![A police car behind tape [Shutterstock Matt Gush]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/shutterstock_2097855037-e1681338534505.jpg "A police car behind tape [Shutterstock Matt Gush]")
Police charged a Pennsylvania mother with murder after she allegedly strangled her 11-year-old son, reportedly because he cried about the family’s financial struggles.
Fifty-year-old Ruth DiRienzo was charged Wednesday with first degree and third degree murder as well as possessing an instrument of crime after she allegedly murdered her 11-year-old son, Matthew Whitehead, according to a press release from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office.
Whitehead’s father discovered the gruesome incident early Tuesday morning, when he found the door to the master bedroom – where Whitehead and his mother had allegedly slept together the night before – was locked and the family’s SUV was missing, according to the press release. The father called the police, who found Whitehead deceased in the bedroom. (RELATED: ‘You Tortured Those Boys’: Stepmother Gets 25 To Life After 8-Year Old Stepson Froze To Death)
“Detectives observed that the boy had ligature marks on the front and rear of his neck, as well as swelling of his face and obvious petechia to his eyes, all signs of strangulation,” the press release reads.
DiRienzo allegedly told authorities Whitehead had been “crying off and on all day” about the family’s financial problems and that she strangled her son so he would not have to “grow up with these struggles,” the New York Post reported, citing a criminal complaint.
Horsham mother charged with strangling her 11yr old son to death after he went to sleep Monday night. Ruth DiRienzo Whitehead, a local real estate agent, is charged with first degree murder. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/cVmC4RRKgz
— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) April 12, 2023
An investigation determined DiRienzo likely killed Whitehead after he went to sleep at around 9:30 p.m. Monday before driving the SUV to Cape May, New Jersey, and into the ocean, according to the press release. DiRienzo then allegedly walked to Wildwood Crest, where police brought her into custody. Cape May police officers later discovered the SUV, a Toyota Highlander, off Beach Avenue.
Authorities say they discovered a belt in the driver’s side of the SUV.