NEW YORK — By most accounts, the Krim family had an idyllic life.
Marina and Kevin Krim lived a short walk from Central Park in one of New York City's most desirable neighborhoods, where they had moved after leaving their native California. Their three children, aged 2, 3, and 6, happily scribbled in the sand during a family beach vacation, scampered through pumpkin patches, napped peacefully and took part in their aunt's wedding.
It all played out in public, on Web journals: one published by Marina Krim and another by her sister, Tera, whose September nuptials north of New York City featured Marina as a matron of honor and her children as ring-bearers and flower girls.
"He plans on learning how to walk in the next few months, just in time for the big day!" Tera wrote of the youngest Krim, Leo, in her online journal.
On Friday, the family made an entirely different kind of entry into the public eye, this time in an unimaginable tragedy as police investigated the slayings of Leo and his oldest sister, Lucia — known as Lulu — who were found stabbed to death in the bathtub of their apartment Thursday evening. The family's 50-year-old nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, was lying on the bathroom floor with stab wounds that police said were self-inflicted. A kitchen knife lay nearby.
Marina Krim, 36, who had kept up a steady stream of blog postings and photographs focusing on her children, was draped in a white sheet as police led her from their stately gray stone building on West 75th Street. Police met Kevin Krim, an executive at CNBC, at the airport, where he was given the news after arriving back home from a business trip.
The couple's middle child, Nessie, was not harmed.
Police arrested the nanny, who remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday. She had not been formally charged as of Friday afternoon.
Flowers, stuffed animals and candles began piling up at a makeshift memorial outside the apartment building where the Krims lived with their dog, Babar.
Neighbors described earsplitting wails and screams as Marina Krim, who grew up in Manhattan Beach, opened the bathroom door to find Lulu and Leo in the bloody tub. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said she came upon the scene after returning home at about 5:30 p.m. with Nessie following the child's swim class.
Leo and Lulu were supposed to be home with Ortega, but the apartment was dark and quiet when Krim walked in.
She went one floor down, to the doorman in the lobby, and asked if he had seen the nanny leave with her two other children.
He said no.
Krim returned to the apartment and began walking from room to room.
Eventually, she reached the bathroom.
"We believe now that the nanny began stabbing herself as the woman entered the room," Kelly said.
Neighbors, hearing screams, called 911.
"It's unimaginable. It's a tragedy and I feel so terrible for these children," said one neighbor, Rachel Cedar, as police stood outside the building and scores of people came to leave bouquets, take photographs, or just stare. Like many others who spoke to the throngs of reporters, or who clustered on corners discussing the crime, Cedar's voice shook and she fought to hold back tears.
"It's unbelievable, unbelievable," said another neighbor, Charles Zimmerman.
The slayings were horrible enough on their own, but they were made more so by the familiarity people quickly developed with the dead children as Marina Krim's Web journal was circulated. Scores of color photographs accompanied by cheerful captions and sometimes a few lines of loving elaboration appeared nearly daily on the journal, which Krim began in 2006 — the year Lulu was born. It was last updated Wednesday, a day before the slayings.
"Leo speaks in the most adorable way possible," she wrote of the 2-year-old, giving examples of his tendency to enunciate "super clearly." A day earlier, she had posted a picture of Lulu wearing a pink dress and eating a hot dog. The headline read: "A New Yorker and Her Dog." Another post that day showed Nessie pretending to talk on a phone at a phone booth along Broadway. "Fun times!!" Krim wrote.
The killings also hit hard in a city where families who can afford it hunt fervently for the ideal nanny to guide youngsters through the urban jungle. Here, children must often take crowded subways and buses to school, cross busy streets to reach playgrounds, or navigate sidewalks jammed with fast-moving adults.
Parents use everything from friends' references to placement firms to find nannies. Claudia Kahn of the Help Co. said demand for professional child care had increased in the past 20 years. Kahn, who founded the domestic placement agency in Los Angeles 30 years ago, attributed the growth in demand to several factors.
"I don't think parents were so in tune with child development in the past," said Kahn. She also cited the desire for professional nannies to an increase in educated women having children and remaining in the work force. "They want someone like themselves in the home," said Kahn, who conducts exhaustive checks on each aspiring nanny.
She warned against casting a wary eye on nannies. "Mothers have flipped out. Fathers have flipped out," Kahn said, noting stories of parents murdering their own children. "I don't think I've ever heard about such a horrific story involving a nanny."
By Friday, Marina Krim's blog had been taken offline, but the wedding journal of her sister, Tera, remained, and it had become a place for condolence messages.
"Thoughts and prayers to your family and to the two sweet angels in heaven," wrote one. "What a tragedy. What in God's name did these 2 innocent kids do to deserve what happened to them?" wrote another.
Police said they had no idea of a possible motive. Ortega, who had apparently slashed her own throat, was unable to speak.
[email protected]
Marina and Kevin Krim lived a short walk from Central Park in one of New York City's most desirable neighborhoods, where they had moved after leaving their native California. Their three children, aged 2, 3, and 6, happily scribbled in the sand during a family beach vacation, scampered through pumpkin patches, napped peacefully and took part in their aunt's wedding.
It all played out in public, on Web journals: one published by Marina Krim and another by her sister, Tera, whose September nuptials north of New York City featured Marina as a matron of honor and her children as ring-bearers and flower girls.
"He plans on learning how to walk in the next few months, just in time for the big day!" Tera wrote of the youngest Krim, Leo, in her online journal.
On Friday, the family made an entirely different kind of entry into the public eye, this time in an unimaginable tragedy as police investigated the slayings of Leo and his oldest sister, Lucia — known as Lulu — who were found stabbed to death in the bathtub of their apartment Thursday evening. The family's 50-year-old nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, was lying on the bathroom floor with stab wounds that police said were self-inflicted. A kitchen knife lay nearby.
Marina Krim, 36, who had kept up a steady stream of blog postings and photographs focusing on her children, was draped in a white sheet as police led her from their stately gray stone building on West 75th Street. Police met Kevin Krim, an executive at CNBC, at the airport, where he was given the news after arriving back home from a business trip.
The couple's middle child, Nessie, was not harmed.
Police arrested the nanny, who remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday. She had not been formally charged as of Friday afternoon.
Flowers, stuffed animals and candles began piling up at a makeshift memorial outside the apartment building where the Krims lived with their dog, Babar.
Neighbors described earsplitting wails and screams as Marina Krim, who grew up in Manhattan Beach, opened the bathroom door to find Lulu and Leo in the bloody tub. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said she came upon the scene after returning home at about 5:30 p.m. with Nessie following the child's swim class.
Leo and Lulu were supposed to be home with Ortega, but the apartment was dark and quiet when Krim walked in.
She went one floor down, to the doorman in the lobby, and asked if he had seen the nanny leave with her two other children.
He said no.
Krim returned to the apartment and began walking from room to room.
Eventually, she reached the bathroom.
"We believe now that the nanny began stabbing herself as the woman entered the room," Kelly said.
Neighbors, hearing screams, called 911.
"It's unimaginable. It's a tragedy and I feel so terrible for these children," said one neighbor, Rachel Cedar, as police stood outside the building and scores of people came to leave bouquets, take photographs, or just stare. Like many others who spoke to the throngs of reporters, or who clustered on corners discussing the crime, Cedar's voice shook and she fought to hold back tears.
"It's unbelievable, unbelievable," said another neighbor, Charles Zimmerman.
The slayings were horrible enough on their own, but they were made more so by the familiarity people quickly developed with the dead children as Marina Krim's Web journal was circulated. Scores of color photographs accompanied by cheerful captions and sometimes a few lines of loving elaboration appeared nearly daily on the journal, which Krim began in 2006 — the year Lulu was born. It was last updated Wednesday, a day before the slayings.
"Leo speaks in the most adorable way possible," she wrote of the 2-year-old, giving examples of his tendency to enunciate "super clearly." A day earlier, she had posted a picture of Lulu wearing a pink dress and eating a hot dog. The headline read: "A New Yorker and Her Dog." Another post that day showed Nessie pretending to talk on a phone at a phone booth along Broadway. "Fun times!!" Krim wrote.
The killings also hit hard in a city where families who can afford it hunt fervently for the ideal nanny to guide youngsters through the urban jungle. Here, children must often take crowded subways and buses to school, cross busy streets to reach playgrounds, or navigate sidewalks jammed with fast-moving adults.
Parents use everything from friends' references to placement firms to find nannies. Claudia Kahn of the Help Co. said demand for professional child care had increased in the past 20 years. Kahn, who founded the domestic placement agency in Los Angeles 30 years ago, attributed the growth in demand to several factors.
"I don't think parents were so in tune with child development in the past," said Kahn. She also cited the desire for professional nannies to an increase in educated women having children and remaining in the work force. "They want someone like themselves in the home," said Kahn, who conducts exhaustive checks on each aspiring nanny.
She warned against casting a wary eye on nannies. "Mothers have flipped out. Fathers have flipped out," Kahn said, noting stories of parents murdering their own children. "I don't think I've ever heard about such a horrific story involving a nanny."
By Friday, Marina Krim's blog had been taken offline, but the wedding journal of her sister, Tera, remained, and it had become a place for condolence messages.
"Thoughts and prayers to your family and to the two sweet angels in heaven," wrote one. "What a tragedy. What in God's name did these 2 innocent kids do to deserve what happened to them?" wrote another.
Police said they had no idea of a possible motive. Ortega, who had apparently slashed her own throat, was unable to speak.
[email protected]