Dad Sentenced to 92 Years for Drowning Infant Son in Bucket of Detergent

A 29-year-old dad left his three-month-old baby to die in a “bucket of laundry detergent” to teach his wife “a lesson.” Eliasard Moneus is to serve 92 years in an Indiana state correctional facility after cruelly drowning his baby boy, Jacob, in a vat of detergent, “sealing the lid and leaving the boy to die.”

The charge stemmed from attacking his wife with a tire iron after killing his son. Moneous was sentenced to 62 years for the murder of Jacob and 30 years for the attempted murder of his wife Edlie, with the sentences to run consecutively.

An affidavit stated: “A young male infant believed to be Jacob was located deceased in a dark-colored 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,” Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Elyse Madigan said. “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 said Moneus wanted to teach his wife “a lesson” about being disrespectful to 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 ordered the sentencing after Moneus pleaded guilty to one count of murder.

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Moneus, who speaks French Creole, through an interpreter apologized for the pain he caused. However, Judge Meter 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 responded to a hospital for a domestic violence incident involving Moneus’ wife at about noon on August 10 last year.

The wife, who suffered a fractured skull, told police her husband of nearly a year beat her with a tire iron or wrench and then took off with their three-month-old son.

Authorities responded to the home and found a blood spatter and other evidence indicating an attack had taken place, but police tragically could not find Jacob.

Moneus was located and arrested the following day. In an interview with detectives, he admitted to attacking his wife and hitting her multiple times, but told investigators that he did not know where his son was.

On August 11, investigators conducted another search of the home and located 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.”