Eliasard Moneus drowned his three-month-old son in a bucket of laundry detergent in their Indiana home
A 29-year-old father cruelly left his three-month-old baby to die in a “bucket of laundry detergent” as a twisted way to teach his wife “a lesson.”
Eliasard Moneus has been sentenced to serve 92 years in an Indiana state correctional facility after he heartlessly drowned his baby boy, Jacob, in a vat of detergent, “sealing the lid and leaving the boy to die”.
The charges arose from him attacking his wife with a tyre iron after murdering his son. Moneous was handed a 62-year sentence for the murder of Jacob and a further 30 years for the attempted murder of his wife Edlie, with the sentences to be served consecutively.
Earlier this year a mother from Cleveland in Ohio was sentenced to life in prison after her 16 month old daughter died while she was left home alone and the mum went on holiday.
An affidavit said: “A young male infant believed to be Jacob was located deceased in a dark-coloured liquid inside of the orange bucket once the lid was removed. A subsequent autopsy determined that the boy died of asphyxia from being immersed in the detergent.
“It doesn’t really get worse than this,” said Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Elyse Madigan. “A father put his 3-month-old son face down in a bucket of laundry detergent, sealed the lid, left his son to die, and then went to the next room and viciously attacked the baby’s mother. Jacob drowned in the bucket swallowing 100 ml of detergent while he died.”
Madigan stated Moneus wanted to teach his wife “a lesson” about disrespecting men. “The defendant wanted to teach Edlie and women a lesson,” the prosecutor said, referring to the defendant’s wife by name.
“You can’t disrespect a man. The defendant said repeatedly he didn’t care what the consequences were. He could not live without teaching Edlie a lesson, and he didn’t care if he spent the rest of his life in prison, which is exactly where he belongs.”
Tippecanoe Superior Court Judge Steve Meyer on Tuesday handed down the sentence after Moneus admitted guilt to one count of murder.
Moneus, who speaks French Creole, apologised through an interpreter for the anguish he inflicted.
However, Judge Meyer condemned the man regardless. “You killed your own child,” Meyer reportedly said.
“I can’t think of a worse crime. This is one of the most grotesque murders I have ever had to see. The thought of putting a 3-month-old upside down into a bucket of laundry detergent is unimaginable.”
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers from the Lafayette Police Department were called to a hospital regarding a domestic violence incident involving Moneus’ wife at about noon on August 10 last year.
The wife, who sustained a fractured skull, told police her husband of nearly a year attacked her with a tyre iron or spanner and then fled with their three-month-old son.
Officers went to the home and discovered blood spatter and other evidence showing an assault had occurred, but police tragically could not locate Jacob. Moneus was found and arrested the next day.
During questioning with detectives, he confessed to assaulting his wife and striking her repeatedly, but told officers that he didn’t know his son’s whereabouts.
Investigators carried out another search of the property and discovered Jacob “in an orange bucket with a snap seal lid.”
The affidavit stated: “The orange bucket had the lid attached to the bucket and was located next to the trash can in the kitchen.”