Emanuel Jenkins, 35, was found dead from a gunshot wound in the early morning of June 15, 2017, in the 66200 block of Pierson Boulevard near Cactus Drive in Desert Hot Springs, California. The Desert Hot Springs Police Department determined his death to be a homicide but released few details about the circumstances or how a suspect was identified.

In December 2020 Richard Alex Bernal, 26, of Desert Hot Springs, was charged with Jenkins’ murder while already in custody on unrelated felony allegations. Court records say Bernal was accused of discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury as a sentencing enhancement and that prosecutors had evidence linking him to the scene; specific evidence has not been publicly disclosed. Bernal has also been linked to a separate August 2018 shooting during an alleged gun sale-turned-robbery, though attempted murder and robbery counts from that incident were later dismissed.

The murder trial was set to begin October 15, 2024, at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, with Judge Harold Hopp keeping bail at $1 million. Has anyone in Desert Hot Springs information about Jenkins, his movements in June 2017, or anything related to the case?