Woman drowned child in bathtub, threw body in Bloomington hotel dumpster: Charges
Police lights generic Minneapolis
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 20-year-old mother is accused of drowning her child in the tub at a Bloomington hotel because she "could not enjoy her bath" while he was crying in the other room, according to court records.
Esperanza Rae Harding is facing a second-degree murder charge in Hennepin County for the death of her child, even though authorities have not been able to locate the body. Court records do not indicate how old the child was.
According to charges filed on Friday, police responded to Children’s Hospital on March 6 for a missing child report and spoke to Harding, who claimed her child died in the hospital from "natural causes," but there was no record of him being admitted or dying there.
After speaking with law enforcement, Haring allegedly admitted her child had actually died at a Bloomington hotel on Feb. 28. Harding told investigators she was trying to take a bath when he started crying in the other room, and she was "upset she could not enjoy her bath," charges read.
Harding allegedly explained how she drowned her child in the bathtub and "wrapped up his body, put it in a backpack, and threw it in a dumpster," charges read.
Authorities recovered cell phone evidence, including a picture of the child in the tub allegedly taken after the incident and text messages Harding sent to 18-year-old Edwin Trudeau, whom she claimed to have been dating, according to court records.
"Im about to do something bad, Please answer me, He going to no be here much longer," Harding allegedly texted Trudeau, to which he responded, "Ok that’s Ok" charges read. When Harding texted again that the child was dead and that she was sorry, he allegedly responded, "Don’t Be."
Harding claims Trudeau came over to the hotel room, and they tried CPR, but it did not work. No one called 911 for help, and charges allege Trudeau suggested Harding bring the child to the dumpster and act as if she was throwing the trash out.
While they were at the hotel, Harding claimed Trudeau kept yelling they needed to get out of this situation, saying, "If you go down, I go down no matter what," and that "it is always going to be us, Bonnie and Clyde," the charges allege.
Trudeau was charged on Friday with aiding an offender by being an accomplice after the fact. A judge set his bail at $1 million without conditions or $500,000 with conditions.
Harding appeared in court on Friday, and her bail was set at $1.5 million. They both remain in custody at Hennepin County Jail.