The father of newborn Emmanuel Haro will spend at least the next three decades in prison after pleading guilty to his son’s murder.
Jake Haro appeared in a California courtroom on Monday, Nov. 3, and was sentenced to 25 to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder, submitting a false police report, and child endangerment, among other counts.
Prosecutors of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office proposed the murder sentence to the court. Jake will serve at least five years in prison on the remaining offenses, for a total term of at least thirty years, according to KTLA.
It has been nearly three months since anyone has seen Emmanuel alive. He was only 7 months old when he went missing, and authorities believe he died.
Meanwhile, Rebecca Haro, Emmanuel’s mother and Jake’s wife, continues to plead not guilty to murder.
She and her husband first pleaded not guilty, but her husband abruptly confessed to his son’s death in October. Despite Jake’s confession, there is no evidence that he told authorities how he killed the youngster or where the boy’s remains could be recovered.
Rebecca stated that her son was taken on August 14 just before 8 p.m. from the parking lot of a sporting goods store in Yucaipa, a city about 10 miles east of San Bernardino.
“I took him out of the car seat and laid him on the chair, and I had his diapers right here,” Rebecca stated after making what authorities believe was a bogus kidnapping allegation. “Someone said ‘Hola,’ and I couldn’t even turn and … I don’t remember nothing.”
Rebecca claimed that her next memory was waking up to find her son gone. At first, no one questioned the heartbroken mother, who still had the massive black eye she claimed she had incurred in the attack, as reported by PEOPLE.
According to authorities, the inquiry immediately became stalled due to significant contradictions in Rebecca’s allegations.
Investigators also said that the pair began to withdraw themselves and, within a week, had stopped offering any assistance in the case.
That prompted the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to redirect the focus of their investigation, and on August 22, the agency issued a statement declaring that deputies had “determined a kidnapping in Yucaipa did not occur.”
After hundreds of hours of searching for the missing baby, the statement read: “It is believed Emmanuel is deceased, and the search to recover his remains is ongoing.”
Jake and Rebecca were arrested on suspicion of murder the same day and booked into jail.
On August 24, Jake briefly left jail to assist investigators in their search for his son.
According to a copy of the criminal complaint acquired by PEOPLE, authorities now believe Emmanuel was slain days before his mother’s false allegations, with the child’s last confirmed sighting on August 5.
In a separate case, Jake pleaded guilty to willful neglect of a child two years ago after severely assaulting his 10-week-old daughter.
The event occurred in 2018, and the girl’s injuries were so serious that prosecutors told a news conference she is “permanently bedridden” and has cerebral palsy as a result of the abuse.
Rebecca is still being held on $1 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court on November 3 for a preliminary hearing on murder and false police report charges.
The couple also has a 2-year-old child who has been removed from their care.
