20-year-old Esperanza Rae Harding, of Minnesota, is said to have drowned her baby in a hotel bathtub and threw his body in a dumpster.
On March 6, authorities talked with Harding at a hospital in Bloomington as they were following up on a missing child report. Harding had stated to police that her child died at the medical facility. However, detectives could not locate a record of the boy being there.
Eventually, Harding disclosed to officers that her baby had died days before, on February 28. She added that she had drowned him in the bathtub of a hotel.
Documents note that Harding stated that the baby continuously cried and became a nuisance. Additionally, she was upset that she could not enjoy taking a bath in peace.
Documents also state that Harding texted a man that she was dating, 18- year-old Edwin Trudeau, confessing to drowning the baby. Not only that, but she took a picture of the baby boy, floating lifelessly in the tub.
Reports indicate that she told detectives that Trudeau, “did not like her child.”
It was shown that Trudeau went over to the hotel room and attempted to perform life-saving measures on the baby but was unsuccessful. They then exited the room, leaving the child on the bathroom floor. They went to another hotel room to have sex, police say.
When they were done, Harding covered up the baby, put him in a backpack, and threw it in a dumpster.
Even though he knew what occurred, police say Trudeau did not call authorities, and he is facing charges as an accomplice.
Harding has been charged with second-degree murder.
