Couple Plead Guilty to Lesser Assault Charge

A Cal State Northridge student and her boyfriend, charged with attempted murder and kidnaping, pleaded guilty Wednesday to assault with a deadly weapon as part of a plea bargain, authorities said.

Christi Daniels, 19, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Ceasar, 23, had earlier pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and kidnaping in the Jan. 5 abduction of Czarian Ramsey, 18. However, those charges will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Harold S. Lynn.

Daniels and Ceasar are scheduled to be sentenced next month in San Fernando Superior Court. Although they could receive a maximum of four years in prison, Lynn said, prosecutors will not seek more than a year in County Jail for each.

Daniels’ 18-year-old brother, Christopher, a juvenile at the time, was also arrested in the incident and has been charged with attempted murder and kidnaping. A hearing to determine whether he should stand trial as an adult is scheduled April 19 in Sylmar Juvenile Court, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig R. Richman.

Authorities said the incident began Jan. 2 when Christi Daniels, a freshman at CSUN, reported that $18,000 in clothing, jewelry and other items had been taken in a burglary of her Zelzah Avenue apartment.

Pile of Clothing

A woman fitting Ramsey’s description was said by a student to have left Daniels’ apartment with a pile of clothing the day of the burglary, authorities said. On hearing the description, Daniels was convinced that Ramsey was involved in the burglary.

Campus police told Daniels that they did not have enough evidence to arrest Ramsey, but Daniels went to Ramsey’s Sherman Oaks apartment Jan. 5 to discuss the burglary, authorities said.

At some point, Ramsey got into a car with Daniels and eventually the women were joined by Christopher Daniels and Ceasar, authorities said.

Ramsey told Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators that she was taken to a remote area in Newhall, where Ceasar held a gun to her head while Christi Daniels continued questioning her about the burglary, at one point telling her to “breathe your last breath.”

Ramsey told investigators that she believed she was about to be shot when a sheriff’s car, on routine patrol, pulled up. The suspects were arrested and the gun, a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol, was recovered, authorities said.

Ramsey has denied involvement in the burglary, which is still under investigation, authorities said.