(RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif.) — Officials in California said they have a “pretty strong indication” on the location of the remains of Emmanuel Haro, the 7-month-old child who has been missing for nearly two weeks.
Emmanuel was reported missing on Aug. 14 at approximately 7:47 p.m. local time after his mother “reported being attacked outside a retail store on Yucaipa Boulevard,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Aug. 15.
“This was preventable in numerous ways,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a press conference on Wednesday.
In the press conference, authorities confirmed the search for Emmanuel continues. They believe the child was “severely abused over a period of time” and that both parents “would have been aware of that abuse,” according to Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin.
“The filing in this case reflects our belief that baby Emmanuel was abused over time and that eventually because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” Hestrin said.
The child’s parents, 32-year-old Jake Mitchell Haro and 41-year-old Rebecca Renee Haro, were arrested at their residence in Cabazon for the murder of the baby, officials said last week. The two have been charged with murder and making a false police report, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said on Tuesday.
Officials on Wednesday said that the child’s father — whom they described as an “experienced child abuser” — “should have gone to prison” due to previously abusing another child he had with his ex-wife back in 2018, but a judge at the time granted him probation, a ruling the Hestrin called an “outrageous error in judgement.” Authorities said that the child in that case has been left bed-ridden.
“If that judge had done his job as he should have done, Emmanuel would be alive today,” Hestrin said.
The parents appeared in court on Tuesday for less than five minutes, with a $1 million bail set for both. Their arraignment will continue on Sept. 4.
Prior to the press conference, officials said the child is presumed dead and they had been searching for his remains.
On Sunday, officials conducted another search for the 7-month-old “along the westbound shoulder of the 60 Freeway, near Gilman Springs Road, in Moreno Valley,” with the father of the child and cadaver dogs accompanying detectives. That search concluded after “Emmanuel was not located,” authorities said.
Back when Emmanuel was originally reported missing, his mother told officials that “while she stood outside her vehicle, changing the child’s diaper, she was physically assaulted by an unknown male and rendered unconscious,” authorities said.
When she woke up, the child was gone, the mother said at the time, according to officials.
Once on the scene, scent-tracking dogs were deployed, but the 7-month-old “was not located,” officials said.
The sheriff’s department interviewed “multiple individuals” regarding the disappearance, including the child’s parents.
Since then, officials noted that they have conducted “extensive” searches in the areas of Yucaipa and Cabazon and have also served “several search warrants at the Haro home.” Authorities also previously said they were reviewing a “large amount of surveillance video” from the areas of interest.
In an interview with Los Angeles ABC station KABC prior to her arrest, Rebecca Haro described her son as a “happy boy” and begged whoever has her son to “give him back to me.”
“Please don’t hurt my son,” she told KABC on Aug. 16.
The father, Jake Haro, previously pleaded guilty to willful cruelty to a child following a 2018 arrest, KABC reported.
“Whoever took our son, please bring him back,” Jake Haro told KABC on Aug. 16.
Rebecca Haro is currently held at the Robert Presley Detention Center, while Jake Haro is being held at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, according to jail records.
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