Woman Gets 35 to 80 Years for Killing Friend's Infant Son, Injuring His Twin

Nicole Virzi was sentenced to 35 to 80 years in prison after admitting that she killed her close friend’s six-week-old son and injured his twin brother during a visit to the family’s Pittsburgh home. Her guilty plea ended a case that prosecutors had been preparing to take to a capital trial.

Virzi, 32, pleaded guilty on October 28 to third-degree murder and other charges. Prosecutors said the agreement followed continuing consultation with the children’s family and consideration of the community’s protection.

The case began in June 2024, when parents Savannah Roberts and Ethan Katz took their son Ari to a hospital after discovering injuries. Virzi, who had traveled from California to visit after the twins’ birth, offered to care for Ari’s brother, Leon, while they were away.

Late that night, she called police and said Leon had fallen from a baby bouncer. He was taken to a children’s hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators determined that the severity of his injuries could not be explained by a fall from the height Virzi described. A criminal complaint identified blunt-force trauma to the head as the cause of death. Investigators also determined that Virzi had inflicted the injuries that had first sent Ari to the hospital, NBC News reported.

A Plea Instead of a Capital Trial

Virzi had faced the possibility of the death penalty on the original capital charge. The agreement replaced that trial with a guilty plea to third-degree murder and additional charges, followed by the 35-to-80-year sentence.

The Allegheny County district attorney’s office said it had been committed to taking the case to trial but agreed to the resolution after consulting the family. The office described Virzi as having used a trusted relationship to put herself in a position to harm the children.

Virzi had been a doctoral student at the University of California, San Diego. Prosecutors said she told investigators she had a compulsion to harm children. That account was attributed to her; it was not an independently established medical explanation for her actions.

An attorney for Virzi could not immediately be reached for comment by NBC News. Local criminal-law attorney Phil DiLucente told the network that Virzi would have to serve the minimum 35 years before becoming eligible for parole. Eligibility would not mean automatic release.

Mother Describes Life After the Killing

In a letter to Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos, Roberts described a loss of trust that extended into ordinary daily activities. She said she had never imagined her best friend could be capable of such violence.

Roberts wrote that for nearly a year she could not use the bathroom, shower or brush her teeth alone. She needed Katz nearby, preferably holding Ari where she could see him, because she feared something might happen to the surviving child.

Both Roberts and Katz are twins, and Roberts told the court that having twins had been their dream. Instead, she described learning to parent Ari while living with the death of his brother and the knowledge that both boys had been harmed by someone she trusted.

“Nicole’s actions have fundamentally changed me as a person,” Roberts wrote in her letter, quoted by NBC News.

Her concerns about Ari’s safety have continued well beyond the immediate aftermath. “I’ve still never been able to leave Ari alone with a friend and I don’t know if I ever will,” she told the judge.

References: Woman Pleads Guilty to Murder of Best Friend’s 6-Week-Old Son Over Compulsion | San Diego Woman Pleads Guilty in Killing of Her Best Friend’s Baby | San Diego woman pleads guilty to murdering Shadyside infant, torturing his twin brother

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