15 Disturbing Pieces of Evidence in D4vd Murder Case

What is potentially the strongest. evidence right [music] now against. David, the 21-year-old man accused of. murdering and dismembering 14-year-old. Celeste Davis Hernandez? [music]. Digital forensics, witnesses? I want to. condense it. I want to explain it, and I. also want to talk about what the defense. may do. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by. Law & Crime. >> [music]. >> I'm Jesse Weber. All right, real quick. Look, I know. we're all looking for ways to be smarter. with our money in 2026, and most of us. are earning next to nothing, just.

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like their round-ups feature. It. deposits spare change on purchases right. into your savings. So, right now you can. get a $75 bonus through my link. Head on. over to chime.com/sidebar, or scan the QR code on screen, and start. growing your money today. So, one of the. things I wanted to focus on that we. didn't really get an opportunity to do, I think, in our prior episodes, is to. really understand how strong is the. evidence against David. Kind of gives us. a preview of what a preliminary hearing. will look like, now scheduled for later.

in the month. Again, that's where the. prosecution will present sufficient. evidence to have the case move forward. towards trial. That's what they're hope. to do. They'll have a challenge from the. defense, or even what we can expect from. a trial. And when I talk about the. evidence, maybe what's the most. compelling evidence, right? Because we. spent an episode really diving into the. disturbing allegations that came out, but now I want to put my legal cap on. for a minute. I want to talk about the. allegations, the alleged evidence, how. strong it may or may not be. So, we're.

talking about 21-year-old David Anthony. Burke, goes by David. Months after. 14-year-old Celeste Davis Hernandez was. found dead, mutilated, reportedly in. David's Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard, prosecutors have charged him, the. singer-songwriter, with first-degree. murder, continuous sexual abuse of a. child under 14, and unlawful mutilation. of human remains. He's entered a not. guilty plea. It is important to remember. that he's innocent until proven guilty. But, let's talk about the potential. evidence here. I want to start with the.

murder charge. That's also connected to. the mutilation charge. In fact, all the. charges are very, very connected to one. another, and the theory is connected to. one another. So, we go to the brief that. was filed by the prosecution in. anticipation of the preliminary hearing. It was first set for this week. It's now. been delayed. But, it says, quote, "Tellingly, defendant subsequently purchased tools. to carry out his plot to dismember and. dispose of the victim's body. On April 24th, 2025, remember they are. saying that she was killed on April.

23rd, 2025 at his house. On April 24th, 2025, defendant ordered a shovel from. Home Depot that was delivered to his. home from Postmates. On May 1st, 2025, defendant ordered and subsequently. Amazon delivered two chainsaws to his. home. On May 5th, 2025, defendant. ordered and Amazon subsequently. delivered a body bag, heavy-duty laundry. bags, and a blue inflatable pool to his. home. He made these purchases under the. fake name Victoria Mendez. On May 8th,

2025, defendant returned to the same. area in Santa Barbara County, leaving. his home at around 11:30 p.m. He. returned to the area again on May 31st, 2025. This is an isolated site off SR. 154, where the victim's identification. was subsequently discovered in January. 2026. Additionally, on July 7th, 2025, defendant ordered and subsequently. Amazon delivered a burn cage to his home. under the same fake name as part of his.

plan to incinerate evidence. Moreover, defendant took horrifying measures to. destroy and discard the victim's body. After placing her body into the blue. inflatable pool to prevent her blood. from spilling onto his garage floor, defendant used a chainsaw and perhaps. other tools to cut off her limbs. Small. blue plastic fragments were found. embedded in the victim's remains, which. were collected by the Los Angeles County. Medical Examiner's Department. The. fragments were analyzed by the LAPD's.

Forensic Science Division Trace Analysis. Unit, and expert was able to match a. physical fit match from the blue. fragments to the blue inflatable pool. purchased by defendant in May 2025. In. order to distance himself from the. victim, he amputated her left ring and. pinky fingers because her ring finger. contained a tattoo of his name. Her. fingers have not been recovered. Defendant then placed her head and torso. into the cadaver bag he purchased. He.

placed her limbs into a garbage bag, which he deposited into his front trunk, laying the cadaver bag on top. For. several weeks, or possibly months, defendant left the victim's body to. decompose inside his Tesla. Okay. Of. course, there will be a battle of. experts and questions of how the. evidence was collected, what does it. mean, how was maintained. But, potentially making the blue. fragments match is huge. If you match. the pool to him, you match the pool to.

Celeste, that's going to be critical. The alleged purchase history, this. digital trail, some of the most. potentially damning evidence out there. We have seen historically that has been. hard for defense attorneys to argue away. or explain away. You know, I saw this. idea that perhaps, you know, maybe these. materials were purchased for some sort. of music video. That could be a tough sell, particularly. you talk about the timing, right? The. timing of when they say, authorities. say, Celeste was killed. Unless there's. going to be a dispute not only about.

cause of death by the by the defense, but also time of death. Why would you. allegedly purchase those things? And if. the order and delivery records confirm. this, that's huge for the prosecution's. case. I mean, the list of potential. evidence in this brief says, quote, "DNA. evidence developed from blood stains. collected from defendant's garage, which. match the victim's genetic profile. Proof of defendant's Amazon purchases. and deliveries to his residence, including two chainsaws, a body bag, an.

inflatable pool, heavy-duty laundry. bags, and a burn cage after April 24th, 2025." Again, the records maybe even. have the delivery person testify. Private investigator Steve Fisher, who's. been on this case from the very. beginning, shared photos of some of. those alleged packages. You can see the. deliveries are addressed to Victoria. Mendez, or appear to be. It's unclear. why David would use that particular. name. But, quote, "Proof of defendant's. purchase and delivery from Postmates of.

a shovel from Home Depot to his home on. April 24th, 2025." It's not just one. item, right? It's a collection of these. very specific items. That is, again, my. opinion, not great for the defense. But, again, we're still in the early stages. of this. Uber records showing. defendant's transaction where he ordered. an Uber to pick up the victim from her. Lake Elsinore home and transport her to. his residence the night of April 23rd, 2025. And when LAPD served a search. warrant at the home that David was.

renting or staying at after Celeste was. identified, they reportedly found all. sorts of evidence in the garage to. support this claim, this argument of. dismemberment, including biological. evidence that tested positive for blood. They say they were able, again, to match. the evidence to the victim's unique. genetic profile. Mentioned that before. Talk about the pool again. It reportedly. had multiple linear cuts. And on top of. all that, according to the prosecution's. brief, surveillance video and other. evidence confirmed defendant was the. last person to drive the vehicle on July.

29th, 2025, before he left Los Angeles. on a concert tour. And remember, her. body was discovered about a month, little over a month later. And the. filing states that David lied to. friends, business associates, and others. about the strong smell of decay in and. around the home and the car. So, it. could be very difficult for defense. attorneys to say, you know, he was. completely in the dark, he's being. framed, he had no idea what was. happening, what was going on. Although, is it possible someone else maybe had. access to the car afterwards? Possibly,

but does that negate his alleged. knowledge of what was going on? It goes. to the idea of who may be a cooperating. witness as well, right? What did they. observe about the car? What did they. smell? What did they ask David? So, this. all makes me wonder, in terms of a. defense, I wonder if defense attorneys. could get to the point and say, "Look, yeah, he bought all this stuff. Yep. Yep, we're going to acknowledge that. He. purchased all this stuff after. prosecutors claim she died." Right? They. might not say she was killed, that she. died. So, maybe they may make the.

argument he wasn't responsible for her. death. Maybe she died in another way, and then in a panic, he was just part of. the disposal, or he helped with the. disposal. I don't know if they're going. to say perhaps someone else is. responsible for her death. I mean, I've. seen cases like this before. Out in. Florida, the James Scandirito case, found not guilty of murdering his. father, but guilty in connection with. the dismemberment. Took the stand, told. this. really wild story, but the jury believed. it. So, in other words, will we ever. really know what happened to Celeste or.

not? Because according to the autopsy. report that was released, Celeste's. official cause of death was multiple. penetrating injuries, the manner of. death was homicide. But, perhaps defense. attorneys will argue against that. Battle of the experts, say her body was. too decomposed to really know what. happened, to really know how she died. And then we get to this. We get to this. So, investigators contend that April. 23rd was when Celeste was allegedly. killed by David, soon after arriving at. the house in the Hollywood Hills. How do. they know that? How do they establish.

that time frame? From the court filing. by the prosecution, it says, quote, "At. approximately 8:40 p.m. on April 23rd, 2025, defendant sent an Uber to. transport the victim from her Lake. Elsinore home to his residence." Again, the digital records will be key here. You don't always have that in other. cases. "They communicated before and. during her Uber ride, which dropped her. off at defendant's Hollywood Hills home. around 10:10 p.m." Okay, so again, the. digital records, the text messages, the. potential testimony of this driver. "At.

approximately 10:30 p.m., defendant sent. text messages to the victim inquiring. where she was.". So, it might be hard for the defense to. say that message wasn't sent the time. frame. So, you're looking at this 20. minutes, what happened? Prosecution. says, "The people contend this was part. of defendant's premeditated plan to. cover up the murder as she was already. dead by this time." It's a good point, right? I mean, like, why would he text. her or allegedly text her if she was at. the house? I mean, is this house so big. he didn't know where she was? I don't.

know. Or does it go to this narrative. that, you know, he's trying to cover up. the tracks and trying to say something. happened to her. Quote, "Knowing he had. to silence the victim before she ruined. his music career as she had threatened. very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant stabbed the victim to death. multiple times and stood by while she. bled out." Now, I will tell you, I don't. know what evidence they have to. definitively establish what happened. behind closed doors. This is their. narrative, this is their theory. And by. the way, I'll get into a little bit more. about the special circumstances.

allegations that this is not just a. murder, according to prosecutors, but a. very specific kind of murder, the motive. behind it. Quote, "At no time did he. call law enforcement or 911 or take her. to an emergency room to attempt to save. her life." And that's important because. they'll say that this wasn't a case. like, you know, they got into a fight, she attacked him, he panicked, you know, killed her as a result of self-defense, called 911. They're ruling that out. Quote, "Despite knowing she was dead and. her family was trying to find her, the. evidence will show defendant lied and.

claimed he didn't know where she was. In. fact, defendant drove to Santa Barbara. County immediately after the victim died. attempting to dispose of her property. and destroy evidence. At approximately. 11:30 p.m. on April 23rd, 2025, he drove. away from his home as he texted and. called the victim's phone asking where. she was. Again, these were acts. calculated and planned to set up his. defense within a very short timeline. after the victim's vicious murder.". "Defendant drove his Tesla north on the. 101 freeway to San Marcos Pass Road, SR.

154, near Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara. County." Now, I'm wondering if there are. potentially cameras capturing this. movement. "He returned home early the. following morning on April 24th, 2025. before going to a radio interview for. the release of his album that week. He. sent two additional texts to the. victim's phone that day, which obviously. went unanswered because she was already. dead." I'm going to talk about. interviews in a little bit, by the way. "After April 26th, 2025, defendant never. attempted to contact her again." That's. important. That's important. If the.

phone records establish he didn't text. her or call her and he's completely. innocent, that would be surprising, right? Somebody, at the very least, you. know, that he knows, has a connection. with, she disappears, he's not going to. try to contact her. Again, this is the. prosecution's narrative, we'll see what. the defense says. But another piece of. evidence. Quote, "Defendant's cellular. activity and communications derived from. defendant's iPhone and Tesla, which. demonstrate defendant's activities from. April 22nd, 2025 through April 24th, 2025, including a trip to Santa Barbara. County in the middle of the night after.

the victim arrived at his Hollywood. Hills home." Evidence. Evidence. So, that's the key here, that why. prosecutors are going with lying in. wait, silencing a witness, the special. circumstances allegations to enhance the. potential penalties for the murder. charge, that David planned this, that it. wasn't like they were arguing and. something happened or she had an. overdose and he panicked. They're making. the argument that this was planned, this. was premeditated, that he allegedly.

wanted her dead to keep her quiet about. their alleged secret relationship, that. she was a minor, prevent her from. exposing this, ruining his career. Now, things like the cell phone records, the. ride share records, the digital data. will be crucial, which is why it's not. surprising when Steve Fisher, the PI, says there are over 50 search warrants. in this case. That's the kind of. evidence in 2026 that tells so much of. the story and can be very difficult for. a defense attorney to refute. Placing.

time, location. Now, on the other hand, I don't believe authorities have the. alleged murder weapon. I don't believe. there's an eyewitness to this alleged. attack. I don't believe there's. surveillance footage showing this. alleged attack as far as we know. So, is. that room for reasonable doubt? And one. way prosecutors are going to tell this. story and try to prove those special. circumstances allegations surrounding. the alleged murder will also be evidence. of the alleged illegal sexual. relationship, sexual relations with a.

minor. Digital plus timing. What do I. mean? From the evidence list, again, in the. brief, it says, "The description of. photographs depicting the victim naked. as well as while she was engaged with. defendant in sexual activity when she. was 13." "As this evidence constitutes. child sexual abuse material, the. photographs themselves will not be. presented. While all possible charges. that could be proven were not filed, the. CSAM is proof of their ongoing sexual. relationship while the victim was 13 and. 14 years old." So, if this material is.

on his devices, again, quote, "Numerous text messages. between defendant and the victim. evidencing their sexual relationship, pregnancy, abortion, and use of Plan B. emergency contraception. Messages. through March 2025 prove defendant. continued to manipulate the victim as. she messaged, 'All we do is have sex and. just hang out. Man, I want more than. that for myself.' These messages were. obtained from defendant's iCloud data.".

So, again, the digital data could help. prove the sex charge. And we reported. this uh yesterday on Sidebar, but the. death certificate has been updated. This. is per reporting from TMZ to suggest. that it is unknown if Celeste was. pregnant, even though there was nothing. in the actual autopsy report as far as. we could tell, to suggest that she was. So, it is a little confusing here. I. spoke to Joseph Scott Morgan on my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber Live, last. night. He said they may have to just do. that because of the investigative.

findings of the messages about pregnancy. and, you know, Plan B and abortion. And. because Celeste was dismembered and. decomposed, it can ultimately be. difficult to 100% rule out that she was. pregnant. So, it's not necessarily. saying that she was, but how do we know. for sure? It's unknown. Although, I will. say, if prosecutors believe for sure. that Celeste was pregnant or had. evidence to establish that she was. pregnant, they would have mentioned. that, right? That would have gone to. motive. That would have gone to the. special circumstances allegations.

Taking their narrative that David killed. her to keep her quiet about the. relationship being exposed, what's. better proof of this alleged sexual. relationship with a minor if they could. show she was pregnant with his baby, right? They would have presented that. They didn't. So, I don't know how much. that's going to be a factor or not, but. at the very least, digital evidence. allegedly establishing the relationship. and the narrative. Oh, and by the way, this came came out yesterday. I think. this might be evidence because of what I. just mentioned before. It wasn't made.

specifically about the prosecution's. filings, but I do wonder if this is. going to be part of the case because. according to reporting from the New York. Post, April 24th, so the day after he. allegedly murdered Celeste, he does an. interview on the Zach Sang Show. And he. was reportedly very casual, smiling, making jokes, but allegedly said this. Quote, "Like, in the process of, you. know, getting outside my house and. exploring the world and finding friends, losing friends, finding relationships,

losing relationships, it's just everything has kind of been. shaping and leading up to this project. in such a domino effect way.". And when it came to writing songs about. failed relationships, he said, "I'm. always expecting it to happen, and then. after, as soon as it happens, I'm. writing about it." And the host asked, "But you're saying expecting it to end. in a devastating, tragic, sad way, so it. can inspire art, but are you manifesting. that in a certain way?" David responded, "I don't know. I hope I'm not. I really.

hope I'm not because it feels that way. So, I hope I'm not involuntarily doing. that, but it might be that way." And by. the way, we may also get a glimpse of what else. this trial will include. I say that. because evidence from a prior. investigation. into David and Celeste may be a part of. this trial. Because the filing from. prosecutors claims that LAPD. robbery-homicide detectives determined. Celeste and David met in January of 2022.

when she was just 11 years old and. allegedly began that sexual relationship. with Celeste when she was just 13 and. David was 18. And the court paperwork. revealed that investigators have been. looking into David for quite some time. The filing says, "Detectives learned the. victim had been reported missing to the. Riverside County Sheriff's Department by. her family who live in Lake Elsinore in. February and April 2024. RCSD. telephonically contacted defendant on. February 17th, 2024 after they. identified a phone number in the.

victim's phone records that belonged to. him. During the call, defendant claimed. he had spoken to the victim last on. February 13th or 14th, 2024, but stated. he was unaware she was a minor or that. she had been reported missing. RCSD. advised him that Los Angeles Sheriff's. Department deputies would be coming to. his home. On that day, defendant was. living at 804 North Taheena Place in. West Hollywood. RCSD requested that LASD. conduct a welfare check at defendant's. home. LASD deputies went to defendant's. home that night at 8:15 p.m. and. informed him the victim was a.

13-year-old runaway. Defendant again. claimed he was unaware she was a minor. and he had only met the victim once in. person in November of 2023. However, defendant showed deputies a yearbook. photo of the victim he had on his cell. phone. Although he claimed to be unaware. of where the victim was at the time, she. returned home 2 days later. Despite. being informed by law enforcement the. victim was only 13, defendant continued. to pursue her. After the victim returned. home in February 2024, her parents took.

her cell phone away. Defendant drove to. Lake Elsinore and paid a junior high. school student in the victim's class. $1,000 to give the victim a cell phone. defendant purchased so they could stay. in contact. Throughout 2024, the victim. spent a significant amount of time with. defendant, including summer weekends at. his home in the Hollywood Hills and. traveling with him to Las Vegas, London, and in Texas to meet his family. And I. mentioned timing. So, when Celeste. reportedly died, so two parts of this. Evidence of this alleged relationship, which again goes into the sex crime.

charge, which goes into the special. circumstances allegations, but timing. Timing. When Celeste reportedly died, yes, David was at the height of his. career. Per prosecutors, April 23rd, 2025 is the. likely date of the victim's death and. when all her cellular activity ceased. The night prior, April 22nd, 2025, defendant and the victim engaged in a. lengthy argument described in detail in. their text messages. The messages reveal. the victim's jealousy over defendant's. relationships with other women as.

defendant led her to believe they had a. future together. She became extremely. upset and threatened to disclose. damaging information about her. relationship with defendant to end his. career and destroy his life. We don't. know those exact messages, but taking. the prosecution's narrative, defendant's. first studio album was due to be. released on April 25, 2025. He had an emerging multi-million-dollar. career already in progress. He also had. multiple product endorsements, which. were highly profitable. So, yes, when.

Celeste died, there was the tour, sponsorships, interviews, album release. He allegedly had a party on April 24th, the day after Celeste reportedly died. So, prosecutors will definitely try to. establish how he was flying high and. couldn't let anything jeopardize that, that she was going to come out, expose. him, and killed her as a witness. We. told you in an episode yesterday that. after David was arrested, the video game. Fortnite announced it was going to. refund players who made David-related. purchases in his game. His label. ultimately dropped him. So, I wonder if. that's going to be the evidence the.

prosecutors will use to say, "Look what. happened. This was what he was trying to. avoid.". Quote, "Proof of defendant's lucrative. career as a singer and songwriter prior. to April 23rd, 2025, defendant had an. album release party on the night of. April 24th, 2025 before embarking on an. international tour in late July 2025. Text message exchanges between defendant. and the victim on April 22nd and April. 23rd, 2025, where the victim threatened. to expose defendant and destroy his. career." Again, all important,

potential, compelling evidence. Got to. call this one out, too. It was reported. that David's brother, Caleb, posted on. Instagram, and this was reported by the. account the the Shade Room, "All. pedophiles and rapists should die.". Ending with period. Now, this is an expired story, not. entirely clear what this alleged post. was about. Didn't mention David, but. considering there was these reports. about an effort by prosecutors to have. David's family.

be subpoenaed and have to provide. testimony in this case. Interesting, to say the least. Now, this is the beginning stages. I am very. curious to see what comes out at this. preliminary hearing, again, scheduled. for the end of the month. That's where. we'll learn more about the specifics of. the evidence, maybe about cooperating. witnesses, but this is kind of a a a. sample of what prosecutors claim they. have against David. We'll see where it. goes. That's all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much. for joining us. As always, please. subscribe [music] on YouTube, Apple.

Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can also check us. out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you. want to follow me, [music] X, Instagram, my NewsNation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. See [music] you next time, everybody.