A woman motivated by an urge to harm children admitted in a Pittsburgh courthouse Wednesday that she murdered her best friend’s young son, and acknowledged in a plea deal that the “monster” could be jailed for life.
Nicole Virzi, 32, was charged with capital murder and could have been sentenced to death, but she chose to plead guilty to third-degree murder and other charges.
She was sentenced to 35 to 80 years in prison.
“While this office is committed to pursuing this case and reaching a final conclusion, after ongoing consultation with the family and with the best interests of the community and its protection in mind, we have agreed to enter the plea and sentence above,” the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
The murderer was a doctoral student at the University of California, San Diego and a close friend of the victim’s mother, Savannah Roberts. In 2024, she traveled to Pittsburgh to help care for Roberts’ newborn twins, Leon and Ari Katz.
In June 2024, the twins’ parents, Roberts and Ethan Katz, rushed Ali to the hospital after discovering wounds on his body. Verzi offers to take care of Leon while they are away.
Late that night, Virzi called the police, claiming that 6-week-old Leon had fallen out of his baby rocking chair. He was taken to nearby Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators quickly determined the severity of Leon’s injuries could not have been caused by a fall from such a low height and took Verzi into custody.
Leon’s death was ultimately ruled a homicide due to “blunt force trauma to the head” and the “manner of death was ruled a homicide,” according to a criminal complaint filed against Verzi by Pittsburgh police. It was also determined that the injury to Ali that led the family to place Leon in the care of Verzi was caused by Verzi himself.
Prosecutors said in court that Verzi told investigators that she “always had an uncontrollable urge to hurt children.”
“This was a horrific case in which Verzi took advantage of her relationship of trust with the Roberts/Katz family to put herself in a position where she could have committed horrific acts,” prosecutors said.
Roberts said the tragedy has shaken her faith in humanity forever.
“Nicole’s actions have fundamentally changed me as a person and I feel like a different person from the Savannah I once was. I never imagined that a person, let alone my best friend, could be capable of the cruel or violent behavior that Nicole displayed,” Roberts wrote in a letter to Allegheny County Public Prosecutor’s Judge Jill E. Langos.
“One of the most lasting effects of Nicole’s crime is that my own self-confidence is forever shattered, and I will never forgive myself for failing to protect my children from this monster.”
Virzi’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Phil DiLucente, a local criminal lawyer and legal analyst for NBC affiliate WPXI, said Virzi must serve a minimum of 35 years before being eligible for parole.
DiLucente said the parole board is unlikely to allow Verzi to be released from prison.
“From a lot of different angles, it’s just a bizarre case where someone flew from across the country to meet her best friend and then committed such a horrific, premeditated act,” DiLucente told NBC News on Thursday. “She just doesn’t qualify for anything that could (be considered) a mitigating factor (for granting parole).”
Roberts said Leon’s parents were both twins and the couple’s dream had always been to have twins.
The mum fears she will never be able to get her surviving twin sons, Ali, out of her sight.
“It has been almost a year since I used the bathroom, showered or brushed my teeth myself after learning that Nicole threw Leon onto our old bathroom floor, fracturing his skull and ending his life,” Roberts wrote.
“Ethan had to be standing outside the door talking to me every time I went into the bathroom, preferably holding Ali where I could see him so I could make sure he was okay,” she said.
“I still can’t leave Ali alone with her friends and I don’t know if I ever would,” she wrote to the judge.