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Speaker 1: Crime Al Art hourly update, breaking crime news. Now, I'm

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Speaker 1: Jackie Howard. A family friend is now accused in the

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Speaker 1: death of a six year old boy and injuries to

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Speaker 1: his twin. Here's how things went down. Ethan Katz and

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Speaker 1: Savannah roberts are celebrating It's not only Father's Day weekend,

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Speaker 1: it's Ethan's birthday weekend and also the couple's anniversary. Savannah

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Speaker 1: has given birth to their twin sons, now six weeks old.

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Speaker 1: Family friend Nicole Versey travels from San Diego to Pittsburgh

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Speaker 1: to visit and provide a helping hand. Crime on Lines

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Speaker 1: Drew Nelson picks up the story.

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Speaker 2: While spending time watching the twin boys, Ari and Leon,

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Speaker 2: Nicole Ersey tells the parents she notices odd injuries on

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Speaker 2: Ari's genitals. Looking closer, the new parents decide to take

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Speaker 2: Ari to the hospital, leaving their other son, Ari's twin,

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Speaker 2: Leon Katz, in the care of Nicole Persey. Around six

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Speaker 2: thirty pm, just after eleven PM, Ethan Katz and Savannah

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Speaker 2: Robertson get a call from Nicole Ersey telling them while

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Speaker 2: she was in the kitchen getting a bottle for Leon,

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Speaker 2: the baby fill from his bouncer seat and hit his head.

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Speaker 2: Ethan tells her to call nine one one.

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Speaker 1: Nicole Versey tells the nine one one dispatcher that Leon

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Speaker 1: has fallen from a basinette and bumped his head and

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Speaker 1: is becoming unresponsive. When the police arrived, Ersey tells police

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Speaker 1: she fell asleep with the baby in his bouncer seat.

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Speaker 1: When she awakes, she goes to get a bottle from

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Speaker 1: the kitchen for the baby. While she's out of the room,

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Speaker 1: she hears Leon screaming and finds him on the floor

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Speaker 1: with a bump on his head. She tells police he

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Speaker 1: fell out of his bouncer seat. Here's Dave Mack.

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Speaker 3: Rush to the hospital, doctors discover Leon Katz has a

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Speaker 3: severe skull fracture to the left side of his head

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Speaker 3: and multiple brain bleeds. The injury suffered by the six

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Speaker 3: week old baby proof fatal, and he's pronounced dead the

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Speaker 3: next morning at Children's hospital. Police say Versy has no

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Speaker 3: plausible explanation for the severity of Leon's injuries. Examining the

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Speaker 3: bouncer seat, detectives report that it's about eighteen inches from

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Speaker 3: the tallest point of the seat to the floor.

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Speaker 1: Tell investigators about the injuries suffered by Leon's twin brother Ari.

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Speaker 1: He has small scratches on both sides of his face,

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Speaker 1: two bruises below his belly button, and swelling, bruising, redness

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Speaker 1: and scratches to his genitals. The doctor who examined the

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Speaker 1: injuries to both boys say they are consistent with having

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Speaker 1: been sustained as a result of child abuse, as these

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Speaker 1: were inflicted injuries, not natural and not accidental. Noting that

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Speaker 1: all of Leon's injuries were acute. Prosecutors consider all the

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Speaker 1: information before the men have charged Nicole Versey with homicide,

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Speaker 1: aggravated assault, and endangering the welfare of children. Prosecutors have

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Speaker 1: also filed notice of their intent to seek the death

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Speaker 1: penalty against Nicole Versey. Her attorney, David Schreeger, spoke to

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Speaker 1: WTAE news client.

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Speaker 2: Is also respectful of the pain, the heart wrenching pain

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Speaker 2: that the family is going through those for her friends.

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Speaker 1: For more on the charges and the death of Leon Katz,

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Speaker 1: watch Crime Stories with Nancy Graves six and nine pm

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Speaker 1: on Doctor Field's Merritt Street Media. Check your local listings

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Speaker 1: for channel assignments, or follow the Crime Stories with Nancy

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Speaker 1: Grace podcast on your favorite podcasting app. More crime and

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Speaker 1: justice news. After this, a sixty six year old homeless

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Speaker 1: man sleeping on the sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan critically injured

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Speaker 1: by a gang of thugs. Now, surveillance photos of the

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Speaker 1: five suspects who punched, kicked, and bashed the man in

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Speaker 1: the head with a fire extinguisher have been released. Police

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Speaker 1: are asking anyone who recognizes the attackers, all in their

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Speaker 1: late teens or early twenties, to come forward. So far,

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Speaker 1: nor rests made. She said she'd checked the back of

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Speaker 1: the bus, but the six year old banging on the

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Speaker 1: windows was proof she lied. Now a daycare bus driver

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Speaker 1: in Florida accused of leaving a little girl inside a

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Speaker 1: hot vehicle for over an hour. The banging caught the

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Speaker 1: attention of another child's parent. Police say all about kids.

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Speaker 1: Bus driver forty nine year old Barber Ledbetter got off

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Speaker 1: her assigned bus, failing to walk to the back of

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Speaker 1: the bus as she is failing to walk to the

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Speaker 1: back of the bus as she is required to do.

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Speaker 1: If she had, she would have seen the sleeping six

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Speaker 1: year old girl. When the girl woke up, that's when

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Speaker 1: she started making noise. Police say the girl was having

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Speaker 1: trouble breathing. Ledbetter faces third degree child neglect without causing

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Speaker 1: great bodily harm and a felon account for neglect by

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Speaker 1: wilful or culpable negligence that's due to her alleged failure

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Speaker 1: or omission to confirm that the bus was empty. Unsurprisingly,

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Speaker 1: Ledbetter lost her job. For more crime and justice news,

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Speaker 1: follow the Crime Alert hourly update on your favorite podcasting

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Speaker 1: app with this Crime Alert. I'm Jackie Howard