The parents of a 7-month-old boy whose mother said was kidnapped last week outside a store in Southern California, but then stopped cooperating with investigators, were charged on Friday with killing him, the authorities said.
The couple, Jake Haro, 32, and Rebecca Haro, 41, were arrested at their home in Cabazon, Calif., eight days after Ms. Haro reported that their son, Emmanuel Haro, was missing and were each charged with murder, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
An intense search for the boy was continuing, according to investigators, who said that they began focusing on his parents after Ms. Haro gave them inconsistent accounts about his disappearance.
It was unknown what evidence suggested that the boy’s parents had killed their son, or how officials were charging them without having recovered a body.
The Sheriff’s Department did not offer further details on Friday about the boy’s killing and did not immediately respond to a request for information. The district attorney for San Bernardino County could not be immediately reached.
It was not immediately clear whether Ms. Haro had a lawyer.
In 2023, Mr. Haro was convicted of willful child cruelty and sentenced to 180 days in jail, according to court records. His lawyer told Fox 11 Los Angeles that Mr. Haro was currently on probation in connection with that case.
The lawyer, Vincent S. Hughes, told The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that the Haros were cooperating with law enforcement.
Mr. Hughes acknowledged that Ms. Haro had refused to take a polygraph test that investigators had requested.
“No attorney in their right mind would allow that to happen, and no person should ever consent to a lie-detector test when it’s not even scientifically proven to be admissible in court,” Mr. Hughes said.
Mr. Hughes did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
On Aug. 14, Ms. Haro called 911 to report that a man had knocked her unconscious in the parking lot of a sporting goods store in Yucaipa, Calif., while she was changing Emmanuel’s diaper in her pickup truck.
When she regained consciousness, she said, her son was gone.
On Aug. 16, Ms. Haro returned to the store’s parking lot — about 23 miles northwest of her home in Cabazon, which is outside Palm Springs, Calif. The couple, who were joined by friends, passed out fliers with their son’s photo and begged for his return.
“Don’t hurt him, and please feed him,” Mr. Haro told the CBS affiliate KCAL. “Take care of him.”
Ms. Haro, who had a dark bruise under her right eye, said she had gone to the sporting goods store to buy a football mouth guard for her other son.
“I’m begging you,” Ms. Haro said on camera. “If you know anything, please, I’m begging you to bring him back.”
But over the course of a week, the authorities said, it became clear that elements of Ms. Haro’s story did not add up. When investigators confronted her about those inconsistencies, she stopped cooperating, according to officials, who said that they were reviewing large amounts of security camera footage it had obtained from locations relevant to the investigation.
On Tuesday, Mr. Haro’s former wife filed for a domestic violence restraining order against him, according to court records in Riverside County.
A hearing in that case is scheduled for Sept. 9. The filing was reported earlier by the television station KESQ.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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