Father Jailed for 92 Years After Drowning Baby in Bucket of Detergent

A father who murdered his three-month-old son in one of the most shocking cases to come before an Indiana court has been jailed for 92 years.

Eliasard Moneus, 29, drowned his baby boy Jacob by placing him face down in a bucket of laundry detergent, snapping the lid shut and leaving him to die. Prosecutors said he carried out the killing as a twisted way of “teaching his wife a lesson” before attacking her with a tyre iron.

The court heard Moneus was sentenced to 62 years for the murder of Jacob and a further 30 years for the attempted murder of his wife, Edlie. The sentences will run consecutively, reported the Express.

According to an affidavit, police later discovered Jacob’s body inside the sealed orange bucket, immersed in dark liquid. An autopsy revealed he had died from asphyxia after swallowing around 100 millilitres of 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 detergent while he died.”

Madigan told the court that Moneus carried out the horrific act as part of a warped belief about male authority. “The defendant wanted to teach Edlie and women a lesson. 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.”

On Tuesday, Judge Steve Meyer delivered the sentence after Moneus pleaded guilty to one count of murder. Moneus, who speaks French Creole, expressed remorse through an interpreter, but the judge was unsparing in his condemnation.

“You killed your own child,” Meyer told him. “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.”

Court documents revealed police were first alerted on August 10 last year when Moneus’s wife was taken to hospital with a fractured skull after being attacked with a tyre iron or spanner. She told officers her husband had fled with their baby.

When police searched the couple’s home, they found signs of violence including blood spatter, but Jacob was not found. Moneus was arrested the following day and admitted repeatedly striking his wife, though initially claimed he did not know what had happened to his son.

A further search uncovered the grim discovery. Jacob’s tiny body was found in the orange bucket with the lid sealed tight, left beside the kitchen bin.

The case has been described by prosecutors and police as one of the most disturbing they have ever dealt with, and one that left even hardened officers shaken.