Last Updated on October 24, 2025 by Ayoko Ahite

On Thursday, October 16, 2025, Jake Haro pled GUILTY to second-degree murder, child endangerment, and filing a false police report, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s office. His guilty plea was to the court, not a plea deal. He is potentially facing 25 years to life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 3, 2025.

Jake’s wife, Rebecca, continues to deny the charges against her, and it is unclear whether Jake’s guilty plea will change her stance.

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• 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 news outlets 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 in the area.

She alleged that while trying to change baby Emmanuel’s diaper in the store’s parking lot, someone suddenly attacked her from behind, causing her to fall and see white. She said that when she got back up, her baby had disappeared and was nowhere to be found.

In her own words, “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, many people believed Rebecca Haro’s story and prayed for the baby to be found safe. But then questions began to arise, and people started doubting the couple’s version of events.

Some members of the public found that both Jake and Rebecca didn’t seem genuinely concerned 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, the couple faced increased scrutiny when investigators announced that they were unable to rule out foul play due to inconsistencies in Rebecca Haro’s story. Officers and cadaver dogs also searched the family’s house.

Arrest: 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. Their bond was set at $1 million while detectives try to recover baby Emmanuel’s remains.

In a press conference on August 27, 2025, the Riverside County District Attorney, Mike Hestrin, said 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 previously freed Jake Haro in 2018 after he admitted to abusing and permanently disabling his then 10-week-old daughter, who a family member would later adopt. Hestrin believes that if Jake had gone to prison for those acts as the prosecution team requested at the time, baby Emmanuel wouldn’t have gone through such abuse.