Man doesn’t call 911 when girlfriend drowns baby, MN cops say. He’s prison bound
A mother was taking a bath when she became frustrated because her 8-month-old son was crying, according to Minnesota police.
The 21-year-old picked up her baby and drowned him in the Bloomington hotel bathtub on Feb. 28, 2024, police said. As she was carrying out the act, she was texting her boyfriend, 20-year-old Edwin Trudeau.
“He doing to much rn, I can’t (expletive) sleep, Im trying tho, Im about to do something bad, Please answer me, He going to no be here much longer,” Esperanza Harding texted Trudeau, according to a probable cause statement.
Trudeau eventually went to the hotel and saw the dead infant’s body but never called authorities to report the killing, the probable cause statement said.
He was sentenced to six years in prison on May 5 after pleading guilty to aiding an offender, court documents said. He will receive a 145-day credit for time already served, according to documents.
Trudeau’s attorney did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on May 7.
Prior to the baby’s death, Trudeau had been telling his girlfriend to give the child up for adoption because he did not like the baby and wanted her to prove that her boyfriend was her “top priority,” the woman told police in March 2024.
As the child was drowning in the hotel bathtub, the mother shared some of the details over text message with her boyfriend, according to police.
Harding removed the child from the water when he was “done moving, done twitching,” according to the probable cause statement, and attempted to resuscitate the child through CPR.
She texted this information to Trudeau, who told her to “just stop trying” and that he would come help her, the probable cause statement said.
Trudeau performed CPR on the child when he arrived at the hotel, but still, he never called 911, police said.
Instead, he told police he had sex with Harding in the hotel room while the child’s body lay on the bathroom floor, the probable cause statement said.
“It is always going to be us, Bonnie and Clyde,” Trudeau told the woman, according to the probable cause statement.
He advised Harding to put the body in a garbage bag and dispose of it in the dumpster, court documents said.
“Mr. Trudeau attempted to help conceal a violent, heartbreaking act,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a news release. “All of our thoughts are with Mateo’s family. They should be getting ready to celebrate his second birthday, and instead they’re left with a lifetime of grief. Mr. Trudeau is being held accountable for his actions.”
Harding was sentenced to 32 years in prison in March after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, prosecutors said.
Bloomington is about a 10-mile drive south from Minneapolis.
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Man doesn’t call 911 when girlfriend drowns baby, MN cops say. He’s prison bound."
