Nightly News   |  October 26, 2012

NYC nanny accused of murdering children

The unthinkable happened to the Krim family in New York City when police say the person the Krims trusted to care for their children stabbed 2-year-old son Leo and 6-year-old daughter Lulu, then turned the knife on herself. NBC’s Mara Schiavocampo reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> and now, we turn to a tragic story around the country today. this begins with a very big number, in this country, 13 million children are turned over to the care of somebody other than their parents, in many cases while their parents go to work. last night here in new york city , the absolute unthinkable happened. we get more on the story.

>> reporter: marina krim returned home thursday with her three-year-old daughter to find her other two children dead. police say two-year-old leo and six-year-old lulu were stabbed by their baby-sitter, yoselyn ortega, being seen taken away on the stretcher. the father, kevin, was out of town on business, met at the airport by the police with the news. as word spread, the neighborhood reacted.

>> i woke up this morning , and my first thought was my two boys are safe in bed, and this poor family has lost two of their children.

>> i know what their mother is going through right now. i'm a mother, too, who lost her kids.

>> as a mother and a nanny, you tend to develop a bond with the kids that you take care of.

>> reporter: and not just in new york, many across the country express their sadness on line, too. i have felt sick to my stomach on the verge of tears all day, this story haunts me to the core. by all accounts, the krim family knew their sitter well, even visiting ortega's family in the dominican republic . for parents, this is a unique relationship sometimes built on trust.

>> when something like this happens, every parent questions themselves and says, am i doing anything that places my child at risk? they worry about the safety of their children while they are away from them.

>> reporter: tonight, the baby-sitter is in critical condition, and a family has been shattered. nbc news, new york.