Ayoko Ahite
On Friday, August 22, 2025, officers arrested Jake Mitchell Haro, 32, and his wife, Rebecca Renee Haro, 41, at their residence in Cabazon, CA. The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office announced on X that the couple is suspected of murdering their 7-month-old baby boy, Emmanuel Haro, who they initially reported missing.
Background: On August 14, 2025, Rebecca Haro filed a police report and told the media that she drove to a “Big 5 Sporting Goods” store in Yucaipa, California, with her 7-month-old son, baby Emmanuel Haro, to get equipment for her stepson, who was playing football.
She said that when she was in the parking lot trying to change baby Emmanuel’s diaper, someone suddenly attacked her from behind, causing her to fall, and she saw white. And when she got up, she said, her baby disappeared, and was nowhere to be found.
She added, “I checked all around my truck. And I ran into Big 5, and I asked the lady if she saw a baby or someone with a baby. She said no.”
At first, a lot of people believed her and prayed for the baby to be found safe. But then, questions started to arise about whether the couple’s story was true or if she and her husband did, in fact, harm the baby. Some members of the public especially found that they didn’t seem genuinely worried when they spoke to the press about the baby’s disappearance, and others noticed that they were referring to baby Emmanuel in the past tense as if he were dead.
Two days after the initial missing baby report, investigators announced that they were unable to rule out foul play due to inconsistencies in Rebecca Haro’s account of events. Then, the family’s house was searched, including by cadaver dogs.
On Friday, August 22, 2025, the couple was finally arrested, and on August 26, they were formally charged with murder and filing a false police report. They are each being held on a $1 million bail while detectives try to recover baby Emmanuel’s remains at the time of this article.
In a press conference on August 27, 2025, the Riverside County District Attorney, Mike Hestrin, said that investigators believe that baby Emmanuel was abused by his parents, Jake and Rebecca, and succumbed to his injuries.
D.A. Hestrin partly blames the judge who let Jake Haro go free after he abused and permanently disabled his then 10-week-old daughter back in 2018. He believes that if Jake had gone to prison like the prosecution team requested at the time, baby Emmanuel wouldn’t have had to live such abuse during his short period on earth.
