Indian-origin woman kills son on Disneyland trip, arrested
Published on Mar 23, 2025
By IANS
- NEW DELHI/NEW YORK — An Indian-origin woman has been arrested on the charges
of killing her 11-year-old son after a three-day vacation at Disney land in
California.
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- The accused identified as Saritha Ramaraju, 48, killed the
boy by slitting his throat, the Santa Ana Police Department said in a
statement.
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- "On Wednesday, we received a call from a woman who
reported that she had stabbed and killed her son in a room at the La Quinta Inn
& Suites in Santa Ana and ingested an unknown substance," Santa
Ana Police said in a statement.
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- Police officers rushed to the spot and found the 11-year-old
boy dead in a hotel room surrounded by Disneyland souvenirs.
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- The boy was pronounced dead at the scene while Ramaraju was
treated at a hospital. She was discharged from the medical facility on Thursday
and arrested.
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- She has been booked for murder, child endangerment, torture,
and aggravated mayhem. She could face 26 years of prison if found guilty.
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- However, Ramaraju did not enter a plea during her
indictment.
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- The boy was killed several hours before Ramaraju called and
informed the Santa Ana Police, authorities said.
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- A large kitchen knife used for the crime has been seized.
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- Ramaraju, who divorced her husband in 2018, killed her son
on March 19, the day she had to give him back to his father, the Los Angeles
Times reported.
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- Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said: "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."
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- "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," Spitzer said.
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