A California mother has been charged with the murder of her 11-year-old son, allegedly cutting his throat in a hotel room shortly after taking him on what was supposed to be a dream trip to Disneyland.
Saritha Ramaraju, 48, faces a murder charge and an additional felony for using a deadly weapon after she reportedly attacked her son with a “large kitchen knife” on Wednesday, March 19, at the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Santa Ana, according to police reports.
“The safest place for a child should be in their parents’ arms,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, visibly shaken by the tragedy. He described the heartbreaking situation, stating, “Instead of wrapping her arms around her son in love, she took his life,” emphasizing the cruel irony of removing him from the world she brought him into.
At the time of the incident, Ramaraju, who currently resides outside of California, was on a three-day custody visit with her son. She is estranged from the boy’s father, and DA Spitzer hinted at possible conflicts between the parents that may have played a role in the child’s death, as reported by the Mirror US.
“The life of a child should not hang in the balance of parental anger,” Spitzer remarked, highlighting how rage can cloud judgment. He concluded poignantly, “Anger can cause you to forget who you love and what your responsibilities are.”
Prosecutors and police have disclosed that Ramaraju, who once lived in Irvine, moved out of California in 2018 following her divorce. During the custody visitation, she was staying at the La Quinta Inn on Hotel Terrace in Santa Ana. The DA’s office noted that she purchased three-day passes to Disneyland for both herself and her son.
On the day of the incident, as Ramaraju was scheduled to check out and return her son to his father, she called 911 at 9:12 a.m. to report that she had killed her son and had taken pills in an attempt to take her own life.
Upon their arrival, police discovered a large kitchen knife in her room. It appeared that the boy had been dead “for several hours” before his mother contacted authorities, according to the DA’s office.
The Santa Ana Police reported that Ramaraju was detained in the hotel hallway, while officers found her unresponsive son in a nearby room with apparent stab wounds. Emergency personnel pronounced the boy dead at the scene.
Ramaraju was arrested on suspicion of murder and was hospitalized due to the ingestion of an unknown substance. After being released from the hospital on Thursday, she was charged and arraigned in Orange County.
If convicted on all counts, Ramaraju faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in prison.
