RIPLEY COUNTY, Ind. — An Indiana teen convicted of killing two of his young siblings in 2017 received his sentence Tuesday afternoon.
A jury deliberated for just over six hours last August before finding Nickalas Kedrowitz guilty of murdering his 11-month-old stepbrother, Nathaniel Ritz, and nearly 2-year-old half-sister, Desiree McCartney. Kedrowitz was 13 years old at the time.
(NOTE: The above video is from an Aug. 23, 2021, report on Kedrowitz being convicted.)
Kedrowitz was being held in Ripley County Jail while he awaited his sentencing.
On Tuesday, he appeared in court to receive his sentence — 50 years in prison for both counts of murder. According to WLWT, a judge ruled those terms must be served consecutively, meaning Kedrowitz will serve a total of 100 years.
"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," said Ripley County Prosecuting Attorney Ric Hertel.
Investigators said Kedrowitz smothered the kids to death. Both were killed at the family's home in Osgood, which is about 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis. Prosecutors say they were killed months apart. Desiree was murdered in May 2017 and Nathaniel in July 2017.
A judge previously found Kedrowitz competent to stand trial and ordered him to adult court. Indiana law allows juveniles as young as 12 to be tried as adults for murder.
13News spoke with Christina McCartney, the mother of the children, in 2018.
"I'm grateful for the time I got to spend with my babies, but my heart breaks for the time that I am missing that has been taken from me, by the hands of my own son," McCartney said, crying.
McCartney said she still loved her son, despite what investigators say the then-13-year-old did to his little brother and sister.
"No mother would ever want to think about that being their son," McCartney said.