The parents of missing baby Emmanuel Haro were in court on Thursday to enter not guilty pleas to murder charges.
An attorney for Rebecca Haro suggested moving the case to the Banning Justice Center rather Riverside, about 40 miles away, the Press-Enterprise reported. Superior Court Judge Gary Polk told him to file a motion making that request.
Haro, 41, and 32-year-old Jake Haro were charged last month with killing little Emmanuel and filing a false report, as CrimeOnline reported. Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said at a news conference that investigators “believe that Emmanuel was severely abused over a period of time.”
“Both parents would have been aware of that abuse,” he said.
Jake Haro denied that contention in a lengthy jailhouse interview with the Orange County Register in which he declared his wife innocent but declined to say the same for himself. He did say believed they were arrested because of his previous guilty plea on child abuse charges. That incident left his infant daughter bedridden.
The Haros reported 7-month-old Emmanuel missing on on August 14, with Rebecca Haro claiming that someone she did not see knocked her unconscious while she was changing Emmanuel’s diaper and took the boy. In dramatic and emotional interviews after the reported disappearance, she begged for help finding her son.
But investigators soon found “inconsistencies” in her stories, leading to the murder charges as well as a charge of filing a false police report.
The Haros are being represented by court-appointed attorneys, and two of them previously defended David and Louise Turpin, who were convicted on multiple child abuse charges in 2019.
The Turpins’ 13 children were rescued from their home in Perris, California, in January 2018, after a then-17-year-old daughter stole a cell phone from the house and called for help, as CrimeOnline reported. The children were found inside the “foul-smelling” home, many of them shackled in chains to filthy beds. They were sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Allison Lowe, now representing Jake Haro, represented David Turpin, the Press-Enterprise said. Jeff Moore, who represented Louise Turpin, is now representing Rebecca Haro.
The Haros have a preliminary hearing set for September 17. They’re being held on $1 million bails each.
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[Featured image: Emmanuel Haro/San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department]
