On August 14, 2025, Rebecca and Jake Haro told the world their seven-month-old son Emmanuel had been kidnapped from a California parking lot. It was a lie. Rebecca claimed a stranger knocked her unconscious while she was changing Emmanuel’s diaper outside a store in Yucaipa. She later appeared on camera with a black eye as she and Jake pleaded publicly for their baby’s return. Investigators quickly found inconsistencies. Eight days later, both parents were arrested. Prosecutors eventually established that Emmanuel had died after suffering repeated physical abu*e inflicted by his father, Jake, while Rebecca failed to protect him or seek medical help. The kidnapping story had been staged afterward to hide his death. Then investigators uncovered Jake’s past. In 2018, another infant daughter of his suffered a skull fracture, brain hemorrhage, broken ribs and other serious injuries that left her permanently disabled. Jake pleaded guilty to child cruelty in 2023, but a judge suspended his prison sentence and gave him work release and probation instead. In October 2025, Jake pleaded guilty to m*rdering Emmanuel He was sentenced to 25 years to life, plus additional consecutive prison time from his previous cases. Then, in May 2026, Rebecca pleaded guilty to involuntary man*laughter, child ab*se and helping conceal the crime. She received 12 years and eight months in prison.