A California woman, 48-year-old Saritha Ramaraju, has been charged with murder, child endangerment, torture, and aggravated mayhem after allegedly stabbing her 11-year-old son to death inside an Orange County hotel room earlier this week.
According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the young boy was killed just three days after visiting Disneyland with his mother during a scheduled custody visit. The child was supposed to return to his father that same day. Instead, authorities discovered his body on the motel bed, surrounded by Disneyland souvenirs.
“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.
His released statement continued to read, “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 their son in love, she slit his throat and in the cruelest twist of fate removed him from the very world she brought him into.”
Ramaraju, who had moved out of state in 2018, had returned to California specifically for the visit. She had purchased three-day Disneyland tickets for herself and her son.
Investigators say she bought a large kitchen knife the day before the killing. After allegedly stabbing her son, Ramaraju attempted to take her own life by ingesting pills. Authorities believe the boy had been dead for hours before she finally called 911.
Ramaraju is now facing serious charges and awaits trial as investigators continue to piece together the circumstances behind this horrific crime.
