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Manhattan Nanny Pleads Not Guilty To Murder

Manhattan Nanny Pleads Not Guilty To Murder

A Manhattan nanny accused of stabbing to death two small children in her care has pleaded not guilty.

Yoselyn Ortega was arraigned at a hospital where she has been treated for self-inflicted stab wounds.

Ortega, who was handcuffed to her hospital bed, entered the plea through her attorney.

Police say she repeatedly stabbed six-year-old Lucia Krim and her two-year-old brother Leo on the evening of October 25, while their mother was out with a third child.

When Marina Krim returned home with her three-year-old daughter, she found the bodies in the bathtub, with Ortega lying on the bathroom floor with stab wounds to her neck. A kitchen knife was nearby.

The children's father, CNBC digital media executive Kevin Krim, had been away on a business trip when the killings occurred.

The couple's apartment building sits in one of the New York City's most idyllic neighbourhoods, a block from Central Park.

The neighbourhood is home to many affluent families, and seeing children accompanied by nannies is an everyday part of life there.

Some of Ortega's friends and relatives said she appeared to be struggling emotionally and financially recently, but they still could not believe she could have committed such a heinous act.

A judge ordered Ortega to be held without bail while she undergoes a psychiatric examination.

A court date was set for January 16.