Nearly 100 people turned out to a candlelight vigil for a missing California infant just hours after his parents were arrested for his murder.
Families with children in tow laid flowers, stuffed animals and other tokens on the fence outside of the home of Emmanuel Haro in Cabazon, about 35 minutes east of San Bernadino on Friday evening, while others held signs demanding justice for the still-missing infant, The Sun reported.
“Where is the baby” one sign read, according to the outlet.
“The reason why we are here is to support baby Emmanuel,” one attendee, Riah Huey, told The Sun. “What they did to this child is not okay…They did not give this boy the right life.”
Jake and Rebecca Haro were taken into custody on suspicion of murder at their home hours earlier.
The arrest came nearly a week after the mother initially insisted her son was kidnapped outside a sporting goods store.
The twisted tale was a lie, said officials, who now believe the brown-eyed boy is dead.
“Based on the evidence, investigators determined a kidnapping in Yucaipa did not occur. It is believed Emmanuel is deceased, and the search to recover his remains is ongoing,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Friday statement.
The development left vigil attendees “disgusted,” one said.
“It’s chilling … very sad,” Hannah Coutre, 22, told The Sun.
Maya Gutierrez, 20, told the outlet she had been standing outside the home all afternoon to be a voice for the baby.
“Nobody was his voice,” she explained. “He didn’t deserve that at all.”
The infant’s Aug. 14 disappearance also spurred national nonprofit Uvalde Foundation for Kids to announce “a national operational ‘blackout’” for 210 minutes Saturday in the baby’s honor, with each minute representing the 210 days of the child’s short life.
The organization had initially offered a $5,000 reward for the baby’s return but later retracted it after investigators found inconsistency’s in the mother’s story.
The 41-year-old mom told police she was knocked out by a stranger while changing the tot’s diaper outside of the local Big 5 Sporting Goods store and that the baby was gone when she regained consciousness.
But after spending a week publicly begging in news interviews for their baby’s safe return, the Haros stopped cooperating with police, according to authorities.
Jake Haro, 32, had served a a six-month jail stint in 2023 for a willful child cruelty charge involving Emmanuel’s older sister, authorities said.
Both parents were booked at Riverside County Jail Friday and were being held without bail.
The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, which pledged to continue searching for Emmanuel, did not immediately respond to inquiries Saturday.
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