A 7-month-old baby who went missing more than a week ago likely died from ongoing abuse by his parents before they made a false report that he was abducted, authorities said Wednesday.
Southern California prosecutors and sheriff's authorities said they believe Emmanuel Haro was abused by his father Jake Haro, 32; and mother, Rebecca Haro, 41, who were arrested last week and have been charged with his murder.
"The filing in this case reflects our belief that baby Emmanuel was abused, a victim of child abuse over time, and that eventually, because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin told reporters.
The couple is being held on $1 million bail each. They are scheduled to be arraigned next week.
Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday for the lawyer listed as representing them in online court records.
The abuse allegations come amid a search for Emmanuel in the inland region east of Los Angeles. It began after Rebecca Haro reported on Aug. 14 that she was assaulted and left unconscious while changing her son's diaper outside a store in the San Bernardino County community of Yucaipa. She said she awoke to find him missing.
Authorities began investigating the boy's disappearance and said they found inconsistencies in the mother's account. They searched the couple's home in the Riverside County community of Cabazon and arrested the Haros on Friday, announcing they believed the boy was dead.
Over the weekend, sheriff's deputies searched for the boy's remains in a field by a freeway in the presence of Jake Haro, who authorities said provided some cooperation.
The boy's body was not found and no additional information was provided about that search.
Hestrin said Jake Haro should have been sentenced to prison time after he pleaded guilty in open court in 2023 to abusing another one of his children in 2018. The girl suffered rib and skull fractures, a brain hemorrhage and other injuries that caused permanent damage, Hestrin said.
He said the prosecution asked the judge to sentence Haro to prison at that time, but instead he was allowed to serve 180 days of work release, plus probation.
“It was an outrageous error in judgment by this judge,” Hestrin said.
A message seeking comment about the earlier case against Haro was left for Riverside County Superior Court.
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