The disappearance of seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro from a Yucaipa, California parking lot has gripped the Inland Empire and beyond, evolving from a frantic search for a missing child into a murder investigation that has left a community reeling. As of August 24, 2025, Emmanuel remains missing, but authorities now presume he is dead, and his parents, Rebecca and Jake Haro, sit behind bars in Riverside County jail, charged with his murder under California Penal Code 187.
The harrowing saga began on August 14, when Rebecca Haro, 41, called police to report that her son had been abducted. She claimed she was attacked and knocked unconscious while changing Emmanuel’s diaper in the parking lot of a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Yucaipa. “I was going to get the diaper and somebody said, ‘Hola,’ and I don’t remember anything since,” Rebecca tearfully told KTLA the day after the alleged attack. “I woke up here on the floor, and I didn’t see Emmanuel.”
Her husband, Jake Haro, 32, made a public plea for his son’s return. “Whoever took my son, please return him,” he told KTLA on August 15. “We just want him back. We won’t do anything to you. Just give us our son. Keep him safe, don’t hurt him, make sure you feed him and change him.” Rebecca echoed his plea: “Please come and bring my son back. I’m begging you.”
But as the hours and days ticked by, investigators with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department began to suspect that something was amiss. According to The Independent, detectives found significant inconsistencies in Rebecca’s account of what happened that day. When confronted, she stopped cooperating with authorities. Jake Haro, meanwhile, retained legal counsel, further complicating the investigation’s dialogue with the parents, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Authorities quickly pivoted their focus from a possible kidnapping to a potential homicide. On August 22, after days of combing through evidence—including text messages, computers, and other communications seized via search warrants—detectives arrested both Rebecca and Jake Haro at their Cabazon home on suspicion of murder. The specific charge, California Penal Code 187, defines murder as the unlawful killing of a human being (or fetus) with malice aforethought, a legal term referencing either intent to kill or conscious disregard for human life, as explained by The Sun.
“It is believed Emmanuel is deceased and the search to recover his remains is ongoing,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release Friday afternoon. Despite the murder charges, law enforcement has emphasized that the search for Emmanuel is far from over. Investigators continue to pursue all leads, hoping to recover the child’s remains and bring some measure of closure to the case.
Emmanuel was last seen wearing a black Nike onesie. Police describe him as about 24 inches tall, weighing around 21 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, and cross-eyed. Anyone with information about his disappearance is urged to contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Specialized Investigations Division or submit anonymous tips to We-Tip.
The investigation has also revealed a troubling history. Jake Haro has a documented record of violence toward children. According to Riverside County records cited by ABC7, he pleaded guilty to willful cruelty to a child following a 2018 arrest and served six months in jail in 2023 for child cruelty stemming from that incident. Social workers have since removed a two-year-old child from the Haros’ home as a precaution, and deputies responded to another child abuse call linked to the family just a day before the couple’s arrest.
Rebecca Haro’s attorney, Vincent Hughes, told the Los Angeles Times that her “inconsistencies” stemmed from being overwhelmed by her son’s disappearance. She declined to submit to a lie detector test at authorities’ request. “No attorney in their right mind would allow that to happen, and no person should ever consent to a lie detector test when it’s not even scientifically proven to be admissible in court,” Hughes said. He also acknowledged Jake’s criminal past but cautioned against drawing conclusions: “Jake has a criminal past. We’re not running from that, but the facts of that case are a lot different than the facts of this case. And one crime doesn’t mean that you’ve committed every other crime known to man, especially to take your own child.”
The community’s response has been one of heartbreak and anger. Nearly 100 people gathered for a candlelight vigil in Cabazon on August 22, bringing flowers, stuffed animals, balloons, and candles to honor Emmanuel’s memory and demand justice. As reported by The Sun, neighbors formed a prayer circle led by local resident David Hernandez. “I don’t know the family. It just hit close to home for my wife and myself, because we live in Yucaipa,” Hernandez said. “It’s our community, and to hear something like that is not something that we hear every day, right?”
Maya Gutierrez, 20, stood outside the Haros’ home in solidarity with Emmanuel. “Nobody was his voice,” she told The Sun. “He didn’t deserve that at all.” The sense of collective grief and outrage was palpable, as the community struggled to comprehend how such a tragedy could unfold in their midst.
Meanwhile, the legal process is set to move forward. Rebecca and Jake Haro are due in court the week following August 24, where they will face the murder charges that have shocked the region. The case has sparked broader conversations about child welfare, law enforcement diligence, and the difficulties of investigating crimes where the victim is missing and the suspects are the parents themselves.
Authorities have stressed that, even without a recovered body, murder charges can be brought if circumstantial and forensic evidence is strong enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a homicide occurred and who is responsible. The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department’s actions, including the use of cadaver dogs and extensive forensic searches, reflect their confidence in the evidence gathered so far.
As the search for Emmanuel continues, the community—and the nation—waits for answers. The pain of uncertainty is compounded by the knowledge that the very people who should have protected the child now stand accused of his murder. For now, the blue candles, flowers, and prayers left along a fence in Cabazon serve as a somber reminder of a life cut tragically short, and a call for justice that won’t be silenced.
