Horsham Mother Who Killed Son Speaks At Sentencing

HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, PA —For the first time since the crime, the Horsham mother found guilty last week of strangling her 11-year-old son to death spoke during her sentencing.

Ruth Dirienzo-Whitehead, 51, was sentenced on first-degree murder charges and a charge of possessing an instrument of crime to life in prison on Friday, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said. She was found guilty of those crimes during the conclusion of her bench trial the day before.

Attorney Eugene Tinari told Patch Tuesday that Dirienzo-Whitehead spoke during her sentencing, offering numerous apologies to her husband and family for the crime.

"She was barely able to speak," Tinari said. "It was difficult to watch."

Tinari said that he would appeal the verdict.

"I was disappointed with the verdict," Tinari said. I don't agree at all with the District Attorney's version. We reject the decision of the court. It didn't fit with the evidence."

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

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.

Dirienzo-Whitehead told the court only a "monster would do something like this." She also told the court that she knows the life her son should have had and she was proud of him, NBC Philadelphia reported.

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

Victim impact statements were read in court from the staff and teachers at Matthew's school, and from his father who tearfully shared how his son was a "gift from God."

He described Matthew as a good student, athletic, and kind to everyone. It's a sentiment echoed by friends who wrote letters that were read in court, Action News 6 reported.

Following the crime last April, school officials at Germantown Academy, a private school in Fort Washington, issued a statement to Patch about the 6th-grade student who had been at Germantown Academy since kindergarten.

"Matthew 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. We will do everything in our power to carry his memory forward, to honor him as he so truly deserves, and to live our lives well as a tribute to him," said a statement from Germantown Academy.

"Matthew is the embodiment of love, promise, and goodness, and we will never, ever forget him," the statement said.