Inset, left to right: Irene A. Whitehead (Kent County Jail) and Ryleigh Whitehead (GoFundMe). Background: The Kent County Jail in Michigan (Google Maps).
A Michigan mother who was outspoken about her newborn daughter battling a rare and deadly virus just two years ago has been arrested for allegedly killing her little girl after she admitted to repeatedly suffocating the child with a bag.
Irene Aiyana Whitehead, 27, was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree child abuse in the death of young Ryleigh Whitehead earlier this year, records show.
Authorities responding to a 911 call at Whitehead”s home in Cedar Springs on Sept. 3 said they found the child unresponsive and not breathing. The child was pronounced dead at the scene. Whitehead was the only adult at the home when Ryleigh died, police noted.
Court documents obtained by WOOD, an NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids, provided chilling details about Whitehead’s police interview. In addition to confessing that she killed Ryleigh, Whitehead also allegedly admitted to killing Ryleigh’s brother, Leonard, who was 2 months old when he died, allegedly of the same rare virus Ryleigh had contracted when she was a newborn.
Leonard’s death had previously been determined to be natural, with the cause of death being “parainfluenza viral-type pneumonia,” the station reported.
According to the report, Whitehead on Nov. 25 wrote and signed a statement reading “I Killed them,” referring to Ryleigh and Leonard.
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Police said she confessed to suffocating Ryleigh with a bag several times during the interview. When asked what she hoped to accomplish, Whitehead allegedly replied she intended that Ryleigh “wouldn’t be here anymore” and that “she’d die.” She also reportedly told police that the stress of having children was too much, saying she “couldn’t take it anymore” and “just wanted it to stop.”
Based on the interview, authorities said they no longer believe Ryleigh or Leonard had ever suffered from parainfluenza.
“Why did you keep putting Ryleigh in the hospital? Was that because you were doing that to make her look sick so later on you could kill her?” a detective asked, per the affidavit.
“I wanted to kill her,” Whitehead allegedly responded.
The detective then asked when Whitehead made the decision to kill her daughter.
“Right after she was born,” she replied.
Video evidence recovered by investigators also appeared to corroborate the heinous way Whitehead seemed to have treated her children. One video supposedly filmed less than a month before Ryleigh’s death was particularly alarming. It reportedly showed one of Whitehead’s older children saying to his mother, “you never even wanted me, you only want me to die. I know you want me to die.” Before the footage ends, the child reportedly says to Whitehead, “just kill me already.”
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Additionally, less than a week after Ryleigh’s death, investigators found Whitehead had performed an internet search for “how hard is it to prove if cause of death is suffocation by bag in toddler.”
The medical examiner who conducted Ryleigh’s autopsy was unable to determine the toddler’s cause of death, but noted that asphyxia could “not be excluded.” He reportedly plans to update the manner of death to homicide in light of the recent revelations.
Whitehead has not been charged in the 2021 death of her son, but prosecutors said such charges remain a possibility.
In September 2023, Whitehead spoke to Grand Rapids ABC affiliate WZZM about Ryleigh’s supposed battle with parainfluenza, telling the station that Ryleigh was recovering from her bout with the rare variant of the common virus and even offering advice for parents of sick children.
“Definitely trust your gut instinct, especially when it comes to your children,” Whitehead said after discussing the difficult diagnosis. She also spoke about Leonard, claiming she was shocked by the infant’s sudden death.
“I have went through this before. I had a son two years ago who passed away from parainfluenza,” she claimed. “He just had a cough and then the next day he passed away.”
Whitehead is being held in the Kent County Jail on $5 million bond. She is currently scheduled to appear in court again for her arraignment on Dec. 10.
