Minnesota Couple Arrested After Mother Allegedly Drowned Newborn Son, Citing Bathtime Disruption: Police
Esperanza Rae Harding (left) and Edwin Trudeau (left) arrested in connection with the drowning death of her 7-month-old child, police said.
March 12 2024, Published 10:01 a.m. ET
A 20-year-old mother in Minnesota has been arrested after authorities claim she drowned her 7-month-old child after becoming angry that he had interrupted her bath.
Esperanza Rae Harding recently was taking a bath in a hotel room in Bloomington when the baby started crying, according to court documents obtained by Bring Me The News.
Harding told investigators that she was upset she couldn’t enjoy her bath, so she put the victim in the full bathtub and drowned him, court documents state.
She reportedly took a photo of the baby floating face down in the full tub, which police allege they were able to recover from her phone.
Harding said she picked up the baby from the water after he was “done moving, done twitching," according to the court papers.
She then allegedly texted her boyfriend, 18-year-old Edwin Trudeau, writing, “Im about to do something bad” and “He going to no be here much longer,” according to charging documents obtained by KSTP-TV.
She allegedly also referred to herself as a "monster" and asked Trudeau how she could “get away with it.”
Trudeau reportedly went to the hotel room and attempted to give the baby CPR, but was not successful.
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Harding allegedly told police that she then put the baby’s body in a backpack and tossed the bag into a dumpster by the hotel, authorities said. Police have yet to find the victim’s body.
On March 1, Harding went to Children’s Hospital and claimed her child died of natural causes at the hospital. However, neither the hospital nor the medical examiner had any record of the child, so police opened an investigation.
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Harding told police that Trudeau did not like the baby and he wanted her to give the baby up for adoption to show him that he was her priority, authorities said.
Harding was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Trudeau faces charges of aiding an offender as an accomplice.
Both were booked into Hennepin County Jail. Harding’s bail was set at $1.5 million, and Trudeau was being held on $1 million bail.
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