Parents of missing baby Emmanuel Haro appear in court on murder charge

Twelve days after they said their son had vanished from a parking lot outside a sporting goods store, the parents of baby Emmanuel Haro have been charged in his death.

Emmanuel’s parents, Jake Haro, 32, and Rebecca Haro, 41, were charged Tuesday afternoon in Riverside County Superior Court on one count each of murder with malice. They also were charged with making a false police report, a misdemeanor. Riverside County prosecutors are asking that they be held in lieu of $1-million bail.

Authorities say the couple faked the 7-month-old’s disappearance and the infant is presumed dead.

The Haros appeared briefly for their arraignment about 1:30 p.m. in a packed courtroom. They were assigned the same public defender and said few words.

Jake Haro, left, speaks with public defender Brian Cosgrove during his arraignment Tuesday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Rebecca Haro’s eyes appeared red, her voice hoarse as she answered a few questions from the judge. Jake Haro wore a red jail jumpsuit and black-framed glasses. He stared ahead without turning back to the audience. Both parents continued their arraignments to Sept. 4 and did not enter a plea.

According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Rebecca Haro said she was attacked in a Yucaipa parking lot Aug. 14 outside a Big 5 store while changing Emmanuel’s diaper. But investigators said there were inconsistencies in her initial statement, and when they confronted her about those details, they said she stopped cooperating.

Authorities arrested the parents at their Cabazon home Friday. Sheriff’s investigators are now focused on finding Emmanuel’s remains. Over the weekend, search teams scoured an isolated field in Moreno Valley. They were accompanied by Jake Haro but did not find anything, officials said.

The case has captured the fascination of true-crime mystery fans, with the couple maintaining their innocence as a prior criminal case against Jake Haro has resurfaced.

California

The tragic end of Emmanuel Haro: Demanding ‘answers for this beautiful, little baby’

Strangers converged on the Cabazon home of baby Emmanuel Haro, demanding answers even after San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators arrested his parents on suspicion of murder.

Aug. 23, 2025

Jake Haro was previously convicted of child abuse in 2023 with his previous wife. A medical report showed that his daughter was seriously injured when she was examined at a Hemet hospital in 2018, according to court records. The unidentified girl suffered head trauma and had multiple fractures and signs of past bone breaks, police said in an affidavit. Jake Haro was convicted of willful cruelty to a child and was on probation in that case when he was arrested last week.

After Emmanuel’s disappearance, Riverside County child protective services removed a 2-year-old child from the Haro home. It’s unclear what prompted the child’s removal and a county spokesperson declined to comment, citing state confidentiality laws.

As the case has moved forward, Rebecca Haro has maintained the couple’s innocence and pleaded for people to look for her son.

“I will not give up. I will not give up on my baby,” she told a reporter from the Southern California News Group while in custody. “I want to be out looking for my baby.”

During the investigation, Emmanuel’s parents surrendered their phones to investigators and allowed detectives to search their home. Their vehicle also was taken by investigators as part of the search for their son, according to attorney Vincent Hughes, who acted as a de facto spokesperson for the couple in the early days of the investigation.

After authorities said that the couple had stopped cooperating with the investigation, Hughes said that was not the case and that the child’s mother had just refused to take a polygraph test.