Two weeks after Kristopher Karolkiewicz killed his wife, Amanda “Mandy” Karolkiewicz, and their six kids in a murder-suicide, the family’s former babysitter opened up about their family dynamic and revealed how close the siblings were.
Lexi Tater opened up to News 8 about her time working for the family, and she admitted she was initially “overwhelmed” by how many kids she was asked to care for.
“It was definitely the way that Mandy spoke about her children [that] was one of the biggest reasons that I was so excited to babysit,” she explained, adding that she was no longer anxious about the job when she learned how close the six siblings were.
“How they all know what each other [needs] and how they all know how to take care of one another really made me relieved,” she said. “It was honestly the easiest babysitting ever.”
Mandy, 39, and Kristopher, 47, shared kids Keegan, 15, Bennet, 12, adopted twins Caroline and Ella, 11, Smith, 11, and Teddy, 5.
“Teddy was the cutest and sweetest baby ever,” Tater said of the family’s youngest child.
She added that Keegan was “very thoughtful.” Tater continued, “I could tell at times he was a little overwhelmed with all of his younger siblings, but he knew how to take time away and just step away.”
“I was like, ‘Oh my God where’s Keegan,’ to the other kids. They were just like ‘He’s taking his alone time,’ and like they just knew that that was, like, how that, how their dynamic worked,” Tater recalled.
Tater said that Ella was like her “buddy” and that she had “the spunkiest attitude and was just the most charismatic little human at four years old.” Meanwhile, “Caroline was a little bit more quiet” and was “intentional and observant and kind.”
“Bennett is kind of a little bit of, like, a really sweet, fun, wild child. He loved YouTube and telling me all about, like, Gen Alpha slang,” she added.
Tater also recalled Smith learning he was going to be a big brother when Mandy was pregnant with Teddy, and she said he was “so excited” about his new sibling.
Not only did Tater share insight into what the kids were like, but she also praised Mandy as an inspiration.
“She circulated the Reproductive Freedom for All Ballot Initiative and told me about a protest happening downtown Grand Haven,” Tater shared. “She’s definitely not the only reason that I do what I do now, but that was my first protest I’d ever went to, and now I lead them by myself or with other people, with my volunteers.”
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Tater then said that Mandy entered her life at a time she needed someone like her to look up to. “She just … she cared about people,” Tater said. “And of course, mostly her children. Those [kids] were her world.”
Us previously reported that Kristopher killed Mandy and their six children at their home in Michigan on July 24. After he shot his family members, Kristopher set their home on fire.
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