New York 'Killer Nanny' Yoselyn Ortega Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murders of 2 Children

Yoselyn Ortega's lawyer claimed she was mentally ill and wasn't responsible for killing Lulu, 6, and Leo, 2.

A 55-year-old former nanny has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering two young children in her care on New York City's Upper West Side.

Yoselyn Ortega, the so-called "Killer Nanny," was convicted last month of killing Lulu, 6, and Leo Krim, 2, on Oct. 25, 2012.

Ortega received two life sentences without the possibility of parole Monday.

Parents Marina and Kevin Krim read emotional victim impact statements in court, sharing their memories of children they lost far too early.

"It is so unfair that they are gone," the father said. "Unfair to us, unfair to the world."

"She tried to destroy what Kevin and I set out to build, a happy family," Marina said. She called out the "evil defendant" and her "entire family of bad, unethical people."

The parents claim Ortega's relatives gave false and misleading information about her background as a nanny.

Prosecutors had described how Ortega was supposed to bring Lulu to a dance class, but instead brought her and Leo to their apartment. There, she used two kitchen knives to slash them to death. Then she placed them in the tub, authorities said.

By the time Marina Krim arrived home, Ortega had sliced her own wrists and plunged a knife into her throat. 

The six-woman, six-man jury rejected her defense team's contention that Ortega was mentally unfit and was in a "psychotic" and "dissociative" state when she attacked the children.

Ortega claimed to hear the voice of the devil and was following his instructions.

At her trial, jurors had listened for weeks to grim testimony about the violent killings of the children. Their mother had returned home from swimming lessons with the children's 3-year-old sister, only to find Lulu and Leo dead in a bathtub.

As the verdicts were read, Kevin Krim broke down in tears. Ortega sat expressionless at the defense table.

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