The nanny on trial for murdering two children in her care told her therapist she’d been possessed by the devil.
Yoselyn Ortega told Karen Rosenbaum that Satan had told her to stab Lulu and Leo Krim, 6 and 2, to death before cutting her own throat at their Upper East Side, Manhattan apartment on October 25, 2012.
‘She finally told me, several interviews in, that the voices told her to kill people, that they told her to kill herself, and eventually that they told her to kill the children,’ the psychiatrist told the court on Tuesday, New York Daily reports.
In the weeks after the double murder, as she lay shackled to her hospital bed recovering from her self-inflicted wounds, Ortega told her therapist that the devil had made her do it.
Yoselyn Ortega listens to court proceedings during the first day of her murder trial in New York earlier this month
Karen Rosenbaum (center, leaving court on Tuesday) testified that Ortega had told her she believed she was possessed by the devil when she killed the kids in her care
‘I felt like the devil was possessing me, wanting me to be his,’ Rosenbaum testified that Ortega had told her, according to the New York Post. ‘That the devil wanted me for himself.
Ortega had also told her therapist, before the killings, that she felt the devil was ‘starting to overtake her (and) it was significantly worse.’
The possession was ‘getting stronger in the week prior’ to the murders, the nanny had told Rosenbaum.
‘When the devil overtakes her, she has no choice in the matter,’ the psychiatrist had noted.
Ortega has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the double murder in 2012, with her legal team saying she was too mentally ill to know what she was doing.
Ortega is on trial for the October 2012 murders of Lucia (right) and Leo Krim (left), ages six and two, two siblings who she babysat
But prosecutors argue the killings took careful planning and that she knew what she was doing was wrong.
If convicted, she will face the rest of her life in jail. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, she will be sent to a psychiatric hospital.
Her psychiatrist’s testimony is expected to continue Thursday.
A neighbor of the two children also reacted furiously to claims the defendant was insane.
‘When the devil overtakes her, she has no choice in the matter,’ the psychiatrist (pictured) had noted
Charlotte Friedman, who was in the apartment block on the Upper West Sid when she heard the piercing screams of Lucia and Leo Krim, told the courtroom: ‘I’m angry. This is not a case of mental illness, so I’m angry,’ according to the New York Post.
The neighbor was the last to see the children alive.
She saw them in the corridor and a ‘smiling, radiant’ Lucia told her she had just come from dance.
The court heard, according to the New York Daily News, how she talked to the six-year-old she affectionately called Lulu while her brother slept in the stroller.
Friedman said: ‘Lulu was all smiles, and I said to her, ‘Lulu, you look so beautiful. Where are you going or where are you coming from?’.
‘She said, ‘Dance’. She was radiant and she was smiling. She was just a child full of life, and darling.’
Shocking photos have emerged showing the killer nanny Yoselyn Ortega, 55, lying in a pool of blood after she murdered two children in her care and slit her own throat
Yoselyn Ortega (pictured on March 2) has pleaded not guilty to the double murders by reason of insanity
Moments later, Friedman told the court she heard ‘screaming like I’ve never heard in my life’.
‘It was raw,’ she told the court. ‘It was primal screaming.’
It was Friedman who dialed 911, initially thinking Ortega had merely stolen the children.
When she was pressed by the defense on the timeline of events on the day of the double murder, she was visibly angry with the line of questioning.
According to the Post, she said: ‘I don’t know. It was five years ago.
‘I don’t know, speak to the detectives. They have notes. I don’t.’
Talking about calling the emergency services, according to the Post, she told jurors: ‘Murder didn’t enter my mind. I said I think the nanny stole the children, you’d better get over here right away.’
But the brutal reality of the crimes committed in October 2012 were eventually revealed when Marina Krim came home to find her children murdered.
Photos shown in court reveal the bloody aftermath of the attack (pictured)
Ortega was found lying in the doorway of the bathroom, with a blood covered shirt, next to a huge kitchen knife
Shocking photos emerged this week showing a killer nanny lying in a pool of blood after she murdered two children in her care and slit her own throat.
Yoselyn Ortega, 55, is on trial for stabbing siblings Lucia and Leo Krim, ages six and two, to death in October 2012. Their mother came home and found them stabbed to death in a bathtub of their Upper West Side apartment.
The Dominican nanny stabbed herself in the neck just as the children’s mother was coming in the door but she survived her injuries.
Photos shown in court this week revealed the bloody aftermath of the attack.
Ortega was found lying in the doorway of the bathroom, with a blood covered shirt, next to a huge kitchen knife. She appeared to be unconscious and had something tied round her neck.
The bathroom’s sink was stained red with blood, while splatters were seen all over the floor.
Ortega was rushed to hospital and photos from her hospital bed showed the nature of her injuries.
The worst, was a severe cut across her neck, where a chunk of skin appeared to be missing.
Ortega, who appeared to be unconscious, had something tied round her neck
The bathroom’s floor and door was splattered with blood after she slit her throat
Other photos showed Ortega on a breathing tube, and on an IV, as she lay in her hospital bed.
Ortega has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and has mostly been sitting emotionless in court.
Her son Jesus Frias, 22, has since claimed in court that his mother stabbed the two children by ‘accident’.
Frias appeared in Manhattan criminal court yesterday to testify in the murder trial of his mother.
At one point, Frias referred to the Krims’ deaths as an ‘accident’ and quickly corrected himself to say ‘before what happened’.
Gruesome hospital photos have emerged of the nanny accused of murder two two children in her care then slashing her own throat (pictured)
Yoselyn Ortega, 55, is on trial for stabbing siblings Lucia and Leo Krim, ages six and two, to death in October 2012, then stabbing herself in the throat. She is pictured in hospital immediately after the stabbing
The grisly photos show the serious damage she suffered when she sliced her own neck in 2012
One photo showed Ortega on a breathing tube, and on an IV, as she lay in her hospital bed
Photos of two bloodied knives were shown to jurors in court last week
But the prosecutor interjected, saying: ‘I’m sorry – did you just say, ‘the accident?”
‘Unfortunately, two children died,’ Frias added.
The children’s father, Kevin Krim, watched Frias testify on Thursday – the father’s third day in court. His wife Marina did not attend.
The nanny, originally from the Dominican Republic, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
The friends and relatives who have previously testified have told the court how she seemed to be plagued by demons in the time leading up to the murders.
But Frias said he didn’t really see that side of his mother.
He said she went through a protracted ‘sadness’ and seemed to be depressed the day of the murders. But she kissed him goodbye and sent him to school just like she did every day.
Ortega worked part time for the Krim family, aiding stay-at-home mom Marina Krim (right) with the couple’s then-three kids – Lucia, Leo and Nessie. After Lucia and Leo’s murders, the couple went on to have tow more boys
Frias doesn’t remember his mother complaining about a ‘black man’ who was trying to ‘separate the families’ as others have recalled.
On the night of the murders, Frias did recall receiving a mysterious call from his mom’s number.
When he answered, he said he heard a man’s voice, in a thick accent, say ‘I need help’ before promptly hanging up.
Earlier in the trial, the court was told how Ortega left her phone at home that day. the phone was never recovered, but the line was mysteriously disconnected soon after the deadly incident.
Frias says his mother ‘loved’ the Krim children, and they seemed to love her back.
Ortega worked part time as the children’s nanny, aiding their mother who was a stay-at-home mom.
‘Whenever the Krims were doing something, my mom would take care of (the kids),’ Frias said. ‘They seemed like they loved my mom. She loved them back.’
Frias says Lucia would make drawings for his mother, and that his mom would put Lucia on the phone with him to practice her Spanish.
Marina Krim has not attended court, other than to testify. Her husband has spent the last three days in court however. Kevin Krim is pictured above outside court on Tuesday
Frias met the kids when they visited the Dominican Republic and spent some times with his relatives.
He said it was a ‘lovely scene’.
Frias described his mother as protective.
When he was a kid living in the Dominican Republic, he says his mother would hide him under the bed anytime she heard the dog bark – afraid that thieves were about to break in.
And when he moved to New York, he says she would follow him out at night when he played basketball to keep an eye on him.
During his testimony, Ortega tried to make eye contact with her son but he avoided her gaze.