The California parents accused of falsely claiming that their 7-month-old son was kidnapped from a store parking lot have been charged with the boy’s murder.
Rebecca Renee Haro, 41, and Jake Mitchell Haro, 32, were arraigned Tuesday at a Riverside County court on charges of murder and making a false police report, court records show.
They are being held in lieu of $1 million bail. Their attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Rebecca Haro said her baby Emmanuel was kidnapped outside a Big 5 Sporting Goods in Yucaipa, in San Bernardino County, the evening of Aug. 14.
Investigators jumped on the case but quickly found “inconsistencies” in their story, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at a news conference Wednesday.
The sheriff’s office had said Friday that after conducting interviews, issuing search warrants and analyzing digital and electronic evidence, “investigators determined a kidnapping in Yucaipa did not occur,” and Emmanuel is believed to be dead.
“The filing in this case reflects our belief that baby Emmanuel was abused, a victim of child abuse over time, and eventually, because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said Wednesday.
“We have a pretty strong indication of where the remains of baby Emmanuel are,” Hestrin added. Dicus noted there’s some level of cooperation with the suspects in that search.
Hestrin also announced that Jake Haro is “an experienced child abuser” who was previously prosecuted for child abuse.
Haro was convicted of willful child cruelty in 2023 for a 2018 incident against his child from his previous marriage, the district attorney’s office said.
Haro pleaded guilty in that case. Prosecutors believed Haro should be sentenced to prison, but the judge — who Hestrin said “happened to be a visiting judge from San Bernardino County” — handed down a suspended sentence. Haro was ordered to serve 180 days in a work release program, which is essentially community service, and probation.
“I will say that it was an outrageous, an outrageous error in judgment by this judge,” Hestrin said. “If that judge had done his job as he should have done, Emmanuel would be alive today.”
Hestrin said the child in that case is alive but “permanently bedridden, she has permanent damage, cerebral palsy that is a result of long-term child abuse.” He listed injuries that were presented to the judge in that case, including a partial bone fracture of the skull, brain hemorrhage and injuries to the ribs and legs.
Emmanuel Haro.San Bernardino County SheriffUnraveling the story
Rebecca Haro told investigators that she was outside her vehicle, changing Emmanuel’s diaper, when an unknown man assaulted her and knocked her unconscious, according to the sheriff’s department.
Authorities said she told them that when she woke up, Emmanuel was no longer there.
“I was going to get the diaper, and somebody said, ‘Hola.’ I don’t remember anything since,” she told KTLA-TV of Los Angeles. Rebecca Haro had a black eye during the on-camera interview.
“I woke up right here on the floor, and I didn’t see Emmanuel,” she said.
Jake Haro has also pleaded for his son’s return.
“He’s just a baby. Just give our son back,” he told the station.
Rebecca Haro’s mother defended the couple, telling KTLA that “they’re not going to hurt that baby.”
Family members could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Dicus said “hundreds of hours” of investigation, including poring through forensics data on vehicles and phones and in search warrants, led officials to believe “the initial story posed was not the correct story” and led them to Riverside County, where the couple live.
The sheriff’s office said that scent-tracking dogs were used to search for Emmanuel and that evidence was uncovered that determined a kidnapping never occurred in Yucaipa.
The parents were arrested at their home in Cabazon on Friday. They are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 4 for another arraignment.
Hestrin said Child Protective Services had not been involved with the family involving Emmanuel. The couple also has a 2-year-old child, who has been taken into custody by Riverside County Child Protective Services, the sheriff’s department said.
Anyone with information related to this case is urged to call the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Homicide Detail at 909-890-4904 or anonymously at at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463) or wetip.com.