CAPE MAY – Cape May Police Department was commended for its work on a case that culminated in the arrest of Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, who is being accused of murdering her 11-year-son in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
An affidavit of probable cause that accompanied the criminal complaint against DiRienzo-Whitehead said she told police she strangled her sleeping son with her husband’s belt and then drove her SUV to Cape May, where she attempted to drive into the ocean in the early morning hours of April 11 until the vehicle would no longer run.
She then told police she walked to Wildwood Crest, where she was picked up by Wildwood Crest police.
Cape May police responded to DiRienzo-Whitehead’s abandoned vehicle at the Cove Beach, even before reports were issued about the murder.
The Cape May police, who immediately concluded the abandoned vehicle was not the result of a random DWI, potentially averted even more tragedy, as DiRienzo-Whitehead was identified, cooperation established with police in Pennsylvania, and DiRienzo-Whitehead’s location in Wildwood Crest determined.
Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock and City Manager Michael Voll, along with other members of Cape May City Council, recognized the police department at the same meeting in which they adopted a budget that added two full-time officers to the force April 18.
Cape May police provide services to the city and its two neighboring municipalities of West Cape May and Cape May Point.
