Jake Haro, father of a 7-month-old whom he and wife Rebecca Haro falsely reported as kidnapped before being charged in his disappearance, pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering “Baby Haro,” as the child came to be known.
Jake Haro, 32, of Cabazon, Calif., entered guilty pleas to one count each of second-degree murder, child endangerment, and filing a false police report, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. The baby’s remains still have not been found.
Emmanuel Haro was last seen around Aug. 5, People reported. Investigators believe he died from the effects of “a lifetime of abuse” sometime between then and Aug. 14, when his mother called police claiming her baby had been kidnapped. Rebecca Haro, 41, told police someone had snuck up and knocked her unconscious as she changed Emmanuel’s diaper in her car in a store parking lot. When she came to, her son was gone.
At first Rebecca Haro was treated like a traumatized mother, but that gave way to suspicion as “inconsistencies” cropped up in the couple’s story, authorities said at the time. The pair stopped cooperating with police and were arrested Aug. 22 on suspicion of first-degree murder. They were charged with murder with malice and filing a false police report and held on $1 million bail each. Both pleaded not guilty.
Their 2-year-old child was also removed from their home, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said at the time.
Jake Haro had pleaded guilty in 2023 to willful cruelty to a child after being arrested in 2018 for abusing a daughter he had with a previous partner, leaving her permanently disabled.
He did not strike a plea deal and will face a potential of 25 years to life in prison at his Nov. 3 sentencing. Rebecca Haro’s preliminary hearing on charges of murder and filing a false police report is scheduled for the same day, the prosecutor’s office said. She remains held on $1 million bail.
With News Wire Services
