Teen in Stateline child-dumping case stabbed to death

STOCKTON -- A Stockton teen arrested last year in Stateline after her newborn son was found dead in a casino restroom's garbage can was stabbed to death early Saturday morning at a dance at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds.

Christina Marie Ramirez, 18, stabbed several times just after midnight Friday and was later pronounced dead at San Joaquin General Hospital, officers said.

Ramirez was released from the Douglas County Jail on Jan. 24.

The suspect, a 15-year-old Stockton girl, was arrested about 3 a.m. at a friend's apartment in the 500 block of South Stanislaus Street after police got a tip she was staying there. She was arrested without incident and booked into juvenile hall. The girl's name was not released.

A knife believed used in the stabbing was found outside the apartment, Lt. George Lerner said.

A motive for the stabbing was unclear.

Lerner said the teenager and victim apparently got into a fight at the dance. Two bystanders, including the victim's sister, intervened and also were cut, Lerner said. They suffered minor wounds, Lerner said.

Family members, though, refuted the police version of the incident. They say Ramirez was not the intended target of the stabber.

In the commotion, witnesses reported seeing a chrome knife with an 8-inch blade.

Family members Saturday evening mourned the death of a woman they say was turning her life around.

"She's been going through a lot," said Ramirez's mother, Kim Elliott, who was also at the concert and saw the incident.

Elliott said her daughter has been receiving counseling since her release from jail three weeks ago.

In May, the high school senior pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of concealing the birth of her baby. Ramirez was charged with dumping her newborn son in a restroom trash can at Harrah's Lake Tahoe earlier that month.

Prosecutors called the crime callous and sought a stiff sentence, saying Ramirez had known links to a Stockton street gang. The defense argued the baby was born dead and that Ramirez required therapy, not jail.