A PhD student, whose father is a prominent Manhattan cardiologist, has been accused of murdering the infant twin son of one of her closest friends.
Nicole Virzi, a fifth-year PhD candidate at the San Diego State University/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, is also accused of physically abusing the deceased baby’s twin, resulting in hospitalization, according to reports.
Six-week-old Leon Katz, the son of Ethan Katz and his wife Savannah Roberts, died on Father’s Day while under Virzi’s care in the family’s Pittsburgh home, authorities said.
Virzi and Roberts were doctoral students at different universities—Roberts was studying at the University of Pittsburgh—but both focused on eating disorders, trauma, and body image.
The couple left Leon in Virzi’s care while rushing Ari to the hospital with a mysterious injury to his genitals, which Virzi had alerted them to, authorities said.
It is alleged that Virzi was also the one who inflicted the injury on Ari that led to his hospitalization.
While the parents were caring for Ari in the hospital, Virzi claimed Leon fell from his bouncer chair while she stepped away to get a bottle, according to police and court records.
However, doctors found the injuries consistent with child abuse, stating they were inflicted injuries, not natural or accidental, according to WTAE.
Virzi was referred to as a “trusted family friend” in the GoFundMe campaign established to help the grieving parents and their surviving son.
Virzi had been staying in a nearby Airbnb on South Graham Street when she was asked to care for the baby, who was “alert, conscious, and not injured,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by Pittsburgh’s TRIBLive. Cops arrived at the Walnut Street home after Virzi called 911 at 11:17 p.m. on June 15, authorities said in the complaint. Virzi said the baby had suffered a bump to his head.
Virzi told cops she started babysitting Leon at about 6:30 p.m. that night and claimed he was doing fine, had eaten, soiled two diapers, and been burped, according to the complaint.
She said she fell asleep “for a period of time while Leon was in the bouncer seat.” When Virzi awoke, she said she went to the kitchen to get a bottle for Leon and heard the baby screaming.
Virzi claimed she found Leon lying on the floor, picked him up, and saw “a large bump to the left side of Leon’s head,” prosecutors said in the court document.
Paramedics rushed Leon to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead at 5:47 a.m. on Father’s Day, police said.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide. Leon’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
A head CT scan showed Leon suffered a severe skull fracture to the left side of the head, along with multiple brain bleeds.
Virzi was charged on June 16 with criminal homicide, three counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Virzi is currently being held without bail at the Allegheny County Jail.
