Four Real-Life Grisly Murders by Babysitters That Will Literally Terrify You

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to find those entrusted with their children are truly monsters. Below are four real-life stories of babysitters who have snapped — for the most sinister reasons. And if their “pure evil” actions don’t get under your skin, then just note that they all didn’t happen that long ago…

The Manhattan Horror Story

It was the question on everyone’s lips in the trial earlier this month — why would Yoselyn Ortega, a seemingly innocent nanny, murder the children she watches — Lucia, 6, and Leo, 3 — in the cold blood? On Oct. 25, 2012, Marina panicked when she and her daughter Nessie, three, arrived at Lucia’s ballet class to discover she hadn’t arrived. Marina rushed back 
to her Manhattan home to find her children in a blood-splattered bathtub 
and a kitchen knife dumped in the sink.

Finally, in a case that shocked the world, Yoselyn admitted why she viciously stabbed two innocent children. “I had to do everything, and take care of the kids. 
I worked as a babysitter only and she wanted me to do five hours of cleaning each week,” the 55-year-old said, blaming the kids’ mother Marina Krim for her crime.

Yoselyn had stabbed Lucia 30 times 
and slashed Leo’s throat. The nanny then plunged the knife into her own neck in front of Marina. Jurors gasped in horror when Ortega’s lawyers argued insanity, saying the once-trusted nanny was too sick to understand the consequences of what she had done. But Judge Gregory Carro referred to Yoselyn as “pure evil” before she was convicted of murder and handed a life sentence, with no parole.

The Killer Aunt

Marquita Burch was babysitting her one-year-old nephew William Cunningham in her Cincinnati home in May 2012 when she called the police saying the little boy had wandered off from the park. While police, firefighters, and neighbours searched for more than five hours, Marquita’s story began to unravel. Eventually the 26-year-old confessed the toddler had injured himself and she’d panicked, stuffed him into in a garbage bag and stashed him in her cousin’s house.

By the time police found the tiny tot, he’d been dead for 48 hours. Before being charged with endangering a child, murder, and abuse of a corpse, the judge said, “It is bad enough that Marquita injured the child, but horrible to think of the child’s suffering.” She was sentenced to at least 19 years in jail.

The Teen Attacker With No Remorse

It was Karl McCluney’s 15th birthday on the day he was babysitting Demi-Leigh Mahon while her 
mother popped out to the shops 
in Manchester, UK. Rather than try 
and appease the two-year-old when she started crying, Karl flew 
into a rage, biting, kicking and punching the little girl, leaving her with 68 injuries and brain damage. She died two days later.

At the trial, Karl admitted 
the only motive for killing Demi was that she was annoying him with her screams. The court heard that after 
the attack, Karl watched TV as Demi lay unconscious on a mattress.

When her mother Ann-Marie McDonald returned home after 90 minutes and screamed, asking why he hadn’t called an ambulance, Karl claimed, “I haven’t done nothing.” He then said the toddler had fallen over in the park. He showed no emotion in court and kept his head bowed while the details of his crime were revealed. The teenager admitted to manslaughter but the jury found him guilty of murder. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail.

The Revenge Stabbing

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Elzbieta Plackowska, 45, was caring for her seven-year-old son Justin and a friend’s five-year-old daughter, Olivia, in a Chicago condo in 2012, when the kids refused to settle down for bed. In a frustrated frenzy, she grabbed a kitchen knife, told them they were “going to heaven” and stabbed them to death.

While being interrogated, she was adamant someone had broken in and killed the children while she was out having a cigarette. However, she finally admitted she murdered her son to get revenge on her husband and she killed Olivia because she had witnessed the murder. Plackowska pleaded insanity, but the judge sentenced her to life behind bars for murder.

This post originally appeared on our sister site, Now to Love.