A Pennsylvania woman who is being accused of strangling her 11-year-old son to death and then driving her car into the ocean at the Cove Beach in Cape May will not face the death penalty. According to the Cape May County Herald, the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney’s Office confirmed that it would not seek the death penalty for Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, of Horsham, Pennsylvania, who allegedly strangled her son Matthew, 11, while he was sleeping in her bed.
DiRienzo-Whitehead then allegedly drove her car to Cape May and attempted to drive into the ocean; however, her vehicle became stuck in the sand at the water’s edge, according to the affidavit of probable cause in the case. The car was discovered around the same time her son’s body was found in the family’s home by the boy’s father. Her trial is set to begin Feb. 12th.