It Happened Under Their Roof
Astonished, she could not believe what she saw. As she stared at the screen, her hands remained clasped over her mouth.
Seeing her shock, her husband’s hands began to sweat. As soon as he started watching, he could no longer take it. He stopped the video.
“I can’t believe this,” she whispered sadly, tears streaming down her face as she shook her head. Their hearts sank when they learned what’d been going on in their home. What they had to do was obvious to them.
The Beginning
While at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Bree, and Anthony Mendez met. She was passionate about philosophy, but Anthony enjoyed economics and business.
It wasn’t long before they got married, and shortly afterward, they were expecting their first child.
The couple decided to move to an affordable and safe neighborhood on the outskirts of New York City after realizing the busy city wasn’t the best place to start a family. Bree thought the suburbs would be the safest place for her family, but her assumptions proved to be incorrect.
Everything Was Perfect
The couple adopted an adorable Pitbull named Missy shortly after moving into their beautiful new home, and a few months later welcomed their baby daughter on a warm Thursday afternoon.
Mikaela was the name they chose for her, and she was everything they had ever hoped for.
Every second of Bree’s maternity leave was spent with her newborn. It was during this time that Missy and Mikaela began to form a close bond. Eventually, however, she would return to work. She had no idea that the peace of their new home would be shattered within weeks.
Back To Work
In order to return to work, Bree and Anthony were determined to find the perfect nanny to care for their daughter.
During their first interview with Kelly, they were convinced she would make a perfect addition to their family. The hiring process took no time at all.
In the mornings, she took care of Mikaela while Anthony and Bree prepared for work. She got along well with the baby, which made them extremely happy. It was at this time that Missy began spending lots of time staring at the baby in the nursery. This was something Bree should have considered but didn’t.
Never Leaving Her Side
Missy’s odd behavior came out of nowhere, and Bree noticed it almost immediately. Missy refused to leave the baby’s side since Kelly started working for the family.
In many cases, she would spend hours staring at the baby in her crib.
As Bree and Anthony returned Mikaela to Mikaela’s crib after baths and feedings, she stood in the nursery doorway. Missy had never been so high-strung before, and Bree became concerned. Several weeks later, Bree would learn the horrific truth.
Escalation
While Pitbulls are known for their aggressive natures, Anthony assured her that they are only aggressive when they are raised in that manner.
From there, things simply escalated, despite her best efforts not to think about it too much.
In the end, Missy wouldn’t leave the nursery at all. Day and night, she spent every moment in the room. The dog barely slept and hadn’t eaten for days. The concern Bree had was well-founded.
The Best Course Of Action
Eventually, Bree felt too scared to leave Mikaela and Missy alone at night.
In the daytime, she knew Kelly was protecting her baby, but at night she worried about something happening. The best course of action was to separate them.
In one instance, she locked Missy out of the nursery, but she whined for hours on end until she was allowed back in. The thought of what was happening to her beloved pet kept Bree awake at night.
Acting Strangely
After a long night, Bree woke up early to gather her things for work. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the strange sound. She hadn’t heard anything like that before. In the nursery, Missy looked at her with a growl as she stood behind Kelly.
In the weeks that had passed, Missy had not left the nursery, determined to be close to the baby at all times.
When Kelly lifted the baby from her crib, Missy’s growls grew louder. As Bree called Missy’s name, she turned to Kelly and apologized, “I don’t understand why she’s acting this way.”. Kelly dismissed it, claiming she might just be hungry. In reality, it wasn’t like that at all.
Sick With Worry
As Bree worked, she kept thinking about Missy’s strange behavior. Her brain couldn’t comprehend Missy’s behavior, she had never seen her act up like this before.
Having taken care of the child for a few weeks now, Kelly wasn’t a stranger. Besides growling at the nanny, why would she not leave the nursery?
Worry was eating away at her. She told her husband about the exchange when she reached home that night, and he found it bizarre as well. This had to be addressed. Their daughter’s safety was at risk, so the couple discussed returning her to the shelter.
Something Clicked
He assured his wife that he would keep an eye on the situation before making any rash decisions. He noticed Missy’s aggression in the weeks to come, but one day, something clicked for him.
Whenever Kelly was around, Missy would growl, especially when the baby was in her arms. They both agreed that something suspicious was going on after sharing this information with Bree.
During that time, they installed a hidden camera in the nursery. There was no way they could have predicted what was about to happen.
Discovering The Truth
They waited until the weekend before checking the footage. It was early in the morning and Mikaela was still asleep.
Bree sat next to her husband as he opened the recording on his tablet. They took a deep breath before he finally clicked on the video.
At first, everything seemed normal. It was right after they had left the house and Kelly was feeding the baby. Just a few minutes after they had left, she placed Mikaela back in her crib and made her way to the couch in the nursery. She took a seat and immediately started scrolling on her phone, but what happened next made their blood boil.
She Was Yelling
Mikaela had started crying. Bree expected to see Kelly rush to the crib and comfort the crying baby, but instead, she continued scrolling on her phone.
When the crying got louder, Bree watched in disbelief as Kelly started yelling for the baby to keep quiet.
At this point, Mikaela was screaming at the top of her lungs. This set Kelly off as she got up from the couch and rushed over to the crib, yelling at the baby instead of comforting her. Anthony and Bree watched with wide eyes as the dog jumped up, barking and growling at Kelly as she kept screaming at the baby. Bree’s heart ached as she watched the footage. Her baby needed comfort, but instead, the nanny was screaming and using vulgar language.
They Knew What They Had To Do
Anthony paused the video and turned to comfort his emotional wife as tears welled up in her eyes. All along, Missy had been trying to protect their baby.
She wasn’t leaving her side, scared that Kelly would harm the baby. The two, concerned parents knew what they had to do.
They couldn’t let Kelly get away with this. All this time, they had trusted her to look after their baby while they were away at work. She couldn’t be trusted.
Confronting Her
When Monday morning came around, they sat Kelly down and gave her a piece of their mind.
Anthony told her about the recordings and watched as the color drained from her face.
She was horrified and embarrassed, she couldn’t believe that she had been caught on camera. They asked her to leave their home and never return again. No one was allowed to treat their daughter that way. Just days after Kelly was fired, Missy was back to her calm, friendly self.
A Difficult Situation
The couple now faced a difficult situation. They were good people and generally didn’t like to go on the offensive.
But this woman had crossed so far beyond the line that they felt obligated to take actions.
It was their baby after all and no one messed with her without facing their wrath. But how would things turn out once the dust settled?
Doing What Was Best
After many discussions, Bree and Anthony decided to do the only thing they could. They decided to press charges.
They couldn’t let her get away with endangering their child. And an even bigger motivation was so that she couldn’t do this to someone else.
They didn’t want Kelly to be able to ever do this again. It was their obligation to stop her once and for all.
Pressing Charges
They decided that they were pressing charges. They drove down to the police station and filed the case against her.
It could be a difficult battle, but they felt it was their responsibility now.
Kelly didn’t expect them to be so ruthless. But then again, she shouldn’t have crossed them in the first place.
A Difficult Battle
Just as the couple saw coming, the legal battle was a long and drawn out one.
They used the footage from their camera as evidence in the court and just hoped that it would be enough.
They didn’t want to ruin the young woman’s life, but they wanted to make sure she would stop doing this to kids. But would things end the way they wanted?
They Won!
It had cost them a small fortune but after six months of difficulties, they had finally done it.
The judge found Kelly guilty and she would be sentenced to two years in prison. They thought that was fair.
two Two years was enough for her to get her head on straight. And they could feel good knowing she wasn’t endangering any more children.
Still Nanniless
Even though the couple was happy at their victory. It felt a little shortlived.
They had done good by their daughter but there was another matter they had to attend to. Their daughter still needed to be carefully watched while they weren’t at home.
They were scared of getting a new nanny because of their last experience, but they knew they had to try for their daughter’s sake. But they had no idea who the next nanny would be.
The Dust Settled
When the dust settled, Bree and Anthony decided to try once again. After weeks of searching, they found a woman named Betty.
Betty was a retired pediatric nurse and since the first time they had spoken to her, they knew that she was the perfect match for their daughter. To make things even better, Missy loved Betty!
They hired her soon after, and after months of taking care of Mikaela, Betty became part of the family. But the couple would learn their lesson and keep their nanny cams around. But they had no idea what dark secret Betty was also hiding.
A Great Nanny
Anthony and Bree were surprised at how amazing Betty was. She was a few years older than them and seemed like a very caring woman.
But they had only known Betty for a few months, and they didn’t know much about her.
One day they’d find out something about Betty that would have them in tears. How could they have let this woman into their home?
Betty Tremblay
They didn’t know much about Betty Tremblay. When they interviewed her, she told them that she used to be a nurse in a pediatric hospital.
She would care for the sick and injured children six days a week for 40 years.
Now in her retirement years, Betty still wanted to help children. She saw their ad and decided a nanny would do her some good. But the couple had no idea what her true motivations for taking care of her child were.
More information
Throughout the few months, she’d been their nanny, more information about her life would slip out in small talk and casual chats in the brief moments when they came home from work before letting Betty go home.
She was chatty and told them that she was born in Quebec, Canada.
She married a stockbroker, and they had a beautiful baby girl together. But she left out one key detail that would have the couple in a panic.
Everything Seemed Normal
The couple had no concerns about Betty whatsoever. She seemed like the perfect fit. She was great with Mikaela and even took the liberty to tidy up.
It was unexpected, but she really did feel like family.
Betty had her own reasons for why she was so good to them. She just hoped they would never find out. Unfortunately, they did.
A Slip-Up
Even though the couple wasn’t concerned about their daughter, one Sunday night, they decided to watch their nanny cam.
They expected to see Betty taking loving care of their child.
Instead, the couple would notice a small slip-up that would bring Betty’s facade crumbling down. One that would change everything.
“Sarah”
The couple could hear Betty soothing their child; she was talking while cradling Mikaela. Bree and Anthony were smiling at their bundle of joy.
But their smiles turned to looks of concern when Betty said something strange.
She said, “aren’t you just the cutest baby in the world, Sarah?” Alarm bells went off in their heads. Why would she call Mikaela Sarah? They needed answers straight from the source.
Confronting Betty
The couple decided that they had to be careful. They couldn’t have another incident like the one with Kelly.
They had to address this before anything bad happened. They sat down one evening with Betty and started asking her.
But Betty’s reaction was one they didn’t expect. The older woman broke down in tears in front of them. What was the truth?
Her Own Daughter
Betty calmed herself down and explained why she had accidentally called Mikaela Sarah.
It was because that was the name of her own beautiful daughter that she had 30 years ago. But it ran much deeper than that.
She told them the truth. Sarah went missing when she was only six, and she was never reunited with her. It was a sad truth that made the couple sympathize greatly.
Loving Her Like Her Very Own
Bree and Anthony decided to let Betty know that she could love Mikaela like her own daughter if it helped her mourn. The older woman felt like she had a purpose when she looked after Mikaela, and they didn’t want to ruin that.
With more understanding about why Betty cared so much about children, they kept her on for Mikaela’s entire childhood, and she became something of an aunt to her.
In order to protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
