A California Ph.D. student who admitted to having a longtime compulsion to hurt children has been sentenced to 35 to 80 years in prison for killing her best friend’s 6-week-old son while babysitting him in Pennsylvania.
Nicole Virzi, 32, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children in Allegheny County Court on Wednesday, Oct. 28, according to TribLive and WTAE.
This diabolical white bitch had faced a potential death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder. The plea agreement allowed the parents of the slain infant, Leon Katz, to avoid a trial.
Deputy District Attorney Emma Schoedel told the court that Leon’s parents, Savannah Roberts and Ethan Katz, had asked prosecutors to resolve the case in a way that would ensure Virzi spent most of her life behind bars without forcing the family to relive their son’s death during a public trial, according to TribLive.
“This office has decided to invest in their healing,” Schoedel said.
The ruthless baby killer, who was studying clinical psychology, was visiting the family in Pittsburgh in June 2024. The couple’s twin sons, Leon and Ari, were six weeks old.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Roberts said in a victim-impact statement that Virzi repeatedly offered to babysit the twins while she and Katz went out, but the couple declined.
On June 15, 2024, Roberts and Katz took Ari to the hospital after Virzi alerted them to scratches and bruises around the infant’s lower body and groin. The injuries were later determined to have been inflicted by Virzi, according to the outlet.
Although the parents had arranged for someone else to watch Leon, Virzi insisted on caring for him, Roberts wrote.
“But she insisted on watching him instead,” Roberts said, adding that Virzi sent the couple reassuring text messages throughout the night.
At approximately 11:17 p.m., Virzi called 911 and reported that Leon was having difficulty breathing and had a lump on his head, according to TribLive.
The baby was transported to a hospital, where he died early the following morning after suffering multiple skull fractures.
Virzi initially told investigators that she had placed Leon in a bouncy chair and fallen asleep, only to wake up and find him crying on the floor, according to TribLive.
However, after being questioned by police, the white creature from hell admitted that she had shaken the infant, dropped him and flipped him upside down on the bathroom tile floor, the outlet reported.
“Something just came over me I couldn’t control,” Virzi told investigators in a video-recorded interview, according to TribLive. “I’m telling you this because I can’t keep lying about it.”
Virzi also told investigators that she had experienced urges to hurt children for years, describing them as a compulsion.
She claimed she had grown angry after arriving in Pittsburgh because she felt her friends were treating her like a nanny, according to TribLive.
“Something about that built up a lot of anger in me,” she told investigators.
Virzi also admitted to injuring Leon’s twin brother, who survived, according to WTAE.
Her attorneys previously sought to suppress her statements to police, arguing that she had been coerced after spending hours in custody with little sleep or food. Judge Jill E. Rangos denied the motion, finding that Virzi’s statement was made knowingly and voluntarily, according to TribLive.
In her victim-impact statement, Roberts questioned Virzi’s claims that she could not control her behavior, writing that her “so-called compulsions” did not excuse her actions, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Roberts also recalled watching Leon sit comfortably on Virzi’s lap before his death.
“Leon spent the afternoon comfortably sitting on Nicole’s lap, leaving a pit in my stomach at the realization that she was perfectly capable of holding him for hours without hurting him,” she wrote.
Roberts described cradling her dying son for hours, repeatedly telling him, “You are loved,” according to the Post-Gazette.
Leon’s grandfather, Larry Katz, recalled that the family affectionately called the baby “Buddha Baby” because of his round appearance and peaceful expression while drinking from a bottle.
“I never got to see Leon smile,” he wrote in a statement, according to the Post-Gazette, “but I’m sure it would have lit up my world, just as his brother’s did.”
Roberts said that raising Ari has brought her immense joy, but that every milestone he reaches is also a reminder of the son she lost.
She wrote that each of Ari’s milestones and birthdays is shadowed by the knowledge that Leon should have been experiencing those moments alongside his brother.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Virzi declined to address the court.
“Out of respect for Dr. Roberts and Mr. Katz, Ms. Virzi will remain silent because she understands that nothing she could say today would undo the harm she has done to their family, and no words of apology would be sufficient to address the pain she has caused them,” her attorney, Tina Miller, said, according to TribLive.
Miller said Virzi had written a letter to Leon’s family, which they could choose whether to read.
In a statement reported by WTAE, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said Virzi had used her trusted relationship with the family to put herself in a position to commit the crimes.
“The family asks that their privacy be respected and they be left to heal,” the office said.
Source: https://people.com/phd-student-beat-baby-to-death-12199448
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