LAFAYETTE, IN — Any of Eliasard Moneus’ dreams of freedom that he might have brought with him when he immigrated from Haiti evaporated Thursday when he admitted to stuffing his 3-month-old son, Jacob, into a bucket of liquid laundry detergent on Aug. 10.
With the help of two Creole French interpreters, Moneus, 29, pleaded guilty to murder for killing Jacob. He also pleaded guilty to attempted murder, admitting he beat his wife with a tire iron after he took Jacob from her arms the morning of the killing.
Jacob’s mother was watching TV inside the bedroom in their Acorn Acres apartment when Moneus entered the room. He took Jacob from her and left the room. Jacob’s mother told police she heard Moneus leave the apartment and return about 30 minutes later. It was then that he came into the bedroom and attacked her with a tire iron, leaving her with a skull fracture.
After Moneus left the apartment after the beating, his wife managed to leave the apartment and drive to the hospital for treatment. That started a search for Jacob.
Moneus was detained later that afternoon by Indianapolis police who located him on the northeast side. Moneus said he didn’t know where his son was.
Police searched the apartment several times until about 5 a.m., when an officer opened the bucket of laundry detergent sitting beside a trash can in the apartment. Inside, they found Jacob.
Moneus faces decades in prison
According to his plea agreement, Moneus faces 65 to 95 years in prison when he’s sentenced on July 1.
Murder carries a sentencing range of 45 to 65 years in prison, and attempted murder carries a sentencing range of 20 to 40 years. But Moneus’ plea agreement caps the attempted murder sentence to 30 years in prison.
Moneus will have to serve 75% of his prison sentence, meaning he’ll be in prison roughly 48 to 71 years. He has nine months’ credit for pretrial detention.
The plea agreement leaves the length of the sentence up to Tippecanoe Superior 2 Judge Steve Meyer, who accepted Moneus’ plea agreement on Thursday. A charge of criminal confinement and several charges of battery will be dismissed at his sentencing.
Moneus was admitted into the country on a temporary protective status. If or when Moneus, who is not a U.S. citizen, is released from prison, he faces possible deportation back to Haiti.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Haitian immigrant who killed his infant son faces 65 to 95 years in prison
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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