Woman Accused Of Killing Friend’s Newborn Baby After Assaulting Tot’s Twin

[Sugar Cookie]

A San Diego woman is accused of killing a baby twin and injuring his sibling while she was babysitting in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania neighborhood.

Nicole Elizabeth Virzi, 29, is being held in a Pittsburgh jail without bail on charges of homicide, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of child endangerment, according to charging documents obtained by NBC 7.

David Shrager, the woman's defense attorney, told WPXI Virzi was changing one of the 6-week-old twins on June 15 when she noticed bruising and swelling. She told the child's parents who took that baby to the hospital.

Virzi told her lawyer while she was alone with the other twin, the baby fell out of a bouncer, WPXI reported. The baby died in the hospital a short time later.

Doctors said the injuries weren't consistent with a fall. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma, court documents obtained by WPXI show. The surviving twin's injuries -- scratches, bruising and swelling -- were obtained in Virzi's care, the court documents allege.

San Diego woman accused of killing twin baby, injuring other while babysitting in Pennsylvania

A San Diego woman is accused of killing a baby twin and injuring his sibling while she was babysitting in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania neighborhood.

www.nbcsandiego.com

 

[Symmachus]

"Mmm, yeah, maybe this babysitting line of work isn't the best fit for you. I think that literally anything else would be a better pursuit. So, how about I encourage that you seek other options for employment. Once you are behind bars and cannot possibly escape, then you can ring me up and I could give you a good reference sometime."

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A relative of hers had this to say

Kase Gram
I can't imagine or even speak on the pain the babies family is enduring on this. But I'm from her family - I am her cousin , but I speak purely on my observation of her over 29yrs not from any sympathetic bias.
She probably doesn't like me much anyway and we're not close but you could say I know her pretty good ( More than any source online rn) if we consider her personality profile (nice as can be) It's very unlikely this was "HOMICIDE" or "VIOLENT" as a barrage of rating hungry headlines have claimed.
Absolutely this wasn't intentional , Nicole doesn't fit the mold of the people who typically harm infants, she had a top notch upbringing, wonderful parents her dad's a Dr and my aunt is in finance.
She was outgoing, kind , constantly studying. Obviously we all have a dark side hers wasn't much different than the average bear. This girl probably never had a traffic violation much less any history of violence or behavioral issues. I'm the criminal blacksheep of this family not her .
She Was in school to help people with eating disorders that she had personally experienced in her past. Likely the most well behaved, successful person in my family. Not a killer

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Leon

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office will seek the death penalty against a California woman accused of killing her friend’s newborn son, marking a rare occasion in which the DA’s office has sought capital punishment against a woman.

Nicole Elizabeth Virzi, 30, is charged with homicide in the June 15 death of 6-week-old Leon Katz.

The San Diego woman was babysitting Leon while his parents took the newborn’s twin brother to the hospital for injuries police allege Ms. Virzi caused. She faces multiple counts of aggravated assault and child endangerment.

Ms. Virzi waived her preliminary hearing last month, and she was formally arraigned on the charges against her Friday. She was not in court for the arraignment. Several supporters of the Katz family were present.

The DA’s office this week filed notice that prosecutors will seek the death penalty. To do so, the office must cite so-called aggravating factors — circumstances that make the crime severe or heinous enough to warrant capital punishment.

Pennsylvania law includes 18 aggravating factors that prosecutors can cite in their pursuit of the death penalty. They range from the victim being a law enforcement officer or a judge to the crime involving kidnapping or torture.

In the case of Ms. Virzi, the DA’s office cited four: the defendant committed the killing while in the perpetration of a felony; the offense was committed by means of torture; the victim was under 12 years old; and the defendant has a significant history of felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence.

Although Ms. Virzi does not have a criminal history, if a jury finds her guilty of the charges against her in this case, those convictions will count as a criminal history for the purpose of sentencing.

Ms. Virzi’s attorney, David Shrager, said last month that his client is a longtime friend of the infants’ parents and she was “absolutely devastated” by Leon’s death.

“If there was something that she would want to convey, it would just be the absolutely horrible pain that she’s feeling,” Mr. Shrager said after Ms. Virzi waived her July 24 preliminary hearing. “These were her close friends.”

There are currently no women on death row in Pennsylvania.

DA seeks death penalty against San Diego woman accused in Shadyside newborn's death

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office will seek the death penalty against a California woman accused of killing her friend’s newborn...

www.post-gazette.com

 

[GoneWest]

It will never happen.

 

[HijabiGirl]

It will never happen.

Agreed, the load of premeditation and systemic abuse needs to be evident. No jury is going to put a woman to death without substantial evidence such as video/written/witnessed proof.

 

[Ella Mayo]

A relative of hers had this to say

Kase Gram
I can't imagine or even speak on the pain the babies family is enduring on this. But I'm from her family - I am her cousin , but I speak purely on my observation of her over 29yrs not from any sympathetic bias.
She probably doesn't like me much anyway and we're not close but you could say I know her pretty good ( More than any source online rn) if we consider her personality profile (nice as can be) It's very unlikely this was "HOMICIDE" or "VIOLENT" as a barrage of rating hungry headlines have claimed.
Absolutely this wasn't intentional , Nicole doesn't fit the mold of the people who typically harm infants, she had a top notch upbringing, wonderful parents her dad's a Dr and my aunt is in finance.
She was outgoing, kind , constantly studying. Obviously we all have a dark side hers wasn't much different than the average bear. This girl probably never had a traffic violation much less any history of violence or behavioral issues. I'm the criminal blacksheep of this family not her .
She Was in school to help people with eating disorders that she had personally experienced in her past. Likely the most well behaved, successful person in my family. Not a killer

Well, that's a great weight off me moind:

So the charges will be dropped against Miss Virzi, and they'll arrest the baby carrier instead?

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos on Monday rejected defendant Nicole Virzi's request to preclude jurors from hearing her tell investigators she intentionally shook and dropped the infant multiple times in 2024 until she heard a "crack."

Virzi is charged with criminal homicide in the death of 6-week-old Leon Katz, whom Virzi allegedly killed while babysitting as his parents were at the hospital with his twin brother. She is also facing multiple counts of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children, including allegations that she was responsible for injuring Leon's twin brother. Prosecutors have already said they will seek the death penalty.

Virzi's defense attorneys in November asserted that her potentially inculpatory statements to police — including alleged admissions to intentionally injuring Leon and having an uncontrollable compulsion to "hurt kids" — had been unconstitutionally coerced by detectives after she spent more than 12 hours at the station under extreme circumstances, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

Rangos reportedly reasoned that while in custody, Virzi met with a defense attorney for nearly an hour and spoke with her parents before making the alleged statements.

"The vast majority of time she was in that room, she did not appear to be in any distress," the judge said, adding that Virzi's comments appeared to be "knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily made."

MSN

Someone needs to tell this bitch and her defense she was the cause of the extreme circumstances.

 

[Kitsune Faye]

She also said that she was mad that she came to visit her best friend, only to be treated like the help, saying she was brought over for “nanny work”. Disgusting. She did this to make her friend suffer, and Ik she abused Leon’s twin brother.

 

[runninfawn]

She also said that she was mad that she came to visit her best friend, only to be treated like the help, saying she was brought over for “nanny work”. Disgusting. She did this to make her friend suffer, and Ik she abused Leon’s twin brother.

hell if that is the way she felt she could have just left no body forced her to stay and do "nanny work"

 

[BuffettGirl]

Kill it. Kill it with fire...

 

[runninfawn]

Kill it. Kill it with fire...

i think you are too gentle, she prob. would die of the smoke inhalation before she even got burn a little... i think for people that shake a little one well their punishment should be to be shaken until brain damage occurs and well she repeatedly dropped the baby till she heard crack so she should be dropped till something cracks also... if that doesn't kill her repeat as often as needed until death results... i wish it was that sentences would be the same as what they did to their victims and with as much compation as they showed their victimes...