Detectives descended on the home of a California couple who claim their 7-month-old baby was kidnapped last week, looking for answers in the mysterious case as unsettling new details emerged about their past.
The search for baby Emmanuel Haro intensified over the weekend, days after his mother Rebecca Haro reported he had been abducted from a Big 5 Sporting Goods parking lot in Yucaipa.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators searched the Cabazon home of Rebecca and the baby’s father Jacob “Jake” Haro on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the department confirmed to The Independent that the home was searched with K9 units but declined to say what investigators recovered.
She added that investigators are continuing the search for Emmanuel and are looking into everything and everyone. She confirmed that authorities have not ruled out foul play.
Rebecca Haro initially told authorities that while she was changing Emmanuel’s diaper outside her vehicle on August 14, a man attacked her and knocked her unconscious. When she came to, she said, the baby was gone.
A search was launched and investigators interviewed the parents but said the pair stopped cooperating after being confronted with inconsistencies in her story.
Family members told KTLA that deputies asked Rebecca to take a lie detector test, while Jake refused until they obtained an attorney. Meanwhile, Emmanuel’s grandmother, Mary Beushausen, insisted the parents would not harm their son.
She told KTLA that Rebecca had turned off her phone after receiving death threats, and that Jake was also not answering calls. Investigators have since removed the couple’s 2-year-old child from the home pending the investigation.
Adding to the scrutiny are revelations about Jake Haro’s criminal history. Court records show he was convicted of willful child cruelty in 2023 following a case in which his infant daughter with a previous spouse suffered multiple severe injuries, including a skull fracture, brain hemorrhage, and broken ribs.
Both Jake and his then-wife, Vanessa Avina, pleaded guilty. Jake was sentenced to 180 days in a sheriff’s work-release program and ordered into a child abuser treatment program.
Doctors who treated the child in that case wrote in a sworn affidavit that the injuries were “indicative of abuse head trauma, child physical abuse and nutritional neglect.”
The Uvalde Foundation for Kids, which had offered a $5,000 reward for information, pulled its support less than a day later, citing inconsistencies in the parents’ story.
Rebecca, who had previously made emotional public pleas for Emmanuel’s return, has since retained legal representation along with her husband. Their phone numbers were removed from missing-person flyers, and relatives say the couple is no longer answering calls.
As of Monday, investigators were again seen searching the Haro property, KTLA reported. Officials have not announced any arrests or charges.
Emmanuel, who weighs about 20 pounds, has light brown wavy hair and was last seen wearing a black Nike onesie, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
