Indiana teen found guilty of killing young siblings

OSGOOD, Ind. (WXIX) - A Ripley County teenager was found guilty of killing his nearly-2-year-old sister Desiree McCartney and his 11-month-old stepbrother Nathaniel Ritz.

The jury found Nickalas Kredowtiz guilty of two counts of murder.

He was 13-years-old when Ripley County Prosecutor Ric Hertel said he killed his two young siblings.

Both children died of suffocation in the family’s Osgood home, officials ruled. 23-month-old Desiree died May 6, 2017 at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Nathaniel died 81 days later July 21, 2017.

Kedrowitz was arrested in August 2018 for the death of his siblings.

Nathaniel’s stepmother Christina McCartney said on May 1, 2017, she came home to find her daughter lifeless. McCartney said her son told her something was wrong and that Desiree ‘wasn’t breathing right.’

Officials say after Ritz’s death the teen confessed.

“There were several remarks that were made to police about freeing the siblings from some sort of hell,” said Hertel.

McCartney says her teenage son was referring to his abusive stepdad who was living in the home with them.

“He witnessed him being mean to the babies. That he pushed them down on purpose. He would lock them up in the bedroom to try to shut them up. He painted a pretty bad picture. As a mom that’s hard to swallow that was going on and I didn’t know.” McCartney said.

McCartney defended her teenage son and insisted he didn’t act alone.

McCartney says her boyfriend didn’t like the responsibilities of fatherhood and she believes her son was forced to kill his siblings.

“He did it under threat. He was told that if he didn’t do what he was being told he would be killed and that Stephen would kill me,” said McCartney.

She said true justice would be seeing her ex-boyfriend behind bars as well.

Kredowtiz will be sentenced on Nov. 10.

He is facing 45 to 65 years on each count of murder.

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