Woman accused of strangling son to death with belt

HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Pennsylvania woman is accused of strangling her 11-year-old son to death with a belt at their home and then driving her vehicle into the ocean 120 miles away in New Jersey, authorities said.

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According to a news release from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, 50, of Horsham Township, was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and possessing an instrument of crime in connection to the death of Matthew Whitehead.

DiRienzo-Whitehead was being held in Cape May County, New Jersey, awaiting extradition, the release stated.

According to an arrest affidavit, DiRienzo-Whitehead allegedly told detectives her son had been “crying off and on all day over the family’s financial difficulties,” WPVI-TV reported.

She allegedly added that she did not want her son to grow up “with these struggles” so she strangled him with her husband’s belt as he slept in the master bedroom, according to the television station.

The boy’s body was found at about 7 a.m. on Tuesday, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Strangulation takes time. So this is a brutal murder of a little boy,” District Attorney Kevin Steele said during a news conference on Wednesday.

The boy’s father was sleeping in another room at the time, which he told authorities was not unusual, the Inquirer reported. He told police that he noticed the bedroom door was locked and DiRienzo-Whitehead’s black Toyota Highlander SUV was missing from the garage, KYW-TV reported.

The boy was found dead inside the bedroom.

Police in Cape May found the SUV partially submerged in the Atlantic Ocean at about 3:30 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, according to the television station.

According to the district attorney’s news release, DiRienzo-Whitehead walked north from Cape May to the city of Wildwood Crest, where she was taken into custody by police.

A police officer said that DiRienzo-Whitehead was dressed in black tattered pajamas, had messy hair and a confused expression, WCAU-TV reported. She allegedly told the officer, “I know what I did,” according to the television station.

A search of the SUV by authorities discovered a black men’s dress belt on the floor of the driver’s side of the vehicle.

Valerie Sorokin, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, conducted an autopsy and said that Whitehead’s cause of death was ligature strangulation, the Inquirer reported.

Whitehead was a sixth-grader at Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, which he had attended since kindergarten, WPVI reported.

In a statement, the school said the boy “was an extraordinary child with a smile as bright as the sun.”

“We loved him, and we will forever mourn his loss, a devastating tragedy for our community, his family, his friends, and our world,” the statement said.

DiRienzo remains in custody in New Jersey, according to Cape May County online booking records. She is being held without bail.

“I want to thank Cape May Police, Wildwood Crest Police and Cape May Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland’s Office for their assistance with apprehending this mother who killed her son and with other aspects of this investigation,” Steele said in a statement. “Their quick action and help in this investigation will play an integral part of holding the defendant accountable for the terrible killing of this boy.”