Yoselyn Ortega, front, taken between 1985 and 1990, at her home in Santiago, Dominican Republic. (AP)
Last week’s news of a Manhattan nanny allegedly butchering and killing two children in her care and then trying to kill herself with the same bloody knife shocked parents everywhere.
How could someone who cares for children commit such a heinous act?
“Why? Why?” parents were asking.
This question hasn’t been fully answered but information around the tragedy is slowly leaking out.
Yoselyn Ortega, 50, who worked for the Krim family on the Upper West Side, woke from a coma on Sunday. In a confused state, she asked about her own family and requested to talk with a lawyer. She didn’t mention the Krim family.
Marina Krim discovered that her two children, 2-year-old Leo and 6-year-old Lucia, had been killed when she returned from taking her third child 3-year-old Nessie to a swimming lesson. Ortega was stabbing herself when Marina walked into the kitchen; the nanny went into a coma.
This week, from her hospital bed, Ortega gave New York police a statement. “She said something like, ‘I’m paid to watch the children, not clean up and do housework,’ ” a law-enforcement source told the New York Post. “There was friction between her and the family.”
Ortega, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from the Dominican Republic, has lived in America for 10 years. For the past two years, she worked full-time for the Krim family, who were referred to Ortega by a friend. Several sources have told the media and police that Ortega was struggling financially. The Krim family offered to help by giving Ortega five extra hours a week of housework. Ortega told cops in her statement that she wanted to watch the kids, not do housework. The nanny also said that the Krims were unhappy with Ortega’s overall work ethic and had threatened to let her go if things didn’t improve.
Probably the most important bit of information to come out is that a source said Ortega recently considered going to a psychologist (it’s unknown whether she actually saw one). In other words, this crime wasn’t committed by a woman who was unhappy in her job. It was committed by a women who was most likely mentally unstable.
People everywhere are unhappy with their jobs and they’re asked everyday to do things they don’t want to do. That’s part of life and working, and as an employee it’s your responsibility to work with the employer to figure out how to improve your situation—or you move on. If only Ortega has just moved on.
Kathy Willens / AP
