A Cabazon husband and wife were each charged with murder on Tuesday, Aug 26, accused of killing their 7-month-old son whose body has not been found during an ongoing search that has made headlines nationwide for almost two weeks.
Jake Haro, 32, and Rebecca Haro, 41, were each charged also with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor.
They could enter pleas on the Tuesday afternoon calendar at the Riverside County Hall of Justice in Riverside.
It is unclear what evidence investigators have.
Rebecca Haro told San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators that she was changing the baby’s diaper by her vehicle on Aug. 14 outside a Big 5 store in Yucaipa when she was assaulted and knocked unconscious by an unknown man. When she awoke, the child was gone, she said.
Investigators interviewed multiple people, including the Haros, but when confronted with inconsistencies in her initial account, the mother declined to continue with interviews, sheriff’s officials said. Sheriff’s investigators later said her account was a lie — and the Haros were arrested on Aug. 22.
During a Sunday, Aug. 24, jailhouse interview with a Southern California News Group reporter, Rebecca Haro stood by her assertion that Emmanuel was kidnapped.
Later that day, Jake Haro, wearing a red jail jumpsuit, accompanied investigators as they looked for Emmanuel’s body in a brushy area off of the 60 Freeway near Gilman Springs Road in the Riverside County Badlands. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has not said whether Haro led investigators to that location or whether the investigators targeted that spot on their own.
The search for Emmanuel, which was continuing on Tuesday, comes almost four years after Jake Haro and a different spouse, Vanessa Haro, were charged with willful child cruelty in Riverside County after an infant was found to have fresh and healing injuries that left the baby in critical condition.
According to an affidavit written by a Hemet police officer to obtain an arrest warrant, officers investigated a report that a 10-week-old girl had been admitted to Hemet Valley Hospital on Oct. 13, 2018, for treatment of broken bones.
Vanessa Haro, also known as Vanessa Avina, according to the document, told officers that she had left home for an hour before the baby was injured. During that time, Jake Haro told investigators, he bathed the baby and accidentally dropped it chest-first on the divider of the twin-basin sink. He could not detect any injuries.
That night, Vanessa woke up Jake because she was concerned about the baby. He felt something “crackle,” the affidavit says. Jake told the investigator that he did not feel the crackle after bathing the infant. He blamed his wife for the injuries.
Both pleaded guilty in 2023. Jake Haro’s plea was to the judge and not done in consultation with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. The details of Vanessa Haro’s plea were unclear.
Jake Haro is due in court on Sept. 2 to answer to a charge of being a felon or addict in possession of a firearm.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.