A 29-year-old man was sentenced to 92 years in an Indiana state correctional facility for the tragic death of his three-month-old son. Eliasard Moneus callously drowned his baby, Jacob, in a bucket of laundry detergent as a twisted way to punish his wife. After murdering his son, Moneus attacked his wife with a tyre iron, leading to a 62-year sentence for Jacob’s murder and an additional 30 years for attempting to kill his wife Edlie.
An affidavit revealed that Jacob was found dead in a bucket of dark liquid, with an autopsy confirming he died from asphyxia due to being immersed in detergent. Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Elyse Madigan described the crime as one of the worst she had encountered.
Moneus sought to teach his wife a lesson about disrespecting men by drowning his son and assaulting her. Despite expressing remorse through an interpreter, the judge condemned Moneus for his heinous actions, stating that killing his own child was an unimaginable crime.
The incident unfolded when Lafayette Police responded to a domestic violence call involving Moneus’ wife, who had been assaulted and suffered a fractured skull. Although evidence of an attack was found at the home, Jacob was initially missing. Moneus was apprehended the following day, and during questioning, he admitted to the assault but claimed he did not know where his son was located.
Authorities later discovered Jacob in an orange bucket with a sealed lid during a search of the property. The horrific nature of the crime shocked the community and led to a severe sentence for Moneus, who will spend decades behind bars for his despicable actions.