A California doctoral student is accused of assaulting and killing her friend’s newborn twin brothers in Pennsylvania by shattering their skulls, according to the officers who arrested her.
Nicole Virge, 29, was babysitting her best friend Leon Katz’s 6-week-old baby at his Pittsburgh home when the baby suffered a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage, authorities told local stations. Reported by WTAE.
Police said Virgi was looking after the infant while a friend, whose identity was not revealed in the report, took Leon’s twin brother, who had suffered injuries to his genitals, to the hospital.
As a clinician, Virgi Psychology Candidate The man, a joint doctoral student at the University of California, San Diego, is also suspected of causing the genital injuries, police said.
“The injuries sustained by both [twins are] “These are injuries that are not natural or accidental and are consistent with injuries sustained as a result of child abuse,” a doctor told detectives, according to a criminal complaint reported by the station on Tuesday.
Birge told police she left Leon alone in the baby seat and went to the kitchen to get a bottle when she heard him screaming. When she returned, he had fallen to the floor and hit his head, Birge claimed.
Virgi called 911 and then told police she saw Leon’s twin brother injured and notified his parents.
Virgi has denied any wrongdoing and, through his lawyer, has maintained his innocence.
“My client denies these allegations. She is a loving person and a friend to these people and would never harm anyone’s child, let alone their children,” her lawyer, David Schrager, told the station.
“She’s a doctoral student. She’s a longtime friend of the family in this situation,” Schrager said.
He added that she has “no criminal history” and “looks forward to her day in court.”
Virge is charged with murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
She is being held without bail in the Allegheny County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court on June 28.
It was not immediately clear when the baby died or when Virgi was arrested.
