An Indian-origin woman has been charged with allegedly murdering her 11-year-old son after a three-day vacation to Disneyland.
Saritha Ramaraju, 48, has been charged with one felony count of murder for slitting her son’s throat, killing the boy after they went on a vacation to Disneyland during a custody visit. She has also been charged with one felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon, a knife.
She faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life if convicted on all charges, a statement from the Office of the District Attorney, Orange County, California said Friday.
Ramaraju, who moved out of California after divorcing the boy’s father in 2018, was staying with her son at a motel in Santa Ana for a custody visit. During the visit, she bought three-day passes to Disneyland for herself and her son.
On March 19, the day Ramaraju was scheduled to check out of the motel and return the boy to his father, she called 911 at 9.12 am to report that she had killed her son and taken pills to kill herself.
Santa Ana police arrived at the motel and found the young boy dead on the bed in a room among Disneyland souvenirs. It appeared the boy had been dead for several hours before his mother called 911, the statement said. The boy was scheduled to be returned to his father that day.
A large kitchen knife was found inside the motel room which was purchased the day before. Ramaraju was released from the hospital on Thursday after ingesting the unknown substance and arrested on suspicion of stabbing the boy to 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,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.
“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.”
While the statement did not name the boy, who was pronounced dead at the scene, a report in NBC Los Angeles identified him as Yatin Ramaraju.
The report added that Saritha Ramaraju had been in a custody battle with her husband Prakash Raju since last year, when she had accused him of making medical and school decisions without her input and alleged he had substance abuse issues.
Prakash Raju had said in court papers that he was born and raised in Bengaluru, India, the NBC report said, adding that the couple had divorced in January 2018. Raju was granted the son’s custody and Saritha Ramaraju received visitation rights, according to court records.
The report, citing court papers filed in November, said that the mother was living in Fairfax, Virginia, and wanted her son to live with her.
Ramaraju had accused her former husband of a “history of substance abuse issues” and added he “gets very aggressive under the influence of alcohol, drugs and smoke.” She accused him of having “severe control issues” and said their son “is very scared to talk to mother as he’ll get into trouble with dad.”
Raju had accused his ex-wife of “citing completely false and untrue abuse and substance abuse issues,” the report added.
