A mother accused of killing her baby maintains that he was kidnapped by unknown attackers while she was changing his diaper.
Jake and Rebecca Haro were apprehended on murder suspicion during a raid at their Cabazon, California home on Friday morning, a week after seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro went missing.
Rebecca Haro, 41, had claimed she was attacked from behind in front of a Big 5 retail store in Yucaipa, California, on August 14.
She told police she regained consciousness with a black eye and no memory of what had happened, before realizing her son was missing.
However, inconsistencies in her account led the police to conclude there was no abduction. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office now believes that Emmanuel is dead.
Currently incarcerated at the Riverside Detention Center, Rebecca Haro continues to insist on her truth, claiming she wants to search for her son.
Emmanuel Haro has not been seen since at least August 14 and police believe he is dead
Jake, 32, and Rebecca Haro, 41, were arrested on suspicion of murdering their son Emmanuel
‘I will not give up. I will not give up on my baby,’ she told the Orange County Register.
Rebecca Haro also insisted she had a great relationship with her husband and ‘he’s a good dad’.
‘He would never hurt a baby,’ despite his child abuse conviction, she said.
Jake Haro, 32, was spotted with police as they searched an area off the 60 Freeway in Moreno Valley for Emmanuel’s body on Sunday.
The baby’s father, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, participated in a search of a remote field, but no findings were reported, and the infant’s body remains undiscovered.
‘It is believed Emmanuel is deceased, and the effort to locate his remains is ongoing,’ stated San Bernardino Sheriff Shannon Discus, as police examine ‘a large volume of surveillance footage.’
The couple are yet to be formally charged with murder despite being held without bail.
The parents were arrested after Jake Haro’s car was seized last Tuesday and police analyzed digital and electronic evidence.
Jake Haro was seen on Sunday helping deputies scour an area off the 60 Freeway in Moreno Valley for his son’s remains
The search efforts concluded Sunday night without recovering the boy’s remains
The infant’s body has still not been recovered and the couple are yet to be formally charged despite being held without bail
The couple was seen being led from their home in Cabazon on Friday morning, Jake Haro walking barefoot while his wife wore shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals.
Rebecca Haro kept her head low and avoided eye contact with the cameras as she was loaded into the back of a police car.
Speculation mounted about the couple’s story after some witnesses said they saw Rebecca Haro with a black eye the day before the alleged attack. Rebecca Haro claimed the injury was caused by the mystery attackers.
When police confronted her with inconsistencies in her story, she refused to continue speaking to investigators or take a lie detector test.
A different two-year-old child was also recently removed from the couple’s care for unknown reasons.
Jake Haro’s violent past then also came to light. He was convicted of felony willful child cruelty in June 2023 after he was arrested in Hemet, California, on October 12, 2018.
He was jailed for 180 days and is still working through his 48 months on probation with a 72-month suspended sentence, according to Riverside County Superior Court records.
He was also required to attend a child abuser treatment program.
Jake is pictured being arrested at the family’s home in Cabazon, California, Friday morning
Rebecca kept her head low and avoided eye contact with the camera as she was loaded into the back of a police car
Multiple people familiar with the crime said his relationship with the child’s mother didn’t end well and that he beat the child so badly they suffered a brain injury.
Multiple people familiar with the crime said his relationship with the child’s mother didn’t end well and he beat his 10-month-old daughter so badly she suffered a brain injury.
Jake Haro claimed he was giving his baby girl a bath in the kitchen sink and accidentally dropped her, but a doctor’s report said the girl’s injuries did not fit that narrative.
He was also previously acquitted of illegally owning a gun and ammunition as a convicted felon.
As speculation grew about the Haro parents, the Uvalde Foundation for Kids yanked its $5,000 reward for information leading to Emmanuel being found and ended its own search efforts.
‘We cannot in good conscience, utilize our team and resources when so much is missing in this case,’ it said.
‘Of particular concern to us lies within the inconsistencies in the details and the sudden decision by the mother to end communication with law enforcement and our team.
‘Tell me, what parent would do that who was missing a child? Something is not right in this whole picture.
‘We hope law enforcement will continue to pursue the case so that this precious child may be found and placed in a safe environment.’
Police blocked off the street as they searched the Haro home for clues about the missing boy
Police were seen sifting through garbage at the house for any evidence connected to the case
Vincent Hughes, an attorney representing Jake Haro in the child abuse case told the LA Times the couple ‘just want their son back’ and ‘want people to put in the same effort they’re using to question them to go out and search for Emmanuel’.
‘Jake has a criminal past. We’re not running from that, but the facts of the case are a lot different than the facts of this case,’ he said.
‘And one crime doesn’t mean that you’ve committed every other crime known to man, especially to take your own child.’
Hughes claimed the inconsistencies in Rebecca Haro’s story were a result of her being so overcome with emotion about her missing son.
He also said the couple had surrendered their phones to police and allowed detectives to search their home, when two iPads – including one that had never been taken out of the box – and three Xbox video game consoles were seized.
Rebecca Haro has her own issues in her past. Her brother James Beushausen was jailed for 50 years to life for murdering his girlfriend Jaylynn Amanda Keith in 2017.
Beushausen initially claimed she took her own life but his story unraveled when Palm Springs Police found inconsistencies.
Their mother Mary Beushausen insisted he was innocent and even created a ‘Justice for Johnny’ Facebook page.
