Joziah Ramirez was found unresponsive after his father blocked a call for help, said prosecutors.
VISALIA, Calif. — A 2020 emergency call from a Visalia motel room led to a life-without-parole sentence for Ezequiel Carlos Ramirez in the torture and murder of his toddler son, Tulare County prosecutors said.
The case turned on what investigators said they found in and beyond that room: blood on bedding, surveillance footage of Ramirez leaving on foot, phone messages sent after he fled, medical findings that showed non-accidental trauma and statements he later made after denying he was present. Ramirez, 28, pleaded guilty in March 2026 to first-degree murder with the special circumstance of torture and seven prostitution-related felonies. He was sentenced May 20 to life in prison without parole plus 35 years.
The motel room was the first scene described by prosecutors. On June 5, 2020, Ramirez, Joziah Ramirez and the child’s mother, Jasmine Blase, were staying in Visalia after moving from Fresno. Authorities said Ramirez made the move to continue a pimping and pandering operation. Blase was not in the room when the child was injured. Prosecutors said Ramirez severely abused Joziah, then sent Blase a message telling her to come back without giving the full account of what happened. When Blase returned, she found her son unresponsive and breathing irregularly. Blood was visible on bedding and elsewhere in the room. Ramirez told her he had only kicked Joziah in the stomach, prosecutors said, and would not let her call an ambulance.
Ramirez then tried to place the injury outside the motel room, prosecutors said. He called a family friend and said Joziah had fallen down stairs. Authorities later said that account did not match the medical evidence. Before leaving, Ramirez deleted data from Blase’s phone, prosecutors said. Motel surveillance footage showed him walking away. Police and emergency medical crews arrived at about 11 p.m., only minutes after Ramirez had fled. Joziah was taken to Kaweah Health Medical Center and then airlifted to Valley Children’s Hospital. Doctors pronounced him brain-dead. He died June 9, four days after the motel incident. Prosecutors said the autopsy listed blunt force trauma to the head as the cause of death.
The injuries described by prosecutors were far broader than a single kick or fall. Joziah had fractures on both sides of his skull, brain swelling and bleeding, fractures on both sides of his ribcage, and bruises, burns and abrasions to his extremities, limbs, torso and genitals. Prosecutors said the injuries were consistent with being struck, shaken, thrown, kicked and burned. They also said the number and nature of the injuries proved inflicted, non-accidental trauma. Joziah was 23 months old. Authorities said he was almost potty-trained and was known as smart and active. Investigators also learned of earlier abuse allegations, including Blase’s statement that Ramirez had lifted the child off the ground by his hair.
The evidence trail continued after Ramirez left Visalia. In the early morning hours after the attack, prosecutors said, Ramirez called a friend in Fresno and asked for a ride, claiming he had been in a car accident. During the ride back to Fresno, he became emotional and repeated that he did not have to do it, authorities said. He stayed the night with the friend and left the next morning. Prosecutors said he left behind a duffel bag with blood-spotted clothing. Later messages to Blase included “I’m gone,” “I’ll never see u again” and “I’m so sorry.” Law enforcement did not arrest him immediately. Prosecutors said he avoided arrest for about four days while trying to recruit women into his prostitution operation.
When officers arrested Ramirez on June 9, 2020, he first denied knowing what had happened and denied being around Joziah, prosecutors said. After investigators confronted him with evidence, he admitted being present but said he had not hurt the child “that bad” and “didn’t cause that much damage.” Those statements later became part of the public account of the case. Prosecutors said the evidence showed much more. The charges filed in June 2020 accused Ramirez and Blase of murder, assault on a child causing death and torture. Ramirez also faced a special circumstance allegation of murder with torture and allegations tied to prior convictions. At that time, prosecutors said he could face death or life without parole.
The prosecution also placed Joziah’s death inside a wider pattern of control and exploitation. Prosecutors said Ramirez impregnated Blase when she was 15 and that he was about 20 at the time. By June 2020, Blase was 18. Ramirez was on parole for robbery and statutory rape, and a parole term barred him from contact with Blase and Joziah, prosecutors said. Authorities said he still had contact with both and was living with them. Prosecutors also said Ramirez was pimping out Blase and at least one other woman in Tulare and Fresno counties. His 2026 guilty plea included seven felony counts of pimping, pandering and soliciting for prostitution, along with the murder count.
The sentence was imposed almost six years after the original charges. In court, the family’s statement rejected the idea that sentencing brought closure. “There is no closure in a case like this only resolution,” Joziah’s family told prosecutors, describing grief as something that remains and changes shape. Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said Ramirez’s conduct showed brutality and callousness toward a vulnerable child. The judge’s sentence means Ramirez is not eligible for parole. Blase, who prosecutors said failed to protect Joziah from Ramirez, pleaded guilty in 2021 to felony child endangerment and faces a maximum six-year sentence.
The remaining date in the case is Blase’s scheduled sentencing on June 17, 2026. Ramirez has been sentenced to life without parole plus 35 years, and the record now moves from the motel room evidence to the final judgment entries in Tulare County Superior Court.
Author note: Last updated June 21, 2026.