The parents of missing baby Emmanuel Haro were arrested Friday on suspicion of murder, more than a week after his mother claimed the 7-month old boy was abducted, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials said.
They were arrested at their Cabazon home, and officials said they were still searching for the baby.
By 10 a.m., a crowd was gathering near the family’s home on Ramona Street next to the 10 Freeway and across from the Morongo Casino where the Haro parents were arrested hours earlier. A vigil for the boy was nearby.
Emmanuel was reported missing Aug. 14 under suspicious circumstances after his mother said she was attacked and knocked unconscious outside a Big 5 store in Yucaipa, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department media press release.
Seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro.
(San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department)
Sheriff’s deputies arrived and searched the area but could not find Emmanuel. The boy was last seen wearing a black onesie, authorities said.
Sheriff’s officials did not disclose whether his mother, Rebecca Haro, had suffered any visible injuries during the attack. During her interview with detectives, officials said, she was confronted with inconsistencies from her initial statement and stopped speaking with investigators.
Over the weekend, investigators and police dogs searched the family home in Cabazon. The Sheriff’s Department says it has served multiple search warrants at the home and is reviewing surveillance footage from areas of interest in the case.
Earlier this week, an attorney for the boy’s father, Jake Haro, insisted the family is still cooperating, and Rebecca Haro only refused to take a polygraph when it was requested by law enforcement.
Authorities said she gave contradictory statements, but Vincent Hughes, who is representing Jake Haro in a separate criminal case, said she was overcome with emotion because of her missing son.
Jake and Rebecca Haro, the parents of Emmanuel Haro, were taken into custody.
(OnScene.TV)
The couple surrendered their phones to investigators and allowed detectives to search their Cabazon home, Hughes said. Investigators also took two iPads, including one that had not been taken out of the box, and three Xbox video game consoles. Their vehicle was also taken by investigators as part of the search for their son, according to Hughes.
In an interview with KTLA-TV last week, Rebecca Haro, who had a black eye, pleaded for the return of her son. She said that she had planned to go to the Big 5 Sporting Goods store Thursday evening to buy a mouth guard for her older son.
“If you know anything, please come forward or take him to the cops,” she said. “Please come and bring my son back. I’m begging you.”
According to court records, Jake Haro was convicted in June 2023 of willful child cruelty for an incident involving another child in Hemet. He’s due to appear in court on Sept. 2 for a violation of his probation, and Hughes is defending him in that case. Jake Haro said he was giving the baby girl a bath in a kitchen sink and accidentally dropped her but a doctor’s report said the girl’s injuries did not fit that narrative.
That case is separate and has no connection to the Haros’ missing child, Hughes said.
Monica Flores ties balloons to a fence in Cabazon, where a small memorial has been set up for Emmanuel Haro, who has been missing for a week.
(OnScene.TV)
“Jake has a criminal past,” Hughes said. “We’re not running from that, but the facts of that case are a lot different than the facts of this case. And one crime doesn’t mean that you’ve committed every other crime known to man, especially to take your own child.”
“They just want their son back, they want people to put in the same effort that they’re using to question them to go out and search for Emmanuel,” Hughes told The Times.
Authorities confirmed Wednesday that Riverside County child protective services removed a 2-year-old child from the home of the same couple who reported the infant missing last week.
It’s unclear what prompted officials to remove the 2-year-old. A spokesperson for Riverside County declined to comment, citing state confidentiality laws.
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