EP. 124 NEW YORK - The Nanny From Hell: The Murders Of 6 & 2 Year Old Lucia and Leo Krim

So that day, after a long week, Kevin was excited to go home and spend some time with his family. However, as soon as his plane landed at the JFK airport, Kevin turned on his cell phone and suddenly had dozens of texts and phone calls coming in and everyone was asking if he was okay. Kevin was confused, but before he could figure out what was going on, the captain of the airplane announced over the intercom that a certain passenger needed to be escorted off. Soon enough, a flight attendant tapped him on the shoulder and said, Follow me.

At that moment, Kevin felt a knot in his stomach what was going on as he followed the flight attendant to the front of the airplane. Kevin got another phone call, this time from his brother-in-law, who regrettably informed him that something horrible had happened to his children. From here, two police officers approached Kevin, placed him into the back of a car and escorted him to St. Luke's Hospital.

In the entire ride, Kevin sat in silence, trying to comprehend what was going on. Were they in a car crash? Was this a tragic accident? Once at the hospital, Kevin was met by a doctor who informed him that two of his three children, six-year-old Lucia and two-year-old Leo, were dead. And that their nanny, a woman they had trusted to come into their home and care for them, was responsible. So this is the story of Lucia and Leo Krim.

I'm Courtney Brown and I'm Colin Brown, and you're listening to Murder in America.

Kevin ended up asking Marina out and they spent their first date at an Italian restaurant on Venice Beach, and from there their romance blossomed. Now, we weren't able to figure out exactly when they got married, but I believe it was around the year 2003. It was also at around this time when Kevin got a job working with Yahoo in San Francisco, and that's the city where Kevin and Marina would start their family.

On May 25, 2006, at 3.

48 a.m. Marina would give birth to their daughter, Lucia Ursula Krim. She weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces, was 20 inches long, and as soon as they laid eyes on her, their entire worlds changed forever. They often called their little family of three Team Krim, and soon enough, in 2008, they became a team of four. With the birth of their second daughter, Nessie. Life was going really well for the Krim family and it would only get better from here.

And after moving in, the Krims really were living out the American dream. Their apartment had oak wood floors, high ceilings and these huge windows that overlooked central park. And if you know anything about New York City apartments, even little, closet-sized apartments are very pricey. So clearly, the Krims were making a lot of money to be able to afford this lifestyle, and that's because they worked very hard. Upon moving to New York City, Kevin started his job at CNBC and he worked very long days.

So Marina decided to be a stay-at-home mom for her two girls. She also worked as a part-time art teacher in the city, and as a little passion project. She started a blog titled Life with the Little Krim Kids. The blog documented their lives in New York City. In it, Marina wrote about her girls ice skating in the winter, gingerbread decorating contests and family trips out to the Blackberry patches. This blog was able to give us a little window into their lives.

And after reading it, it's clear that the Krims were a very happy family. Here is a video of Lucia and Nessie reciting a poem for their mom.

Here's Lucia singing at Christmas for her family.

As you can see, the Krims were very proud of their children, and on September 30, 2010, they would welcome another baby into their lives, their son, Leo Hildago Krim. And with his birth, their family was complete, they had everything they had ever wanted in this world.

And as their children grew up, they developed their own little personalities. Marina would later write on her blog quote And the world's easiest child goes to Little Leo Lido Krim Yes, the two-year-old boy. One of the best parts of my day is after I drop off both girls at school, I have three precious hours with Little Lido all to myself. Okay, I'm getting near cheesy. I adore this boy so much.

He is obsessed with collecting acorns he finds on the floor, he loves riding the school bus, and he happily plays by himself for long periods of time. Here, he is set up in the kitchen and the living room and is making bacon, not sure where he learned the word bacon. Kevin Krim would later write in an article for Medium..com about Lucia and Leo, writing quote Lulu, our firstborn, was a star in everything she did.

She was an intuitive and expressive artist who loved her art classes at the Met and who was always painting at home. She also naturally nurtured and helped her siblings and the other children around her. Leo was a keen observer of the world around him, an always present collector of acorns, he didn't miss a thing. Like most little brothers, Leo loved unconventional play with his sisters.

Of course, they were only six and two years old, but Lulu and Leo had old souls and taught us so much about how to see creative opportunities in every moment. End quote. Watching their children grow up was one of Kevin and Marina's greatest joys in life. And they were really proud that their children loved each other and always stuck together. Here is Kevin Krim describing his children's relationship.

Fights always ended in a sorry and a real hug. A funny thing was how Leo, even when he wasn't involved, would say Sorry Lulu, Sorry Nessie and give them a hug as well.

They were team Krim in the apartment. On playgrounds, at parties, Marina, and I would always marvel at how easy it was to track them on the playground because they were usually playing together. It was comical to us that we'd take them to some birthday party with a ton of kids and lots of activities. And they'd end up near each other and not far from us. We loved them so much, and they loved each other.

Yet we also tried to raise three little kids that were uniquely interesting little people. They were so different, each had completely different colored eyes, their complexions were dramatically different, from pale to deep brown, and, of course, they had these very different personalities.

Perhaps that was one of the secrets to their.

And they wouldn't even have to search very long. On an afternoon in 2010, Marina took Lulu to her ballet class at the Jewish Community Center, and while she was there, she was approached by a woman named Celia Ortega. Now, Celia noticed that Marina was pregnant and she looked like she had her hands full. So she walked up to Marina and started talking about how her sister, Jocelyn, was an amazing nanny.

If she ever needed one, Celia told Marina that she.

Celia recommended that Marina hire.

So they both did a lot of research and compiled a list of questions they wanted to ask Jocelyn during their interview. They also looked into her references to make sure she was indeed a good nanny, according to her resume, Jocelyn had been a nanny for two other families. In 2006, she watched her nephew's three children in Dallas, and then she nannied the child of another woman named Jacqueline Severino. Now, according to The New York Times. The Crimms never got a response from her nephew's family, but they did speak with Jacqueline, who had nothing but amazing things to say about her.

She told the Crimms that Jocelyn had worked for her for two years and that she was a wonderful asset to their family and that she really helped out with her son. Adrian. So with this, the Crimms felt like Jocelyn was a good match for them. In addition, during her job interview with the family, they really liked her. There was nothing that raised any red flags and she seemed to be very pleasant to work with. So in the spring of 2010, a couple months before Leo's birth, the family hired her as their.

And I used to be a nanny before I started this podcast, and from what I could tell, they seemed like an ideal family to work for. The Crimms would take Jocelyn with them on family vacations, and on the trips where Jocelyn wouldn't come with them. They would call around to their friends, trying to find other work for her so that she could get paid that week. Kevin would later say. Quote I wanted to make sure there was no miscommunication, that we weren't pawning her off to other people, that we weren't trying to get rid of her. End quote. They truly just wanted to help Jocelyn out in any way they could. In addition, when Jocelyn needed to return home to her native country to visit family, the Crimms would often fund her entire trip just so that she could enjoy herself there and not have to worry about finances.

And after years of working with the family, the Crimms thought they knew Jocelyn pretty well. But as we've seen time and time again, we often don't really know people. And sometimes the people we welcome into our lives will in turn, destroy them. Which is a horrifying reality that Kevin and Marina Crimm would soon come to terms with. So who was Jocelyn Ortega? And now we're going to take our ad break.

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Yostlin was born on May 1st, 1962, in Santiago de Caballeros, a city in the Dominican Republic. Growing up, her father owned a bodega and their family didn't have a lot of money. When Yostlin was 16 years old, her younger sister, 12-year-old Rosa, died unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm. Which is something you don't typically see in teenagers. And her sister's death sent her into a deep depression, according to Yostlin's other siblings. She refused to leave her home for an entire year after her death. And it wasn't until her parents stepped in and took her to a local doctor when she finally began to recover. A few years later, in 1985, Yostlin would graduate with an accounting degree from a local university, but she always dreamed of leaving the Dominican Republic.

Her goal was to move to the United States and live the American dream, and she had her eyes set on New York City. The young and adventurous Yostlin would end up following those dreams, moving into an apartment on Riverside Drive in Manhattan. And when she first moved there, she was working at a printing company. And in 1995, she would get married and give birth to her son, named Jesus Alberto Freis. Yostlin's marriage, however, wouldn't last. By 1999, she and her husband would divorce. And following their separation, she sent her then four-year-old son to the Dominican Republic to live with her sister.

Yostlin came back to New York and continued on with her life. Over the next few years. Yostlin did what she could to make ends meet in New York City, but it wasn't easy. New York is notorious for being an expensive place to live, so she struggled. Prior to her becoming a nanny for the Krim family, Yostlin had worked a few factory jobs throughout the city. But as the cost of living continued to rise, she always found herself financially strapped, which made it difficult for her to send money to her son in the Dominican Republic.

She also didn't have a place of her own and often jumped around to different family.

And soon enough, Yostlin started complaining about frequent headaches. And there is some speculation as to whether or not this is true, but some family members said that it's around this time. When she started complaining about hearing voices at trial, her sister would say quote, she would step outside, and she would hear someone say Go back, go back, she heard voices speaking to her end.

Quote now. By August of 2008, Yostlin returned back to New York City, and a year and a half later, she was hired as the part-time nanny for the Krim family. And again, during her time working with them, everything seemed to go really well, according to Yostlin's friend, Maria Quote. She really loved them, the family.

She loved the kids, she would take them to the park, and she said the mom was a really good person. End quote and the children really loved her as well. Lulu was known to always draw pictures for Yostlin and then send her home with them so she could put them on her fridge. When you're around a nanny all day, every day, they become a part of your family in a sense.

Now, by 2012, Yostlin was finally making enough money to rent her own apartment in the Bronx. And she was really happy around this time because Jesus had finally moved to New York City as well. Yostlin had always wanted him to go to high school in New York because she believed getting an education in the U.S. would give him more opportunities. So once he got here, she actually enrolled him into a private Catholic school in the Bronx, called Mount St.

Michael's Academy. And this was pretty shocking because private schools in New York are extremely expensive and they're also very competitive. To put it in perspective, the Krim children didn't even go to private schools and they were very well off. So everyone was very confused as to why Yostlin made this decision. Maybe it was to make up for her absence throughout Jesus's life.

But in June of 2012, just months before tragedy would strike, Yostlin had to take $7,500 out of her savings to cover his tuition. And it's around that time when she started complaining to people about her financial struggles. To make extra money, Yostlin even started a side hustle selling makeup and jewelry. But, according to her, a woman that she was doing this business with ended up stealing about $100 from her and she would never get that money back. So, even though on the outside everything appeared to be going well, Yostlin was facing a lot of inner turmoil.

Not to mention she was working for a family who had it all. The Krims had a ton of money, a great family, they lived a luxurious lifestyle. All the while, she was struggling to make ends meet every day. Yostlin went into work and watched as Marina got to spend quality time with her children, while she practically missed out on her son's entire childhood. And then, now that Jesus was finally in the city, she couldn't even see him as much because she had to work, so over time, Yostlin began to resent the Krims.

In her mind, they had the life she always wanted.

That living situation was very overcrowded, and now she was back, this time with her teenage son, making it even more crowded. At some point, Marina Krim found out that Yostlin was struggling, so she offered to give her more work around the house so she could make more money. She offered her money to clean their apartment, and she also had Jesus dog sit for them while they were out of town. In addition, Marina found friends of hers who also needed babysitting services. And she recommended Yostlin so that she could make some extra money doing that. But instead of being grateful for the help, Yostlin found this insulting.

As the weeks progressed and anger inside of Yostlin grew, it started to have an effect on her physical appearance. Her neighbors at the Riverside apartment started to notice that she looked skinnier, older and more anxious. One neighbor even described her as kind of devastated. It's clear that Yostlin was angry at the privileged life that the Krims lived, and she was furious that Marina would offer her more work instead of just giving her more money. In her mind, she felt that she already did enough for the Krim family, but she never voiced these concerns.

Another neighbor, 25-year-old Kenia Gallo, recalled seeing Yostlin in the elevator and remarked that she looked exhausted. When she asked Yostlin what was going on, she replied.

She told her that ever since Marina changed her schedule, she barely had any time to spend with her son. And, according to her family's testimony at trial, this is when her mental health really took a decline. Now again, I do want to add that many people don't believe this next part. But at trial, Yostlin's sister claimed that in the weeks before the murders, she woke up to Yostlin banging her head against a wall. When she went in the room to check on her, Yostlin was pulling her hair out, saying quote I want to go back to the way I was before.

Her sister would later say that every night, Yostlin would light candles, kneel beside her bed and pray to a painting of Baby Jesus that God would quote. Take away all the things she was feeling in her body and mind now. Allegedly, Yostlin also told her sister that she had been hearing voices and having hallucinations when asked what she was seeing and hearing. She said that an imaginary Black man was coming up to her and threatening to take her away from her family. So, on October 22, 2012, just three days before the murders. Yostlin made an appointment with a psychologist named Dr. Thomas Caffrey, who was located in New York City's Upper West side.

Caffrey through her insurance company and called his office to schedule an appointment. But he was all booked up and wouldn't be able to see her for a few weeks, which was very upsetting to Yostlin, in fact, she even talked the receptionist into fitting her in because it was an emergency. So they ended up shifting his schedule around so that he could see her during one of his lunch breaks on the day of the session. Yostlin arrived early with a friend of hers and stepped into his office at 12.20 p...m. And from there, they talked about everything she had been experiencing. In his notes, Dr. Caffrey wrote that Yostlin had pressured speech and seemed to have the world on her shoulders.

Yostlin talked about her financial instability, how unhappy she was in her crowded apartment and how she felt like a failure to her son. But never once mentioned anything about hearing voices or wanting to harm herself or others. The meeting was only about 40 minutes long since Dr. Caffrey had a tight schedule that day. But he was able to diagnose her with generalized anxiety disorder and dysthymic disorder, a mild but reoccurring form of depression. In his notes, he wrote Prognosis good, and from here, their session was over. Yostlin was charged $200 for the visit, and although she did not schedule a follow-up appointment, Dr.

Caffrey expected her to return.

October 25th, specifically, was a very busy day for the Krem family. Kevin's flight was getting back later that day. The kids had to be dropped off, then picked up from school, and then later that afternoon. Three-year-old Nessie had swim class and six-year-old Lulu had a dance lesson, and many of these activities kind of overlapped each other. So Marina scheduled the day accordingly and split the different tasks for her and Yostlin. So let us walk you through that day. At 3.15pm, Yostlin picked up Lulu from school. And shortly after, Glenn Lutie, who was the doorman at La Rochelle, saw her return to the apartment with both Lulu and Leo by her side.

Glenn was very familiar with all of the families and their nannies in the building, so when he saw Yostlin and the kids, he greeted her. But instead of a warm welcome, Yostlin quickly asks Is the mom home? Glenn informs her that Marina had just left with Nessie, as we know Nessie had swim lessons. So from here, Yostlin takes Lulu and Leo upstairs, and they are never seen alive again now.

The only other task Yostlin had that day was to take Leo to her dance lesson, and Marina would pick her up once it was over. So, at around 5pm, Marina shows up to Lulu's dance studio, but Lulu wasn't there. The dance instructors informed her that Yostlin never dropped her off. And immediately upon hearing this, Marina knew deep down that something was wrong. It was just about 5pm when Marina learned that.

At around 5.

20, She and Nessie finally arrived home and sprinted up the stairs to their apartment. And usually, when she walked through the doors, she could hear the sounds of her children laughing and playing, but not this time. As Marina walked inside, everything was eerily dark and quiet. All of the lights had been turned off and Leo's stroller was just sitting there in the middle of the main room, unattended and on the ground. Next to it was Lulu's dance bag.

However, there was no sign of Lulu, Leo or Yostlin. So from here, Marina runs downstairs to speak with the doorman. Surely he must have seen them leave and this was all a big misunderstanding, but he didn't see anything. So Marina returns back to the apartment, holding her little three-year-old's hand.

And together, they walk room to room, calling out Lulu and Leo's name. Now, like we mentioned, the apartment was dark, all of the lights had been turned off, except for the light in the bathroom. The door to it was closed, so while Marina held Nessie's hand, she cautiously opened it.

And from that moment on, her life would never be the same. Standing in front of her was her nanny, Yostlin Ortega. She was covered in blood with a knife in her hands, and behind her, in the bathtub, was six-year-old Lucia and two-year-old Leo. Their tiny little bodies were stacked on top of one another and covered in blood.

Both of their eyes were open, but they were staring blankly ahead, lifeless. An image that would be forever ingrained in Marina's mind now, before Marina could even react. She watched as Yostlin gripped the knife that killed her two children and she stabbed it into her own throat. From here, Marina grabbed Nessie and quickly ran out of the apartment. She knew with just one glance that her children were dead. And as soon as she stepped out into the hallway, Marina collapsed on the ground and began screaming uncontrollably.

The screams were heard by many neighbors, including one named Herbert Klein. Here he is speaking with the media.

She's crying out. What am I going to do with the rest of my life? My life is ruined, I have no children, I have no children.

You will learn that the super of the building, Mr. Michael Minahan. While Mr. Lutie was making the call to 911, Mr. Minahan, went to the Krim apartment to try to understand what had happened.

And when he opened that bathroom door, he understood.

He understood that what he had seen was pure evil and not knowing what else to do in that situation. Mr Minahan ran to the front door of the apartment, held it shut with both hands, using his foot against the wall as leverage to keep inside what he had just seen.

Despite the fact that everything in that bathroom indicated that Lulu and Leo were dead, the officers did what they were trained to do and they attempted to revive them. They tried to save them, but neither Lulu nor Leo had a pulse and Leo's body was already cold.

30 This evening, a mother returned with her three-year-old child from swimming lessons. She enters her apartment. The apartment is dark.

The apartment is dark. And there comes a time when she goes looking for her children, enters the bathroom and finds her six-year-old daughter and her two-year-old son stabbed to death. In the tub. On the floor of the bathroom is a nanny who apparently had inflicted wounds in her throat, and she has been removed to St. Luke's Hospital. She's in critical but stable.

End quote. Kevin would later tell the doctors that he wanted to see his children, and from here, he and Marina were escorted into a small examination room. Lulu and Leo were both on a gurney, with a sheet wrapped tightly around their bodies up to their chin. Nurses had attempted to clean the children, but Kevin noted that their coloring was off.

He would later say quote They were beautiful and strange, They were the wrong color, They didn't have any blood left in them, so they were bluish. But they had this perfect skin and their long eyelashes, they had this like sandy brown hair.

You could see they tried really hard to wash the blood out, but it still kind of had an Auburn tint to it that I remember to this day. But I got down on my knees and I said, I'm sorry, I said, I love you and kissed them and said.

The betrayal, they felt, was insurmountable. So what exactly happened with Yoselin Ortega, what caused her to murder the children she vowed to protect? Well? As it turns out, this wasn't a spur of the moment decision. She didn't snap, as we often hear in murder cases.

She had planned this out. On the morning of October 25th, 2012, Yoselin got up at 9 a..m and sent her son off to school. From here, she gathered her insurance papers, bank account information, cash and other legal documents and placed them in an envelope along with a suicide note. Then she left it out so that her sister would find it when she got home from work.

That morning, she also asked her sister to make sure Jesus had a good meal that night. And then, shortly before 3 p..m. she left her apartment to go to work, as she did every day now. Along the way, Yoselin disposed of her phone, and investigators were actually never able to recover it. Ladies and gentlemen, the defendant was putting.

So far, everything was going according to plan. In the elevator ride up to their unit, a neighbor said she noticed six-year-old Lulu smiling. So she leaned down and asked her, Do you know how beautiful you are? to which? Lulu thanked her while flashing a big smile. The last few moments of happiness before their nightmare unfolded.

Once they made it inside of the apartment, Yoselin grabbed the knife from their kitchen and walked the children over to the bathroom, where she then shut the door. From here, she approached two-year-old Leo and slit his throat. The cut was with enough force that the knife hit his spinal cord. Six-year-old Lulu watched in horror as the woman she loved murdered her brother right in front of her. Scared for her life, Lulu tried to run, but she.

This process is not quick, and it can often take several minutes for a person to die, medical examiner Dr. Susan Ely said. Quote Only some of the knife wounds were fatal. That takes an order of minutes, not seconds, leading to death takes minutes. End quote.

But after murdering them, Yoselin placed their bodies in the bathtub and then just waited there, waiting for Marina to come home. Now, Yoselin had plenty of time to kill herself before Marina arrived at the apartment. But according to the prosecution, she specifically waited because she wanted to see Marina's reaction to her murdered children. Lying in the bathtub, she wanted to see the look in her eyes as the reality settled in. After all, Marina Krim had the life she always wanted, the life she would never get to have, and soon enough, Marina would walk into the devastating scene. And it wasn't until that moment when Yoselin finally plunged the knife into her neck.

Once first responders arrived, they rushed her to the hospital, where she was admitted under a different name due to the publicity surrounding the case. She arrived in critical but stable condition. There were two bones broken in her neck and she had damaged her vocal cords. And over the next few days, she remained incapacitated and unable to speak while police officers guarded her hospital room.

But once Yoselin was alert enough, she quickly asked for a pen and paper so she could write out her side of the story. And as if she couldn't be more of a monster, the first thing she wrote about was how much she disliked Marina Krim. In her first note, she wrote Quote I had to do everything and take care of the kids. I worked as a babysitter only, and she wanted me to do everything she wanted five hours of cleaning every week.

End quote Now. When I first read this, I was so disgusted. Because not only is she pretty much blaming the murders on Marina. But cleaning is a huge part of being a nanny. I worked as a nanny for many years. It was actually the job I had right when I started this podcast, and I was constantly cleaning. Children make a lot of mess, so that's just a part of the territory when you sign up for child care.

Plus, Yoselin said she was cleaning about five hours of the 25-hour workweek, and that's pretty normal. I, too, would clean for about an hour a day for five days a week. The fact that she was using this as an excuse as to why she murdered two children is pretty pathetic. Plus, Yoselin's complaining about how much work she had to do, but Marina was giving her all of this work to help her out. She knew she was struggling financially, so she was doing everything she could so that Yoselin would have more money.

She was being a good employer. And Yoselin never once voiced any of these concerns to Marina. So how was she even supposed to know that Yoselin was overwhelmed?

Ladon said she admitted that she had killed the kids and that she had used at least two knives. She indicated she was mad at the mom. New York Police Department Sergeant Joel Hidalgo was present during Yoselin's interrogation at the hospital. And he stated that she became angry if he didn't understand what she was trying to say, saying.

Now.

Once Yoselin Ortega was cleared from the hospital, she was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. For the brutal slaying of Lulu and Leo Krim. And to everyone's surprise, she pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and because of that, her trial wouldn't start until 2018, a grueling five years after the murders. Here's Kevin Krim speaking about the upcoming trial.

And Kevin was right. The murders of Lulu and Leo had gripped the nation and everyone was ready for justice to be served. Yoselin Ortega's trial would start on March 1st. And since it was such a high-profile case, reporters surrounded the courthouse every single day, informing the community of the gruesome details that were coming to light. At the trial, Yoselin sat at the defense table with a large scar on her neck from her failed suicide attempt. It was healed now, but it was also a grim reminder of that horrible day back in 2012..

Now, her defense team claimed that Yoselin murdered Lulu and Leo because she was insane. Devil made her do it. Yoselin spoke with forensic psychiatrist Karen Rosenbaum and told her. I felt like the devil was possessing me, wanting me to be his. The devil wanted me for himself. Yoselin's family also took the stand in her defense and talked about how she had been complaining of hearing voices and seeing black shadows in the weeks before the murders. But many people believed that they lied under oath to cover for her.

Yoselin's son even took the stand and behaved very inappropriately, at some points, even winking at the jury. In the end, they were confident that this devil made me do it. Story would stick. Here's her defense attorney. The evidence will show, and the defense will prove by a preponderance.

M, as a result of mental disease or defect, lacked substantial capacity to know or appreciate the nature and consequences of her acts, of her conduct. The evidence will show that Ms. Ortega suffered on that date, at that time and before that date, October 25th, 2012, from a chronic mental illness. The evidence will show that she has a corroborated history of hearing voices and dissociating from reality since the age of 16..

The defense will show that she suffered from three discrete episodes of major depression disorder, psychotic thinking, dissociation, auditory, visual and command hallucinations, and tactile hallucinations. The most recent episode occurring in the months leading to and on October 25th, 2012, other than for a brief period around her age of 16 years. Ms. Ortega has not been treated for her symptoms of psychosis and depression until she was hospitalized and diagnosed at New York Presbyterian Hospital. The defense will focus on the role that untreated mental illness played in the alleged killing of the two children, Leo and Lulu.

The evidence will show that what was in fact the condition of my client's mind at the time she allegedly committed the charged acts. The evidence will show her mind's reactions to various stimuli during the 50 years of her existence until October 25th, 2012. His honor will instruct you to use your common sense when evaluating the adduced evidence. You will know a diseased mind when you see it. Do listen to the medical experts, their definitions, their explanations, their explanations of my client's conditions, their reading of my client's medical records.

Weigh what they say, see if it makes sense to each of you, see and determine whether. In the weeks and months leading up to October 25th, 2012, my client was not sleeping, was not eating, was losing weight. See whether Ms. Ortega was constantly crying, suffering from visual hallucinations, causing her to see shadows, suffering from delusions, causing her to feel as though the devil were penetrating her body and trying to separate her from her family.

During the session, she mostly talked about how she was really overwhelmed with her circumstances. Even further, when Yoselin woke up in the hospital after the murders. She didn't say anything about how the devil made her do it. Instead, she immediately started complaining about Marina and how much she made her clean.

And why are you, Officer Hidalgo, a uniformed police officer, assigned to be here with me? She did not ask Where are Lulu and Neo?

Upon waking up in the hospital, the defendant did not ask one question about where she was, why she was there or the well-being of the children. Before she had time to think it through and come up with a defense.

The defendant attempted to justify her actions to explain the inexplicable.

And her explanation in those honest, raw moments when she woke up in that hospital bed on October 27, 2012, did not involve the devil. Instead, she complained about her work, and she complained.

The prosecution noted that Yoselin could have killed herself earlier in the evening. But she specifically waited until Marina opened that bathroom door just so she could see her.

The defendant waited until after Marina Krim came home so that she could see Marina's reaction to the carnage in that bathroom before she attempted to kill herself. So with all of this?

Unfortunately, you may never have a satisfactory answer to that question.

What the defendant did was not only inexcusable, it's inexplicable. So, although there may not be an acceptable answer to the question, the evidence presented in this case, the evidence that will be presented in this case does suggest some possibilities.

You will hear evidence that suggests that the defendant resented Marina Krim for being the mother. That the defendant could not be for being able to provide for her children what the defendant could not provide for her own son. That she resented Marina Krim for everything she was and everything she had, you will learn that Marina Krim, aware that Jesus had come to New York to live with. The defendant aware that the defendant was under increased financial pressures, went out of her way to try and help the defendant to make additional income, offering her the opportunity to earn more money by doing some housecleaning at the Krim's apartment and suggesting the defendant to her friends who needed additional babysitting help.

The evidence will show that Marina's offers of assistance enraged the defendant, and that although the defendant maintained a professional and cordial demeanor when dealing directly with Marina. Internally, she seethed. She seethed at the very idea that Marina would think that she could do additional work, seethed at the idea that Marina would even consider asking her to do additional work. While the defendant's feelings of inadequacy about what she could and could not provide for her son increased, and as the defendant's feelings of anxiety and stress increased, so did her resentment toward Marina. The reason? The evidence will prove that the defendant was in control of her actions before, during and after the murders. And that the defendant meticulously planned the murders of Lulu and Leo Krim, which she executed on October 25, 2012..

The evidence will prove to you that she knew what she was doing when she killed them and that she.

I've had to sit in my apartment and just cry. I go through the motions of how did this happen? who's to blame? why did this happen? After seeing the gruesome photos, one juror even had to be dismissed from the case.

He told the judge that after seeing those pictures, he would be biased towards the defendant. That's how horrifying those photos were. But following this, judge, Caro had to remind the jury to leave their emotions and biases out of it, saying, Remember, when we started selecting a jury? And in the beginning of this case, I gave you certain instructions and I told you what your duties were. As jurors, essentially, your job as a jury is to evaluate the evidence and after that you determine what the facts are and apply the law. But you'll recall, I said, things like prejudice, bias and most certainly sympathy have to play no part in the fact-finding.

You all know there was going to be some emotional testimony in this case and that's why we empathized. You're going to feel sympathy and emotions, it's natural, but you've got to set those aside. Only find facts in your evaluation of the evidence.

Throughout the eight-week trial, she sat completely unfazed throughout it all, emotionless. The only time you really saw anything from her were the darting looks she would give the prosecutors when they said something she didn't agree with. But at the end of it all, the jury was faced with two possible situations. Was Yoslin jealous of Marina Krem? Did she kill her children out of jealousy and resentment?

Or was this the case of a psychotic episode? Was Yoslin Ortega hearing voices telling her to murder Lulu and Leo? When it came time for deliberations, everyone was on the edge of their seats. This wasn't what they call a slam-dunk case. But in April of 2018, the jury would ultimately side with the prosecution, finding Yoslin Ortega guilty of first-degree and second-degree murder charges against Lulu and Leo Krem. A verdict that many people around New York City were very pleased with.

But there was still a very unsettling feeling about this entire story. If this could happen to a wealthy family on the Upper West Side, it could happen to anyone. Many families in New York City hire nannies for their children, and it made everyone a little on edge about the people they were bringing into their homes. During the trial, it came out that Yoslin had actually lied. On her resume. If you remember, she claimed she had worked for a woman named Yaclin Severino and that she nannied her son for years.

Well, as it turns out, Yaclin didn't have any children. She was Yoslin's relative, and she lied to the Krems so that Yoslin could secure a job with them. Which is yet another disturbing part of this story. Moving forward, how could families trust anyone? how could they differentiate who is telling the truth and who isn't?

So in 2018, the governor signed a new law called Lulu and Leo's Law, which made it illegal for someone to represent the applicant. The same way Yaclin Severino had done for Yoslin Ortega, the governor.

I know for the boy I nannied, he was my favorite little boy on earth, I was obsessed with him, I would have done anything for him. And same with their family, you really feel a part of their family, you're going there every day.

You're essentially helping them raise their children, which is a huge, huge responsibility. And it's an honor that these families are trusting you to come into their home and to be such a huge part of their kids lives. So there was a lot of mistrust going on and a lot of people that were just very cautious about the people they were bringing into their homes. The fact that someone could vow to love and protect your children and then murder them was pretty unbelievable. But luckily, with this law, families felt a little bit more safe. Knowing that people can't lie just to get the job, which is pretty wild, that they.

Inez Olivia Krim, the girl who lives we call her Nessie.

She's nine now. Happy, funny, confident, hard worker, loves school. Amazing athlete, can adapt to any situation you put her in with ease.

She's badass.

Her third grade teacher emailed me the other day and told me that they are doing a unit on realistic fiction and they get to create a human and believable character.

Nessie told me about hers. Her character is in fifth grade, has brown, curly hair, and she's a mathematician, and her name is Lulu. Her Lulu character has many siblings, including a brother named Leo. Most of her character, Lulu's traits, likes and dislikes are similar to those of Nessie's, because Nessie will never know what her sister and brother were like.

But we will try and answer her questions with sensitivity the best we can. I have no doubt that she will navigate herself through this complicated life with her authentic Nessie spunk.

Nessie knows from experience that life is not fair, but she is inspired by Lulu and Leo every day, and way up in the stars, they are inspired by her.

The defendant robbed Nessie.

Her family robbed Nessie. Fuck, we robbed her too.

My family and I, we created and built the defendant and her family, they destroyed and ruined.

The defendant set out to destroy what Kevin and I had created and built an inspired, happy, thriving family. But she failed.

Any shred of dignity the defendant's family had after the murders has been destroyed.

Not a single one of her family members has ever reached out to my family to say, I'm sorry for your loss.

The defendant's son, Jesus Frias, sat in front of the traumatized jury, winking and grinning at the jury members as if it were some kind of reality TV show. He wants to win.

And, under oath, referred to the defendant's actions as an abstinence.

Just to clarify, for Jesus, disposing of a cell phone, packing two suicide bags the morning. Of lurking around the neighborhood for 45 minutes to avoid crossing paths with me and finally asking the doorman whether I was home so she could carry out her plan of slaughtering my two children.

Jesus Frias showed terrible judgment, and there are consequences for making grossly irresponsible statements like this, Jesus says. He's applied to 20 medical schools. Jesus Frias hasn't shown he even knows right from wrong. And he's going to be making decisions about other people's lives.

The idea that this was an accident is a big problem for me because this was not an accident. And that word shows that this family, still, after five and a half years, has still not taken responsibility for their roles in these murders.

They're still trying to cover up for her and themselves.

The terrible judgment of the defendant's family doesn't stop with Jesus.

They just can't seem to do the right thing. Sister Celia Ortega, she's the one who started this whole nightmare, seeking me out, looking me in the eyes, telling me that the defendant was an experienced nanny.

Niece Jackie Severino Vargas followed this lie up with a fake recommendation written from her legit work email address. This detailed recommendation convinced us that the defendant had good experience.

These unethical women deceived me from the very first moments our paths crossed.

Delce Ortega She made up absurd stories about the defendant that came out only after she meets their ridiculous. Defense attorney. Milady Ortega. Gets phone calls about mass penitentiaries and blames me for not sending the defendant on a vacation. This entire family continues to lie and deceive their way through this. And look at the so-called lawyers and experts they've surrounded themselves with, discussing people who seem to have fallen for their lies, or perhaps even added to them.

The defendant and her family, they destroy and ruin my family and I. We create and build. We've shown Nessie and Felix and Linus how to do the same.

We've built a deeper bond with each other and have a stronger marriage than ever. We've built stronger friendships.

Patiently and with great determination, we've rebuilt our lives. My family and I. we create and build. 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 that will always lead us forward. Thank you.

We are distraught because Lulu and Leo, these beautiful and innocent souls, were only with us for six and two years, respectively. Blinks of an eye. We are certainly distraught over how they died, over the terrible violence, the lack of any sense of adult.

We miss holding their hands as we walk down the sidewalk, we miss attempting to argue them out of a Mr. Softy cone and losing. Most of the time. We miss taking little walks through the ramble in Central Park, that became great acorn or leaf collecting expedition. We miss hearing them call out my name and run to hug me when I got home from work.

We miss feeling their soft skin in our arms.

How did we not miss Lulu everywhere we turned? She was a city girl, a beach girl, a country girl, a mountain girl, and how did we not miss Leo everywhere we looked?

He who loved learning the name of everything he saw.

Here we were in bustling New York City, the center of the world, with excuses to be out every night. And all Marina and I wanted to do was be at home, making dinner with the kids. We just wanted to hang out with our kids, they were such cool kids.

We are confident we made the most of every minute with our kids.

It is so unfair that they are gone.

Marina and I were against these offers, as you know, but we also knew she would undoubtedly reject them. Because, being the malignant narcissist that she is, she would never accept responsibility and sail out in front of this court that she was guilty.

We also knew she wanted to put Marina and the rest of us through the pain of this trial. And it was awful, awful and wrong that the jury had to go through that, that everyone in this court every day had to go through that.

We were against the plea bargains because we didn't want to have to tell Nessie that the evil monster that killed her sister and brother would have a chance someday of going free and seeing her sister and son again, her sisters and son again, Nessie does not deserve to have that hanging over her.

So Judge Caro, I trust that you do not need this request from Lulu and Leo's dad, after all you've heard and seen, but I will make it anyway. In your sentencing decision, please follow the law as you always have, and heed the unanimous opinion of the jury. And that of the good people of the city and state of New York, and of Lulu and Leo's family and friends around the world. By ensuring that the defendant can never leave.

And it's pretty clear you suffer from major depression, anxiety disorders, that's pretty clear and normally.

Someone who suffers of mental illness commits a crime that they're responsible for. It's an intentional crime. You knew it was wrong, you knew the nature of the consequences of your act. But that still is some mitigation to the crime that someone may commit because of the suffering of mental illness.

But your failure to seek all these years.

And I should say there's no evidence whatsoever that this jury did anything. But follow my instructions on the law and decide this case based upon the facts that they found and the rules of law that I set out. I really can't sum up this case, this tragic case, any better than the witness, Mr. Minahan.

For a total of 50 years to the rest of your life, and it's virtually. This case will prize out consecutive sentences. So any sentence that I would impose on you is virtually the rest of your life. So, on your conviction for murder in the first degree two counts, you're sentenced to the maximum penalty of the rest of your life and stay in prison with no possibility of parole. That is the sentence.

Also, many people wish me all the worst.

My life is in the hands of God.

I am in jail.

But perhaps there are many more, there are more in prison than I am.

I ask for a great deal of forgiveness, God to Marina, to Kevin.

I wish my family.

I told my family that I did not feel well.

At one time, when I was walking, I had poodles.

I told the poodle I don't feel good.

I have to go to the doctor.

I went to the doctor.

In the eight days, I learned quite well.

They said, If I don't, if you don't come.

I will appoint to charge you $10.

I told Marina I didn't tell her that it was a disaster, but I told her I had an appointment, but she didn't let her appoint and I was not able to go.

I really feel at peace with my soul.

I had nightmares related to losing something important to me or not being able to find my family. It truly affected me. Unquote. 57-year-old juror Edgardo Chacon said It was the face of Lulu that he sees almost every night saying quote I was there for 33 days and every night I think about Lulu.

I don't know why it was on my mind, but it was not fair. It's not fair what she did to those kids. Unquote. But the people affected the most by this tragedy are obviously Kevin and Marina Krim. Picking up the pieces of their lives after this devastating loss is something no parent ever prepares for, but they have dedicated their lives to finding meaning amongst tragedy.

Marina Krim said that since her children passed, she has found a deeper spiritual connection to them right after the murders. She was walking through New York City and she saw a piece of street art of a young boy holding a sign. With all of these colorful hearts. And she thought of Leo and all the hearts he touched during his short life, Marina said. Quote I felt that maybe the universe was trying to tell me something. Unquote.

Another time, she was walking along the beach and she passed a house that was playing the Peanuts theme song, a song she often played for Lulu and Leo. So as their lives went on, little reminders of their children were everywhere.

It was a little moment of creativity, a way she could honor her own children. And in that moment, Marina and Kevin realized how important creativity is not only in the lives of children, but for everyone, they would later write.

As the parents of Lulu and Leo, we know that art and nature played a critical role in their short, beautiful lives and in the life of our surviving daughter Nessie. We believe that every child on this planet deserves a deep engagement with art, nature and creativity that our children had. So they used this idea to create the Lulu and Leo Fund.

So Nessie, Felix and Linus are here to tell you what the Lulu and Leo Fund and choose creativity are all about.

Expressive.

Inventive.

High five.

That is how we honor Lugo and Leo. And remember, choose creativity is equal parts choose, and creativity. In the face of destructive things like violence, anger and fear, creativity is a positive act of defiance. You can use this in your lives.

You can be inspired by this, and you can help us by sharing Choose creativity with everyone, you know.

He's sensitive, just like her and Linus. Their other son is the spitting image of his older brother Leo. In fact, when he sees pictures of Leo, he will often say me. Marina herself says that she even has a hard time telling them apart in pictures. But throughout it all, Marina and Kevin say that their role model from the very beginning has been Nessie.

She walked through that horrible day with them, and she too had to see her little brother and sister murdered. But despite everything, Nessie was the one that helped their family stay strong. Marina would later write quote I remember looking at our daughter Nessie in the darkest days. And I so admired her ability to just live in the present. Seeing the world just as one should. To me, it seemed like she had all the answers.

Though she missed her siblings, she was laughing and enjoying herself and making every heart person in the room smile. Unquote. So, from here, Marina and Kevin gave themselves permission to live their life like Nessie does. And everything they would do from here forward would be to honor Lulu and Leo and help other children along the way, Marina and Kevin would later write. Quote When we lose someone we love, we should remember that the person has not become nothing.

Something cannot become nothing, and nothing cannot become something. Science can help us understand this, because matter cannot be destroyed, it can become energy.

And energy can become matter, but it cannot be destroyed in the same way. Our loved one was not destroyed. They've just taken on another form. That form may be a cloud, a child or the breeze. We can see our loved one in everything.

This is a shocking, shocking story. It's just terrible for everybody involved, but I want to thank our new patrons this week.

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Also, follow us on Instagram at Murder in America to see photos from every single case that we cover on the show. And yeah, once again, Courtney and I just wanted to send our love to y'all. We love you guys so much and, as always, we will catch you next week on the next episode.