A 'compulsion' to hurt kids: San Diego woman pleads guilty to killing best friend's baby

Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times on Oct 29, 2026

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Within a few short hours, a helpful postpartum visit from her California bestie took a tragic turn: The Pittsburgh mom's new twin boys were both hospitalized — one would not survive — and her friend was the main suspect in the abuse.

That friend, Nicole Virzi, of San Diego, pleaded guilty this week in the 2024 death of 6-week-old Leon Katz and the physical abuse of the other twin, according to a statement from the Allegheny County district attorney's office in Pennsylvania.

Virzi, now 32, eventually admitted to investigators that she had intentionally harmed the babies, saying that she'd had a "compulsion .... to hurt kids" her entire life, according to transcripts filed in the case. She said she shook Leon hard and dropped him several times on purpose, including on a tile floor, but she said she "didn't want him to die."

After his death, scans found that Leon had "a severe skull fracture to the left side of the head, along with multiple brain bleeds," Virzi's arrest report said. A doctor determined the injuries to both boys were "consistent with having been sustained as a result of child abuse."

Virzi faces up to 35 to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of third-degree murder, aggravated assault and two counts of endangering a child's welfare.

Virzi, a one-time doctoral candidate at the University of California, San Diego studying clinical psychology, traveled to Pittsburgh in June 2024 to meet the twins and spend time with her best friend's growing family.

At one point during the visit, she reported to the twins' parents odd injuries on Ari, the surviving twin, police reports said. She offered to babysit Leon while the parents took Ari to the hospital, his family reported in emotional statements submitted in the case.

During that time, Leon suffered fatal injuries, according to police. Virzi called 911 and initially reported that the baby had fallen on his head. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, reports said.

In a statement, the twins' mom, Savannah Roberts, said she had "no intention of leaving (Virzi) alone with the boys," but after discovering Ari's injuries, the new parents relented to Virzi's offer to watch Leon.

"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 wrote in the emotional statement. "I never suspected Nicole would perpetrate child abuse for even a second. 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."

Despite the tragedy, the family said Ari is now doing well.

Ari "has grown into the most caring, loving friend to those around him," Roberts wrote.

"Being his mom brings me more joy and comfort than anything in my life ever has," she wrote. "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."