MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA (KYW Newsradio) — The Horsham mother who admitted to strangling her 11-year-old son with a belt while he was asleep last April is on trial in Montgomery County. Prosecutors say it’s murder, but her lawyer is presenting an insanity defense.
The night of April 10, Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead wrapped a belt around her son Matthew’s neck while he slept in her bed inside their home on Privet Drive and choked him to death.
Her husband found their son’s lifeless body the next morning and, around the same time as his discovery, police in Cape May found DiRienzo-Whitehead’s car partially submerged in the ocean.
They then 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.”
DiRienzo-Whitehead was taken into custody in Wildwood Crest.
She opted for a bench trial, meaning a judge will decide her guilt rather than a jury.
During most of the testimony Monday, DiRienzo-Whitehead sat with her head in her hands.
When prosecutors played the video of her interview with detectives in the hours after her son’s body was found, DiRienzo-Whitehead started crying uncontrollably and had to be led from the courtroom. She agreed to the court showing the video in her absence.
In the interview, DiRienzo-Whitehead said her son was constantly crying about the family’s financial issues and she did not want him to suffer anymore.
Prosecutors say she was aware of her actions and the consequences, so she is guilty of murder.
But Defense Attorney Eugene Tinari says DiRienzo-Whitehead loved her son and there was no reason for her to kill him other than what he calls “altruistic filicide,” a mistaken belief that her son was better off dead.
Tinari says evidence will show DiRienzo-Whitehead suffered a psychotic episode brought on by several factors, including menopause, financial issues, and being the sole caretaker of her mother.