MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA (KYW Newsradio) — Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, the Horsham mother who strangled her 11-year-old son with a belt while he was asleep last April, has been found guilty of first-degree murder.
The night of April 10, DiRienzo-Whitehead wrapped a belt around her son Matthew’s neck while he slept in her bed and choked him to death.
The next morning, her husband found their son’s lifeless body. Around the same time, police in Cape May found DiRienzo-Whitehead’s car partially submerged in the ocean.
They later found her outside the family’s house in Wildwood Crest, barefoot in her pajamas. As they approached her, she said, “I know what I did.”
She was taken into custody in Wildwood Crest.
Testimony started Monday — during most of which, she sat with her head in her hands. Video of her interview from the day police found her was shown and DiRienzo-Whitehead had to be led out of the room, as she was crying uncontrollably.
On Wednesday, testimony concluded with differing opinions from two mental health experts. Her lawyer conceded she strangled her son with a belt while he slept in her bed last April, but a forensic psychologist testifying for the defense called her actions that night “altruistic maternal filicide.”
On Thursday, phone records with a search history of “how to kill someone” were shown, as well as text receipts to a realtor about listing their shore house, which she walked three miles to, barefoot, after driving her SUV into the ocean.
Prosecutor Lauren Marvel said DiRienzo-Whitehead killed her son out of anger and resentment directed at her husband and their financial situation.
“She was resentful of their financial situation,” Marvel said. “She expected him to fix it for her. And when he couldn't, she had to list their family's $800,000 beach house, and she felt resentful, and she took that resentment out on her son.”
Defense Attorney Eugene Tinari called prosecutors’ revenge theory “preposterous.” He argued DiRienzo-Whitehead irrationally believed that killing her son was in his best interest because she was suffering from severe depression and psychosis.
“I firmly believe that we established, at the very least, that she was mentally ill at the time. And I'll go to my grave thinking that.”
The judge ruled her guilty of first-degree murder, saying it was premeditated and she knew what she was doing.
DiRienzo-Whitehead faces a mandatory life sentence. She showed no emotion as the verdict was handed down, nor when she was led from the courtroom.