Esperanza Rae Harding, Bloomington, Minnesota mother drowns crying child cause she couldn’t enjoy taking her bath. Boyfriend Edwin Trudeau is charged for aiding after the fact. 7 month old baby boy id as Mateo Harding.
A 20 year old Minnesota woman faces up to 40 years jail for allegedly drowning her infant child 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, 7-month-old Mateo Harding, even though authorities have not been able to locate the body on account of the mother admitting disposing of the boy’s body in a dumpster.
The identity of the hotel was confirmed as the Quality Inn in the 800 block of E. American Boulevard, the Star Tribune reported.
‘Im about to do something bad, Please answer me,’
According to charges filed on Friday and cited by KSTP, 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.
During police questioning, 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 her son started crying in the other room, causing her to become ‘upset she could not enjoy her bath.’
Harding allegedly explained how she soothed the crying boy and drowned the child in the bathtub and then ‘wrapped up his body, put it in a backpack, and threw it in a dumpster.’
Authorities recovered cell phone evidence, including a picture of the child floating facedown in the tub allegedly taken after the incident and text messages Harding sent to 18-year-old Edwin Trudeau, of Minnetonka, 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.
Harding later admitted dating a man who didn’t like her child and wanted her to give the child up for adoption to prove he was her top priority, FOX9 reported.
How or why the woman came to be at the hotel remained unclear along with her usual address, if any. The identity of the father’s child also remained unknown.
Child custody case
Read a GoFundme fundraiser for Matteo set up by Emily Cazares which offered clues:
‘Our baby boy, Mateo Harding, was only 7 months old when a person’s wrongful choices took him away from us. He was a happy, sweet and loving baby boy. On February 28, 2024, Mateo Harding had his life taken away by his mother who had previously taken him away from his loving father the year prior with law enforcement help.
She had abandoned him for 3 months after giving birth and then came back looking for him after my brother called the police, they didn’t helped much and just decided to let her keep my nephew and proceeded to tell him he needed to go to court to get him back. Later on she promised to do custody arrangement and coparent.
This women took Mateo away with lies from his loving father ,who she had a custody arrangement with. Please if you can help us with anything to help provide economically ease for funeral expenses once the remains of our sweet beloved baby are found.’
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 who faces second degree murder, appeared in court on Friday, with her bail set at $1.5 million.
If convicted of the charges against her, Harding faces up to 40 years in prison.
The former couple both remain in custody at Hennepin County Jail.
As of Saturday, police had yet to locate the missing child’s body.
