City News Service
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – Riverside County prosecutors today asked for the public’s “patience” until there’s further disclosure of details regarding a 7-month-old Cabazon toddler believed killed by his parents, saying the rush to judgment has led to a “significant amount of misinformation” circulating via social media and other channels.
“Please know that we are committed to providing accurate information,” according to a District Attorney’s Office statement released Friday afternoon. “Please understand we are bound by legal and ethical responsibilities that prevent us from sharing detailed case information publicly.”
The agency’s statement came two days after a formal news briefing regarding the case of baby Emmanuel Haro. His parents, 32-year-old Jake Mitchell Haro and 41-year-old Rebecca Rene Haro, have been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the disappearance.
They made their initial joint court appearance Tuesday and are due back in court on Sept. 4 for formal arraignment.
Ahead of, during and after this week’s news conference, speculation regarding how the toddler died, where his remains might have been dumped — even unconfirmed sightings of him alive — have persisted.
Sheriff Chad Bianco complained that “keyboard warriors” were pumping the rumor mill.
“We understand how deeply the community and media care about baby Emmanuel and are eager for information,” the D.A.’s office stated. “However, there has been a significant amount of misinformation circulating in the media and on social media, which can be confusing and frustrating for everyone.”
“We ask for your patience … and to trust the facts will be shared through appropriate official updates in due time,” the office said. “Spreading false information or rushing to conclusions can unintentionally hinder the investigation and impact court proceedings.”
D.A. Mike Hestrin said Wednesday it was the result of being “abused over time” that caused the baby’s death.
“We believe Emmanuel was severely abused … and because of the abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” he said.
The victim’s body has yet to be located, but Hestrin noted that investigators “have a pretty strong indication of where the remains of the baby are.”
The search is ongoing.
The couple were arrested last week following a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department investigation.
Each defendant is being held without bail — Jake Haro at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, his wife at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
“There were inconsistencies in Rebecca’s statements,” San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus told reporters, explaining why no statewide Amber Alert was issued when Emmanuel was first reported missing.
“There was forensic data from the crime scene,” he said. “That’s how we learned the jurisdiction where this crime occurred (Riverside County). Forensically, there were a number of things we were able to prove up.”
He did not disclose specifics, saying while no one can pinpoint where the tot’s remains are now, “there’s some level of cooperation from the defendants.”
Hestrin said the tot’s death was preventable, blaming a failure in the criminal justice system that enabled Jake Haro to remain free on probation after pleading guilty in a prior child abuse case involving his ex wife and another infant, Carolina.
In that case, Haro admitted a child cruelty charge in 2023, but made his plea directly to the court, avoiding negotiations with prosecutors. Hestrin said the prosecution wanted prison for the defendant’s extensive abuse of the girl, which resulted in multiple broken ribs, a fractured skull and a brain hemorrhage. The 2018 damage left her permanently bed-ridden, he said.
“The judge decided that Mr. Haro deserved an extra break and gave him (four years’) probation and basically 180 days of work release, which ends up being like community service,” the county’s top prosecutor said.
The judge, on assignment from San Bernardino County, was not named in the court register online.
“It was an outrageous error in judgment by this judge,” Hestrin said. “If that judge had done his job, Emmanuel would be alive today.”
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department personnel were examining potential body dump sites along the Moreno Valley (60) Freeway in the Badlands at the end of last week, without success.
Emmanuel was reported missing in the 34000 block of Yucaipa Boulevard in Yucaipa on the evening of Aug. 14.
Rebecca Haro told deputies she’d been assaulted while standing near her vehicle, changing Emmanuel’s diaper outside a Big 5 store. The defendant suggested she was knocked out, and that the assailant fled with the tot.
On Aug. 18, San Bernardino County sheriff’s detectives served search warrants at the Haro home with the help of K9 units, and “a large amount of surveillance video” was obtained from areas of interest for review, according to the agency.
Jake Haro was arrested last year in Banning and charged with illegal possession of a loaded firearm, as well as probation violations. That case has not been resolved.
Court documents also revealed that Isabel Rebecca Gonzalez, Haro’s former spouse, filed a domestic violence retraining order against him with a request to protect the couple’s son, Eli.
Rebecca Haro has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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