Yoselyn Ortega is the former Upper West Side nanny who murdered six-year-old Lucia “Lulu” Krim and two-year-old Leo Krim on October 25, 2012, stabbing both children to death in their family’s Manhattan apartment. A Manhattan jury rejected her insanity defense in April 2018 and convicted her of first-degree murder. She is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Killings on October 25, 2012
Ortega, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from the Dominican Republic, had worked as the Krim family’s nanny for about two years. Kevin Krim, a media executive, and his wife Marina had hired her through a family friend, and the family considered her close enough that they had traveled together to the Dominican Republic nine months before the killings.1CNN. Manhattan Nanny Trial Some of her professional references, it later emerged, had been fabricated.2ABC7 New York. Nanny Gets Life in Prison in UWS Stabbings of 2 Children
On the evening of October 25, Marina Krim left the apartment to take her three-year-old daughter Nessie to a swimming lesson. Kevin was away on business. When Marina returned, she found the apartment dark and quiet, and discovered Lulu and Leo stacked in the bathtub. Lulu had been stabbed more than 30 times; Leo had been stabbed five times. Ortega was at the scene with a self-inflicted stab wound to the neck.3NBC New York. Nanny Stab Children Upper West Side2ABC7 New York. Nanny Gets Life in Prison in UWS Stabbings of 2 Children A paramedic with 27 years on the job later called the bathroom “the most horrendous” scene he had ever responded to.4ABC7 New York. Building Super Testifies UWS Nanny Had Eyes of the Devil After Stabbings
Ortega was indicted on November 13, 2012, on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.5The World. Nanny Yoselyn Ortega Indicted on Krim Murder Charges Repeated competency disputes stretched the road to trial to nearly six years; Justice Gregory Carro found her fit in April 2013 and again in August 2013 after reviewing recorded jail calls in which she coherently discussed everyday matters.6CBS News. NYC Nanny Again Found Fit for Trial in Killings of Two Children
The Insanity Defense at Trial
Trial began on March 1, 2018, in Manhattan Supreme Court. Ortega pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Her lawyer, Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg, did not contest that Ortega killed the children; the defense argument was that she was legally insane when she did it.7NBC News. New York Nanny Who Killed Kids, Pleaded Insanity, Convicted of Murder
Two psychiatric experts testified for Ortega. Dr. Karen Rosenbaum said Ortega had suffered auditory and visual hallucinations and depression since age 16. Dr. Phillip J. Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist who had testified in the trials of the Unabomber and Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, called Ortega “frankly psychotic” on the day of the killings and testified that she had told him she “heard a strong voice that said, ‘You are to kill the Krim children and yourself.'” Absent mental illness, he said, her actions made “no sense at all.”8New York Post. Nanny Convinced Devil Made Her Kill Kids, Psychiatrist9The New York Times. Nanny Trial Psychiatrist Testimony A Weill Cornell psychiatrist, Dr. Marc Dubin, who treated Ortega for a month after the murders, testified that she initially denied any psychotic history but later reported male and female voices saying, “We’re going to kill a lot of people,” and that his team diagnosed major depression with psychotic features.10The Cut. Nanny Trial Week 3, Ortega Cries at Psychiatrist Testimony
Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorneys Stuart Silberg and Courtney Groves, told jurors they might never receive “a satisfactory answer” to why Ortega did it, but argued the killings were intentional and rooted in resentment: Ortega, they said, envied Marina Krim as the mother she “couldn’t be” and blamed her for the difficulties of her own life. Marina had recommended Ortega for extra housecleaning work, which prosecutors said only deepened her rage.11ABC News. Trial Starts for Nanny Accused of Killing Children in New York
The prosecution emphasized that Ortega had no documented psychiatric history before the killings. Three days before the murders, on October 22, 2012, she had seen psychologist Dr. Thomas A. Caffrey for a 40-minute session about anxiety and life stressors; he diagnosed generalized anxiety disorder and dysthymic disorder and recorded her prognosis as “good.”12Slate. Nanny Killer Yoselyn Ortega Sought Psychological Help Three Days Before She Killed Two Children Silberg pressed Dr. Dubin on cross-examination about the possibility Ortega was faking, and Dubin conceded nothing in psychiatry is “100 percent” certain, though he considered malingering “highly, highly unlikely.”10The Cut. Nanny Trial Week 3, Ortega Cries at Psychiatrist Testimony
Marina Krim was the prosecution’s first witness and testified for two days. “It was a scream you can’t imagine is even inside of you,” she told jurors, describing the moment she found her children. The testimony and crime-scene photographs pushed one juror, himself a father of two small children, to ask to be excused, saying he could no longer be impartial.13NBC News. Trial of Nanny Who Killed Kids Took Emotional Toll on Jurors
Verdict and Sentence
Closing arguments were delivered on April 16, 2018. The jury deliberated just under 10 hours and returned its verdict on the afternoon of April 18, convicting Ortega on all four counts: two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.14NY1. Yoselyn Ortega Murder Trial Verdict
On May 14, 2018, Justice Carro sentenced her to life without parole, calling her actions “pure evil.” Her planning around her own suicide attempt that day was “certainly unmistakable,” he said, but her motive for the murders remained unclear, “mainly because you claim you have a lack of memory.” Speaking in open court for the first time, Ortega addressed the Krims in Spanish: “I’m very sorry for everything that happened. I hope that no one goes through what I have gone through. I ask for forgiveness from God, from Marina, from Kevin.”15NPR. Nanny Gets Life Without Parole in Stabbing Deaths of 2 Children16The New York Times. Manhattan Nanny Sentenced to Life
Marina Krim told the court: “The defendant may think she destroyed Lulu and Leo, but she is a failure in this, too. Lulu and Leo are powerful forces. They are two stars now who will always lead us forward.” Both parents left the courtroom before the sentence was formally pronounced.17BBC. New York Nanny Jailed for Life for Murdering Children
The Appeals
Ortega appealed through the Center for Appellate Litigation, with attorney Robert S. Dean. On February 8, 2022, the Appellate Division, First Department, unanimously dismissed the two second-degree murder counts but otherwise affirmed the conviction, leaving the first-degree murder counts and the life-without-parole sentence in place.18New York Courts. People v. Yoselyn Ortega, Case No. 2019-4209
The New York Court of Appeals then granted leave to appeal. In a decision issued November 20, 2023, the state’s highest court found that admitting the autopsy reports through an expert witness who had not performed the autopsies violated Ortega’s Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against her. The court concluded, however, that the error was harmless given the strength of the remaining evidence, and affirmed the conviction.19FindLaw. People v. Yoselyn Ortega, Case No. 74
Lulu and Leo’s Law
The case prompted the New York Legislature to pass “Lulu and Leo’s Law” (S9070A), sponsored by Senator Andrew Lanza and signed into law in 2018. It makes it a Class A misdemeanor for a caregiver to make a false written statement misrepresenting their background for employment, or for anyone to provide false written statements about another person’s qualifications as a caregiver. Earlier law had reached staff and volunteers at childcare facilities but not in-home caregivers.20New York State Senate. Senate Gives Final Passage to Legislation Protecting Children From Fraudulent Caregivers