Trial Delayed For Abington Woman Charged With Killing Parents

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA —The trial for a Rydal woman who will present an insanity defense in being charged with killing and dismembering her parents in early January has now been changed.

The Montgomery County court docket had scheduled a courtroom for eight days for Verity Beck starting on April 1 before Court of Common Pleas Judge William R. Carpenter in Norristown.

But on Friday, the Judge granted a defense continuance, authorities said.

The trial is now scheduled to start Oct. 21.

In nearby Horsham Township, an insanity plea was presented for the mother who strangled her 11-year-old son with her husband's belt last year.

Ruth Dirienzo-Whitehead, 51, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder charges and a charge of possessing an instrument of crime, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said.

Beck, 44, of Abington's Rydal neighborhood, is charged with two counts each of first- and third-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and possession of an instrument of crime in connection with the deaths of her parents, Reid Beck, 73, and Miriam Beck, 72.

Authorities allege Beck shot and killed her parents in their Jenkintown home on or after Jan. 7, 2023, and dismembered their bodies with a chainsaw.

An insanity plea defense is expected to be brought forward during the trial, authorities said.

Beck was scheduled to stand trial in early February, but court records show the trial has been delayed to April 1.