A woman driven by a compulsion to harm children admitted in a Pittsburgh court on Wednesday that she murdered her best friend’s infant son, in a plea agreement that’ll likely keep this “monster” in prison for life.Nicole Virzi, 32, had been charged with capital murder with the possibility of the death penalty before opting to plead guilty to third-degree murder and other charges.She was sentenced to 35 to 80 years behind bars.“Although this office was committed to pursuing this case to trial and its ultimate conclusion, after continued and on-going consultation with the family and considering the best interest of the community and its protection we agreed to offer the above plea and sentence,” according to a statement by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.
The killer, a University of California San Diego doctoral student, was a close friend of the victim’s mother, Savannah Roberts.She had been visiting Pittsburgh and help babysit Roberts’ newborn twins, Leon and Ari Katz in 2024.In June 2024, the twins’ parents, Roberts and Ethan Katz, took Ari to the hospital after discovering wounds on his body.
Virzi offered to look after Leon while they were away.Late that night, Virzi called police and claimed 6-week-old Leon had fallen from a baby bouncer.He was rushed to a nearby children’s hospital where he was pronounced dead.Investigators quickly determined the severity of the injuries to Leon could not have been caused by a fall from such a short height, and took Virzi into custody.Leon’s death was eventually ruled a homicide caused by “blunt force trauma to the head” and “the manner of death was ruled homicide,” according to the criminal complaint filed against Virzi by Pittsburgh police.
It was also determined that the injuries to Ari that caused the family to leave Leon in Virzi’s care were caused by Virzi herself.Virzi told investigators that she “always had a compulsion she could not control to harm kids,” prosec...