Horsham Mom Sentenced To Life In Prison For Strangling Son

HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, PA —One day after being found guilty, a Horsham mother will spend the rest of her life in prison after being sentenced Friday in the strangulation death of her 11-year-old.

Ruth Dirienzo-Whitehead, 51, was sentenced on first-degree murder charges and a charge of possessing an instrument of crime, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said.

During her sentencing before Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge William R. Carpenter, victim impact statements were read in the courtroom.

Dirienzo-Whitehead was found guilty Thursday during the bench trial, which began on Monday and was delayed one day due to Tuesday's storm.

Authorities said besides the life term for the first-degree murder charge, Dirienzo-Whitehead will also serve 2.5-5 years for the instrument of crime charge, which will run concurrent with the life charge.

In mid-November, the Philadelphia lawyer representing Dirienzo-Whitehead filed a court motion for an insanity defense.

Attorney Eugene Tinari had told Patch that "there's just no explanation for it." Following the incident, Tineri called his client "delusional."

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 Cape May Police found it. She then walked to Wildwood Crest, where she was taken into custody by Wildwood Crest Police.