Greenfield man, who claimed sleepwalking, sentenced for killing infant son

Luca Neidert would now be 2 years, 9 months and 6 days old.

He would be walking, starting to potty train and talking in full sentences, his grandmother said.

His imagination would be developing. He would be able to sing and dance.

He would be alive.

Instead, Luca was killed by his father, Cory Neidert, on Feb. 1, 2020, when he was just 7 weeks old.

The medical examiner’s office said that Luca died from blunt force trauma to the head — that he sustained multiple skull fractures — with the force equivalent to a two-story fall onto concrete.

Cory Neidert told police he was sleepwalking when he dropped his son and doesn’t remember what happened.

On Thursday, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Randal B. Todd ordered Neidert to serve 16 to 32 months in state prison after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment. The sentence was above the standard-range guideline sentence of nine to 16 months.

“This sleepwalking thing is an excuse,” the judge said. “There’s no way sleepwalking was involved in this.”

Todd also ordered Neidert, 32, of Greenfield, to serve five years probation.

“I didn’t find your statement very sincere,” the judge told Neidert as he sentenced him. “I thought it was staged. You didn’t even look at me.”

Pittsburgh police were called to Neidert’s Greenfield home about 5 a.m. on Feb. 1, 2020, for the report of an infant who had fallen down the basement stairs.

According to the criminal complaint, Neidert told the 911 dispatcher that he’d just woken up and didn’t know what happened.

When questioned by detectives, Neidert said he believed he was sleepwalking and dropped Luca down the stairs but had no recollection of it.

Neidert’s blood-alcohol content at the time of his interview was 0.110, which meant at the time he called 911, the complaint said, it was likely 0.185.

It took nearly two years before charges of criminal homicide were filed.

During victim-impact testimony on Thursday, Luca’s mother, Dakota Zubil, and her best friend, as well as his grandmother, portrayed Neidert as an angry drunk, who lost his temper and was often out until 4 a.m.

“I do not have many regrets in my life, but I do regret staying with his father, because if I did that then, maybe Luca would be with me today,” Dakota Zubil wrote.

After Luca’s death, she continued, Neidert portrayed himself as a victim, and she continued to stand by him.

“Because of that, I was not Luca’s voice when I should have been,” she wrote. “As his mother, I failed to speak up, and instead I stayed with the man that killed my son. I should have advocated for him, not supported his father.

“I will take that with me until the day I die. I will never be able to forgive myself.”

Eventually, Dakota Zubil wrote, she sought therapy and enrolled in an intensive outpatient program. She is no longer with Neidert.

“I didn’t get to keep Luca with me for very long,” she wrote, describing her son as having more hair on his head at birth than most adults. “He was my reason for living, he was my entire world.”

Donna Zubil, Luca’s maternal grandmother, said that Neidert’s behavior after Luca died tore her family apart.

“Two years ago, not only did I lose my only grandchild, I lost a part of my daughter, too,” she said.

Donna Zubil recounted to the court how doctors thought her daughter might not be able to have children because of a medical condition, and the joy they felt when she learned she was pregnant.

Then, when Luca was born, Zubil continued, her daughter began to hemorrhage.

“I remember asking God, ‘why?’ Would I have to give up my daughter to have my miracle grandson?”

Then, when her daughter recovered, Donna Zubil said, “I kept thanking God for my healthy daughter and grandson and for a lifetime of happiness to come.”

Now, she continued, “I start my morning prayer thanking God for the time we had with Luca, and to help me remember the few, wonderful days we had with him instead of his brutal death, lost hopes, dreams and the lifetime of happiness I expected to have with him.”

Ashley Benzenhoefer told the court that when her best friend was pregnant, she recognized a clear pattern from Neidert of heavy drinking and anger issues.

“He wasn’t ready to give up his fun little life, and he proved that by getting right back to it as soon as he was no longer burdened by a child,” she said.

But Neidert’s family painted a completely different picture for the court. They described him as kind and caring, considerate, family-oriented and affectionate — someone who couldn’t stand to see someone being mistreated.

“He was the best father,” Neidert’s mother, Gail Neidert, told the judge.

His brother-in-law, Zach Walker, said that Neidert was so proud to be a dad, and that when he held his son, he got a sparkle in his eye.

“I’ve never seen my brother happier,” said Heather Walker.

When it was his turn to address the court, Neidert repeatedly called what happened to Luca “a tragic accident.”

“I’m so sorry to Luca. I’m forever going to be sorry to Luca,” he said.

Neidert said the day of his son’s birth, Dec. 13, 2019, was the happiest of his life.

“I finally felt complete,” he said. “Being responsible for this tragic accident nearly killed me inside.”

Neidert told the judge that Luca’s death has left him a shell of who he used to be, leading to suicidal thoughts and an inability to sleep without medication.

“The pain, it’s overwhelming.”

Defense attorney Matthew Ness asked the court to sentence his client to a sentence at Allegheny County Jail, noting that he had already been in custody for eight months.

Neidert has shown himself to be amenable to rehabilitation, Ness said, and pleaded to the charges at the first available date.

But Deputy District Attorney Jennifer DiGiovanni told the judge she was concerned by Neidert’s lack of insight that his alcohol use caused Luca’s death.

“I have no doubt Mr. Neidert loved his son,” she said. “I have no doubt his grief is real.”

But, she prosecutor continued, his lack of insight leads to a lack of accountability.

“Luca’s death was not a result of sleepwalking,” she said. “If he uses that excuse, it makes him a victim, too. Mr. Neidert is not a victim.

“Luca was.”