NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A Philadephia woman is accused of fatally stabbing a man with a 16-inch blade hidden in her walking cane as she intervened in an altercation between her son and the victim, authorities said Tuesday.
According to a news release from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Renee DiPietro, 70, was charged with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and possessing an instrument of a crime in the stabbing death of Michael Sides, 31, of Ardmore, on June 10, 2023.
DiPietro surrendered to Lower Merion police after an arrest warrant was issued Monday, according to WPVI-TV.
Authorities say DiPietro stabbed Sides at about 1:30 a.m. EDT after he attacked her son, Jason DiPietro, outside a bar in Ardmore, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Jason DiPietro had been involved in a fight earlier in the evening with one of Sides’ friends, prosecutors said.
Sides said the man had been “sucker punched” by Jason DiPietro, prosecutors said. The victim was overheard saying that he was going to “seek out” Jason DiPietro.
Police said that Renee DiPietro was contacted by her son after the altercation.
“After understanding his location in Ardmore, Renee took a baseball bat and her walking cane as she and he husband drove to their son’s location in their Nissan Versa sedan,” according to a criminal complaint.
DiPietro told police when she and her husband went to pick their son up, Sides tried to prevent him from getting into their car, resulting in a fight between the two men, WTXF-TV reported.
Video surveillance showed Renee DiPietro exit the vehicle and stab Sides with the blade that was sheathed in her cane, prosecutors said.
Sides was transported to Lankenau Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 2:28 a.m. EDT, prosecutors said.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s office concluded that Sides died of a single stab wound to the chest, The Inquirer reported.
Renee DiPietro was arraigned on Tuesday in the Court of Common Pleas, prosecutors said. Bail was set at $50,000. Her next appearance in court is Aug. 22.