Nickalas Kedrowitz, now 17, was 13 when he murdered Desiree McCartney, his 23-month-old half-sister, and Nathaniel Ritz, his 11-month-old stepbrother.
Kedrowitz was found guilty of two counts of murder in August 2021. The judge sentenced each death to 50 years in jail, to be served one after the other.
Desiree was murdered in May 2017 and Nathaniel was murdered in July 2017, and both children were discovered unresponsive at the family’s house in Osgood, Indiana, roughly 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis.
Desiree was found dead after Kedreowitz had been left to look after the toddler.
He told his mother the little girl ‘wasn’t breathing right’ according to Fox 19.
On July 20 that year Kedrowitz was putting Nathaniel to bed and claimed the child stopped moving.
He is also believed to have mutilated a kitten at a relative’s home.
Ripley County Prosecutor Richard Hertel said Kedrowitz told detectives that he was ‘freeing his siblings from hell.’
“This wasn’t some sort of heat of passion, one killing and then minutes or hours or even days later, we´re talking months here, so we think that the consecutive part of the sentence was warranted and appropriate in this circumstance,” Hertel told reporters after the sentencing hearing.
The judge ordered that Kedrowitz’s case be handled in adult court despite his attorney´s arguments that the teen has untreated mental health problems.
Kedrowitz was found guilty of two counts of murder in August 2021. The judge sentenced each death to 50 years in jail, to be served one after the other.
Desiree was murdered in May 2017 and Nathaniel was murdered in July 2017, and both children were discovered unresponsive at the family’s house in Osgood, Indiana, roughly 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis.
Desiree was found dead after Kedreowitz had been left to look after the toddler.
He told his mother the little girl ‘wasn’t breathing right’ according to Fox 19.
On July 20 that year Kedrowitz was putting Nathaniel to bed and claimed the child stopped moving.
He is also believed to have mutilated a kitten at a relative’s home.
Ripley County Prosecutor Richard Hertel said Kedrowitz told detectives that he was ‘freeing his siblings from hell.’
“This wasn’t some sort of heat of passion, one killing and then minutes or hours or even days later, we´re talking months here, so we think that the consecutive part of the sentence was warranted and appropriate in this circumstance,” Hertel told reporters after the sentencing hearing.
The judge ordered that Kedrowitz’s case be handled in adult court despite his attorney´s arguments that the teen has untreated mental health problems.