Girls, ages 7 and 9, are in stable condition after surgery.
View full sizeBedford Police Lt. Jeff Dickan updates the investigation into Saturday night's stabbing of two young sisters at their Katonah home, outside the Bedford Police Station in Bedford Hills on Monday.Katonah, NY — A woman who was baby-sitting her two nieces stabbed them multiple times, then called 911 from the upscale home where the girls and their parents live across the street from Martha Stewart, police said Monday.
The 7- and 9-year-old girls were found on the kitchen floor of their Katonah home Saturday night in a scene police called “quite horrible.”
“There was a lot of blood in the kitchen area,” said Lt. Jeffrey Dickan of the Bedford police.
The girls were both conscious and talking when they were found, he said, and the two kitchen knives that they appeared to have been stabbed with were recovered, he said.
The girls were in stable condition and improving after surgery on Sunday, Dickan said.
Lisa TurkkiLisa Turkki of Manlius, the girls’ aunt and their mother’s sister, sustained a minor injury to her leg that was possibly self-inflicted, Dickan said. She was outside the house when police arrived.
Dickan declined to discuss a possible motive or Turkki’s mental state. He also declined to talk about what Turkki said during the 911 call.
Turkki was arraigned on two counts of assault and being held at the Westchester County Jail. The name of her attorney was not available, and a phone message left at her home was not immediately returned. She was scheduled to appear in Bedford Town Court on Thursday.
Turkki owns a townhouse at 393 Summerhaven Drive North in Manlius. Her mailing address is East Syracuse.
She graduated from Jamesville-DeWitt High School in 1988, where she was one of the school’s top girls soccer players in her senior year. Her sister, Eva Kelly, 43, attended J-D ahead of her.
Turkki voluntarily submitted to urine and blood tests and did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, said Dickan.
Katonah, a hamlet of Bedford, is about 40 miles north of midtown Manhattan. The area is wooded, with houses far apart and shielded from the road by mature trees and shrubs. The girls and their parents live in a modern wooden house known in the neighborhood for its green technology.
Home of Joseph and Eva Kelly in Westchester County.Turkki was watching the girls while the parents were attending a concert at a classical music venue within walking distance of the house, said Dickan. They were called to the box office during intermission and told to return home. By the time they arrived home, the girls had been taken to the hospital, he said.
“It’s like a worst nightmare for a parent,” said neighbor Heather Flournoy, who writes a blog on green living, and in 2008 wrote about the family’s use of green technology in their home.
The girls recently called Flournoy to tell her “they had baby chicks and they were going to raise chickens,” she said.
» Aunt stabs two girls near Martha Stewart's farm [New York Post]
» Katonah girls improving after stabbing; police provide new details [The Journal-News]