Missing Baby's Father Has Disturbing Criminal History: Court Docs

Baby Emanuel Harrow. This 7-month-old. little boy is everywhere on the news. right now as his parents have been. arrested in connection with his murder. But when you look deeper into his. father, Jake Harrow, and his criminal. history, not only is it unsettling, but. you ask, given the current allegations, how on earth was he allowed to have. custody over this baby? We are exploring. this past. We are exploring the system. We are exploring what answers we need to. know and whether there was a failure at. play. Welcome to Sidebar presented by.

Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. There is a part of this Emanuel Harrow. story that is incredibly confusing and. upsetting. There's a lot there's a lot. there. But there is something in. particular that I want to call out. because as the parents of this missing. seven-month-old out of California have. now been arrested for his murder, Jake. and Rebecca Harrow, a week after he. disappeared and they first claimed he. was kidnapped. When you look at the. history, you wonder if these allegations.

that they are now facing, assuming. they're true, they're innocent until. proven guilty, but assuming they're. true, how is it possible that these two. were allowed to even be around Emanuel? How did they even have custody? What do. I mean? Jake Harrow apparently plead. guilty in 2023 to child cruelty. connected to a 2018 incident with a baby. girl. Now, some outlets have reported. this was Emanuel's older halfsister from. a different relationship with a woman. named Vanessa. And this 10-week old. sustained incredibly serious injuries,

including broken bones under Jake's care. care. In fact, according to outlet VVNG. and journalist Abby Escobar, Abby. Blabby, who spoke to NewsNation's. Banfield, Vanessa's cousin, who adopted. this little girl, revealed even more. details that it was believed she. wouldn't even live a week, that she was. quote practically killed, that she can't. talk, she can't walk, she's blind. because of this attack. That's what's. being reported. And at the time, Jake. Harrow originally told authorities that.

he just accidentally dropped the baby. According to the Daily Breeze, officials. at the hospital told police that this. little girl had a quote acute fractured. rib, healing fractures of six ribs, a. skull fracture, a brain hemorrhage, swelling of the neck, and a healing. fractured leg bone. This is what a. police affidavit apparently reads. The. combination of the above findings in a. premobile infant in the absence of a. plausible history of significant trauma. to explain the injuries is indicative of. abuse, head trauma, child physical.

abuse, and nutritional neglect. That's. what one officer wrote, quoting a. doctor. Apparently, Jake Harrow tried to. blame his wife at the time. Again, Vanessa, even claiming there was a. search on her iPad, the iPad web browser. that said, "How to feed a baby with. broken ribs." But in the end, he and. Vanessa at the time, they pleaded. guilty, and it's being reported as. willful child cruelty. Harrow was. sentenced to just six months in jail. through a work release program, a 4-year. suspended sentence, and was ordered to.

attend the child abuse treatment. program. Now, Abby Blabby said that this. little girl's adoptive mother said. before the arrest of Jake and Rebecca. and Emanuel's case, quote, "She feels. that justice wasn't served the first. time." She said that when she first. heard the news story, it just broke her. to pieces. She immediately had a. feeling, as I feel most people have. I. mean, the story just doesn't really make. very much sense. And I'll tell you what, there is more. VVNG reporting that this. cousin also adopted Jake Harrow's son,

who was apparently born with fetal. alcohol syndrome, and that Vanessa had. reportedly been cited for DUIs while she. was pregnant. Oh, by the way, it's being. reported by outlets like NBC that before. Jake and Rebecca were arrested, but. after the search was on for baby. Emanuel, their other two-year-old child. was taken from the home by Riverside. County Child Protective Services. Was. that in relation to some alleged abuse? Was that in relation to the fact that. the couple were about to be arrested for. Emanuel's murder? It's unclear. By the.

way, a little side note, we have been. super busy here trying to update you on. Sidebar all summer long about all these. breaking stories. And the last thing I. want to do is be thinking about. something else, right? I want to focus. on my job here. I want to focus on these. stores. I want to focus on reporting. And like for example, I don't want to be. thinking about my phone bill. I don't. want to be thinking about my bloated. wireless charges. So, let me tell you. real quick about Mint Mobile. Because. with our sponsor, Mint Mobile, you can. get the same great coverage and speed. that you're used to, but for a fraction. of the cost. Seriously, all of Mint's. plans come with high-speed data,

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of owning or possessing a firearm and. ammunition as a quote convicted felon. and narcotic addict. He's apparently. pleaded not guilty to both of those new. charges. And while not directly related, how could I not also mention that it is. also being reported that Rebecca. Harrow's brother, James Boozehausen, is. currently sitting in prison, serving at. least 50 years for the murder of his. 27-year-old girlfriend, Jaylen Amanda. Keith, back in 2017. Now, obviously not. directly relevant or or connected, but I.

got to say disturbing, right? All of. this is very disturbing. And while there. is clearly a lot that we do not know, what is clear is our questions. If they. did this, if they did this to baby. Emanuel, if these allegations are true, how were they permitted to care for him. and this 2-year-old in the first place? Because what is happening in this case? Before Jake and 41-year-old Rebecca. Harrow were arrested by San Bernardino.

County Sheriff's detectives, Rebecca had. said that Emanuel was kidnapped. She. claimed they were outside this Big Five. sporting goods store on August 14th, about 20 m from their home when she said. she was changing Emanuel's diaper and. was suddenly knocked unconscious by some. unknown mystery man. And when she awoke, Emanuel was gone. KTLA reporting that. she had a black eye. Jake and the. couple's two other children had been at. a park for their older son's football. practice. There was this massive search. that had been conducted to find baby. Emanuel. And it soon was being reported.

that there appeared to be. inconsistencies in Rebecca's story, including the fact that KTLA reported. there was no witnesses to this attack. With it being reported that authorities. issued search warrants for the couple's. home, their cell phones, that. authorities reviewed surveillance. footage in the case, and also when it. came out that there might be holes in. her story, Rebecca decided no longer to. speak with officials. This is according. to the sheriff's department. Oh, and. let's not forget they both made through. the media for their son to be returned. Jake saying, "Whoever took my son, please return him. We just want him.

back. We won't do anything to you. Just. give us our son. Keep him safe. Don't. hurt him. Make sure you feed him and. change him." Rebecca is saying, "If you. know anything, please come forward to. take him to the cops. Please come and. bring my son back. I'm begging you.". Again, they're innocent, so proven. guilty, but you can see why this is. alarming. And now they're potentially. facing murder charges. And there is a. desperate search to find baby Emanuel's. body. And in fact, in a chilling twist, ABC 7 reporting that on Sunday, Jake was. seen with law enforcement and cadaavver. dogs in a remote field in Mareno Valley.

sporting an orange prison jumpsuit. However, the San Bernardino Sheriff's. Office stated, "The search has concluded. and Emanuel was not located. The. investigation to find Emanuel. continues." Okay, so now I want to bring. on attorney Joe Richardson to talk about. this. Not only because I love having Joe. on and he's a brilliant legal mind, but. also I'm trying to understand given. everything that we have laid out. How is. it possible that Jake and Rebecca were. allowed to have custody and the care of. baby Emanuel and this 2-year-old? So, Joe, great to see you. Thanks for coming. on. I laid it all out. How were they.

allowed to do this? How were they. allowed to have the care and custody of. baby Emanuel? >> Well, it's really it it's really. interesting. You know, we've gone back. taken a look and tried to piece it. together. Um, when you're talking about. CPS actually taking kids, there has to. be a court order. Typically, that's. connected to a report. There's there's. some kind of report made. There's a. court order taking the kids out within. 17 72 hours. there's a hearing where the. court looks over evidence to see if the. kids were rightfully taken away and if.

they should continue to be taken away. and that type of thing. So, going back. to go forward, there's a question as to. there's certainly a moral argument here. like given what had happened with some. of these other kids, given the previous. conviction, you know, there's some. questions related to that. But what I. don't see, Jesse, I do not see any. reports, CPS reports, um, uh, considerations, hearings, etc. related. to these two children, even his.

conviction, Mr. Heroes, do you have a do. you have a thing there? >> Well, here's here's the point. I I agree. with you. We haven't been able to find. anything like that. I agree with the. majority of cases, right, that you would. need some sort of substantiated case of. child abuse to remove a child or even. start an investigation, right? But but. shouldn't it be CPS's role to say, "Hey, listen. We got a problem here. We're. looking at this guy who has a record. with respect to another child. We have a.

situation where if the reporting is. true, there was another child that was. born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Can't. we just keep a careful eye?" May, right? We unless there was some exigent. circumstances where there was emergency. situation where they can come in even. without the court getting involved and. remove a child. Putting that aside, could they start an investigation on. their own or do they need someone to. file a report? They can't automatically. do it on their own purely based on the. fact of someone's uh criminal history. They just can't do that. They're. limited.

>> It's not it's not clear that they can do. it on their own. Uh but someone can make. a report. And one thing about the CPS's. of the world, including CPS itself, is. that they have to investigate everything. that they hear, regardless of how um you. know, ridiculous it might sound or. ridiculous it might seem. So, circling. back here, it wouldn't seem ridiculous. that folks ought to keep an eye on this. family, right? So, someone had said. something now to see the area and this. is a geographical area that that I'm.

very familiar with because it's in the. next town or two over from us. Um, her. the area looks kind of desolate. It. looks like kind of like a big space of. property, etc. So, a lot of the things. that are going on there might be things. that people aren't necessarily. witnessing because you're not a stones. throw always from your next door. neighbor. So, maybe there's a less. likely to be a report from the next door. neighbor, but I understand the concern. here. Yeah. >> Let let me ask you this, okay? They have. been arrested, right? By all accounts, they're going to be charged with murder.

There will be an investigation, not only. into this incident, but what was. happening maybe in the months leading up. to this, right? And look, they're. innocent until proven guilty. Having. said that, if it should come out that. there was evidence of abuse before what. before what's going on with Emanuel, if. there was episodes of abuse and it. wasn't properly investigated or wasn't. properly reported to CPS, what happens. then? Because we could have a scenario, sure, right? We can have a scenario. where yes, there is a very troubling.

criminal history, but there was no. evidence of abuse leading up to what. happened or allegedly happened to. Emanuel, right? And that may be, you. know what, CPS, there's nothing there. was nothing for them to do. But if it. should come out during the course of. this investigation that there were. significant red flags, what happens. then? >> Well, it's an interesting question. because what you have left, I mean, we're presuming that this that this. youngest child is is no longer with us. You know, he has been helping them walk.

through an area. He had on his jumpsuit. the other day. He's walking through an. area uh called Marino Valley, which is. close by. So the agrieved party as it. were that's still with us is is the. 2-year-old. So the question becomes, is. there an advocate for the 2-year-old. such that the 2-year-old is damaged. because of what CPS didn't do? So that's. kind of what the what the question. becomes and if something is found out, maybe a report wasn't followed up on, maybe there were so many reports that. people started to that CPS desensitized.

them, you know, and you know that kind. of thing. Okay, if there's something. there, then maybe if that child has an. advocate, something can happen and be. brought to brought to bear related to. the child itself. Does it create a. larger discussion? Because now, you. know, you Jesse, we've dealt with a. couple of these in Southern California. recently where there are people that. with particular pasts that end up. actually doing things that their past. might have indicated that they may have. done, right? um is that give us a larger.

discussion related to accountability of. the CPS's of the world uh etc. Um, and. so that's something that remains to be. seen. That's something that ought to. happen probably because it seems like. this is not so far a field that this. couldn't have happened. Um, but. hopefully it leads to a larger. discussion. >> Why was the 2-year-old removed? Was. there a question that this 2-year-old. was removed because of what was. happening in the investigation of. Emanuel and they knew there was going to. be an arrest and they want to remove the. child beforehand or did something happen. where they said CPS has to come in and.

like we need need to remove this child? That that's an interesting question. because we don't have that answer about. why this 2-year-old 2-year-old was. removed before these parents arrests. >> The timing suggests that it was related. to the investigation, right? If you have. if if you talk about having a child that. is disappeared, I I got beat up and. that's a pretty open area right there on. Ukipa Boulevard at at Big Five. You. know, there's video cameras all over the. place and this woman's story doesn't pan. out. um then instantly you have a notion.

that this child may be in danger. You. look at the guy's past as well if you. hadn't before, but that's that larger. question. And you see that something in. the milk's not white and therefore Yeah. So you would absolutely take the. 2-year-old. My sense is that them taking. the 2-year-old, uh, CPS taking the. 2-year-old coincides with the. investigation and all of the red flags, uh, that that came up based on how they. answered their questions, how they. lawyered up once the inconsistencies.

were shown. But, you know, unfortunately, that didn't happen before. then. >> There was something that uh, Harold's. lawyer in the 2023 child abuse case said. that kind of struck me. So, his. attorney, uh, Vincent Hughes told the LA. Times, this is before the couple's. arrest, quote, "Jake has a criminal. past. We're not running from that." But. the facts of that case are a lot. different than the facts of this case. And one crime doesn't mean that you've. committed every other crime known to. man, especially to take your own child. Now, obviously, he's referring again to.

what was being accused, what the parents. were being accused of here. But it did. make me wonder, okay, is that another. reason why there wasn't a legal avenue. to remove these children? Because you. and I both know, and let's explain it to. the viewers, right? Parents have legal. rights. They have legal rights to. parent. They have a constitutional. right, isn't it? A due process right to. parent their children and to terminate. those parental rights is quite a high. burden. And there seems to be on the.

part of CPS, I don't care which state. you look at, there seems to be an. emphasis on trying to unify the family. or reunify the family as opposed to. keeping children separate from their. parents. Am I right about that? >> Yeah, absolutely. And because you can't. have your children taken away without. due process. So, you need a court order. to begin with and then within 72 hours, you actually need a hearing to see if. that status quo will be kept. And and. frankly, more often than not, the law. lends toward parents being reunited. And. when someone uh is determined to offend.

in that regard, um you know, it it can. be a problem. You want to protect kids. as much as possible, but theoretically. in a perfect world, the kids are. supposed to be safest with their. parents. So, what do you do? Do you go. door to door and say, "I don't like how. you look. Let me take your kids." No. The law doesn't allow you to do that. from a due process standpoint. And so. this is one of those unfortunate. situations where there didn't seem to be. well and there wasn't based on what it. is I saw any restrictions related to.

kids from the previous case. There's. there's no restrictions related to that. and and there's some different claims. related to that. It is a different kind. of case in a way but the guy didn't get. a lot of time. He got 180 days 179 of. which was work for a love. He went to. jail for one day. He may bail you know. etc. And in a claim you you could get. two, four, or 6 years. He got 6 months. And so there's an argument that even the. law didn't take it as seriously as they. needed to. But there was no restriction.

You read the restrictions. It has to do. with him not having a weapon, with him. staying away from someone that's. initialed. And I don't know if that was. that particular kid or or whatever else, the the particular one that was harmed. at that time, but no restrictions about. not having other kids. And by the way, the seven-month-old wasn't alive at the. time that this was played out. and a. 2-year-old may have just been born, if. that, but it was like June 2023. So, you. have a lot figuring in here. But. literally what the what the attorney is.

right about, you don't want him to be. right about it, but what he's right. about is that these were two different. cases. And it does look like there was. no connection at all with how they would. be judged as it pertains to this. situation based on the previous one. because there were no particular. restrictions. And just to add to that, I. kind of looked up uh California law on. this about when a juvenile becomes a. dependent of the juvenile court, right? When can custody be taken away? There's. a number of different categories, right? You talk about physical harm, abuse,

neglect, not providing care, uh. emotional harm, but it is very specific. and also lays out what are not grounds. for dependency. So, for example, even if. the parents were homeless, that wouldn't. be enough or there was poverty, that. wouldn't be enough. or uh their. religious beliefs alone wouldn't. qualify. If they choose to be, you know, do more spiritual treatment than medical. treatment, that wouldn't be enough to. remove a child. And and it again, I. think it emphasizes that idea of a high.

burden and whether or not the. legislature needs to get involved and. change that and whether or not it gives. more resources and avenues for child. protective services to get involved. But. you also run into that risk of the state. getting involved in parents, you know, raising their children how they want to. raise their children. Um, so it kind of. adds a a complicating factor to this. Um, and it does become a question when. you look at, you know, as I mentioned. before, Jake Harrow has these weapons.

possession charges that he was supposed. to go to a hearing for. Um, again, people will look at this and say there. needs to be a change. Do do you have you. seen that before? Have you seen the. legislature changing the law on this. regarding the ability of what CPS can. do? >> Uh, it can happen. Um and you know the. question becomes unfortunately and to. your point you make a valid point in. terms of the idea that kids can be in. some pretty dire straits and that's not.

going to trump what what amounts to. parents due process right due process. rights and they're generally unfettered. right to be parents and continue to be. parents even if they're weird parents. even if they're not particularly. prosperous parents even if they're. impoverished parents even if they're. unusual parents right Um, unfortunately, it takes usually something like this in. order for there to be a different look. and say we've got to close this up a.

bit. Most of the time when you're. dealing with constitutional rights, you're always balancing rights with this. larger societal interest. And I think. one of those societal interests could be. the safety of children, right? And based. on that, maybe it gives you the. opportunity to do something that may. maybe closes a loophole a little bit. Maybe uh prescribes a bit more. punishment. Maybe uh someone that's. convicted of a certain crime like this. 273A doesn't get to have children or. there has to be uh monitoring if there. are other children within x number of.

years within the probation period. Maybe. there's certain other things that can be. done that can pass constitutional. muster, but unfortunately we often don't. have the discussion until something like. this happens. >> And doesn't it feel doesn't it feel that. law enforcement is trying to get more. information uh from these parents? What. do I mean by that? So, it was reported, you know, about this search on Sunday, this effort to possibly find um you. know, baby Emanuel's remains. They're. facing murder charges. It's this idea of.

inconsistent stories. I wonder if what's. happening behind the scenes is I don't. know if there's necessarily some sort of. deal being worked out, but the idea is. tell us what you know right now, the. whole story, everything that happened. And once we have that information, and. again, look, they're innocent until. proven guilty, but assuming the worst. here, once we have that information, then it becomes clear whether or not. this could have been prevented, right? because that seems to be the next. logical step in a case like this.

>> Yeah. Yeah. A couple things. Uh first of. all, yeah, it's interesting. Uh this. Riverside, San Marino County area has a. whole lot of like uh you know, open. space, etc. And Marino Valley is a place. a lot of canyons, a lot of windy roads, etc. Could literally be anywhere. And so. there's it's interesting to know that. they have him out there in his jumpsuit. in particular place. And that's probably. because he told them that that's that's. that's a place to be. What would the. deal be here? Well, when he couldn't get. the death penalty, maybe they say, you. know, if the if the wife was made, the.

woman was made to kind of go along. I. mean, she's sitting there with a black. eye. She she made to go along, maybe she. gets 40 years and he gets life without a. possibility because somebody's going to. jail for life. Okay. Um maybe that's the. deal. Uh because there's some. acknowledgement, you know, related to. that. But maybe this creates an. opportunity. uh for us to do something um that maybe. we weren't thinking of before. Uh. hopefully it allows us uh to go in the. direction uh and and really get things.

right here if we figure out that there's. something that could have been done. based on them understanding the story. Now we understand the story. Here's. where the system uh stopped and perhaps. this is where the legislature can step. in. This is where people that are. advocates can step in. advocates for. children can step in to say if X Y or Z. had happened which can pass. constitutional muster then we would have. been in a better situation the previous. convictions here was was a was a great.

red light that could have showed us that. there needed to be some kind of. restrictions on any involvement with. people under the age of 18 at all and. then maybe we can do something about. that. So the more we know the more we. can do. Now, I'm just going to put this. out there because at the time of this. recording, Emanuel Harrow's remains body. have not been found. Anybody with. information uh is encouraged to contact. authorities. And I'm just going to put. this up there, the description of this. little boy that was circulating these. past several days. He is approximately.

uh 24 in tall, weighs around 21 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, crosseyed. according to authorities, and he was. last seen wearing a black Nike onesie. This is a very distressing case, a very. chilling case. Joe Richardson, thank you. so much for coming on talking about this. kind of unique aspect to it because I'm. sure as people look into this, they will. have questions about it, but um we. obviously don't have all the answers, but just, you know, giving people. something to think about as we move. forward. Joe Richardson, thank you so.

much. >> Thanks, Jesse. Always take care. >> That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to. you next time. [Music].