A 51-year-old Pennsylvania woman was sentenced for killing her 11-year-old son.
Ruth Dirienzo-Whitehead was sentenced to life in prison for strangling 11-year-old Matthew Whitehead to death before driving to a New Jersey beach. Investigators said that’s where she drove her vehicle in the ocean.
Matthew’s father called 911 after he noticed the door to the primary bedroom in their Horsham, Pennsylvania home was locked and the family’s Toyota Highlander was missing.
Police found Matthew’s body in the bedroom, where he’d fallen asleep with his mother.
The boy had ligature marks on the front and rear of his neck, his face was swollen and with petechiae to his eyes.
Police found the missing SUV in Cape May, New Jersey, where DiRienzo-Whitehead had driven it into the ocean.
She was later found walking in Wildwood Crest shortly after and taken into custody.
Following her arrest, DiRienzo-Whitehead told police that the family had been struggling financially. Dirienze-Whitehead said she did not want her son to grow up with these struggles, and admitted to strangling him with a belt as he slept.
