nanny-deaths/index.html?hpt=us_c2
Frenzied preparations as East Coast braces for possible 'superstorm'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Centered 330 miles south of Cape Hatteras, Sandy has 75 mph winds
- The storm is responsible for at least 45 deaths in Caribbean, Central America
- The mid-Atlantic and Northeast could see flooding, high winds, major power outages
- People are stocking up on essentials and sandbags in preparation of the storm
(CNN) -- Got bottled water? Food? Sandbags? Batteries? Toilet paper?
Those are questions that millions of people in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast are asking themselves this weekend, as they prepare for Hurricane Sandy -- which has already proven to be a deadly storm and is threatening heartache, and headaches, as it creeps toward the region.
Local and state officials have joined meteorologists in trumpeting the storm's potential breadth and impact, especially if it collides with a cold front from the West to create a "superstorm" that stalls over the Eastern Seaboard for days.
Computer models predict portions of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia could see up to a foot of rain, according to the CNN Weather Unit. And even though it's still October, communities in and around the Appalachian Mountains could be socked by heavy snow.
More at: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/27/us/tropical-weather-sandy/index.html?hpt=us_c1
RSS Feed