It sounds to me like this woman flipped out because her son was acting out and “crying” a lot during the day, and that’s why she killed him.
So tragic and horrible. That poor little boy sat there watching his mother murder him.
As reported by Breaking 911, a joint investigation into the boy’s death by Montgomery County Detectives and Horsham Police found that the defendant had killed her son after he went to sleep at approximately 9:30 p.m., then drove the family’s SUV to Cape May, N.J. and proceeded to drive the vehicle into the ocean just off Beach Avenue, where it was found at by Cape May Police. After the vehicle was no longer operable, the defendant walked to Wildwood Crest, where she was taken into custody by the Wildwood Crest Police and interviewed by detectives from Montgomery County Detective Bureau and Horsham Police. A search of the SUV by law enforcement discovered a black men’s dress belt on the floor of the driver’s side of the vehicle.
According to the criminal complaint, DiRienzo-Whitehead told police her son was upset and “crying off and on all day” over the family’s financial situation and that she killed him so he would not have “to grow up with these struggles.”
An autopsy on the boy’s body was conducted on April 12, 2023, by Dr. Valerie Sorokin, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Dr. Sorokin opined that the cause of death was ligature strangulation and the manner of death was a homicide.
“I want to thank Cape May Police, Wildwood Crest Police, and Cape May Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland’s Office for their assistance with apprehending this mother who killed her son and with other aspects of this investigation,” said DA Steele. ““Their quick action and help in this investigation will play an integral part of holding the defendant accountable for the terrible killing of this boy.”
The mother was charged with first and third degree murder.
She is being held in Cape May County and will be extradited back to Montgomery County for arraignment on the charges.
