NYC nanny accused of killing children told friend she had financial problems: report

(CBS) NEW YORK - Friends of the nanny suspected of murdering two children in her care tell the New York Times that Yoselyn Ortega had seemed increasingly stressed and unhappy over the past year.

PICTURES: Nanny suspected in fatal stabbings of 2 NYC kids

The Times reports that Ortega, 50, is in medically induced coma after police say she turned the kitchen knife she allegedly used to stab Leo Krim, 2, and Lucia Krim, 6, to death on herself.

Maria Lajara, a former neighbor of Ortega's, told the Times that Ortega had told her that she had given a woman makeup to sell but that the woman "owed her a lot of money."

Sources told the Times that Ortega had lost the apartment in the Bronx where she and her son had been living and was forced to into her sister's apartment on Riverside Drive in Harlem.

Still, Lajara told the paper she was at a loss to imagine why Ortega would have hurt the children she apparently adored.

"She really loved them, the family," Lajara told the Times. "She loved the kids, she would take them to the park, and she said the mom was a really good person."

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told reporters that Ortega's family told  police she had recently seen a psychologist, or had been planning on visiting one.

The children's mother, Marina Krim, reportedly found the two children dead in the family's bathtub when she returned home from taking her other daughter to swim class. Krim, who is currently being hospitalized for trauma, kept a blog detailing the family's life. In one post, re-printed by the Times, she wrote about the time she spent alone with r 2-year-old son, Leo,  who she refers to as Lito:

"One of the best parts of my day is after I drop both girls off at school and have 3 precious hours with little Lito all to myself. Ok, I'm near getting cheesy I adore this boy so much!!! He's obsessed with collecting acorns he finds 'on the floor,' he loves riding 'the school bus' and he happily plays by himself for long periods of time. Here he has set up his kitchen in the living room and is 'making bacon' (not sure where he learned the word 'bacon')."

Ortega was arrested when police arrived at the apartment, but has not yet been charged with any crime.

Complete coverage of alleged NYC nanny killings on Crimesider