93-3-3-WMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve show podcast.

And now, Preston and Steve's news update with Kathy Romano.

And it is Thursday, the 13th day of April. Good morning, Kathy.

Good morning. In the news this morning, a mom stands accused of murdering her 11-year-old son in Horsham, then fleeing to the New Jersey shore.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office says 50-year-old Ruth DiRienzo Whitehead is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Matthew Whitehead.

According to the affidavit, DeRienzo Whitehead told detectives her son had been crying on and off all day over the family's financial difficulties.

She allegedly told detectives she did not want her son to grow up with these struggles,

so she strangled him with her husband's belt as he slept.

That seems absurd.

Yeah, she's either mentally ill.

Well, she's definitely mentally.

She's got her own kid who's 11 years old.

But that as an excuse is, yeah, there's something really... Mommy, I'm concerned about our finances. It doesn't really wash, you know. She's obviously crazy. This one's like hitting me hard because I think he's the same age as Jace. The kid went to Germantown Academy. So there's a lot of people in my community that went to school, either went to school with the kid or, you know, knew the family. And it's just, it's awful. And like, I was reading parts of this morning. I started to tear up with this next line from District Attorney Kevin Steele. He said strangulation takes time. So this is a brutal murder of a little boy. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's bad enough the act alone, whether it's quick or not, but that just adds an extra. That's just, you know, extremely hard to accept. Police were called to the family's home in the 500 block of Privet Road just after 7 a.m. Tuesday after the boy's father found him dead. According to the DA's office, an autopsy confirmed

Matthew had been strangled. Investigators say De Rianza White had killed her son after he went to sleep

around 930 Monday, then drove the family's SUV to Cape May, New Jersey. She drove the vehicle

into the ocean off Beach Avenue, and once the vehicle could no longer be driven, she walked to

Wildwood Crest. That's where she was taken into custody., she walked to Wildwood Crest. That's

where she was taken into custody. The criminal complaint from Wildwood Crest shows that officers

were on the lookout for her on Tuesday morning after her SUV was discovered. Officers were

watching the family's beach home on Cview Avenue when they saw a woman matching her description.

As they approached and called her name, Di Rianzo Whitehead allegedly said to officers,

I know what I did. She was held at Wildwood Crest Police, then questioned by Montgomery County

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