Minnesota woman faces charges for allegedly drowning her child

Esperanza Rae Harding informed law enforcement that she disposed of her child's body in a dumpster.

According to court documents from Hennepin County filed on Friday, 20-year-old Esperanza Rae Harding is charged with second-degree murder.

A criminal complaint reveals that Harding arrived at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis on Wednesday, claiming she was searching for her son, whom she said had passed away at the hospital on March 1. However, the hospital confirmed no record of her son's presence there.

"Given the suspicious nature of the defendant's claim, officers sat down for an interview with the defendant (...) Eventually, the defendant admitted that the victim did not die at the hospital, but in fact, died at a hotel in Bloomington on February 28, 2024", the complaint said.

According to the complaint, Harding admitted to killing the child because her boyfriend, who did not like the boy, wanted her to put him up for adoption. The boyfriend, identified in court documents as Edwin Trudeau, has been charged with aiding an offender.

The complaint details that on the night of the boy's death, Harding was in the hotel bathroom taking a bath when he began to cry in another room. It further states that she sent a text to her boyfriend, threatening to kill the child, and allegedly sent another text confirming she had drowned the boy after the act.

Authorities allege that the boyfriend arrived at the hotel and attempted to revive the child without success, subsequently advising Harding to dispose of his body in the trash, which she complied with. The child's body has yet to be located by investigators. Both Harding and Trudeau are currently detained.

Source: Fox News, CBS News