Police say an Indiana baby drowned in a bucket of laundry detergent, and his father is the prime suspect in his death. Lafayette police issued a silver alert on August 10 for 3-month-old Jacob Moneus. He was reportedly last seen at his parent's apartment, and police were desperately looking for help finding him.
Tragically, his body was found in an orange bucket filled with laundry detergent, and an autopsy confirmed the infant drowned, according to the Lafayette Journal & Courier. It appears the infant's death followed a brutal domestic assault by his father, Eliasard Moneus, 28, on his mother. Moneus was arrested and charged in the attack on his wife. He was being held in Tippecanoe County Jail, awaiting formal murder charges.
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Jacob's parents reportedly had been fighting for days before his disappearance.
According to court documents obtained by Fox 59, police began investigating Moneus' activity on August 10 after they were called to IU Health Arnett Hospital in regards to a domestic incident. His wife reportedly told police she and her husband got into a disagreement on August 5 and had not been speaking since. On August 10, Moneus showed up at their residence and allegedly brutally beat her with a heavy object.
Moneus took the baby from his mother.
According to his wife, Moneus took the baby away from her before the beating, and she had no idea where the infant was. She took herself to the hospital after her husband left, and the police began their investigation.
They issued a silver alert for Jacob and returned to the apartment to try to find him, but they could not locate the infant.
An investigator made a gruesome discovery the following day.
Just before 5 a.m. on August 11, an investigator searching the family's apartment looked inside a bucket of laundry detergent and found the baby's body inside, the Journal & Courier reported. The investigation quickly turned from a missing person case to a homicide.
Moneus could face murder charges.
The father reportedly admitted to police that he hit his wife "two or three times," per court documents obtained by Fox 59, and said he hoped his wife would die from her injuries.
Moneus was initially charged with domestic battery resulting in serious injury, domestic battery by means of a deadly weapon, domestic battery committed with a child less than 16 years old present, and attempted murder, according to Fox 59.
The Journal & Courier reported prosecutors have until August 15 to file formal murder charges against Moneus. In Indiana, murder can be punished with the death penalty.
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It appears Moneus may not be authorized to be in the United States.
According to a bond request, Moneus is a Haitian immigrant who "has few ties, if any, to the community" and "is a foreign national believed to be unlawfully present in the United States," Fox 59 reported. It was unclear if he has obtained legal counsel or what he will plea in court.
