The safest place in the world should be a parent’s arms. Tragically, child abuse and worse happen on a regular basis at the hands of primary caregivers. And recently, a mom allegedly stabbed her 11-year-old son to death after a Disneyland trip.
Saritha Ramaraju, 48, was arrested in mid-March 2025 after her son Yatin Ramaraju’s death. Although the mother lived out of state, the crime happened during a custody visit in California. The details are simply heartbreaking.
In March, police responded to a call at a La Quinta hotel.
On March 19, Ramaraju called 911 at 9:12 a.m., according to an Orange County District Attorney’s news release. She claimed she stabbed and killed her 11-year-old son at a La Quinta Inn in Santa Ana, per a Santa Ana Police Department news release. The mother and son were scheduled to check out of the hotel that morning.
Officers found Yatin’s throat slit in the hotel room.
After officers arrived, they discovered the boy with his throat slit on a hotel bed. Disneyland souvenirs surrounded him, according the Orange County District Attorney’s press release. A large kitchen knife was also found at the scene.
“It appeared the boy had been dead for several hours before his mother called 911,” the district attorney’s office noted.
Allegedly, the mother also tried to kill herself.
Meanwhile, Ramaraju was transported to a nearby hospital. She had ingested an “unknown substance” in an attempt to kill herself, according to the Santa Anna Police Department. On March 20, Ramaraju was discharged from the hospital and booked into the Santa Ana Jail.
The killing happened after a three-day Disneyland trip.
The gruesome murder happened after Ramaraju and Yatin spent three days at Disneyland, according to the district attorney’s news release. Allegedly, they took the vacation during a custody visit; she and her son’s father divorced in 2018. Ramaraju was scheduled to return Yatin to his father on the morning of March 19.
Ramaraju has since been charged with murder.
The mother was charged with one felony count of murder and one felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon, according to the prosecutor’s office. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life. As of writing, Ramaraju is in custody at Santa Ana Jail with no cash or bond bail. Her next court date is April 17.
“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 in the press release.
He added, “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.”
