3 Year Old Child Witnesses Murder of Siblings and Nanny

3 Year Old Child Witnessed Her Nanny Stabbing and Her Siblings Dead in the Tub

After returning to a swimming lesson, a 3 year old kid, Nessie Krim, witnessed the most devastating tragedy of her life that could leave a lifelong scar. As she and her mom walked into their New York City apartment on Thursday, they find her two siblings in the bathtub with their throats slashed allegedly by their nanny. To add to the horror, the little girl and her mother, 34-year-old Marina Krim, watched on as their nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, knifed herself in the throat and slit her wrists, according to police.

When is a child too young to remember a trauma, and is that even the right question to ask?

"It's more about the family than the child," said Dr. Alan E. Kazdin, professor of psychology and child psychiatry director of the Yale University Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic.

"The child doesn't know the meaning of the stabbing and may not see blood or know what it was," said Kazdin. "The easier part to address is that the mother will have a huge traumatic reaction to this and it will likely change the interaction with the 3-year-old.

"You can't fault the mom for anything, but depressed moms are less engaged with their children."

The victims' parents — Marina and Kevin Krim, an executive with CNBC — will definitely have a psychologically challenging recovery ahead, say medical experts. And their surviving child Nessie's emotional health will be entwined with theirs.

"This is an event the child can't really experience — like 9/11," he said. "The family will talk and cry about it and not the first, but the enduring events the family will go through in their normal reaction will be devastating to the child.… The trauma experience is not going to be a one-shot thing."

Posted by James Fried on Monday October 29 2012, 4:55 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0