Photo: San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
Officials in California believe 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro was killed nine days before his mother, Rebecca, falsely reported that he was kidnapped, KTLA reports.
Investigators pieced together a potential timeline for the still-missing child who is suspected to be dead, with his potential murder taking place sometime between August 5 and August 14. Rebecca, who along with her husband, Jake, faces charges of murder with malice and false reporting of a crime, after falsely claiming she was attacked by a strange man outside the Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Yucaipa while changing her son's diaper in the store's parking lot.
An investigation into the incident found inconsistencies in Rebecca and Jake Haro's stories and the couple stopped cooperating with the investigation and retained a lawyer shortly after being named as primary suspects of the murder investigation.
“Based on the evidence, investigators determined a kidnapping in Yucaipa did not occur. It is believed Emmanuel is deceased, and the search to recover his remains is ongoing,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said last Friday (August 22).
Rebecca was spotted at the same store days before making the kidnapping report and asked if there were exterior security cameras as her car had previously been burglarized in the same lot. The mother maintained her innocence, claiming she and her husband, who also share a 2-year-old daughter, would never hurt their infant son after their arrests.
“I want to be out looking for my baby. … I will not give up. I will not give up on my baby,” she told Southern California News Group on Sunday (August 24) via the New York Post.