For three days this week, an 11-year-old boy and his mother explored the Happiest Place on Earth.
Saritha Ramaraju and her son took advantage of a multiday pass to the Disneyland Resort complete with a hotel stay that allowed for maximum park time.
The custody visit also afforded the boy an opportunity to bond with his mother, who had moved out of state after a divorce in 2018.
The excursion ended in tragedy Wednesday morning when the boy was found dead inside a Santa Ana hotel room. His throat had been slit, and he was in the middle of a bed surrounded by Disneyland souvenirs.
Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer announced Friday that his office was charging Ramaraju, 48, with one felony count of murder and one felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon, in this case a kitchen knife.
If found guilty of all charges, she could face 26 years to life in prison.
Ramaraju did not enter a plea during an arraignment Friday. She is being held without bail in Santa Ana and due in court April 17.
“The safest place for a child should be in their parents’ arms,” Spitzer said in a news release. “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 boy, who was not identified, was to reunite with his father that morning.
Authorities believe he was killed inside the La Quinta Inn room several hours before Ramaraju called Santa Ana police at 9:12 a.m. She told authorities she had slayed her son and took pills, trying to die by suicide.
The boy was pronounced dead at the scene while Ramaraju was treated at a hospital. She was released Thursday and arrested.
Authorities said they found a large kitchen knife they believe was used in the attack. The cooking instrument had been purchased the day before, according to the district attorney’s office.
“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. “Anger can make you forget who you love and what you are responsible for doing.”
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