Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Slit Son’s Throat After Trip to Disneyland: DA

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. Police in California take a mom in after she calls 911 and they find her son with his throat slit after a trip to Disneyland. I go through the horrific allegations. I'm Anjanette Levy and this is Crime Fix. Really quickly, before we get into the details of this awful, awful case, I want to tell you about the launch of our new YouTube channel. It's called Scandal by Law and Crime. I think it's a really fitting name for the channel because we'll be diving into all of the wildest crimes happening

Starting point is 00:00:57 in Hollywood and expose the darker sides of fame. So go check out the new videos over on Scandal by clicking the link in the description. And don't forget to subscribe to stay up to date on all the latest celebrity scandals. Now switching gears and back to this really horrific case out of California. When I first read about it, I had to actually read the information twice to make sure I was understanding it. That's how bad this is. This woman, Saritha Ramaraju, is in jail in Orange County, California. She's charged with murdering her 11-year-old son. DA Todd Spitzer says that Ramaraju was visiting her son on a custody visit and had taken him on a vacation to Disneyland.

Starting point is 00:01:40 That little boy probably had the time of his life. Kids love Disneyland or Disney World, whichever park you go to. It's known as the happiest place on earth. But the DA says Ramaraju had something evil in mind. And a representative from the DA's office will be here shortly to talk with us more about what happened. Ramaraju and her son were staying at the La Quinta Inn and Santa Ana last Wednesday, March 19th. The hotel is less than 11 miles from Disneyland, about a 20-minute drive. Ramaraju was supposed to return her son to his father last Wednesday. She called 911 from the hotel just before 9.15 a.m.

Starting point is 00:02:21 Hey, lady, come over here. Come over here. Where? Come over here. Where? Come over here. She has both of her hands. I'm going to go get her. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Starting point is 00:02:30 Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Starting point is 00:02:38 Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. She has blood on her hands. Blood on her hands.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Who else is inside? Just your son? Please. Now you could probably see in that video that Ramiraju was holding a phone in her hand as officers approached. Here's Officer Natalie Garcia of the Santa Ana Police Department. Our officers and detectives are currently investigating a very tragic incident of an 11-year-old boy that was stabbed and killed by his mother. Our officers responded to La Quinta Inn at about 9 30 this morning after a report of a woman who stated that she had killed her son. When our officers arrived they quickly took that woman into custody and she was transported to a local hospital after stating that she had ingested some sort

Starting point is 00:03:40 of substance. She remains in custody and in stable condition. Unfortunately, our officers located the little boy with multiple stab wounds inside the hotel room. Orange County Fire Authority also responded and pronounced the little boy deceased. Officers located a knife inside the hotel room, which is believed to be the weapon used in the crime. We're urging anyone with information regarding this homicide to please contact the Santa Ana Police Department. The cases that I cover make it clear that terrible, terrible things can happen and sometimes having a good lawyer can make all the difference. That's where our partner and sponsor Morgan & Morgan comes in. The firm has more than a thousand

Starting point is 00:04:20 attorneys because it wins a lot. In the last few months, Morgan & Morgan secured a $9.3 million verdict for a car crash victim in Florida, a $5.6 million verdict for another car accident victim in Atlanta, not to mention a $1.8 million verdict in Kentucky after the insurance company offered the victim a mere $5,000 in that case. Can you believe that? Even if you think your case isn't worth millions, why not start a claim and fight for what you deserve? Morgan & Morgan makes it really easy. You can start a claim from your phone in just eight clicks. So if you're ever hurt, you can easily start a claim at ForThePeople.com slash CrimeFix or click the link in the description and pinned in the comments. I want to bring in Kimberly Edds. She's the public information officer with the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Kimberly, this is an

Starting point is 00:05:09 awful, awful case. So talk to me a little bit about what's going on with this case. Obviously, Saritha Ramaraju is facing incredibly serious charges, accused of murdering a young boy, her son, who she should have been doing everything in the world to protect. We have charged this mother with one count of murder and the personal use of a knife for slitting her 11-year-old son's throat while they were on a custody visit where they went to Disneyland for the three days before this incident. You know, he was living his best life, every child's dream of being at Disneyland, buying souvenirs, spending time with his mom during a court-ordered week-long visit.

Starting point is 00:05:59 And the day that he was supposed to be returned to his father and the day that they were going to check out of that motel, instead she slit his throat and then hours later called 911 to report that she had killed her son and had tried to take some pills to kill herself. And when law enforcement arrived, they found just a horrific, horrific scene of this poor little boy with a stroke cut on the bed. And there were souvenirs from Disneyland in the room, which you're supposed to buy those to remember the good times that you had. And instead, this little boy didn't even have a chance to remember the good times because he was murdered by his own mother. Wow. I can't even imagine. So the little boy, he's 11 years old. I mean, is this like spring break and parents are divorced? So there's this court ordered

Starting point is 00:06:57 schedule of when each parent has the visitation and who has custody and that type of thing? Yeah, they've had a very contentious divorce. They've been divorced since 2018. The mom moved out of state and was just recently given visitation to spend time with her son. And this is just, I mean, you can't even wrap your head around how a mother, I mean, any parent, anyone could kill someone that they're supposed to be protecting. I mean, that's your entire job as a parent is to protect your child. You should be willing to kill for your child, not kill them. Has there ever been any indication, you said this was a court-ordered custody visit, and this was a contentious divorce. So had the father of the boy ever been concerned that the mother would hurt the boy, or was it really more just a bad relationship between

Starting point is 00:08:03 husband and wife or ex-husband and ex-wife? I think those are things that we're still looking into. You know, obviously, this is something that has a lot of different aspects to it. And we're looking at everything in terms of the situation. I mean, it's just heartbreaking that the little boy was caught in the middle of all this and he paid the price for it. The little boy and mom go to Disneyland. Obviously, I mean, every kid probably wants to go to Disneyland. I took my son to Disney World last year and we had a blast.

Starting point is 00:08:42 It was great. And I can't even imagine. I mean, she takes her son to Disneyland. You're telling me there are souvenirs from Disneyland in the hotel room. She does this and a period of time elapses and passes. And then she takes his life. A period of time passes and then she calls 911. I mean, what what do we know what was going on? I mean, she you said she took some pills. Was this supposed to be some sort of murder suicide? that she had purchased the knife the day before the murder had occurred. So it was something that she had bought while her son was with her in her custody, which is so chilling. Did the boy live in California or did he live out of state as well? He lives in California in Orange County. So she traveled, Saritha Ramaraju traveled to California to be with her son, to take him to Disneyland. And then you're telling me she then took his life, murdered him.

Starting point is 00:09:59 Yeah, slit his throat. and and I think it's just also very important just to remember the first responders who are called to these scenes and have to see this little boy in that condition and and just you know blood everywhere on on the bed and they're called there to help and there's just there was absolutely nothing they could do to help this little boy because she waited so long to call for help she hadn't had no intention, apparently, of getting help for her son. And she was arrested and taken to the hospital. She's since been released and she's currently being held on no bail. It sounds like there could be some mental health issues here. I don't know. But, you know, that's for other people to determine.

Starting point is 00:10:42 Is there any, I mean, this is a young victim. This is a child, a defenseless child. Are you all looking at possibly pursuing the death penalty in this case? I mean, where do things stand as far as the DA's office is concerned? As it's currently charged right now, it's not death penalty eligible.

Starting point is 00:11:00 But as I said, the investigation is still ongoing. We are looking at some additional facts that may make it a special circumstances murder um and we may have the ability to upgrade the charges and make it a death penalty eligible case um i can't even imagine um you know the cops show up we have body camera footage of them showing up. They appear. She just walks toward them. She doesn't resist. She's the one that called 911.

Starting point is 00:11:34 Did she say anything? Are you able to share whether or not she said anything to law enforcement officers when they arrived? Not at this time I mean that's all part of the ongoing investigation um that will will obviously take into consideration on what the charges are she was scheduled to return the boy to his father I can't even imagine being this father and getting this call. Please tell me, I mean, can you talk to me at all about this poor father? What is going on with him right now? I just he has to be beside himself just reeling.

Starting point is 00:12:20 Yeah, I mean, we've been providing him assistance to our victim witness, making sure that he has absolutely all the support that he needs, because this is something that you would never in a million years even contemplate was possible, no matter how contentious a divorce is that, you know, at the end of the day, it's your child and you're responsible for making sure that that child is safe and taken care of and and that you're following the orders of the court. And instead, she just decided that she was going to do the absolute cruelest thing that she could think of and take this child not only out of this world, but away from his father and away from her. And it just it's just heartbreaking. I mean, that word doesn't even, you know, cover what this is. It's just really, really a tragic, tragic situation all around. And, you know, the fact that this little boy went on vacation with his mom and then, you know, his classmates are going to have to find out that

Starting point is 00:13:23 he's not coming back to school because his mom killed him. And that's, I mean, just the, how far this tragedy just stretches across multiple, multiple communities and, and lives and how it's just has an impact on so many different people. And it, the saddest thing is it didn't need to happen. Absolutely not. The allegations here are just horrific. I just can't even imagine as a mom myself. Kimberly, is there anything you can share with us about this little boy? We haven't seen his name published anywhere. We haven't seen any photographs.

Starting point is 00:14:04 What can you tell us about this little boy? Because we'd like to talk about him. I think that the family just right now is really asking for privacy just so that they can deal with this tragedy. And I don't even think that they've really been able to come to terms at this point of his loss because you expect for him to be running to the door and telling you all the wonderful things that he did at Disneyland and all the rides that he did. And, you know, the churros that he ate and all that fun things. And and then to get the call that you're never going to see your son again is just it's just mind numbing. Where does the case go from here? You said that she's being held without bail. She's facing the murder charge and the investigation's ongoing.

Starting point is 00:14:53 So the case, I'm assuming, will be presented to a grand jury and then will unfold from there. Not necessarily. I mean, it depends on what the charges are, whether or not we do add additional charges. Right now, she's facing a maximum sentence of 26 years to life. And then, like I said, if it does end up being a special circumstance, special circumstances murder, then it can be eligible for the death penalty. So we'll just have to see where the evidence goes and the decision that our district attorney makes. Well, Kimberly Edds, we appreciate your time as always. Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:15:35 I want to turn now to Dr. Daniel Bober. He's a forensic psychiatrist. Dr. Bober, obviously, Saritha Ramaraju, is innocent until proven guilty, but she called 911. She is in this hotel. Her poor little 11-year-old son is in there stabbed to death and police say that she did it after taking him to Disneyland. a contentious divorce she was with his father years ago. Help us make sense of this. I don't think you can really make sense of it, but it's just beyond the pale. You know, it's interesting as a forensic psychiatrist, some of the cases that I absolutely refuse to do are the child custody cases

Starting point is 00:16:21 because there is so much rage that goes on and people are so irrational. And a lot of times they just want to punish their spouse or their ex-spouse. And so the perfect way to do it, the perfect revenge is using the child as the pawn to do that. And it seems, obviously, we don't have all the facts that this is what's going on in this case. What are some of the reasons that mothers would kill their children? Mental illness, bipolar disorder, depression, psychosis, postpartum psychosis. Sometimes we have what's called an altruistic killing where the mother kills the child because she believes the child would be better off not in this world anymore. But this particular case,

Starting point is 00:17:00 given this set of facts, seems like it's spousal revenge. And, you know, it kind of gives me that feeling. I mean, you're the expert. But I just, you know, I kind of don't understand it because she should love her child more than she hates her ex-spouse. They were divorced in 2018, apparently, and she moved away. And then she comes back for this custody visit, takes him to Disney. And then the DA says she slit his throat

Starting point is 00:17:35 and stabbed him and then waited a while and called 911. It sounds like they believe this was going to be a murder-suicide and, you know, the suicide part didn't work out. Right. And what's particularly chilling is the lead up, right? Taking him to Disney World, showing him a good time and then doing it. And obviously the suicide wasn't completed. And that was probably part of the picture. But to want to hurt your spouse so badly, as you say, that more than you love your child is just it's really really sick thing, but we've seen it in other cases where you want to hurt the spouse

Starting point is 00:18:30 so badly that you are willing to kill the child to cause the spouse a lifetime of misery and pain. I can't wrap my head around that because you're supposed to love your child so much. And it's like, if I can't have this child all to myself, then you will never have this child. It has a very narcissistic quality to it, right? Almost as if the child is an extension of her. And if you don't want me, you're not going to have the child

Starting point is 00:19:05 either. So that's what it, you know, that's what it seems like to me. It really does. It's just absolutely, absolutely devastating. You know, I kind of wonder, is there some mental health stuff going on here? You mentioned narcissism, but I don't know if I think that there's much more going on here. I mentioned narcissism. But I don't know if I think that there's much more going on here. I know that you're a mental health professional. You're a forensic psychiatrist. You have not evaluated this woman. Is it possible, though, that there's more going on here? She took a handful of pills, but she was not successful in taking her own life. But then she calls 911. I would actually be surprised if there was not

Starting point is 00:19:46 some pre-existing mental illness here, whether that be depression, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders. I would be surprised if this woman, given the instability of this decision, that there wasn't some prior history of mental illness that plays into this. That being said said it seems like it was very intentional it was premeditated she knew what she was doing um but i think there's definitely mental illness here separate and apart from the act itself if i had to guess not you know examining her myself well it's a horrific case. And that little boy, his name has not been released. His family, understandably, is devastated. It's just awful. And she, Saritha Ramaraju,

Starting point is 00:20:36 is being held without bail. And it's very possible that they increase the charges here, that they make this a case with special circumstances where she could face the death penalty. So we'll just have to wait and see how it unfolds. Dr. Daniel Bober, thank you so much. My pleasure. Now let's take a look at the body camera video of the arrest one last time. Hey, lady, come out over here. Come over here. Where? Come over here. She's blood on her hands. Blood on her hands. Who else is inside? Just your son?

Starting point is 00:21:40 Please. And Ramaraju, as you heard earlier, is being held without bail and the charges against her could be upgraded. We're going to wait and see and keep an eye on this case and see what happens. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Slit Son’s Throat After Trip to Disneyland: DA

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Slit Son’s Throat After Trip to Disneyland: DA

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