A 70-year-old woman was taken into custody on Tuesday by police near Philadelphia. They allege that she used a hidden 16-inch blade hidden within her walking cane to fatally stab a man earlier this year.
The woman, identified as Renee DiPietro, is now facing a third-degree murder charge.
The incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. on June 10.
Officers from the Lower Marion Township Police Department responded to a stabbing at the intersection of Cricket Avenue and Cricket Terrace.
They found the victim, Michael Thomas Sides, 31, who was bleeding heavily from his upper torso.
He was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries about an hour later.
One of Sides' friends, Dan Rogers, informed detectives of what exactly happened. He said that Sides had been "sucker punched" earlier that night by a mutual friend identified as Jason DiPietro.
Sides got angry and said he was going to confront Jason DiPietro.
During the altercation, Sides was preventing Jason DiPietro from entering a white car, when Renee and Michael DiPietro, the parents of Jason, exited the car.
Rogers said he saw Renee DiPietro make a sudden movement towards the victim, causing him to fall and bleed.
She appeared to be holding a black cane that subsequently fell apart.
The alleged murder weapon
"Rogers stated it was then apparent to him that the female stabbed the victim," as per the affidavit.
After the stabbing, Rogers noted that the female attempted to remove the license plate from the vehicle, before she fled the scene.
Surveillance footage also captured when Renee DiPietro was bending the license plate to obstruct witnesses from identifying it.
A few hours later, detectives visited the DiPietro residence in Philadelphia.
Renee DiPietro recounted to detectives that she had received a distressed call from her son earlier that night.
She armed herself with a baseball bat and her walking cane, and along with her husband, went to her son's location.
She claimed that when her son tried to enter a car, a "big" man prevented him and was assaulting him.
She stated that she intervened to "defend her son" and used her cane to push the man, causing him to fall to the ground.
She, her husband, and son then left the scene in their vehicle, as outlined in the detectives' account.
Renee DiPietro turned herself in on Tuesday and was granted a $50,000 bond.
Her court hearing is scheduled for August 22.
In another news, a toddler has lost her legs during a failed kidnap attempt. See shocking details here.
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