Indiana Dad Drowned Baby in Bucket of Liquid Detergent

An Indiana father was sentenced to. nearly a century in prison after. committing an unthinkable act of. cruelty, drowning his three-month-old. son in a bucket of laundry detergent and. brutally attacking the baby's mother in. a twisted act of revenge. The horrific. crime and its shocking details, including the killer's chilling. confession and the judge's blistering. condemnation, reveal a tragedy almost. too disturbing to comprehend. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber.

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with type2 diabetes or fatty liver. disease, then visit. www.forthepeople.com/food. or scan the QR code on screen to learn. more. This is without a doubt one of the most. disturbing, cruel, heartbreaking cases. I don't even know other way to describe. it that we've ever covered here on. Sidebar. You have a father's twisted act. of revenge that ended in unimaginable. tragedy, claiming the life of someone. completely innocent and defenseless. A.

threemon-old. infant, tiny, helpless, barely beginning. his life was brutally taken by the very. person who should have protected him, his own father. In August of 2024, authorities made a discovery that shook. even the most seasoned of investigators. The lifeless body of this little baby, Jacob Monae, submerged in a bucket. filled with liquid laundry detergent. Yeah. What could drive a father to do.

something so horrific? What darkness led. to such an unthinkable act? Well, here's. the thing. That father now faces almost. a hundred years behind bars. But it's. the haunting final words at trial spoken. both by the killer and the judge that. reveal the depth of this tragedy. The. nearly year-long legal ordeal came to a. close in typicanw county superior court. 2 in Indiana on July 1st according to. reporting from the journal and courier. Ellisard Monae sat slouched at the.

defense table. His expression. occasionally tightening in apparent. pain. The outlet reports that it wasn't. until the moment his sentence was handed. down and he showed any real emotion, briefly wiping away tears. Let's get. into the background real quick. So, this. tragedy unfolded on August 10th, 2024, when police responded to a domestic. violence call and quickly launched a. statewide search for baby Jacob. And. just hours earlier, Monae had apparently. attacked his wife, Edley Devaris, with a. tire iron, leaving her with a fractured.

skull before leaving the scene, or I. should say, fleeing the scene. And as if. that wasn't horrifying enough, soon came. the chilling discovery that I mentioned. before. Investigators found Jacob's tiny. body sealed inside of a bucket of. laundry detergent placed next to the. kitchen trash. Now, before sentencing, prosecutor Elise Madigan addressed the. court with devastating clarity, saying, "It doesn't really get worse than this. Father put his three-month-old son face.

down in a bucket of laundry detergent, sealed the lid, left his son to die, and. then went to the next room and viciously. attacked the baby's mother." Jacob. drowned in the bucket, swallowing 100. milliliters of detergent while he died. Now, prosecutors also revealed that. Manus had a uh chilling motive, and it. wasn't just about anger, but it was. about revenge. Prosecutor Madigan told. the court the defendant wanted to teach. Edley and women a lesson. Can't. disrespect a man. He said repeatedly he. didn't care what the consequences were.

He could not live without teaching Edley. a lesson. And he didn't care if he spent. the rest of his life in prison, which is. exactly where he belongs. Lot to unpack. here. First, I want to bring in special. guest, Indiana criminal defense. attorney, Andrew Baldwin. Andrew, thanks. so much for coming on. Uh, good to see. you. Uh, this is uh, a really, really. tough case. And I think from a defense. attorney perspective, probably a tough. case to defend. I mean, where do you. even begin if you were representing. somebody accused of a crime like this?

>> Uh, probably the starting point would be. an insanity defense. I don't know. It. doesn't look like that was considered, but the depravity of the crime is as bad. as I've seen it in 30 plus years. Honestly, I you know, as a defense. lawyer, we we sometimes. forget uh it's easy to forget the. humanity of of a situation. You're. trying to defend your client. You're. trying to figure out the best way to get. the best outcome. And you have to really.

disassociate yourself from the facts. And that would have been a hard one uh. to do on this case to to dis. disassociate yourself from the the the. horror of what really happened. >> Yeah. And he is staring down a sentence. of nearly a hundred years. How is a. sentence like that typically structured. in Indiana? Are we talking like. consecutive concurrent terms? How do we. get to 100? Well, in in this case, um he. was convicted of uh or plead guilty to.

attempted murder, uh which would be of. his wife. Uh he struck her with tire. iron and she had to make the like the. painstaking decision to to leave her. baby, the three-month-old, uh at the. home or and while she drive drove to the. hospital to to get help for herself. And. uh then he also plead guilty to the. murder of the three-month-old. And in. Indiana, it's 45 to 65 years on murder, 20 to 40 on uh attempted murder. He was.

facing as much as what's that 105 years. I was kind of surprised the judge gave. him 92. Uh he ran him consecutive. He. didn't have to. The state put a a memo. together and u which is rare. You don't. you don't really see that very often. It's just orally argued what the. aggravating circumstances and mitigating. circumstances are. But the state took a. little bit extra time to put a memo. together saying, "Hey, this is so. heinous that he deserves a consecutive.

sentencings, one after another." And the. judge gave it that to him, totaling 92. years. I'm kind of surprised he didn't. get the max. Um, but uh, yeah, he's. going to be in there now for 75% of that. time, whatever that math adds up to. the. rest of. >> you would think that there would be. sentencing enhancements uh when you're. dealing with a victim or who's a child. or an infant, right? >> Yeah, that is one of the aggravators in. this case is a in Indiana it's a child.

somebody under the 12 years of age or. younger. If that's the victim, that is. what we call in Indiana an aggravating. circumstance that takes it at the higher. end of the range. Uh also um along the. same lines is um somebody that has the. care, custody and control of a victim, in this case the father. That also is an. aggravating circumstance that uh tended. to raise the sentence from the middle uh. portion of it where it could have been. up to the higher end.

>> How much does a defendant's courtroom. demeanor like not showing emotion affect. the outcome of either a trial, right? If. it does, you know, if you're talking. about somebody who goes to trial in. front of a jury or or judge or. sentencing, sentencing, how much does it. matter the demeanor of a defendant, particularly given the charges? >> I think at a in a trial, it matters in. terms of where I'm always talking to my. client about that. Jury's always. watching you, you know, and and you have. to work with what you have. Whoever your.

defendant is, you have to kind of work. with what their personality is. And it. the judge um is watching, of course, the. whole way also. So if there is a. conviction, the judge will factor that. in at sentencing. They're not really I. don't know that they're really supposed. to uh because in individual human. beings, we all react differently to. different things. Uh but it is a human. nature thing. If you see a guy just, you. know, having no emotion about what he. did to his child, it's going to have an.

impact on you uh probably as a judge to. go at the higher end and also just be. very confused. I think I I think a lot. of judges that are, you know, when. you're my age, you have a lot of judge. friends and they talk to you about these. things and they're just like, "This guy. sat in my courtroom without emotion. after what he had done." And it it's. just it's crazy. And so I know for a. fact that does affect judges, although. they may not say it on the record. H how. common is it for prosecutors, you know, in your experience to use that.

emotionally charged language, those. narratives uh during sentencing? And. from a defense perspective, how do you. temper that down? I mean, what. mitigating factors would you put down? What could you say? Who could you. present? >> I I don't think it's that common. Uh. most prosecutors, uh they trust the. judge to do whatever the judge thinks is. right. And uh but on occasion, prosecutors, they're human beings also, and these types of cases can definitely. impact their emotions as prosecutors, as.

human beings. And that's when you're. going to see that type of language uh. that you typically don't see in. prosecutors. That's what happened in. this case. As a defense lawyer, how do. you combat that? I you just have to kind of go with with. with what you have. In this case, he had. no prior criminal history. He did plead. guilty, thereby not forcing a trial and. the expense of a trial. And you kind of. lean on those things as a defense lawyer.

to uh maybe get the judge's mind off of. the the emotion of it all. >> We talked about revenge, right? So, the. seeds of Monae's revenge on his wife. appear to have been planted several days. before this whole event unfolded. According to a probable cause affidav. affidavit that was obtained by law and. crime, the conflict began on August 5th, 2024 between 29-year-old Elisard Manus. and his wife Edley Delvare. And. according to the affidavit, quote, Devaris advised Manus got upset with her.

on Monday, August 5th, 2024, and they've. not spoken to each other since Monday. evening. So then at around noon on. August 10th, 2024, officers responded to. a hospital following a report of. domestic violence. And the probable. cause affidavit reads, quote, officers. were advised the caller was Edley. Dvaris, who reported being battered by. her husband, Elisard Monae, and was. driving herself to the hospital. Now, Dvaris told police in a violent. altercation, Monae ended up snatching. little Jacob from her. The affidavit.

reads, "She was at home sitting in a. chair in her bedroom watching a church. service with her three-month-old son, victim 2. Minaeas entered the room and. took victim 2. And roughly 30 minutes. later, Dvary said Monas returned to the. bedroom and began striking her. repeatedly. The affidavit reads, "Dvary. advised Monae came into the bedroom. where Dvarus was located and struck. Dvaris with a tire iron or wrench. multiple times. Monae stopped striking. Dvaris and left the residence in his. vehicle. Devary did not know where.

victim 2 was at the time. She was. battered and did not see victim two in. the residence after the battery. Devary's injuries were extensive. The. affidavit notes that she suffered a. skull fracture. Officers also observed. multiple lacerations and a significant. amount of blood on her head when she. arrived at the hospital. And while she. was being treated for severe injuries, including a skull fracture, police. turned their attention to the couple's. home. And the affidavit reads, "Officers. searched Alvareis and Monas's residence. on Lexington Court, located blood. spatter and other evidence of an.

altercation, but most importantly, there. was still no sign of the couple's. three-month-old son, Jacob." Okay, let's. stop there. So, Andrew, based on the. details on this, especially the timeline. of the escalating violence, how critical. is that what was it, a 5-day gap in. building a case for, let's say, premeditation? I don't know that I saw. premeditation there. I mean, another. kind of avenue that that the defense. lawyer could have used. And I I don't I.

don't I don't ever fault defense lawyers. because they especially in a case like. this, they're in the they're in a very. tough spot. But it, you know, there was. premeditation, I suppose, um, in the way that it's described, but. it could also be argued that the guy. just lost his mind at that moment in. time. And then you could have gone for a. voluntary manslaughter type of. >> even with the baby. >> I I would say even especially with the. baby. I mean, it it didn't seem to me it. seemed to me to be at least arguable. that this was a the guy had been stewing.

and stewing and stewing and then this is. what happened. He he he made a rash. decision at that moment in time. I don't. know if there's that strong evidence. that he was plotting and plotting and. plotting. I don't know if there's emails. or texts or comments. But doesn't. premeditation form in an instant? >> Uh, no. I don't, as a defense lawyer, I. would argue no, it does not. I think. when you're trying to to u when you. you're when you're being accused or your. client's being accused of premeditation,

you I I would expect the jury to see. need to see steps being taken along the. way that because that's exactly what uh. voluntary manslaughter is. It's it's. kind of a snapping at the time. um you. do something rash that you you hadn't. planned on doing and I just I didn't see. the evidence necessarily of. premeditation. >> Wouldn't that be wouldn't that you need. significant provocation and what would. the provocation be? And so the classic. example, right, they talk about you walk. home, see your wife in bed with another.

man, you take out a gun and that heat of. passion. What what's happened here? >> Well, like you said, it I think it's. just the defense lawyer in me. The way. that I'm thinking is, yeah, this guy's. sitting there stewing and stewing and. stewing. That doesn't mean that he's the. whole way that he's stewing, that whole. time he's thinking, I'm gonna kill uh. try to kill my wife and I'm going to. kill this child. It could be that he. just looks at his wife and he snaps. And. you know, you're you're left with really. bad options as a defense lawyer. I mean, you can go in and try to make that.

argument and who what jury it would take. a special talent to go into a courtroom. and argue that that wasn't. premeditation. I understand what you're. saying, Jesse. I do. And um but maybe at. the same time, uh just the defense. lawyer in me says, and maybe it was. worth going to trial. at least to see if you can get a. voluntary manslaughter. It's not going. to work. And those lawyers, defense. lawyers knew a lot more about the case. than I do, for sure. So, so let's talk. about what happened. After being unable. to find Jacob, there was this statewide.

silver alert that was issued for the. missing infant. And police pleaded with. the public for help. The alert read, "The Lafayette Police Department is. urgently asking the public's assistance. in locating Jacob Aneas, a. three-month-old black male who has gone. missing. Jacob Aneaus is described as 1t. 11 in tall, weighing 13 pounds with. black hair and brown eyes. He was last. seen wearing a blue shirt with a black. bird on it and a diaper. Authorities. believe that Jacob is in extreme danger. and may require medical assistance due.

to the seriousness of the situation. A. silver alert has been issued now. Meanwhile, investigators they were. closing in on Manus and his vehicle was. located at the Mason Garden apartment. complex in Lawrence, Indiana on the east. side of Indianapolis. And officers from. the Indianapolis Metropol Metropolitan. Police Department moved in. They took. him into custody and when first. questioned with the help of a. translator, Maneus denied knowing where. his son was. And Maneus reportedly. doesn't speak English, only French. Creole. And the affidavit reads, "Officers in Indianapolis attempted to.

question Monas using a translator, but. when asked about victim 2's location, Monas denied having knowledge of victim. 2's whereabouts. But later that day, during a more in-depth interview, he. admitted to the assault on his wife. The. affidavit reads, "Mana admitted to. hitting Dvaris with a tool from his. vehicle. Manus admitted to hitting. Dvaryus two or three times and hoped. that Dvaris was going to die from her. injuries. And as for Jacob, Maneus. confirmed only that the baby had been. present in the home at the time of the. attack, but said nothing more. The.

affidavit reads, "Mana admitted victim 2. was present at the apartment at the time. the battery occurred, and the mayana did. not leave the residence with victim 2, but Maneus made no further admissions. regarding victim 2's status or. whereabouts." And just after 4:50 a.m. the following morning, August 11th, 2024, that is when the search ended in. tragedy. During a second sweep of the. Lexington Court residence, Lafayette. detectives made a horrifying discovery. in the kitchen. The affidav the. affidavit reads, quote, "A young infant.

believed to be victim 2 was located in. an orange bucket with a snapseal lid. The orange bucket had the lid attached. to the bucket and was located next to. the trash can in the kitchen. A young. male infant believed to be victim to was. located deceased in a dark colored. liquid inside of the orange bucket once. the lid was removed. And shortly after. the silver alert was cancelled. Lafayette police released the following. heartbreaking statement. Tragically, Jacob has been located deceased. He was.

found by Lafayette police officers. earlier today after an extensive search. effort. This is a devastating. development and our thoughts are with. Jacob's family during this incredibly. difficult time. and an autopsy would. later confirm the unimaginable. The. affidavit reads, "Dr. Harshburgger made. a preliminary determination. The cause. of death was aphixia and the manner of. death of homicide pending toxicology. results." So, Andrew, how there's a lot. of different things here, but you talk. about the significance of the silver. alert in terms of escalating the urgency.

and scope of a criminal investigation. involving a missing child in Indiana. That is that something that's typically. used and successful? We we get those. from time to time, but not very often. I. mean, maybe a few times a year you're. going to see something like that. Uh get. on the television or, you know, there'll. be some type of an alert, but never do. you see it end with this type of. tragedy. I mean, that that is very rare. It's usually like when a um a father. that's not getting custody of his son um.

goes to the house of where the the child. is and takes the child and and is. running. That's the most common thing. and they're not going to kill their. child. They're just trying to get. visitation with their kid or or. whatever. But not in this case, it ended. in an absolute tragedy. Yeah. >> What do you make of the implications of. him initially denying knowledge of his. son's whereabouts? And I wonder if. that's maybe what led police back to the. house to do a second. >> Yeah, I I think that you're probably. right on that, Jesse. They're they're.

just confused. Police were probably. like, "Where in the heck is this kid? Could he have dropped him off at a. family member's house?" They're probably. just praying and hoping that the child. is somewhere safe and um or then like. you said, maybe they thought maybe he. just left the kid at the baby at the. house and that would be tragic as well, even if he just left him in a crib or. something. And uh when I read the. probable cause affidavit, I just. wondered how easy it would have been for. them not to lift the lid of that. It's.

even awful just to talk about, but the. that that lid where the child was found, um it would have been easy to kind of. overlook that because who would have. ever imagined that a child a baby would. be placed there or forced there by the. father and so thankfully they did do. that. >> It's unimaginable. Unimaginable. And so. this case reached a conclusion in July. of 2025. According to the court. document, Nas was initially facing. charges of murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, criminal confinement.

resulting in serious bodily injury, domestic battery resulting in serious. bodily injury, and domestic battery by. means of a deadly weapon. But. prosecutors, they ended up striking a. plea agreement with him where he pleaded. guilty to the murder and attempted. murder charges in exchange for having. the other charges dropped. And on July. 1st, Mr. Manase stood before the. Typicanoo County Superior Court 2 to be. sentenced. And the court handed down, as. we've been talking about, a total of 92. years in prison. So 92 years of. incarceration with the IND Indiana.

Department of Correction for one count. of murder, one count of attempted. murder, 11 level one felony. Take a. listen. >> On count one, >> I'm going to impose a sentence of 92. years, I'm sorry, of 62 years. The maximum is 65. >> which is what's requested by the state. >> However, I'm not the maximum recognizing.

the fact that he has committed by guilt. and acceptance responsible. I'm imposing 30 years on count to the. attempted murder. for total sentence of 92 years. The council order to run consecutive. >> 92 years all executed at the department. of correction.

>> But my calculations. you would have to serve about 67 years. >> at the department of corrections. >> He's 29 years now. So he'll be a very old man by the time. he. >> it seems just. >> for these actions for the horrible. injuries he's imposed upon his wife.

Now, according to Journal and Courier, Manusa spoke briefly during the hearing, saying, "I'm living with remorse, with. pain, stress that will never go away as. long as I'm alive. I never thought I, Ellisard, could have been a prisoner for. one day. My apology for what had. happened." Now, The Outlet reports he. went on to lament his immigration to the. United States, claiming he came in. search of a better life, but instead.

found trouble and misfortune. His words. were met with silence from the gallery. where Edley uh Dvarus and her family. sat. And then Judge Steve Mayor. addressed the courtroom with a voice. that was thick with emotion and fury, saying, "I think it's important to start. out this day remembering little Jacob, a. three-month-old defenseless little baby. whose mother described him as a bundle. of joy. His entire life was taken away. by the man who was his biological. father. You killed your own child. I. can't think of a worse crime." The. thought of putting a three-month-old.

upside down into a bucket of laundry. detergent is unimaginable. And Meyer. sentenced Monetus to 62 years for. murder, 30 years for attempted murder, served consecutively. So with Indiana's. 75% sentencing rule, Monas has to serve, our understanding, is at least 69 years, meaning he'll be 97 years old before. becoming eligible for release. Andrew. Um, the chances that he's actually. released at 97 for a crime like this, I. mean, so far down the road, but what.

should we be thinking? >> Yeah. I mean, he's he's his life is. over. He's going to be in prison the. rest of his life. There's no question. about that. I think the judge did a. smart thing there by the way of giving. and I said earlier I was a little. surprised that he didn't max him out but. it's actually smart for a judge to not. max them out because that just gives uh. the appeals court an opportunity to. reduce uh the sentence. It's an. appealable issue. Uh max sentences are. in there's case law that says it's for. the worst of the worst. Although it is.

very arguable that this is the worst of. the worst and and deserved that max. sentence. the judge still just gave him. enough that he's never going to be able. to get out. >> And in the end, real quick, it it seemed. like an advantage for the prosecution if. we don't have to take this to trial and. we don't have to subject a jury to this. and go through the time and expense and. the pain of this and we can avoid it. with a resolution where he's in prison. essentially for the rest of his life, potentially for the rest of his life. It. made sense that they negotiated this. plea with him, right? >> Well, I think so. So, I I I always. appreciate prosecutors when you have as.

a defense lawyer have a really bad case, bad facts, uh that a prosecutor says, "Hey, let's figure out a way to uh. resolve this case." If there's just. nothing that we can do, I mean, I I'm a. defense lawyer in my law firm. We're. always trying to be creative and come up. with ways to win, but there are just. some cases like this one where you're. not coming up with a way to win. And so. let's uh at least um have a resolution. where as as much as it can be said, everybody wins. The the the the.

prosecution, taxpayers, uh the jurors that would have to watch. those, you know, see the photographs. I. just can't even imagine how awful that. is. And uh so I think that was a good. outcome um reached between everybody. And one more thing before I let you go, I I have to ask you about uh Bonus's. brother, Isaac Bonas, because he wrote a. letter to the court uh in defense of his. brother. And he made some of the claims. that he makes are pretty striking. I'm. going to read a portion of the letter. He submitted this, I believe, on June.

29th, 2025. Here's what he wrote. Ellisard always went to church when he. was growing up, and our parents. instilled principle and moral in us to. help us respect everyone and to do good. in society. Elisard was not used to. drinking nor smoking. our parents did. not raise us that way. And he goes on to. say, "He was never implicated in any. form of wrongdoing. He is not violent. nor arrogant. From the time he was. little until today, he has never said. anything that would bother me. This is. why tears for my eyes won't stop. He is. a very docile individual. He is not.

aggressive. Uh we will not stop crying. for Ellisard." H what do you make of. that? You know, I I try to put um the humanity. of it affects everybody and it's easy to. just say, well, how can the brother not. be crying for the child that died? And. that that would be an understandable. perspective, but also he is a brother. and this is not the brother apparently. that he saw growing up. His brother was.

a nice guy and something snapped. something happened and it's really hard. for for the brother to reconcile how. this all happened. And um so I I think. it'd be easy to get upset at the brother. and say, "What the heck are you talking. about that he's a docile guy? Come on, get real. I mean, he who could do what. this guy did and you claim that he's. docile. That doesn't make any sense.". Well, >> you know, he's his brother and this this. we're human beings and this is how you. know sometimes we we kind of cope. So.

though Manetas indicated he doesn't plan. to appeal, he does have, I believe, 30. days to file a challenge. Uh but for. now, the case is closed and this has. left a grieving mother and a community. and a family haunted by the cruelty that. was inflicted on an innocent child. Andrew Baldwin, thanks so much for. taking the time. Really appreciate it. Good seeing you. >> Always good to see you, Jesse. Thank. you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple.

Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].