PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Something was off.
That much family and friends of Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead could tell.
Regardless of the stress the Horsham resident was under, no one saw the events of April 10 and 11, 2023 coming.
Nearly one year later, KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts revisits a murder that left an innocent 11-year old boy dead by his own mother’s hands.
In Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead: the Mother, the Monster, KYW Newsradio Suburban Bureau Chief Jim Melwert explores the circumstances and ripple effects of the disturbing crime through exclusive interviews with the attorneys who tried the case, which ended with DiRienzo-Whitehead receiving a mandatory lifetime prison sentence.
Click the links below to hear both parts of the podcast, or listen free on the Audacy app.
Read below to learn more about the key people and places in the story.
MATTHEW WHITEHEAD
The 11-year old son of Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead and victim of her crime.
“He was a wonderful boy. He really was. It was just such a sad, sad outcome that he paid the ultimate price and he had nothing to do with it.”
RUTH DIRIENZO-WHITEHEAD
The 51-year old mother convicted of first-degree murder in the death of her only child, Matthew.
“By all accounts, she was a loving, doting mom… who would do anything for [her son]. She had him later in life, he was an only child. It was beyond the normal mother-son relationship. He was her world.”
DANIEL WHITEHEAD
Husband to Di-Rienzo-Whitehead, father of Matthew.
“Seeing Dan [in the courtroom] ripped your heart out. To hear him initially talk about how much he cared about Ruth before this happened, how much he loved her, how close they were, you really got a feel for the family unit he had — that his wife and son were his world.”
505 PRIVET ROAD
The Whitehead family home in Horsham Township and scene of DiRienzo-Whitehead’s crime.
“Everyone in our town heard this story in one way, shape, or form. I was able to see my 11-year old’s face when we dealt with this crime scene. I think a lot of families start to think about, well, what if it was their child? It hits hard, but as a community, we will get through it.”
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
The Montgomery Township private school with a near-$40,000 per year tuition where Matthew was enrolled at the time of his murder.
“We agreed to do anything [we could] to educate him.”
5704 SEAVIEW AVENUE
The shore house in Wildwood Crest that the Whitehead family was forced to sell to offset mounting financial struggles.
“She had an $800,000 asset in her hands that she didn’t have to work for that was handed to her by her family members that she had just sitting there available for their use. Anyone else who has dealt with some kind of financial struggle would think, ‘My God, how lucky are we that she could just sell that house?’ They could have paid for [Matthew’s] entire education, they could have paid for his college, they could have paid their mortgage. I mean, truly life-changing money.”
EUGENE TINARI
Veteran defense attorney who represented DiRienzo-Whitehead.
“You don’t kill your son just because you’re angry at your husband. There’s other ways around it. We’re not talking about an individual who wasn’t smart. So what clouded her mind to think this was the way to go? Because I’m angry I’m going to kill my son? Had this been anything other than mental illness, an individual as smart as her would have been able to figure this out and get out of it without killing her son.”
GWENDOLYN KULL
Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney who served as co-prosecutor in the case against DiRienzo-Whitehead.
“You start going through the evidence and piecing together what actually happened, and even though for the average person it's completely unfathomable and irrational, what she did actually made perfect sense.”
LAUREN MARVEL
Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney who served as co-prosecutor in the case against DiRienzo-Whitehead.
“A lot of times when you're a prosecutor when you're interacting in the court system, you put up these walls to try to protect yourself. Because if you go down that path of grief with every person that gets on the stand, you can't do your job protecting them. Every once in a while you'll have these interactions where you let yourself feel the case a little bit, and it was so hard throughout this entire case to try to keep that wall up.”