New York nanny guilty of killing two children

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April 19 (UPI) — A jury Wednesday found a Manhattan nanny guilty of killing two children in her care, determining she was not too mentally ill to be aware of her actions and their consequences.

Yoselyn Ortega, 55, was guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder for killing 6-year-old Lucia Krim and her 2-year-old brother Leo Krim.

She cared for the Krim children for two years before their mother, Marina Krim, arrived home Oct. 25, 2012, to find Ortega had stabbed the two children to death with a kitchen knife in their bathtub. Ortega stabbed herself in the neck when Krim opened the door.

Ortega never disputed she killed the children, but instead pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Thehe defense argued Ortega was mentally ill and heard voices, including what she believed to be Satan, telling her commit the killings.

Ortega’s family members testified she showed signs of mental illness before the killings including hearing voices and seeing a “black man” following her.

“You had a person who was slowly, slowly disintegrating but kept it inside,” Ortega’s lawyer Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg said.

Prosecutors argued Ortega was motivated by money troubles and workload conflicts with the children’s mother.

Assistant District Attorney Stuart Silberg said the murders were premeditated, noting she left a purse containing her valuables, identification cards and keepsakes for her son and an envelope of important personal documents for her sister Delci Ortega.

Jurors spent two days deliberating the case after hearing six weeks of testimony from 53 witnesses.

Ortega faces life in prison when she is sentenced on May 14.

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