Dad gets life in prison for the 2020 torture, murder of his toddler son in a motel room

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (TCN) -- A 28-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 35 years for the torture and murder of his 23-month-old son in a motel room in 2020.

The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office announced the sentencing of Ezequiel Ramirez on May 20.

On June 5, 2020, Ramirez, his son Joziah, and his girlfriend, 18-year-old Jasmine Blase, were living at a motel in Visalia, California. Ramirez, who had gotten Blase pregnant when she was 15 years old, pimped her out along with at least one other woman, according to the DA.

That evening, when Blase returned to the motel room, she found her son unresponsive and dialed 911. There was also blood on the bedding and throughout the room and Ramirez had not rendered any aid to the child. He had texted Blase to come back but had not given her additional details. 

First responders attempted lifesaving measures before transporting the toddler to the hospital, where he was declared brain dead. He died a few days later on June 9 with a skull fracture, rib fractures, bruises and burns on his extremities and genitals, and injuries due to shaking. His cause of death was determined to be due to blunt force trauma to the head, according to the DA.

Both were arrested in connection with the child’s death. Ramirez avoided arrest for four days. During the time that police were looking for him, he reportedly tried to recruit other women into his prostitution operation, according to the DA. 

KMPH reports that at the time of the murder of Joziah, Ramirez was on parole for robbery and statutory rape. In March 2026, Ramirez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with the special circumstance of torture, and seven felony counts of pimping, pandering, and soliciting for prostitution.

Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said of the sentencing, “The brutality and callousness of the defendant stand in stark contrast to the innocence and vulnerability of this toddler whose body was bloodied, burned, bruised, and broken by the very person who should have been his protector and caregiver.”

Blase was charged for failing to protect her son and pleaded guilty to child endangerment. When she is sentenced June 17, she will face a maximum of six years behind bars, per the DA.

In a victim impact statement at Ramirez’s sentencing, a family member said, “There is no closure in a case like this, only resolution. Closure indicates a neat ending, a finished chapter where pain is packed away. Resolution acknowledges that grief remains, but it changes shape, it becomes something you learn to carry, integrate, and live around rather than something you move past,” KMPH reports.

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