15-year-old charged with 2 counts of murder

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Nickalas James Kedrowitz, 15, has been waived into adult court to face two murder charges for the deaths of two of his siblings that took place at their home in Osgood in 2017. One child was 11 months old, the other two-years-old.

Kedrowitz has been housed at the Dearborn County Detention Center for juveniles since 2018. Kedrowitz’s lawyers argued that Kedrowitz should remain in juvenile court. However, the judge saw things differently and Kedrowitz was waived just recently into adult court to stand trial on the murder charges.

According to Ripley Publishing Co. files, (published September 13, 2018) the case goes back to May 1, 2017 when a child died at the house where Kedrowitz lived with his family. Just 81-days later, another child would die in the same house.

Police began an investigation and Kedrowitz, then 13, was a potential suspect.

An affidavit filed by Indiana State Police detectives reveals that Kedrowitz had also allegedly mutilated a kitten, was currently failing all of his classes and had been involved in some fights at school. According to the affidavit, that time he told police “he had to do it” referring to the murders of both babies. He said he was saving them from the hell he had to live in.

The case was disturbing to law enforcement from the beginning. In an initial press conference, Ripley County Prosecutor Ric Hertel noted, “In 19 years of doing this (being a prosecutor) I haven’t seen anything quite as disturbing and final.” In a recent talk at a Ripley County Drug Awareness Coalition event, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Tucker told a crowd that the number one priority of the prosecutor’s office is to keep the community safe. That sentiment was echoed with this case.

An Initial Hearing took place at 10:30 a.m. on September 4 in Ripley County Circuit Court with Judge Ryan King presiding.