The parents of a missing baby have been arrested as police continue to search for his remains.
Emmanuel Haro was likely not kidnapped and is now presumed dead, the local sheriff’s office has said in a heartbreaking update.
The seven-month-old was reported missing on August 14 after his mother claimed to have been attacked outside a Big 5 store in Yucaipa, California.
Both parents, Jake, 32 and Rebecca, 41, were arrested at their home in Carazon, near Palm Springs on Friday after officers concluded that no such offence had taken place.
They were both taken to a jail in Riverside County without bail.
Court records show that Jake Haro had a previous conviction for wilful cruelty towards another child in 2023.
The LA Times reported he argued that he had dropped the baby girl in a sink while bathing her, a claim not stood up by the infant’s injuries.
He is now due to appear in court in September after breaching his probation.
Vincent Hughes, who is representing Jake in that case, said the father was not ‘running’ from his criminal past, but that the facts in Emmanuel Haro’s case were ‘far different’.
‘They just want their son back, they want people to put in the same effort that they’re using to question them to go out and search for Emmanuel’, he said.
San Bernardino County Sheriff department said while the latest development was ‘significant’, it was focussed on finding Emmanuel’s remains in the first instance.
Sheriff Shannon Dicus said: ‘The circumstances surrounding this investigation are tragic and we will continue to search for Emmanuel.
‘I want to thank members of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the community, and media for bringing attention to this case. I trust our justice system will hold the parents accountable.’
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