As a parent of twins, I am heartbroken for the parents of Leon and Ari. It is so hard to imagine that someone could do this. Just because Nicole Virzi does not have a criminal background and is well educated does not mean she isn't capable of doing this.
Both infants were found to have severe and separate injuries under her care and doctors' found that neither of the injuries were accidental. I imagine the defense is going to assert that the genital injury to Ari happened prior under the care of one of the parents or daycare (if they were in daycare) and that Leon suffered an accidental fall under Nicole's care.
MOO, This is one of my theories of what happened. Nicole abused Ari (and possibly Leon as well) while the parents were at dinner. Nicole may have been jealous of her friend's (who also was a doctoral student) new life with a husband and babies...something she didn't have herself or something she wasn't capable of having due to "interpersonal issues" (see link) and it annoyed and agitated her greatly. When Nicole's torture of Ari became noticeable (or she realized her retaliation went too far), she decided to call the parents because it would be obvious that she did it if she had not called to report it. At least, with reporting it, it could take suspicion off her that it wasn't abuse and a medical issue or it happened prior to him being under her care and someone else did it. The injury to the genitals was severe enough it warranted a visit to the ER. After the parents left to bring Ari to the hospital, Nicole got worked up playing out the possibilities in her head of how this could turn out for her. The parents would find out from the ER doctor that it was abuse, and she most likely was soon going to be under unsurmountable suspicion. The other baby, Leon, may also have started presenting with symptoms of injury after the parents left for the hospital. She became enraged because everything she has worked for is now gone. Her life was now ruined. Nicole in a fit of rage lashed out at the other baby because if she hadn't been babysitting, if it hadn't have been for these babies, this would have never happened to her. Baby Leon became unresponsive. Nicole then went into damage control mode and concocted the story that the baby accidentally fell out of the bouncy seat and she called 911.
The friend said she did not know Virzi to be violent but said she said she "had some interpersonal issues. I would say she was a little rigid. She was nice. But very driven and motivated."
www.yahoo.com
My other theory would be if someone else is involved like a half sibling of the babies, but none of the news articles have mentioned a sibling or anyone else being present at the time.
In the link, it states that Nicole fell asleep briefly. Did she fall asleep with the baby and while sleeping forgot where she was and thought the baby was a cat or dog and pushed the baby off of her or away from her thinking it was a pet which then caused a catastrophic fall from the couch with the baby hitting a coffee table on the way to the floor? Instead of admitting that she fell asleep with the baby and pushed him away, did she feel less culpability would be placed on her if she said he was in the bouncy seat and fell?
With two injuries discovered under her care especially one to the genitals, it is highly unlikely that both are coincidence.
I hope justice is found for baby Leon and Ari.
people.com
