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Mom Arrested for Allegedly Suffocating Toddler for Years
3 Dec, 2025
Summary
- Mother accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter by suffocation.
- She claimed the child had a rare virus, but later confessed.
- The mother also confessed to the death of her infant son.
A Michigan mother is facing charges after allegedly murdering her two-year-old daughter by repeatedly suffocating her, contrary to claims of a rare virus. Irene Whitehead, 27, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder of Ryleigh Whitehead, who died on September 3.
Whitehead had previously appeared in local media portraying Ryleigh as a victim of parainfluenza-4, a rare virus. She also stated her infant son, Leonard, had died from the same virus two years earlier. Court documents reveal Whitehead confessed to detectives that she killed both children, admitting to suffocating Ryleigh multiple times.
Investigators now believe Ryleigh's frequent hospitalizations were due to the abuse. Whitehead also confessed to killing her infant son, Leonard. Prosecutors are considering charges in Leonard's death, while Ryleigh's cause of death was updated to homicide. Whitehead faces life in prison without parole if convicted.
