Content warning. This video is about a sensitive topic involving loss of life. We’ve removed any graphic content to comply with YouTube’s guidelines. We aim to provide informative factual journalism on a tragic event in the public interest that does not dismiss its seriousness. All clips are used under the doctrine of fair use for news reporting and analysis.
Quinton Simon, Jesse Shockley, Noah Tomlin, Kion Jones. These are just a few of the names of some of the victims that we’ve covered on this channel that all met the same fate. They were all killed by their mothers and then discarded like trash in various dumpsters. To this day, some of these children have never been recovered.
When a child goes missing, one of the first places police check are sorting facilities and landfills. Not only did law enforcement confirm this in Noah Tomlin’s case, but we also had a listener reach out to us who worked in a similar capacity that explained that part of their job was to look out for the bodies of children and animals while sorting through salvage.
Today, we’re going to be discussing two unique cases that took place over 1,700 miles apart. The cases of Matteo Harding and baby Sarah. Matteo Harding was born on July 19th, 2023 in Oklahoma to parents Jesus Kazarez and Espironza Ray Harding. He came into this world just a month after his mother graduated from high school.
According to his father, Jesus, he was really happy. He enjoyed life. He was always laughing, just joking. Matteo was an adorable baby boy with dark hair, big brown eyes, and a sweet smile. At the time of our story, he was just shy of 8 months old and living with Espironza in a hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota.
She and Jesus had separated and there was already a new man in her life, 18-year-old Edwin Cosmo Trudeau. There was just one major problem. Edwin hated Matteo. He wanted Espironza to give her son up for adoption, and he wanted her to prove to him that he was her top priority. Sadly, Espironza was such a desperate pickme that she did exactly that. Sort of.
>> At around 4:45 p.m. on February 28th, 2024, Espironza texted Edwin to vent her frustrations about her son. Apparently, the young mother wanted to take a bath, but Matteo’s crying was interrupting her desired peace and quiet. She told Edwin, and I quote, “He’s doing too much right now. I can’ting sleep.
I’m trying though. I’m about to do something bad. Please answer me. He’s going to not be here much longer. However, rather than try to comfort his girlfriend or maybe stop by the hotel to help her out or talk her down in some way. He told her, “Okay, that’s okay.” However, a short time later, Espironza texted Edwin back.
This time, she told him that her son was dead, that she was sorry. like the true psychopath that he is, Edwin replied, “Don’t be.” Espiranza claimed that she attempted CPR, but Edwin told her to stop. He told her, “It’s okay. I’m a help.” And later, “You’re making things harder. Stop. We are a team. We do this.
” We’ll get into exactly how Matteo died later in the video, but according to reports, Edwin arrived at the hotel to find baby Matteo dead on the bathroom floor. He allegedly attempted CPR, but couldn’t be bothered to call emergency services. Edwin had finally gotten what he had wanted, which was Matteo out of the picture, and now he had Esperonza all to himself.
To add insult to injury, the couple hooked up in the hotel room while a seven-month-old baby lay dead in the next room. I really don’t know why this part of it has to be a trend in cases we cover where not only is someone sick enough to kill a baby, but then they hook up with someone right in front of the baby’s body. This is so incredibly hard for me to wrap my mind around, but somehow people doing this after they kill their child sadly happens more often than you think.
Now, also a trend we’ve seen is that the pair fancied themselves as a modernday body and Clyde for leaving. Edwin told Espironza to keep her mouth shut. He said, and I quote, “It is always going to be us, Bonnie and Clyde. If you go down, I go down, no matter what.” He then instructed her to act like she was taking her trash out and throw Matteo in the dumpster.
Espironza sadly did exactly that. She then told him that she knew that she was going to do time because she, in her own words, killed her own kid. Now, the scary part is that Espironza might have gotten away with her wicked crimes. That was until she showed up the Children’s Minnesota Hospital Minneapolis emptyhanded. According to a statement of probable cause filed by Detective Carrie Nolan on March 6, 2024, officers with the Bloomington Police Department responded to a call at the hospital for a report of a missing child. Upon arrival, the
officer met with the victim’s mother, Espironza. Espironza shared with the officers that her son, Matteo, had died of natural causes a week earlier on March 1st. However, she claimed that all of this had taken place at the hospital, and the hospital had no record of her son being admitted, treated, or dying at their facility.
In addition, the office of the medical examiner had no record of a seven-month-old baby being transferred for autopsy. Given the suspicious nature of the call in Espironza’s wild claims, the officers decided to sit down with the young mom for an interview. After continuing to provide inconsistent information, Espironza eventually decided to come clean.
Little Matteo hadn’t died at the hospital. In fact, on February 28th, she drowned him in the bathtub before wrapping his body, stuffing it inside of a backpack and tossing it into the dumpster at the hotel. According to Esparonza, she couldn’t enjoy her bath due to her son’s crying, so she decided to kill him. She then took a picture of Matteo’s body floating face down in the water and sent it to her boyfriend.
Police later recovered the photo from her cell phone. Espironza only removed him from the tub after, and these are her words, he was done moving, done twitching. >> Espironza Hardin was arrested and charged with seconddegree murder and initially held on a 1.5 million bail. Edwin Trudeau was also arrested and charged with aiding an offender.
Both were held in the Henipin County Jail, awaiting their April 3rd, 2024 hearing. After learning of Matteo’s fate, his biological father, Jesus Kazarus, as well as his extended family, held a vigil for the little boy outside of the Bloomington Hotel where he was killed. >> He was really happy. He enjoyed life. The baby Mateo lit up every room with that smile for eight months of his life.
>> He was always laughing and just enjoying life. Now, these pictures and videos are all his dad, Jesus Casades, has left. >> Right now, probably have more anger than sadness >> after finding out what happened to his son. Court documents show Esparansza Harding allegedly drowned her son in a hotel bathtub on February 28th.
A week later, police were called to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis regarding a missing child. Friends say they suggested hospital staff should get authorities involved. >> Stories weren’t adding up. Everything was off. >> Harding told officers her son died in the hospital, but there was no record of the child being there.
Investigators say eventually the 20-year-old admitted she drowned her son in her hotel room bathtub, wrapped up the body, then threw it in a dumpster. >> She She didn’t cry. Who doesn’t cry for their baby? Harding told police her 18-year-old boyfriend, Edwin Trudeau, did not like her son. She says it was his idea to throw her son in the dumpster and not to tell anyone.
The body still has not been found. >> We just want to find Matteo. We just want justice for him to be able to give him a proper burial. >> Baby Mateo’s family and friends created this vigil outside the Bloomington Hotel to hold on to those memories and remember his life. >> He was a sweet baby, always smiling. Honestly, I don’t want anything else other just to find my son and uh give him the peace he needs.
>> On December 20th, 2024, now 21-year-old Espironza plead guilty to one count of secondderee intentional murder. In March of 2025, she was sentenced to 384 months in prison with 366 days of credit time served. In a statement, Henipin County Attorney Mary Morardi shared, “My thoughts are with Matteo’s family today.
This was a heartbreaking case, and while Ms. Harding is being held accountable, it does not return Matteo to his family or offer him the life he should have had the chance to live.” On February 23rd, 2025, now 20-year-old Edwin plead guilty to one charge of aiding an offender, accomplice after the fact, and for helping to conceal Matteo’s murder.
In May of 2025, Edwin was sentenced to 74 months in prison with 145 days credit for time already served. Attorney Morardi also spoke at Edwin’s sentencing. She said, “Mr. Trudeau attempted to help conceal a violent, heartbreaking act. All of our thoughts are with Matteo’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. >> Espiransza Harding and Edwin Trudeau are still being held in the Henipin County Jail. It’s unclear where or when they’ll be moved to a more permanent facility in order to serve out the remainder of their sentences. In the wake of Matteo’s death, his aunt Emily Kazarus started a GoFundMe to help with expenses.
The caption written in both English and Spanish reads as follows. With our heart in our hands, we invite you to help our beloved baby boy who lost his life in the hands of a devastating decision. Our baby boy, Matteo Hardin, 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 28th, 2024, Matteo 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 help 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 arrangements and co-parent. This woman took Matteo 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 economic ease for funeral expenses once the remains of our sweet beloved baby are found.
I am his aunt and we are still holding on to his memory. We will be using this money towards his funeral expenses and to find him. Please help us. Fundraiser is currently closed and to date it managed to raise $1390. As of the date of this recording in May of 2025, Matteo Harding’s body has never been recovered.
Due to the amount of time that’s passed, it’s very unlikely that this sweet 7-month-old little boy will ever have a proper burial. He’ll sadly join the ranks of many other children that we’ve discussed whose parents decided that they were no better than garbage and then treated them as such. Our next case brings us to Boca Raton, Florida.
On May 9th, 2019, two maintenance workers heard a faint cry coming from a dumpster located at the Bokeh Andrada apartment complex. They thought that it might be a kitten that had gotten trapped and couldn’t make its way back out. So they went to have a look, but instead of a kitten, the two men found a newborn baby girl. Her umbilical cord was still attached, and she had been wrapped in a plastic garbage bag along with trash and coffee grounds.
Understandably shaken, one of the men called 911. >> 911, what’s the address of your emergency? >> Yes, there’s a baby in the garbage. >> Baby in the garbage. >> Is the baby breathing? >> Yes, I’m I’m shaking. >> Let me speak to them one moment. The baby’s in a dumpster, right? >> Yes. Uh, we pulled it out. It was in a garbage bag. >> He found a baby inside a dumpster and the baby is breathing.
The baby was in a garbage bag. >> Please. >> All right. And how old is the baby appear to be? >> It’s born. It’s a newborn. It’s still The blood is still in there. >> Is the umbilical cord still attached? >> Uh, yes, I believe so. Yes. >> Okay. And it is, is it crying? >> It was crying. That’s how we found out. You heard a cry.
We thought it was a cat and we pulled the bag up. >> Try your try your best just to wrap them in your arms. Okay. Just the warmth from your body will help. Okay. >> Okay. >> All right, sir. We have police and paramedics coming to you. Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. The six lb 8 oz baby girl was taken to the West Boka Medical Center and in a rarity when looking at cases like these, but very thankfully she made a full recovery and was placed into the care of Florida’s Department of Children and Families. She was described as cute as a
button. Police searched through the apartment’s dumpsters looking for any clues that could lead them to the child’s mother or whomever decided it was a good idea to throw a live newborn into the garbage. Now, under Florida law, newborns can be dropped off anonymously at a hospital or a fire station with no questions asked.
And although laws have changed now, in 2019, where this actually took place, those wishing not to carry their pregnancies to term could do so up until the 15w week mark. It should be noted that we’re not advocating for anything other than not throwing your baby in the trash and that we’re just sharing with you what the laws were at the time the crime occurred.
The police noticed a trash bag in the same dumpster that looks similar to the one that the baby girl was found in and they decided to search it. They located a bundle of napkins that contained a large amount of blood as well as a receipt to a local beauty supply store. This singular receipt would prove to be their ace in the hole. The police paid a visit to the beauty supply store and presented the clerks with a receipt that was located in the dumpster.
To their surprise, the customer was known to them and the clerks were able to provide them with her name and home address. The customer was a 35-year-old Brazilian woman and local atome nail technician named Raphael Allesandre Carbalo Susa, who lived in the apartment complex where the baby was located. With crime scene tape securing a back corner of the West Bokeh apartment complex, an ambulance took a woman from the complex escorted by a sheriff’s deputy.
So far, deputies have not said who was inside that ambulance. The sheriff’s office did announce they have detained a woman in connection with a one-day old baby girl left at a nearby dumpster, her umbilical cord still attached. >> I would love for them to find whoever did that and um speak with them. Isaac Saddaka says he was walking by the dumpster Wednesday morning and realized what a maintenance worker had just discovered.
>> I saw the gentleman, the maintenance guy, uh helping the baby and very uh crying a little bit. And I said, “Don’t be sad. That’s a baby you found.” I said, “Yeah, who would do something like that?” I said, “Somebody not uh full of love.” >> A sheriff’s lieutenant said the girl was as cute as a button, weighing 6 lb 8 o.
she’s African-Amean or Hispanic. >> I hope they found the mom and and I hope they found uh somebody to take care of the baby. >> Although ABC13 claimed to not know who was taken via ambulance to the hospital, CBS12 managed to capture video of the incident. It was Raphael. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department arrested Raphael on charges of attempted felony murder in CA and booked her into the county jail.
Following morning, she appeared before 15th Judicial Circuit Judge Ted Buros along with a Portuguese translator where she was ordered to have no contact with her newborn. Through her translator, Raphael explained that she gave birth to her baby in her bathroom. She claimed that the baby was unresponsive and not breathing, but rather than call 911, Raphael waited for 3 hours before disposing of the child.
She told the court that she returned to the dumpster two times to make sure the baby was dead, but never approached the bag due to others being present nearby. However, this story doesn’t make sense as the little girl was found crying the following morning. According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Brian Cox, Raphael did not have a valid visa and that the agency was planning to take her into custody and deport her back to Brazil once her criminal case was resolved.
However, in January of 2020, Raphael and her lawyers attempted to have her voluntary confession thrown out. They claimed that she had not been read her Miranda rights properly before speaking with detectives. According to court documents, the deputy, who also spoke Portuguese, did not advise Raphael that anything she said would be used against her in a court of law.
However, prosecutors argued that the defendant was not in custody at the time of the questioning and therefore Miranda was not necessary. Judge Kirk Vulkar sided with the prosecution. [Music] We are following some breaking news at this hour in the case of the woman accused of putting her newborn baby inside a Boca Raton dumpster.
A judge in this case has just denied Raphael Aosa’s motion to suppress statements that she had made to police when they questioned her at her apartment that day. This basically means that her confession can now be used in the criminal case against her. The judge said since she was not in custody when she spoke with PBSO detectives that day after she gave birth to baby girl and then placed her in the dumpster that the confession she made to the officers could be used in court.
There’s one last person we haven’t heard from in this story and that’s Raphael’s boyfriend Carlos Jimenez Martinez. Carlos moved to Florida from Brazil with Raphael 10 years prior and the two shared a three-year-old son. That son was whisked away by social services. According to the man, he had no idea that his girlfriend was pregnant, let alone that she had given birth inside their apartment.
Carlos worked full-time for a landscaping company, normally starting his shifts at around 7:00 a.m. At night, he took online courses. On the weekends, he would perform with a local samba band and participate in church activities. When Raphael gave birth, Carlos was supposedly asleep in their shared bed. The couple also had a roommate who was staying in the guest bedroom who was also clueless to what had occurred.
When Carlos woke up the next morning, he claimed that his girlfriend was doing her usual morning routine, which included cooking breakfast and taking care of chores in the household. >> In an interview, Carlos told reporters in Spanish, “I feel two ways about her right now. I feel terribly sorry for her, and I feel furious at her.
Why? Why didn’t she tell me? I never would have let this happen. That little baby is my daughter. I never would have allowed her to be thrown away or even given away. According to Carlos, he only found out what had occurred after he came home from work on the 9th. He said, “She was sitting right there and she turns to me and says, I did it.
She confessed to me.” She said, “This is my problem, not yours.” I tell her, “What did you do?” Then I went to tell the police. Carlos struggled to make sense of what happened. He questioned whether or not Raphael even knew she was pregnant or not, or if she legitimately thought that she’s had a still birth, adding, “The other night, we went out and we had a few drinks.
Later, she got sick and was throwing up. I asked myself why she would be drinking if she knew she was pregnant. Either she didn’t know or she was a horrible person.” And she said the baby did not cry. She waited to see if the baby reacted, but it did not. That’s what she said when the police was here that day. I really don’t know.
When Carlos, he wants custody of both of his children. When asked what he’d named the little girl, he said, “I want to name her Sarah. It’s a beautiful name. It’s gentle and normal.” Adding, “We had a good life. We worked hard. We always had our necessities. There was never a lack of food here.
We could have welcomed a baby.” On July 27th, 2022, Raphael, who had previously plead not guilty, changed her plea. She was sentenced to 7 and 1/2 years in jail with credit for more than 3 years time served. Following her release, she will have to serve 5 years of probation. As of the date of this recording in July of 2025, it’s unclear whether or not she’ll be sent back to Brazil or not.
Although both cases we discussed today are tragic, I will leave you with a happy ending. Carlos regained custody of both of his children and he got his wish. He named his baby girl Sarah.
