A vigil was held Thursday night to remember a 21-year-old man who was found stabbed to death at a Malibu beach.
Emmanuel Baltazar Silva was a new father to a 3-month-old son when his body was found near a lifeguard tower at Las Tunas Beach just before midnight on Aug. 22.
He later died at the hospital from multiple stab wounds. As his friends and family gathered at the beach Thursday night, the suspect still remains at large.
His mother, Patricia Silva, said Emmanuel worked as a security guard and was always a good son who never got into trouble. She recalls the last time she spoke with her son.
“He said, ‘Mom, I’ll be back.’ He even told me, ‘It won’t take long, I promise. I’ll be back,’” she said. “But he never came back.”
Patricia said it was unusual for Emmanuel to go out and what he was doing that night still remains a mystery to his family.
“I was surprised because he told me he was going to Hollywood, not Malibu, because I was going to give him a ride,” Patricia said. “He said, ‘No I called Lyft already, Mama.’ That was the last conversation I had with him.”
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said Emmanuel’s body was found following a call over a domestic violence dispute.
Emmanuel’s family said he was going through a divorce and a child custody battle at the time of his death. He mostly spent his days working to provide for his son, they said.
“They’re the ones holding me through this, my kids, and thinking about my grandbaby,” Patricia said tearfully. “Because my son wanted to see his baby and I’m holding to that.”
Homicide investigators are still in the process of gathering surveillance video from the crime scene area and are contacting all potential witnesses.
Emmanuel’s loved ones are pleading for the public’s help and for the suspect to come forward and do the right thing.
“Whoever is watching me, please if you have any information on the person who did this to my son, all I’m asking is for justice,” Patricia said. “My son is not with me anymore. I am trying to live without him but I cannot have peace until the person who did this is in jail.”
Details remain limited and no suspect description has been released so far. Anyone with information can contact LASD at 818-878-1808.