Jake Haro, in an unanticipated move during a court hearing to finalize arrangements for his preliminary hearing and that of his wife and co-defendant, pleaded guilty this morning, Thursday October 15, in Riverside Superior Court to second degree murder in the death of his infant son.
The plea provides some but not all of the answers to a set of evolving questions that have been extant for more than two months. It seemingly confirms what investigators and prosecutors and a significant portion of the public has believed and alleged for some time, which is that the original story about the disappearance of 7-month Emmanuel Haro told by the child’s mother, Rebecca Haro, was patently untrue.
In that version of events, provided to members of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on August 14, she, her husband, Jake, Jake’s two-year-old sister and his ten-year-old half brother had driven to Yucaipa from the Haro home in Cabazon in Riverside County so the ten-year-old could participate in a football scrimmage/practice at the large sports facility there. According to Rebecca Haro, she went to the Big 5 Sporting Goods Store several blocks from the sports facility to purchase a mouth guard for her stepson, where in the parking lot she stopped to change Emmanuel’s diaper. As she was doing so, sometime 7:44 p.m. and 7:54 p.m., with the 7-month-old on the backseat of the family vehicle, she said, she was sucker-punched by a man who had greeted her in Spanish. When she came to on the ground moments later, she said, Emmanuel was gone.
Initially, her story was lent credibility by the consideration that she had a blackened right eye. An all points bulletin went out as an intensive search was initiated, which resulted in a report that the child had been sighted in Kern County near Bakersfield.
Within a few days, however, contradictions in Rebecca Haro’s story emerged, as video footage from cameras in the area either did not confirm her version of events or seemed at odds with it. A social media frenzy ensued, which entailed the relatively new brand of citizen journalists, among whom were both amateur and professional videographers, staking out the Haro’s home, following them and tracing their previous movements in the days and weeks prior to Emmanuel’s disappearance. Some of those efforts churned up information that went beyond what sheriff’s department investigators were able to obtain, such as indications that Rebecca Haro’s eye was blackened as early as August 3.
Both of the Haros were confronted with this information and other details gleaned by detectives when they were interviewed, reinterviewed and interrogated over the course of the next three days, at which point Rebecca Haro grew uncooperative. The investigation at that point made a crucial shift, with the parents now suspects in what was believed to be the death of their child.
Late in the evening on Sunday, August 18, an identification of Jake Emmanuel Haro and Jake Mitchell Haro as being one and the same was received through a backchannel to several media organizations and social media outlets. Riverside County Superior Court records showed that a conviction against Jake Mitchell Haro had been entered against him in June 2023, stemming from his arrest on charges of child cruelty in Hemet four years and 8 months previously. Both Haro and his then wife, Vanessa Avina,  were arrested on October 13, 2018 after their 10-week-old daughter, Carolina Rose, was admitted to Hemet Valley Hospital. Doctors reported to police that the girl had a “fresh” and “acute” fractured rib, six previously fractured ribs, a previous leg bone fracture and a previous skull fracture, all of which were in a state of “healing,” swelling of the neck and a brain hemorrhage.
Carolina Rose, who was severely disabled after having had to undergo a tracheotomy and was rendered blind, unable to walk or speak, with three to seven percent brain function because of the beating to her head, making her entirely dependent upon her caregiver, was adopted by Vanessa’s sister, who changed the child’s name to Promise Faith.
A criminal case against Jake Mitchell Haro and Vanessa Avina was pursued by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and dragged out for nearly five years, which concluded with his 2023 conviction for willful cruelty to a child.
It was incidentally mentioned that Haro had been arrested while in possession of a gun, and was yet facing charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The already pointed suppositions on multiple social media sites that were suggesting the parents were involved in the child’s disappearance reached a cacophonous crescendo thereafter, at which point the involved law enforcement entities echoed those accusations, albeit in less sensationalistic terms, and without disclosing the basis for that conclusion. A wide cross section of the traditional press and media, hamstrung by the standard limitations relating to sourcing and the production of verified specifics, while taken aback by Jake Haro’s criminal history that consisted of extreme abuse of a child, noted, without publishing as much, that the presumption of the Haros’ guilt was unaccompanied by any specific hard evidence to support the inferences being drawn.
Yet another corner on the case was turned when both Jake and Rebecca were rousted at 6:59 a.m., on August 22 by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department deputies and detectives, who arrested them on suspicion of the murder of their son. They were entrusted to the custody of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, which delayed in booking them. Rebecca was not booked into official custody at the jail until 12:32 p.m., more than a half hour after noon, five-and-a-half hours after her arrest. Jake was not booked until 5:33 p.m., a full ten-and-a-half hours after his arrest.
During that time, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department used the opportunity to place undercover officers into the inmate population in the holding cells where both were being detained. Those officers, in the guise of individuals who had just been arrested themselves, attempted to befriend the Haros in an effort to gain their confidence and thereby obtain statements from them that further implicated them in the murder of their son, together with possible hints with regard to where the child’s remains were located.
Within days, word of the undercover operation became public knowledge, as did investigators inability to locate the body of the child. The situation was compounded by a series of statements emanating out of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, ones which failed to hold up or which appeared, based upon available information, to be internally inconsistent or self-serving from the standpoint of the sheriff’s department or plain wrong. One report was that Jake Haro had admitted, either to another inmate or an undercover officer masquerading as an inmate, to killing the child in a fit of rage and then disposing of him in the trash. It went around that Jake had admitted to killing the child accidentally when he rolled over on the infant in bed, crushing him. Thereafter, in a panic, he scattered the remains in the wilderness.
Whereas previously, the detectives with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in investigating the matter had embraced the opportunity that the widespread public interest and accompanying social media scrutiny provided them in pressuring the Haros to further their effort to learn what the actual circumstances surrounding Emmanuel’s disappearance were, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and in particular Sheriff Chad Bianco, with the couple in their custody, proved to be far less adept at harnessing the glare of attention that attended the case for any positive effect. The public, expectant as a consequence of the arrests of the parents that at minimum an explication of the facts with regard to the killing of the child by his parents would be provided and anticipating an even more comprehensive detailing of what had occurred, found themselves stonewalled as the Riverside Sheriff’s Department showed itself to be far less forthcoming than the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Bianco and his crew grew even more coy when it was pressed about the most basic element of the murder, i.e., how the child had died. It was at that point that it was intimated that the child’s body had not been found. On August 24, two days after the arrests, amid reports that Jake Haro was cooperating with his jailers, what was hoped would prove to be a public relations coup for the department, news outlets were tipped off that something significant was in the offing, and they were directed to a location along the 60 Freeway east of Moreno Valley. Those who took the hint, found themselves at a lookout point along the side of the freeway near Gilman Springs Road, proximate to the San Timoteo Badlands, a rugged, hilly area of eroded scrubland that separates Moreno Valley from Beaumont. A good number of law enforcement personnel were there, partially up the hillside, walking along a fire access road with Jake Haro, clad in his orange jail jumpsuit. The press and other members of the public were prohibited from progressing up the fire access road by police scene cordon tape not far from the freeway. Haro and his escorts could, however, be seen from a distance, and those with telephoto lenses on their cameras captured both still and moving images of the accused child murderer as he appeared to be guiding his jailers to different spots along where the fire access road met the indigenous chaparral. There was no opportunity to speak with Haro, so much as shout questions to him or overhear his exchanges with the law enforcement officers surrounding him. Nevertheless, the implication was clear: it at the very least appeared that he was leading investigators to the body of Emmanuel. Photos of Jake Haro were posted to social media sites that day and appeared in the following days newspapers, some of the captions for which strongly suggested that the child’s remains had been recovered. A copy of the Monday, August 25 edition of the local Riverside Press-Enterprise was left in the common area on the seventh floor of the Robert Pressley Detention Center in downtown Riverside, where Rebecca Haro was housed.
In this way, the gesture by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department on August 24 came across as designed to kill two birds with a single stone, that is, induce Rebecca Haro to open up to those she was in detention with, including the undercover deputy who had been planted in her midst, as well as to lead the general public toward the conclusion that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was on top of the situation. It was the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department which had initially established a connection with Jake Haro, such that it was officers from that agency with whom he was interacting. When that agency put out a statement that the “search for Emmanuel Haro” included the use of “cadaver dogs… has concluded, and Emmanuel was not located,” the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department found itself back where it had started, trying to justify an arrest that to many came across as premature.
That provoked some intemperate remarks from Sheriff Bianco, who instead of perceiving the public’s close scrutiny of the case as providing him with more eyes an ears to see the matter from a different perspective than that which he and his investigators were locked into, felt he was being crowded and subject to unwelcome skepticism. He unsubtly suggested that the amateurs who had covered ground in the early phase of the case and had clued the San Bernardino County investigators into some salient facts should simply butt out and leave the investigating to the professionals. Despite that assertion, the questions that naturally proceeded from the arrest of the Haros did not diminish, but intensified, with the central issue being how could the couple be charged with murder when there was no body. And, scores, hundreds, indeed thousands of members of the public wanted to know, if there was no body, what evidence did law enforcement have to indicate the child was dead and why couldn’t it be disclosed.
Bianco and his department was given some level of assistance when Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, lodged charges against both of the Haros, consisting of one charge of murder, Penal Code Section 187, and filing a false police report, Penal Code Section PC 148.5, each. At the Haros scheduled arraignment on August 26, however, the proceedings were abruptly continued until September 4. With the crescendo of skepticism intensifying, something needed to be done. The following day, Hestrin called a press conference, where he stood side-by-side with San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus and Bianco to stand down any suggestion from anyone that the case against the two parents was somehow invalid. That the prosecutor for Riverside County, where the child’s death had presumably occurred, was putting his imprimatur on the murder charges, at least at first, appeared to stymie the suggestions that either of the sheriff’s departments had gotten ahead of themselves in collaring the couple.
Hestrin’s gravitas, at least initially, stood off those who questioned the basis of the case. Relatively early on, in fact, Hestrin, most likely to his later regret, endeavored to move everyone over the lack-of-a-body hump. When a reporter delved into whether the location of Emmanuel’s body was known, Hestrin took, or at least seemed to take, the bull by the horns, though he was actually cleverly sidestepping the pitfall relating to the lack of a body of the murder victim by somewhat slyly suggesting, without directly saying, that the body had been located.
“Yes,” Hestrin said. “We have a pretty strong indication of where the remains of Baby Emmanuel are.” He implied but did not specifically state that it was now just a matter of a scientific confirmation being made. “That investigation is ongoing at this time,” he said.
Later in the press conference, however, Ahmed Bellozo, one of the new breed of citizen reporters who lacks any formal journalistic training or polish, whose methodology of newsgathering consists of being armed with a microphone and an accompanying videographer as he conducts man-or-woman-on the-street interviews pertaining to whatever issue he has taken an interest in without observing the niceties or manners of traditional newspapermen or media personalities, was given an opportunity to question the district attorney. Bellozo, despite his dearth of experience, in seeking out material for his Tik Tok Channel “On The Tira,” latched onto the Baby Emmanuel Haro disappearance as a subject that would bring in viewers. Running on energy, intrepidity, resourcefulness and boldness, bordering on what some consider unmitigated gall and guided by instinct and perhaps some tips from nameless law enforcement sources rather than established or standard journalistic means, Bellozo somehow managed in the early going of the Haro case to get information that no one – including the sheriff’s department, the local press, the regional press, the national press, the mass media or his new age social media competitors – were able to nail down. Bellozo, either unable or unwilling to adhere to the polite norms of comportment typically employed by professional news crews, did not hesitate to put Hestrin on the spot. Did authorities, Bellozo asked Hestrin, have Baby Emmanuel’s body or didn’t they?
Hestrin, the highly refined, sophisticated and experienced prosecutor who has a mastery of pinning things and people down, was himself pinned down, having to give an explicit rather than the elliptical answer he had tried to get away with before.
“I didn’t say I know where the remains are,” Hestrin responded to Bellozo’s challenge.
For over a month-and-a-half, the credibility of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and law enforcement in the county in general has been on the line, as questions about whether it was incompetence or outright abuse of authority that had led to the premature arrests of the Haros. In the back of the minds of at least some was the possibility that Emmanuel Haro would turn up in some unlikely place, but alive. Such a development would have had major implications on the political future of Bianco, who is chasing after the Republican nomination for California governor in 2026, and Hestrin, who is due to seek reelection as district attorney next year as well.
Yesterday’s development sets any such issues aside.
The question yet remains, however: Where are the remains of Emmanuel Haro?
With Jake Haro having entered guilty pleas, it would seem that maintaining secrecy about that issue for investigative purposes is no longer necessary.
Jake’s admission of responsibility in the death of his son will impact, inevitably, the case against Rebecca. Straight up, Jake admitting that the child is dead and that he had a full or a partial hand in killing him renders untenable, or so it would seem under virtually every conceivable scenario, Rebecca’s not guilty plea to filing a false police report. At the same time, depending on what future statements or testimony Jake provides, in particular the degree to which he takes responsibility for Emmanuel’s death, the murder case against his wife could be severely compromised.
Of note is that Jake made his plea directly to Judge Gary Polk. The district attorney was not a party, at least ostensibly and officially, to the terms of the plea. He pleaded guilty to Penal Code §187, second degree murder, signifying that he had not planned to take the life of his son in advance, and two accompanying charges Penal Code §273A, abuse of a child resulting in death, and Penal Code §148.5, filing a false police report.
Under California Penal Code §273a applies to “Any person, having the care or custody of a child who is under eight years of age, who assaults the child by means of force that to a reasonable person would be likely to produce great bodily injury, resulting in the child’s death.”
The district attorney’s office had the option of objecting to the guilty plea arrangement but did lodge any resistance to Judge Polk accepting Haro’s plea. Of note, the district attorney’s office, in the personage of Assistant Deputy District Attorney Brandon Smith, who was assigned to prosecute the Haros, could have fought Haro and his attorneys on the issue of second degree murder, but chose not to, most likely because of the accompanying Penal Code §273A admission.
While California Penal Code §187, prosecuted as a second degree offense, does not involve or hinge on prior intent, California Penal Code §273a entails an intent element. For that reason, it appears, the district attorney’s office was willing to accept Haro’s plea with the judge without protest.
A Penal Code §187 conviction brings with it a mandatory 15 years to life sentence. A Penal Code §273A conviction entails an even stiffer penalty of a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life. The Penal Code §148.5 is a minor consideration, punishable by six months in jail. The real battle between Jake Haro’s attorneys and the prosecution will come down to convincing Judge Polk to impose his sentences concurrently or consecutively. If Judge Polk sides with the prosecution and rules that Haro must serve consecutive sentences – 25 years followed by 15 more years for a total of 40 years, he will remain incarcerated for a substantially longer term. If Judge Polk imposes the sentences concurrently, allowing him to serve the 15-year sentence while he is serving the 25-year sentence, he could see his sentence, practically, reduced to one quarter of a century.
Under California law, an offender guilty of murder is required to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole or early release. Thus, if Judge Polk imposes a concurrent sentence, Haro, conceivably, could be released from prison in 21 years and three months, dependent upon his behavior in prison and other factors. Rarely are murderers granted parole on their first go-round, meaning even if all of the factors moved in Haro’s favor, he would not likely be released, at the earliest until late 2047. lf Judge Polk imposes consecutive sentences, Haro would be unlikely to gain his freedom, just with regard to the charges relating to the death of his son, until 2061.
Haro on Thursday also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge from 2024, being a felon in possession of a firearm, which carries with it a sentence of from 16 months to three years in jail. He further acknowledged violating probation on the previous offense involving his daughter Carolina Rose, which could result in his original six year sentence of six years in prison, which was suspended, being reinstated.
Because the prosecution was not, apparently, party to the plea negotiations, it did not have the opportunity to condition acceptance of the plea upon Jake’s agreement to cooperate – i.e., testify as a witness in a way that would be favorable to the prosecution – with the district attorney’s office going forward. While it is perhaps too early to make a definitive interpretation of that aspect of Thursday’s development, it is a possible indication that Jake is on a trajectory to take the fall for his son’s death and testify to the effect that Rebecca was not involved in the child’s killing, rendering it likely that the prosecution will need to content itself with a conviction against her of being an accessory to murder, most likely after the fact.
Rebecca Haro was in the courtroom on Thursday, at which time preparations for her preliminary were to be dealt with. Judge Polk extended her preliminary hearing date from October 28 until November 3, the same date he set for Jake Haro’s sentencing. It is therefore possible she will be present for his sentencing, unless it is postponed.
Meanwhile, sources tell the Sentinel, Assistant Deputy District Attorney Smith was in a tentative mode with regard to moving ahead on the case, given that the child’s body has yet to be found. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office has successfully prosecuted murder cases previously in which the alleged victim’s corpse was not produced. Still, Smith was nervous about taking a case to trial in which he would not be able to say how the child had died. That consideration was a factor in his willingness to accept without objection Jake Haro’s plea, the Sentinel is informed. His misgivings remain with regard to proceeding to trial on the murder charges against Rebecca Haro, those within his orbit report.
With Jake’s guilty plea and evidence in the possession of investigators to indicate that her eye may have been blackened as early as August 3, the prosecution now must anticipate a redirection on the part of her defense that will explore whether a jury will find a narrative that she was physically coerced by her husband to concoct the false report of Emmanuel’s kidnapping to assist him in covering up his killing of the child, an act she had no foreknowledge of.