A man, aged 29, has been sentenced to 92 years in an Indiana state correctional facility for the cruel act of drowning his three-month-old son in a bucket of laundry detergent. Eliasard Moneus left his baby boy, Jacob, to die in this horrific manner as a means to teach his wife a lesson. Following the murder of his son, Moneus also attacked his wife with a tyre iron, leading to additional charges.
The court handed Moneus a 62-year sentence for the murder of Jacob and an additional 30 years for attempting to murder his wife, Edlie. The sentences are to be served consecutively. An affidavit described the tragic discovery of Jacob’s body in a bucket of dark liquid, with the autopsy confirming asphyxia as the cause of death.
Prosecutor Elyse Madigan expressed the severity of the crime, stating, “It doesn’t really get worse than this.” Madigan revealed that Moneus wanted to teach his wife a lesson about disrespect towards men and was unremorseful about the consequences, even if it meant spending his life in prison.
Moneus, who communicated through a French Creole interpreter, pleaded guilty to one count of murder and expressed remorse for his actions. However, Judge Steve Meyer condemned him for the heinous act, emphasizing the severity of killing his own child in such a grotesque manner.
The tragic incident unfolded when police responded to a domestic violence call involving Moneus’ wife, who had been assaulted and suffered a fractured skull. Despite blood evidence at the scene, Jacob was initially missing. Moneus was apprehended the next day, where he confessed to assaulting his wife but claimed ignorance about his son’s whereabouts. Jacob was later found in an orange bucket in the kitchen, leading to Moneus’s arrest and subsequent sentencing.