'Monster': Ex-PhD student learns fate for killing best friend's 6-week-old baby after revealing disturbing lifelong urge

A former University of California San Diego doctoral student pleaded guilty to murdering her best friend’s 6-week-old baby and injuring his twin brother. The woman previously made a chilling admission that "from a very, very young age" she had a compulsion to "hurt kids."

Nicole Virzi, 32, initially had been charged with capital murder with the possibility of the death penalty.

'From a very, very young age, I don’t know what it is, but I always had this urge — almost like a compulsion I can’t control — to hurt kids.'

However, Virzi agreed to a plea deal last week, and she opted to plead guilty to charges of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and two counts of endangering a child’s welfare, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Virzi now faces a minimum of 35 years and a maximum of 80 years in state prison.

Allegheny County (Pa.) Deputy District Attorney Emma Schoedel said the plea deal was made to honor the wishes of the victims' family, according to the New York Post.

"Although this office was committed to pursuing this case to trial and its ultimate conclusion, after continued and ongoing consultation with the family and considering the best interest of the community and its protection, we agreed to offer the above plea and sentence,” the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement, according to NBC News.

"This was a horrific case in which Virzi used her trusted relationship with the Roberts/Katz family to place herself in a situation where she could commit her horrendous acts," the district attorney's office said in a statement. "Throughout the criminal justice process, the Roberts/Katz family has continued to endure crushing emotional pain and grief."

Virzi did not speak during the plea hearing; however, her defense attorney Tina Miller said: "No words of apology would be sufficient."

Virzi, of San Diego, traveled to Pittsburgh in June 2024 to visit her then-best friend, Savannah Roberts.

According to the criminal complaint obtained by WTAE-TV, Virzi was babysitting Roberts' infant Leon Katz while the baby's parents took Leon's twin brother to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children's Hospital.

The complaint said the twin, Ari Katz, suffered an injury to his genital area, which Virzi pointed out.

While she was babysitting Leon, the 6-week-old sustained head injuries, the complaint said.

Virzi told investigators she left Leon to get a baby bottle from the home's kitchen and then heard the infant screaming, according to the complaint.

"She told police that when she returned, the baby was on the floor and out of a bouncer seat," WTAE reported.

Leon was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Medical scans determined that Leon had "a severe skull fracture to the left side of the head, along with multiple brain bleeds," according to Virzi's arrest report.

"The injuries sustained by both [twins are] consistent with having been sustained as a result of child abuse, as these are inflicted injuries that are not natural and not accidental," a doctor told police, according to the complaint.

Leon’s death was ruled a homicide caused by "blunt force trauma to the head," NBC News reported, citing the criminal complaint.

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Virzi later made a harrowing admission during a 13-hour interrogation.

"So when I was alone with [Leon] I shook him a couple times — hard," Virzi said during the interrogation, according to the criminal complaint. "And I dropped him a couple times — hard."

WTAE reported, "Virzi continued to tell a detective that, at one point, she flipped the infant upside down on the bathroom tile floor."

Virzi told detectives, "Something just came over me. I couldn’t control. I'm telling you this because I can’t keep lying about it."

Virzi then made another chilling confession.

"From a very, very young age, I don’t know what it is, but I always had this urge — almost like a compulsion I can’t control — to hurt kids," Virzi stated.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Roberts said in a statement that she had "no intention of leaving [Virzi] alone with the boys," but she was forced to leave because of Ari's injuries.

"It is unfathomable to me how anyone, particularly someone I considered family, could see baby Leon, and shake, drop, and throw him to the ground, torturing him for their own pleasure," Roberts stated. "I never suspected Nicole would perpetrate child abuse for even a second."

Roberts continued, "Now, I struggle to make even basic decisions about Ari's care for fear that I could make a choice that inadvertently causes him harm."

NBC News reported that Roberts wrote a letter to Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos that read:

Nicole's actions have fundamentally changed me as a person, and I feel unrecognizable from the Savannah I used to be. I could've never imagined that a person, let alone my best friend, was capable of the cruelty or violence Nicole displayed.

One of the most enduring impacts of Nicole’s crimes is that my own self-confidence is forever shattered, and I’ll never forgive myself for failing to protect my babies from this monster.

Roberts said being Ari's mother brings her "more joy and comfort than anything in my life ever has" but added: "Yet as Leon’s mom too, every milestone, accomplishment, and birthday that Ari reaches is shadowed by the realization that Leon should be experiencing just as much of life, by his brother’s side."

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