Local pastor David Hernandez, from Yucaipa, leads those gathered in prayer during a vigil for missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro outside the child's home in Cabazon, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Will Lester/The Orange County Register via AP)
This combo of booking photos provided by the San Bernardino County, Calif., Sheriff's Department, shows Rebecca Haro, left, and Jake Haro, who are charged with murder in the death of their missing 7-month-old son. (San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department via AP)
San Bernardino County Detective Eduardo Badillo, lefr, speaks on the phone alongside a Riverside County Sheriff's officer outside the home of Rebecca and Jake Haro, parents of missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro, on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Cabazon, Calif. (Anjali Sharif-Paul/The Orange County Register via AP)
Local pastor David Hernandez, from Yucaipa, leads those gathered in prayer during a vigil for missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro outside the child's home in Cabazon, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Will Lester/The Orange County Register via AP)
Will Lester
This combo of booking photos provided by the San Bernardino County, Calif., Sheriff's Department, shows Rebecca Haro, left, and Jake Haro, who are charged with murder in the death of their missing 7-month-old son. (San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department via AP)
San Bernardino County Detective Eduardo Badillo, lefr, speaks on the phone alongside a Riverside County Sheriff's officer outside the home of Rebecca and Jake Haro, parents of missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro, on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Cabazon, Calif. (Anjali Sharif-Paul/The Orange County Register via AP)
A 7-month-old baby likely died from 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 with his murder.
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.
"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.
Authorities said they found inconsistencies in the mother's account. They searched the couple's home in the Riverside County community of Cabazon and 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.