Mother convicted of murder for strangling 11-year-old son to death in Montgomery County
HORSHAM, Pa. - A mother will spend the rest of her life behind bars after she was found guilty of killing her son, then leading police on a search to her beached car in Cape May.
Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, 50, was convicted of first-degree murder and for strangling her 11-year-old son to death as he slept in her bed.
The boy was found dead by his father on the 500 block of Privet Road in Horsham Township in April 2023.
DA: Boy, 11, found dead in parents' bed as police discover mom's car submerged on Cape May beach
A dad made a tragic discovery when he came to find his 11-year-old son dead in his bed Tuesday morning, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.
DiRienzo-Whitehead fled to the Jersey Shore following the murder, where her car was discovered on a Cape May beach with a belt on the floor.
She was later taken into custody in Wildwood Crest, where she walked to her family's summer home.
Prosecutors say DiRienzo-Whitehead told police she didn't want her son to suffer because of the family's financial issues, so she strangled him with her husband's belt.
The boy's death was determined to be ligature strangulation by homicide, according to an autopsy.
Pennsylvania mom strangled son to death because of financial problems, documents say
A Montgomery County family has been left in shambles after officials say an 11-year-old boy was killed by his own mother, who strangled him with her husband's belt.
Her attorney has claimed that DiRienzo-Whitehead "snapped under the weight of mental illness."
"There is no history of child abuse, no neglect, nothing other than all accounts, looking clearly like she snapped to use the vernacular," her attorney told FOX 29 back in April.
DiRienzo-Whitehead will serve a mandatory life in prison term for first-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime.