Riverside County prosecutors this week for the first time offered specific details on the suffering they allege a 7-month-old boy endured in 2025 and why they believe his mother, Cabazon resident Rebecca Renee Haro, should be held for trial in Emmanuel’s disappearance and apparent death.
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That information was revealed in a document filed on Wednesday, May 26, by the District Attorney’s Office ahead of Friday’s preliminary hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice, where a judge will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed with the charges of murder and filing a false police report. Haro is not required to testify, nor must she present a defense.
Assistant District Attorney Brandon Smith wrote that Melissa Siccama, a forensic pediatrics specialist at Loma Linda University Health, reviewed photographs and videos of Emmanuel throughout his brief life. She identified symptoms that she said indicated the baby suffered from abnormal shaking of his extremities related to a brain injury, breathing difficulties, possible seizures, abnormal eye positioning and diminished responsiveness, Smith wrote.
“The evidence is expected to show that these symptoms did not appear suddenly on the day of Emmanuel’s death,” Smith wrote. “Instead, the symptoms developed over time and were observable to anyone regularly caring for the child.”
Smith also wrote that evidence will be presented at the preliminary hearing that Rebecca Haro knew or suspected that Emmanuel was being abused by his father, Jake Haro, and exhibited “persistent, visible and alarming” symptoms, but failed to act.
“Instead,” the prosecutor wrote, “Rebecca participated in the fabrication of a false kidnapping story designed to conceal the homicide.”
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Haro’s attorney, Jeff Moore, declined to comment Thursday.
Prosecutors believe Emmanuel died in early August 2025. He remains missing.
On Aug. 14, 2025, Haro reported that Emmanuel had been stolen from her by a man who slugged her as she changed the baby’s diaper in the parking lot of a Big 5 sporting goods store in Yucaipa. The couple soon gave a tearless interview to the news media, but San Bernardino County sheriff’s detectives quickly announced they had found unspecified inconsistencies in her statement to investigators.
The couple was arrested at their home on Aug. 22.
The DA is seeking a second-degree murder conviction, which carries a maximum of 15 years to life in state prison. The false-report charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail. Haro has pleaded not guilty to both charges, and maintained her innocence in a jailhouse interview with a Southern California News Group reporter.
Second-degree murder involves the theory of implied malice, or reckless disregard for human life, such as when a driver with a DUI conviction and who has been warned about the danger still drives under the influence and causes a fatal collision.
Jake Haro pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and assault on a child under 8 causing death on Oct. 16, 2025. He was sentenced to more than 30 years in state prison, a term he is serving at Salinas Valley State Prison. Haro, in a jailhouse interview before his conviction, said he did not abuse Emmanuel and that his wife is innocent.
News of Emmanuel’s disappearance prompted residents of the region to conduct their own searches and build a makeshift memorial outside the baby’s home. The case has generated nationwide headlines and been covered by a legion of mainstream and new media, including citizen journalists on TikTok, and has spawned several Facebook groups dedicated to it.
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