Given the task definition and input, reply with output. In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.

Ripley County Prosecuting Attorney Ric Hertel says the juvenile sibling of 23-month-old Desiree McCartney and 11-month-old Nathaniel Ritz is a suspect in their death (Facebook) 
  
 Two young Ripley County siblings died less than three months apart and their sibling is a suspect, prosecutors say. 
  
 Ripley County Prosecuting Attorney Ric Hertel says he will hold a press conference Wednesday to discuss the deaths of 23-month-old Desiree McCartney and her 11-month-old brother, Nathaniel Ritz. 
  
 Hertel says they died less than 90 days apart. 
  
 "Everyday I think about what really happened that night," said Desiree's father Gary McCartney. 
  
 He says his heart has been broken since May 6, 2017. That's when he got a call from his ex-wife saying that Desiree had drowned. 
  
 "She just came home from work. They said she was in the bathtub possibly drowning different things. It was kind of blurry that night," said McCartney. 
  
  
  
 The Hamilton County Coroner's Office says Desiree's death was ruled suffocation by smothering. She died at Cincinnati Children's Hospital May 6, 2017. 
  
 Desiree died at Children's Hospital. 
  
 McCartney tells us at first Desiree's death was ruled as unknown but he became suspicious after speaking with his ex-wife. 
  
 "She changed the story several times at the hospital and I had a lot of questions then about what really happened that night," said McCartney 
  
  
  
 In January he got more answers about what happened. 
  
 He received the death certificate that said the 23-month old was smothered by another with a towel. 
  
 Documents say it happened in a house on Maple Street in Osgood Indiana. 
  
 McCartney says Desiree was living in the house with her teenage brother, their mother and her mother's boyfriend, the father of Nathaniel Ritz. 
  
 Nathaniel also lived in the home. His cause of death is unknown, he died July 21, 2017. 
  
 Copyright 2018 WXIX. All rights reserved. ||||| Detective: Teen accused in deaths of 2 siblings wanted to 'free them from hell' 
  
 A teenager told police he killed his younger siblings because he wanted to "free them from this hell." 
  
 Two children are dead after two separate incidents in Osgood, Indiana, last year. 
  
  
  
 Advertisement Related Content Mother of teen charged in young siblings' deaths says she never saw any signs 
  
 Prosecutors said the suspect in their deaths is a sibling who was 13 years old at the time and is about to turn 15 now. Ripley County Prosecuting Attorney Ric Hertel gave an update on the case Wednesday morning. 
  
 Hertel said the suspect had no explanation for the murders. 
  
 "You kind of shrug your shoulders. I don’t know," Hertel said. 
  
 Prosecutors said police have been investigating the deaths of 23-month-old Desiree McCartney and her 11-month-old brother Nathaniel Ritz since last year. 
  
 Ripley County sheriff's officials said they turned the case over to Indiana State Police after investigators suspected foul play. 
  
 Officials said the children died less than 90 days apart. 
  
 Hertel said Wednesday the investigation is ongoing and Indiana Department of Child Services is conducting its own separate investigation. 
  
  
  
 The suspect now faces two murder charges, according to a probable cause affidavit. 
  
 The affidavit says the teen admitted suffocating Desiree with a towel after she got out of the bathtub. He told investigators he suffocated Nathaniel with a blanket. 
  
 Hertel said the teen made remarks to detectives during the investigation that he was "freeing his siblings from hell." 
  
  
  
 The affidavit reveals the boy said he "had help from an angel to free them." 
  
  
  
 He told detectives he "didn't plan on these things to happen" and he "didn't want to hurt them." 
  
 Investigators said the suspect is Desiree's half brother and Nathaniel's stepbrother. 
  
  
  
 Hertel said the teen was deemed a suspect after the first death. 
  
 "Anybody who was in that home at the time of the first death was presumed a suspect," Hertel said. "After that, we did not place him back in the home." 
  
 Hertel said before police finished the first death investigation, DCS allowed the teen back into the home. 
  
 Nathaniel was killed 81 days later, Hertel said. 
  
 Hertel said the suspect's motivation is still unclear. 
  
 “Maybe the doctors who examine him can shed some light on motivation. In my 19 years, I'm not sure I've seen anything as disturbing as something like this," Hertel said. 
  
 The suspect is currently being housed in a juvenile detention center, Hertel said. 
  
 “It’s a puzzle. We might never know exactly what happened,” Hertel said. 
  
 Hertel said the suspect's father is currently in prison and believes the mother is cooperating with the investigation through DCS. 
  
 "We certainly looked at the parents as suspects and whether they were neglectful, but I don't believe it has risen to a crime level," Hertel asked. 
  
 Hertel noted an incident that he said happened not long before the two deaths, where the suspect mutilated a kitten, telling family members it "scratched him." 
  
 Hertel said moving forward, doctors need to examine the juvenile to make sure he is fit to stand trial. He said ultimately a judge will decide if the suspect will be waived to an adult court or stay in juvenile court. 
  
 "If he is held in juvenile court he can be released at age 18. So the question is, is three years enough?" Hertel said. 
  
  
  
 Neighbors said they cannot believe two children they used to see each day died. 
  
 "Our whole street, we were in tears for weeks over this," neighbor Becky Horn said. 
  
 Across South Maple Street in Osgood, Becky Horn saw a scene and heard of the same tragedy twice at her neighbor's home. 
  
 "We thought it was just an accidental drowning at first, and then we heard word that she had passed, I guess, a couple days later," Horn said. "And then the next one happened and we knew there was something off then." 
  
 "It breaks my heart," Amber Conner said. Conner lives in the home where neighbors said both incidents happened in 2017. 
  
 Conner said she hasn't stopped praying since they found out what happened. 
  
 A church steeple stands tall near her home, she said a cross that was in Desiree's former room has stayed put, bringing comfort to them. 
  
 WLWT talked with Desiree's father by phone on Tuesday. 
  
 "She was full of energy. She loved to play, loved to be outdoors. She was just a typical 2-year-old kid," Gary McCartney said. 
  
 McCartney said this happened in early May 2017 and she was revived at Batesville Hospital, transferred to Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and remained alive for a few days. 
  
 But McCartney said there was no brain activity, and she eventually died at Children's Hospital. 
  
 Firefighters said Nathaniel was found unresponsive a couple of months later. He died at Batesville Hospital. 
  
 "I do a lot of praying for the kids that have passed, and I know they're in a better place and taken care of," Conner said. 
  
 Neighbors said they hope for justice for Desiree and Nathaniel, and mental help for the suspect. 
  
 AlertMe ||||| × Court docs: Teen accused of smothering young sister, brother also mutilated kitten 
  
 RIPLEY COUNTY, Ind. – Prosecutors say a boy in Ripley County was just 13 years old when he killed his two young siblings. 
  
 The teen’s arrest comes over a year after police first began investigating the deaths of 23-month-old Desiree McCartney and 11-month-old Nathaniel Ritz. 
  
 Emergency crews were first called to the children’s home in Osgood, Indiana on May 6, 2017 after McCartney was found unresponsive. Her death was ruled suffocation by smothering, according to the coroner’s office. 
  
 Emergency crews returned to their home less than three months later after Ritz was found unresponsive. The coroner’s office determined he was smothered as well. 
  
 McCartney and Ritz were living in a home with their teen brother, their mother and their mother’s boyfriend, who is Ritz’s father, at the time of their deaths. 
  
 Investigators started looking into their brother more after multiple people told police he was saying some very disturbing things, including “some things (he) had done to some kittens,” according to court documents. 
  
 On Sept. 5, 2017, police say they were contacted by the teen’s mother and informed that he had mutilated a kitten “to the point of almost killing it” at a family member’s home. The family member said the teen’s temper reminded her of the “Hulk.” 
  
 The family member has a prosthetic leg and suffers from diabetes. At one point, she said he “said that with all of her health problems, maybe she just needed to die,” according to court documents. The teen was said to make similar statements about an old dog at the house. 
  
 The family members he was staying with had several kittens on their front porch, and weren’t allowed inside. Court documents show they found one in the basement and it had something wrong with it. 
  
 The teen boy was found crying, and the kitten had “blood all over it and its insides were hanging out of it.” The kitten also had a puncture-like wound to its head. When confronted, the boy said the kitten had scratched him. He got mad and squeezed really hard. 
  
 The family members knew the cat was suffering and needed to be put down. Court documents show the teen asked if he could go and see “the kitten’s brains splattered everywhere.” 
  
 When police interviewed the teen, they discussed how he’d been kicked out of school. He said he was tired of being bullied by another student. When they discussed Desiree and Nathaniel’s death, court documents show the boy said “he had a conversation with God about them, but he could not talk about it because he had promised God he wouldn’t tell anyone.” 
  
 The officers got him to open up a little, and he started talking about dreams he had after the deaths and saving them from “hell and the chains of fire.” 
  
 “(The boy) said he had help from an angel to free them,” court documents state. 
  
 The teen reportedly told police he “didn’t plan on these things to happen…but had to set them free from this hell.” 
  
 When police asked what hell meant to him, he simply replied, “chores.” 
  
 Multiple other family members told police the boy admitted to putting blankets over the childrens’ heads until they “stopped making noise.” 
  
 The teen boy was detained and taken to a juvenile detention center in Dearborn County on August 28, 2018. 
  
 On September 6, the prosecutor’s office filed a petition alleging delinquency of two counts of murder for the deaths of McCartney and Ritz. 
  
 His initial hearing was September 10. A judge ordered a competency evaluation. This means he will be evaluated by two doctors, and they’ll decide whether he’s competent to stand trial. 
  
 Also, the state filed a petition to wave him to adult court. 
  
 “In my time here, which is 19 years, I’m not sure I’ve seen anything as disturbing as this,” Prosecuting Attorney Ric Hertel said. 
  
 Hertel was asked whether the parents will face charges, and he said, “I wouldn’t rule out the possibility.” |||||

A teenage boy in Indiana arrested in connection to the deaths of his two young siblings reportedly told authorities that he had to "set them free from this hell." The boy, who was taken to a juvenile detention center last month, was 13 years old when he allegedly smothered Desiree McCartney, 23 months, and Nathaniel Ritz, 11 months, last year in two separate incidents in the span of fewer than three months, WXIN reports. Both deaths occurred at the Osgood home where the teen lived with his mother, her boyfriend (Nathaniel's father), and the two deceased toddlers, according to Fox19. According to an affidavit, the teen has admitted to suffocating the two younger children, according to WLWT. Court documents provide more disturbing details about the teen, who a family member says has a temper like the "Hulk." That family member has multiple health problems, and the teen once said, "maybe she just needed to die." In another episode, the teen reportedly got mad at a kitten that scratched him and squeezed it to death. At a Sept. 10 hearing, a judge ordered a competency evaluation to determine whether the teen is fit to stand trial. The state wants him tried as an adult. "I'm not sure I've seen anything as disturbing as this, prosecutor Ric Hertel says, per WXIN, adding that he "wouldn't rule out the possibility" of the parents also facing charges in the case.