A Pennsylvania mother wept in court as her former best friend admitted to killing her newborn son and injuring his twin brother in a last-minute plea agreement.
Nicole Virzi, 32, pleaded guilty Wednesday to third-degree criminal homicide in the death of six-and-a-half-week-old Leon Katz and the injury of his twin, Ari. The incident occurred while Virzi was babysitting the boys at their family’s Pittsburgh home in June 2024.
Savannah Roberts, the children’s mother, delivered an emotional victim-impact statement after the woman who had once been her closest friend and maid of honor accepted responsibility for harming her sons.
‘I’m a twin, my husband is a twin, and having twins was always our dream. We believed that dream had come true,’ she said.
‘This has destroyed my sense of security in every part of my life. I will never completely understand the torture and murder Nicole inflicted on my twins.’
Virzi’s prominent New York City cardiologist father, Dr Peter J Viriz, and her mother, Jennifer Graham, were in court as Roberts described the devastating consequences of her son’s death.
‘My confidence in myself has been completely destroyed. Nicole’s actions have changed me permanently,’ Roberts said.
‘I have learned that the bogeyman is real and that monsters truly do live under the bed.’
Nicole Virzi, 32, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal homicide in the 2024 death of her friend’s infant
Six-and-a-half-week-old Leon Katz (pictured) died while Virzi was babysitting him at the family’s Pittsburgh home in June 2024
Virzi had been scheduled to stand trial earlier this month after initially denying six charges, including criminal homicide, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Her lawyers asked for the proceedings to be delayed, saying they needed more time to prepare a defense against prosecutors’ pursuit of the death penalty.
Although prosecutors sought capital punishment, a conviction for third-degree criminal homicide in Pennsylvania carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
Our News Outlet recently saw the grieving parents with Ari, now two years old, in Pittsburgh as Virzi continued through the criminal justice process.
Virzi was only weeks from completing her PhD in clinical psychology at UC San Diego when police said she confessed to the shocking crime during questioning.
According to her account to investigators, she repeatedly dropped Leon on his head until she heard ‘some kind of crack,’ saying she had become angry about having to babysit.
‘Something just came over me that I couldn’t control,’ Virzi told police.
‘From a very, very young age, I don’t know what it is, but I have always felt this urge—almost a compulsion I can’t control—to hurt children.’
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The boys’ mother, Savannah Roberts (pictured), confronted her former best friend and former maid of honor in court
Virzi’s attorneys maintained that she had been pressured into giving an involuntary confession during a 13-hour interrogation. A judge nevertheless ruled that prosecutors could present the statement as evidence at trial.
Virzi and Roberts first met while working as research coordinators in the graduate psychology department at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
In June 2024, Virzi traveled to visit her new friend and her family for a week. The trip soon took a horrifying turn.
On June 15, Virzi said she noticed a bloody injury near Ari’s groin. She was then left to care for Leon while his parents took his brother to the hospital.
Virzi told investigators that she went to the kitchen to prepare a bottle when she suddenly heard the baby scream.
When she returned, she claimed Leon had fallen from his bouncer. She then called 911.
Leon was pronounced dead several hours later after suffering a severe skull fracture and multiple brain hemorrhages.
An autopsy concluded that the injuries had been caused by blunt-force trauma and were consistent with child abuse.
Prosecutors alleged that Virzi caused Leon’s skull fracture and the brain bleeds detected in a CT scan. She was also accused of injuring his twin brother, Ari
Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but Pennsylvania law allows a maximum 40-year sentence for third-degree criminal homicide
Virzi later returned to her Airbnb, where police arrested her the next morning. She was questioned for more than 11 hours and repeatedly denied any role in Leon’s death, TribLive reported at the time.
She eventually acknowledged that she had become overwhelmed and enraged by the ongoing ‘nanny work.’
‘That situation built up a great deal of anger inside me,’ Virzi told lead detective Janine Triolo in a videotaped confession. Portions of the interview were played during a court hearing last fall.
‘When I was alone with (Leon), I shook him a couple of times—hard. And I dropped him a couple of times—hard.’
‘I heard some kind of crack,’ she said, reportedly admitting that she had also turned the baby upside down onto the tiled bathroom floor.
‘Something just came over me that I couldn’t control,’ Virzi said. ‘I’m telling you this because I can’t continue lying about it.’
‘I didn’t want him to die,’ she said at one point. ‘That wasn’t my intention. I only wanted him to feel some pain.’
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