Rebecca Haro appeared in court looking exhausted and haggard as she faced charges of helping her husband Jake torture their infant son Emmanuel to death and then fabricate a kidnapping story to cover up the horrifying crime.
The accused baby-killer had bags under her eyes and an expression of despair as lawyers discussed the details of her impending trial in Riverside County court Wednesday.
No trial date has been set, but another hearing was scheduled for March 26.
Haro, 41, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and filing a false police report, even though Jake Haro, 32, pleaded guilty to murder in October and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The Haros’ tragic, twisting saga began in August, when Rebecca claimed a Spanish-speaking man attacked her while she was changing Emmanuel’s diaper in a San Bernardino parking lot and ran off with the tot.
The parents have weepy interviews on TV news begging the kidnapper to return their baby, but authorities allegedly found “inconsistencies” in the story and soon arrested the pair for murder.
Baby Emmanuel’s remains have not been found, but Jake reportedly admitted to an undercover inmate that he killed the child and dumped his body in a trash can, according to NewsNation’s Brian Entin.
Jake Haro had been on probation for a previous, horrific act of child abuse, one that left his 10-week-old daughter from a previous marriage maimed and bedridden for life in 2023.
Jake served no jail time for that crime, despite prosecutors’ urging the San Bernardino judge to put him behind bars.
Emmanuel suffered a similar fate—and his mom was one of the abusers, prosecutors claim.
“We believe baby Emmanuel was subject to abuse over time, and because of that abuse, he succumbed to his injuries,” Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin told reporters in August.
Even from a jail cell, Rebecca Haro stuck to the bogus kidnapping story.
“I want to be out looking for my baby. … I will not give up. I will not give up on my baby,” Rebecca Haro told Southern California News Group on August 24.
Soon after his wife made that claim, Jake was spotted with sheriff’s deputies in a remote field, apparently helping search for Emmanuel’s body.
The father was sentenced to 25 years to life in November.
