An Indiana teenager was sentenced to 100 years behind bars after he smothered his two young siblings in separate incidents, claiming he was “freeing them from Satan and Hell.”
Nickalas Kedrowitz was 13 years old when he suffocated half-sister Desiree McCartney in May 2017 then suffocated his baby stepbrother Nathaniel Ritz two months later.
Desiree was just under 2 years old and Nathaniel died just before his first birthday.
Kedrowitz, who initially became a suspect because of bizarre behavior and a bad temper, told police after his August 2018 arrest that he was “freeing his siblings from hell.”
Ripley County Prosecutor Richard Hertel said he was pleased with the judge issuing two consecutive sentences of 50 years apiece for Kedrowitz, who was tried as an adult.
“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, according to the Associated Press.
Desiree was found dead in the family’s Osgood home on May 1, 2017 when Kedrowitz was left to watch the toddler, reports said. Christina McCartney, Desiree’s mother, tried to perform CPR on the girl after the teenager told McCartney the little girl “wasn’t breathing right,” according to Fox 19. Desiree later died in the hospital.
On July 20 of the same year, Kedrowitz was tasked with putting young Nathaniel to bed and then said the child had stopped moving. Later, the teenager allegedly mutilated a kitten at a relative’s home, then watched when an aunt and uncle took the cat to try to put an end to its suffering, court documents obtained by the Indianapolis Star said.
During a psychological evaluation, he spoke of “freeing his siblings from Satan and Hell,” the paper reported. Later, he allegedly told cops he’d used a towel and blanket to smother the children to “set them free from this hell.”
With Post wires