Versailles, In. — UPDATE 12:30 p.m.
Ripley County prosecutor Ric Hertel has announced two counts of felony murder have been filed against Nickalas Kedrowitz, 13. Court documents allege Kedrowitz suffocated his 23-month old half sister Desiree McCartney. Eighty-one days later, court documents say he murdered the son of his mother’s boyfriend, Nathaniel Ritz.
Reports indicate as of May 2017 Nickalas Kedrowitz shared a home in Osgood with his stepmother Christina McCartney, her children Desiree, Abigail and Nathaniel, and her boyfriend Stephen Ritz and his son Nickalas Kedrowitz.
On May 1 the Indiana Department of Children’s Services and Indiana State Police began an investigation when units responded to a report of an unresponsive child. Desiree McCartney was taken to Margret Mary Health and ultimately to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where she died five days later.
There are unconfirmed reports that sometime between the death of Desiree and July of 2017 Kedrowitz was allowed back into the home by either DCS or a CHINS petition that was administered by the court.
On July 20, 2017 first responders were called to the home again for an unresponsive child. On that occasion, Nathaniel Ritz, 11 months, was found unconscious at 11:12 p.m. and was taken to Margaret Mary Health in Batesville. He was pronounced dead due to Asystole at 12:12 a.m., a dire form of cardiac arrest.
At this point the of timeline the role DCS is not certain. Indiana State Police now had two detectives- one working the death of Desiree McCartney and another looking into the death of Nathaniel Ritz.
In September of 2017 Christina McCartney told investigators Kedrowitz killed at a kitten while in the care of his aunt and uncle. Kedrowitz told his relatives he took the kitten to the basement and he got mad, squeezing cat very hard.
Kedrowitz was found with the cat in his grasp on the front porch crying. Kedrowitz’s aunt found another kitten in the litter that had suffered a minor puncture wound.
As the investigation continued police learned Kedrowitz confided about the killings to family members. On two occasions in the month of December Kedrowitz allegedly told family members he killed both Desiree and Nathaniel by placing a heavy blanket on their faces and pressing hard where the nose and mouth would be.
Kedrowitz told detectives in December of 2017 he has a conversation with God about Desiree and Nathaniel but couldn’t talk about the content. When pressed the probable cause affidavit says Nickalas told police he was freeing the two from hell and chains of fire and had help from an angel to free them.
The State of Indiana has filed a waiver to move Kedrowitz to adult court. The waiver is filed because Indiana Code allows for a “presumptive waiver” if a murder has been committed by juvenile 12-years-old and there is probable cause.
Next, prosecutors must prove his competency to complete the wavier to adult court.
No other charges have been filed in the case.
Kedrowitz is being held in Dearborn County.
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This morning at 10:30 a.m. Ripley County prosecutor Ric Hertel is expected to release the results into an investigation into the deaths of two siblings in Osgood last year.
Court documents say 11-month-old brother Nathaniel Ritz died of unknown causes in July of 2017 at a home on Maple Street in Osgood. In October of 2017 his 23-month-old sister Desiree McCartney died in the same home of a suspected drowning.
Reports indicate an investigation initiated at the hospital has continued. By January of this year, a death certificate confirmed Desiree was suffocated with a towel by another person.
A sibling of the two victims is believed to be a suspect in the case.
