Formal Charges Against NYC Nanny Make Us Feel Awful All Over Again

Charges have finally been filed in the awful case of the NYC nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, who killed two children in her care before attempting to kill herself. Now we are all reminded that the poor mother who walked in on this horrific bloodbath will eventually have to endure sitting in the same courtroom as this woman.

Ortega awakened from a medically-induced coma six days ago, but hadn’t recovered enough to be questioned by the police, and wasn’t uttering a word about the murders. Yesterday, she finally recovered enough to be questioned by police in her hospital bed at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center. Following the police interview, she was formally charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder.  From The Huffington Post:

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.

Since the murders, many have been asking “why?” There has been speculation about Ortega’s mental and financial state, and a possible rocky relationship with the Krims. The NY Post reported that she told police that she was angry that she was expected to do housework. Eventually, she will sit in a courtroom and explain her reasons for the heinous attack. And the Krims will have to relive the whole horrific ordeal over again. The rest of us will be reminded that some events in life are so awful – no amount of explanation or jail time will ever ease the pain.

I’m glad Ortega has finally been charged and the Krims can start the process of at least putting the legal part of this whole nightmare behind them. I’ll follow the story and send positive thoughts to the family – knowing all the while that all of the tears that have been collectively shed for the pain of these parents will do nothing to help them get over any of this. I’ll continue to shed them though, for them and any other parent that has to go through this nightmare – remembering that awful things befall people – and feeling infinitely lucky that I have yet to be one of them.

(photo: luxorphoto/ Shutterstock.com)