Jake Haro, father of missing baby Emmanuel, sentenced to 25 years to life

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Jake Haro, the father of missing baby Emmanuel Haro, was sentenced Monday for the murder of his 7-month-old baby.

What we know:

Jake was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. A separate preliminary hearing is scheduled for Rebecca Haro, the mother of the child, but it's uncertain whether that will proceed. She's charged with murder and filing a false police report.

Jake is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility. His spouse is being held on $1 million bail at the Robert Presley
Jail.

In October, he pleaded guilty to all charges, which include second-degree murder, filing a false police report, and assault of a child under 8; great bodily injury resulting in death. 

Parents report kidnapping 

The backstory:

Jake and Rebecca were each charged with felony murder with malice on Aug. 26 in the death of their son Emmanuel, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s office. They were also charged with filing a false police report, which is a misdemeanor. 

The Haros initially reported that their son had been kidnapped on Aug. 14, though investigators later determined that did not happen.

Investigators believe Emmanuel died as early as Aug. 5, which is the last day detectives could confirm he was alive. The remains of baby Emmanuel have not been found.

SUGGESTED: Emmanuel Haro's father pleads guilty to murder of missing baby son

His mother told investigators that she had been attacked while changing Emmanuel's diaper in the parking lot of a store in the San Bernardino County community of Yucaipa, authorities said. She claimed that someone said "Hola" to her, after which everything "went blank."

"I woke up on the floor, and my son was gone," she said in a previous interview with FOX 11. 

The couple appeared on several news reports making pleas to the public to help find their son. In the days that followed, investigators said the couple had stopped cooperating, adding that there were "inconsistencies" in the mother's story. Investigators declined to discuss what these inconsistencies were.

SUGGESTED: Emmanuel Haro's mother speaks from jail, insists 7-month-old baby was kidnapped

On Aug. 22, the Haros were taken into custody on suspicion of murder at their home in Cabazon, 90 miles east of Los Angeles.

Authorities searched the family's home, and over the weekend they searched for the boy's body near a freeway while his father, wearing a jail jumpsuit, was present. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said it wouldn't describe Jake's presence during the search as "providing assistance," but declined to elaborate.

Past criminal charges 

According to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, Jake Haro was arrested and charged last year in Banning with illegal possession of a loaded firearm, as well as probation violations. 

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.

District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Emmanuel's death was preventable, blaming a failure in the criminal justice system for enabling Jake to remain free on probation after pleading guilty in a child abuse case involving his ex-wife and another infant, Carolina.

In 2023, Haro admitted to a child cruelty charge, but made his plea directly to the court, avoiding negotiations with prosecutors. Hestrin said the DA's office had wanted prison for the defendant's extensive abuse of the girl, which resulted in broken ribs, a fractured skull and a brain hemorrhage, leaving her permanently bedridden.