A Pennsylvania mother who was angry at her husband for their financial woes killed her son instead. Now, she will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Montgomery County Judge William Carpenter sentenced Ruth Dirienzo-Whitehead to life in prison for the strangulation death of 11-year-old Matthew Whitehead. After a bench trial, Dirienzo-Whitehead was found guilty and convicted of first-degree murder and possessing an instrument of a crime.
On April 10, 2023, officers responded to the 500 Block of Privet Road after the boy's father discovered his lifeless body in their bedroom. Later, authorities discovered the 51-year-old Dirienzo-Whitehead had driven the family's Toyota Highlander into the ocean in New Jersey, but when the car became immobile, she walked to Wildwood Crest, where the couple owned a beach house, reported CBS News. There, the defendant was arrested and placed into custody.
During Dirienzo-Whitehead’s interview with investigators, she admitted to killing her son with his father’s belt in anger because she did not want her son to witness the financial challenges of the family. As a result, Dirienzo-Whitehead’s lawyer, Eugene Tinari, argued his client's behavior was due to a psychotic breakdown and a steady deterioration of mental illness.
“I believe it was strictly as a result of her being in psychosis and mental illness based on the reasons I said: the love of her child, her character. Revenge, in my opinion, makes absolutely no sense in this case, to take one’s child,” said Tinari, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
However, in a rebuttal, prosecutors argued the murder was pre-meditated after investigators found her internet search history about how to strangle somebody and cases of mental illness that caused women to kill their own children.
Prosecutors told the court that Dirienzo-Whitehead killed her own child out of anger and spite for her husband. The judge agreed!
Matthew was described by his school as an extraordinary child with a bright smile.
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