Horsham Mom Accused Of Strangling Son Back In Court

HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, PA —After two postponements, the preliminary hearing for the township mother accused in the strangulation death of her 11-year-old son is expected to take place this week.

The court docket has the hearing for Ruth Dirienzo-Whitehead scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 31., before Magisterial District Court Judge William Nesbitt III in Horsham Township.

Dirienzo-Whitehead faces first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and possessing an instrument of crime in the death of her son in April.

Hearings scheduled for April 27 and May 10 were continued.

Dirienzo-Whitehead is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after being extradited from Cape May Prison.

Dirienzo-Whitehead said that she strangled her son with her husband's belt at the family's Privet Road home after he had been "upset and crying off and on all day" over the family's financial difficulties, according to an affidavit.

Authorities said after DiRienzo-Whitehead left her home, she drove the family’s SUV to Cape May, N.J. There, she proceeded to drive the vehicle into the ocean just off Beach Avenue, where it was found by Cape May Police. She then walked to Wildwood Crest, where she was taken into custody by Wildwood Crest Police.

"She was delusional and has mental health issues," her lawyer Eugene Tinari said at that time. "We're convinced this occurred from a severe mental illness because there's no explanation."

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