A doctoral student who said she had a compulsion to harm children pleads guilty to killing her friend's six week old son

The case ended the way the parents asked for it to end, without a trial. Nicole Virzi, 32, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in Allegheny County court to third degree murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children, and Judge Jill E. Rangos sentenced her to 35 to 80 years in state prison the same day.

Virzi had been a close friend of Savannah Roberts. In June 2024 she was visiting Roberts and Ethan Katz in Pittsburgh and helping with their newborn twins, Leon and Ari. On June 15 the parents took Ari to a hospital after wounds were found on his body. Virzi stayed with Leon. Late that night she called police and said Leon had fallen from a baby bouncer. He was taken to a children's hospital and pronounced dead. His death was ruled a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head. Investigators determined that the injuries to Ari, the ones that had taken his parents out of the house that night, were also caused by Virzi.

Prosecutors said in court that Virzi told investigators she always had a compulsion she could not control to harm kids. She had been studying clinical psychology as a doctoral student at the University of California, San Diego.

The charge she avoided was first degree murder. Prosecutors had filed notice in August 2024 that they intended to seek the death penalty, a step Pennsylvania prosecutors rarely take in a state that has carried out no executions since 1999. Deputy District Attorney Emma Schoedel told the court the plea honored the wishes of Leon's parents, who did not want to endure a trial and wanted Virzi behind bars for most of her life. Roberts said the tragedy has forever shaken her trust in humanity. A Pittsburgh police officer who answered the original call objected to the reduced charges in an interview, pointing to Virzi's confession.

Virzi has been held at the Allegheny County Jail since her arrest on June 16, 2024, after a 13 hour police interview. She declined to speak at the hearing. Her attorney, Tina Miller, said Virzi understood that no apology could undo the family's suffering.