After spending three days at Disneyland, a mother called 911 to report that she had stabbed and killed her 11-year-old son in their hotel room.
According to a press release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Saritha Ramaraju, 48, called the police just after 9 a.m. Wednesday and told them she had stabbed and killed her son. She also informed dispatch that she had taken pills.
Santa Ana police found Ramaraju and her son in their room at the La Quinta Inn & Suites in the 2700 block of Hotel Terrace in Santa Ana. The boy had multiple stab wounds and a slit throat. The Orange County Fire Authority pronounced him dead at the scene. Ramaraju was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
The press release stated that a “large” kitchen knife was found in the room. Ramaraju had purchased the knife a few days before the incident.
Ramaraju was later arrested for the stabbing death of her son.
After divorcing her son’s father in 2018, she moved out of state. Ramaraju and her son were staying at the hotel for a custody visit. During this visit, they spent three days together at Disneyland. She was due to return him to his father later on the day of his death.
“The life of a child should not hang in the balance between two parents whose anger for each other outweighs their love for their child,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
“Anger makes you forget who you love and what you are responsible for doing. The safest place for a child should be in their parents’ arms. Instead of wrapping her arms around her son in love, she slit his throat and, in the cruelest twist of fate, removed him from the very world she brought him into.”
The Santa Ana Police Department stated that Ramaraju was booked into the Santa Ana Jail Thursday after being discharged from the hospital. She is charged with Penal Code § 187(a) – murder, PC § 273(a) – child endangerment, PC § 206 – torture, and PC § 205 – aggravated mayhem.
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[Feature Photo via Santa Ana PD]