The then-three-year-old sister of two siblings stabbed by their nanny tried consoling her mother as they arrived at the horrific scene at their New York City apartment.
Retired NYPD detective Luis Sandoval gave harrowing testimony on Friday of the moment he responded to the Upper West Side apartment where Yoselyn Ortega, 55, murdered six-year-old Lucia Krim and her two-year-old brother Leo on October 2012.
The former cop choked back tears as he told the jury how he found Nessie, three, consoling her frantic mother Marina in the blood-soaked bathroom where the nanny had just viciously stabbed the children.
Nessie, then three, tried consoling her mom after they found her two siblings stabbed to death by their nanny in 2012 (Nessie is pictured between Lucia and Leo with their mother Marina)
Yoselyn Ortega (pictured on March 2) has pleaded not guilty to the double murders by reason of insanity
Marina and Nessie had been at a swimming lesson while Ortega looked after the Lucia and Leo.
‘I observed a lady screaming and crying,’ Sandoval said before taking a moment to compose himself, according to the New York Daily News. ‘And a little daughter.’
The little girl was reportedly saying: ‘Please mommy, don’t cry’.
Sandoval recalled that, as someone trained in CPR, he was going to try to revive the children before another officer told him the effort would be futile.
‘They’re’ done. They’re blue,’ Sandoval said the officer told him.
Retired NYPD detective Luis Sandoval gave harrowing testimony of the moment he responded to the apartment where Ortega murdered Lucia Krim, six, and her two-year-old brother Leo
‘I observed a lady screaming and crying,’ Sandoval said of the slain kids’ mother Marina. ‘And a little daughter.’ (Marina is pictured with husband Kevin Krim)
His testimony care after that of another nanny, who said she saw Ortega behaving strangely the day before the murders, complaining in Spanish about not being paid enough.
‘When I saw her that day in her state of mind, I said to myself, and I told another person, that I did not want to have a play date with her because I did not like the way she looked,’ said Chelsea Andrews.
Andrews’ testimony aligns with the statements of others, who have also said Ortega been complaining about her work situation and seemed off in the days leading up to the attack.
Ortega’s older sister, Miladys Garcia, took the stand on Monday and faulted Kevin and Marina Krim for not seeing how troubled her sister was – suggesting that if they had given her some time off they may have prevented the murders.
Ortega’s older sister, Miladys Garcia, (left) took the stand on Monday and faulted Kevin and Marina Krim for not seeing how troubled her sister was
Earlier in the trial, jurors heard how two days after the attack Ortega moaned about having to clean the Upper West Side apartment and look after the children in her statements to police.
She said: ‘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.’
The Dominican nanny stabbed herself in the neck just as the children’s mother was coming in the door but she survived her injuries.
Ortega has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.