The parents of missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro were arrested on suspicion of murder at their Cabazon home Friday morning, Aug. 22, more than a week after the baby’s mother reported that he was kidnapped, authorities said.
Video from RMG News, a freelance organization, shows several law enforcement vehicles, including two armored vehicles, outside the home of Jake and Rebecca Haro, who initially told investigators that Emmanuel was stolen from Rebecca Haro outside a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Yucaipa.
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Rebecca Haro stopped cooperating with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department when investigators found inconsistencies in her story, authorities said. But her lawyer, Vincent Hughes, denied that the couple was not cooperating.
Hughes could not be immediately reached on Friday.
“Investigators will continue their search for seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro,” the sheriff’s department posted on social media Friday morning.
This is the second time law enforcement has descended on the Haros’ home since Rebecca Haro told investigators Emmanuel was taken from her by an attacker around 7:45 p.m., Aug. 14. She told investigators the attacker knocked her unconscious while she was changing Emmanuel’s diaper in the car.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials publicly stated there were inconsistencies with her statements, and said they were unable to rule out foul play.
A search warrant was later served at the home, leading detectives to seize electronic devices belonging to Jake Haro, including phones.
Jake Haro, according to Hughes, also told investigators that there was a possible sighting of his son at a gas station in Bakersfield, but San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials said no information was provided as to where in Kern County that sighting occurred and a Kern County official said there was no credible or confirmed sighting of the missing boy.
The Uvalde Foundation for Kids had offered a $5,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of the boy, but said the parents have not cooperated with them and the organization’s pleas “have been met with silence.”
On Friday, the foundation said it was attempting to verify claims of the arrests and was “cautiously optimistic that such a move illustrates the tenacity and dedication of law enforcement to find answers and an ever growing community undauntedly committed to finding Emmanuel and bringing justice to those responsible for his disappearance.
“Our foundation has suspected foul play from the very beginning and will now be reassessing how we might provide support and aide (sic) to the community at this time.”
A vigil is planned at 6 p.m. outside the Haros’ home in the 50000 block of Ramona Street.
The search comes almost four years after Jake Haro and an apparently different spouse, Vanessa Haro, were charged with willful child cruelty in Riverside County after an infant was found to have fresh and healing wounds that placed it 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.
They pleaded guilty to the charge on June 8, 2023.
Jake Haro was sentenced to 180 days in the sheriff’s work-release program, given a suspended four-year prison sentence and was ordered to attend a child abuser treatment program. Vanessa Haro was sentenced to 120 days in the work-release program and ordered to attend the child abuser treatment program.
Shortly after the baby was admitted to the hospital, Jake Haro filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order against his wife, Family Law records show. That case was eventually dismissed.