RIVERSIDE, CA — The wife of a serial child abuser accused of conspiring with him in the death of their 7-month-old son in Cabazon is slated to appear Friday for a preliminary hearing, which will determine whether she should be tried for murder.
Rebecca Renee Haro, 42, is charged with the felony count, as well as filing a false police report, in connection with the killing of "Baby Emmanuel" in August.
Her spouse, 33-year-old Jake Mitchell Haro, pleaded guilty in October to second-degree murder, child assault and filing a false police report. He was sentenced in November to 32 years to life in state prison.
Rebecca Haro, who is being held on $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is due to appear before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jerry Yang for a preliminary hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice Friday morning.
The hearing may take more than a day to complete. But if all law enforcement witnesses finish testifying Friday, the judge is expected to make a ruling then on whether there's sufficient evidence to bound the woman over for trial.
Emmanuel's body has not been located.
Rebecca Haro's mother, Mary Beushausen, addressed the court during her son-in-law's sentencing hearing, placing all of the blame on him for what happened, saying that if she'd known the toddler was in danger, she would have "gotten (Rebecca) out of that situation" and saved the tot from harm.
"Jake takes (his rage) out on babies," Beushausen said. "He's not man enough to face another man."
Jake and Rebecca Haro were arrested on Aug. 22, following a San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department investigation.
"There was forensic data from the crime scene," San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said during a news briefing in late August. "That's how we learned the jurisdiction where this crime occurred (Riverside County). Forensically, there were a number of things we were able to prove."
Emmanuel was reported missing in the 34000 block of Yucaipa Boulevard, in Yucaipa, on the evening of Aug. 14.
Rebecca Haro told deputies she'd been assaulted while standing near her vehicle, changing Emmanuel's diaper outside a Big 5 store. The defendant suggested she was knocked out and that the assailant fled with the tot.
On Aug. 18, sheriff's detectives served a search warrant at the defendants' Ramona Street property, and "a large amount of surveillance video" was obtained from areas of interest for review, Dicus said.
Court documents revealed that Isabel Rebecca Gonzalez, Haro's former spouse, filed a domestic violence retraining order against him with a request to protect the couple's son, Eli.
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Emmanuel's death was preventable, blaming a failure in the criminal justice system for enabling Jake Haro to remain free on probation after pleading guilty in a child abuse case involving his ex-wife and another infant, Carolina.
In 2023, Haro admitted a child cruelty charge, but again pled directly to the court, avoiding negotiations with prosecutors. Hestrin said the D.A.'s office had wanted prison for the defendant's extensive abuse of the girl, which resulted in broken ribs, a fractured skull and a brain hemorrhage, leaving her permanently bedridden.
"If that judge had done his job, Emmanuel would be alive today," Hestrin said.
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