5 Creepy New Details in Dismembered Teen Found in D4vd’s Tesla Case

The investigation into singer David has. intensified after the body of a teenager. was discovered in a Tesla that has been. linked to him. From canceled tours to. social media revelations, new. developments are raising serious. questions about their supposed. relationship and the ongoing probe. We. are going to break down the latest. developments in this case and what law. enforcement is focusing on next with a. retired detective. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. The investigation into Houstonborn.

singer David D4VD, real name David. Anthony Burke, continues to widen after. the body of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas. Hernandez was found decomposed in a. Tesla reportedly registered to him. Authorities are still working to. determine exactly what happened here, but the fallout is growing. There's an. alleged former teacher of Celeste even. coming forward with troubling claims. about her connection to the singer. And. we're going to get there, but first we. got to look back at what we know when. this case first broke. We covered it.

here on Sidebar, but on September 8th, LAPD officers responded to Hollywood tow. on Mansfield Avenue. And this is after. workers reported a foul odor coming from. a car. That car was a Tesla with Texas. plates registered to David. It had been. abandoned in the Hollywood Hills and. towed. Inside the front trunk, authorities discovered dismembered human. remains wrapped in a bag. The Los. Angeles County Medical Examiner. identified the body as Celeste Rivas.

Hernandez, who had been missing from. Riverside County since April of 2024. According to reporting from KTLA, the. Cyber Truck had been there for about 5. days. The medical examiner's office said. that Celeste's body was badly decomposed. and appeared to have been in the vehicle. for an extended period of time. Now, Celeste's cause of death was listed as. deferred, but around the time that she. went missing in 2024, there were rumors. that circulated that David was dating a. teen girl named Celeste. This is.

according to screen captures of messages. that were posted in 2023 in chat rooms, namely Discord. Now, Celeste, who had. just turned 15 the day before her body. was found, was remembered by family as a. wonderful daughter, sister, cousin, and. friend. Her brother previously told NBC. Los Angeles that she disappeared after. leaving the family home to see a movie. with David. Reports also noted a. striking detail that Celeste had a. tattoo on her finger reading sh and.

multiple photos showed David with a. nearly identical tattoo on his hand. Now, in the past week, both of David's. remaining US tour dates, San Francisco. and Los Angeles, were cancelled, along. with at least nine European shows that. were listed on Ticketmaster, including. an October 1st stop in Norway. A. scheduled Grammy Museum appearance in. Los Angeles, was also pulled from the. venue's website. His label, Innercope, later told TMZ that all promotion for. David, including his deluxe album. release, was being paused. And David, by.

the way, was also the face of a new. collaboration between Hollister and. Crocs, but he was scrubbed from the. campaign just days after it was. launched, according to the New York. Post. Now, a spokesperson previously. told NBC News that David was cooperating. with authorities, but to be clear, there's no formal arrests. Now, investigators are digging deeper into. this case. We are too. And for that, I. want to bring on a special guest. I want. to bring in Matthew Irvine, who's a. retired detective and law enforcement. instructor. Thank you so much for coming. here on Sidebar. We really appreciate. it. Thank you for having me, Jesse.

>> So, based on your experience, how do. police, by the way, when they're dealing. with, and I wonder if this is a big. issue in LA, but how do police deal with. prioritizing cases when you have a. celebrity, a famous person linked in. some way to a crime? How do they uh deal. with that? Well, you know, ideally there really. shouldn't be any distinction based on. the the fame or wealth of the person. implicated in a crime, whether they be. the uh the accused or the victim. In.

reality, there always pressures that are. brought to bear on investigators, be it. from within their agency or from the. media or the public. And the challenge. for the investigator is to remember, as. Harry Bosch says, everybody counts or. nobody counts. >> That was the first Bosch reference we've. ever gotten uh on Sidebar and you named. it. Okay. When you're dealing with a. body that's as decomposed as this, how. do authorities analyze that evidence? How do they handle that evidence? And. the idea that it was this body was. severely decomposed. What does that tell.

you? >> Well, it sounds like from the reporting. we've heard so far, and again, I don't. know anything about this case other than. what's been publicly reported, it sounds. like poor Celeste was likely in the. front trunk of that vehicle for several. weeks before her body was discovered. And there's even been reporting that she. was dismembered. That certainly presents. a challenge for the medical examiner and. for investigators in terms of. determining time and cause of death. Also raises some questions in terms of. uh why the killer uh reportedly chose to.

dismember this young woman. Uh sometimes. the killer will dismember their victim. because if they do that and disperse the. remains over some space and particularly. if certain body parts aren't found, it. makes it harder to identify the victim. Now, people that kill strangers don't. usually need to worry about the victim. being identified because there's nothing. that connects to that. So, the only time. the identity of the victim is a problem. for the killer is if there's some known. relationship. >> Look, I'm going to say this. I cover. crazy stories all day. And I'm not going. to lie to you. Sometimes it makes me.

think about myself, my loved ones, family. If something should happen, would my family still be able to cover. the big expenses like the mortgage, utilities, the day-to-day bills? Look, I. know life insurance, that's not. something you want to be thinking about. But the truth is, life is hard to. predict and it's important to start. looking for options before anything bad. happens, okay? And the problem is. traditional life insurance, it always. felt complicated and intimidating. There's a lot of paperwork. There's. waiting around. Sometimes there's. medical exams, but with Ethos, it's. going to be easier. Ethos is an online. platform that helps you get life.

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ethos. Get your free quote at. ethos.com/sidebar. That's ethos.com/sidebar. Also, Matthew, someone would have to. have the means and the opportunity to. dispose of a body in this fashion and be. able to deposit the body in this car. That I wonder is that something. investigators are looking into? How how. can someone have the ability to do. something like this? Uh who can have the. means, the opportunity to do that?

Right. Well, we have to kind of keep the AAMS. razor principle in mind. I mean, this. vehicle was registered to David Burke. It was apparently towed from across the. street from a home that he was renting. So, the simplest theory would be that. this crime happened in or near the. vehicle and likely uh by David or. somebody close to him with access to the. vehicle. That said, as an investigator, we have to keep in mind till the. investigation is complete and all the. facts are in that we don't know yet all.

the facts. We need to think about what. we don't yet know. And uh as an. investigator, while you want to trust. your your intuition and the wisdom of. your experience and and your common. sense, we have to remember that just. because you did a hundred of these cases. and it always turned out this way and. the answer was X, uh in this case, the. answer could still be Y. So, we have to. keep an open mind. But certainly there's. a lot uh of publicly available. information that seems to point to the. involvement of David Burke in the death.

of this child. >> By the way, what causes decomposition. and how quickly does it happen? >> Decomposition is a natural process once. the uh person is no longer alive and. it's affected by a lot of factors. including uh temperature and whether the. body is protected in some way. In this. case, in the front trunk of a vehicle in. Los Angeles in the late summer, it's. likely the decomposition would happen. very rapidly. >> I want to get into some of the uh key. updates in this case from the last time.

we spoke. So, according to Forbes and. ABC News, police executed a search. warrant at a Hollywood Hills home on. September 18th where David had been. staying. They seized a computer. They. seized other items of evidence. Sources. told the Los Angeles Times that David. had been renting the home, which the. LAPD confirmed to Forbes was on Doy. Place. That's not far from where the. Tesla was reportedly abandoned. And. Matthew, actually, let's just start. there. What does a search like that tell. us about where investigators are.

focusing? How significant is it that. they've removed electronics and other. materials from this property? What does. this tell you? Well, in order to get a search warrant, you need to be able to articulate to a. judge that you have probable cause to. believe crime has been committed and. that evidence of that crime is going to. be found in the place that you intend to. search. So, just because you search. somebody's residence or vehicle or other. property doesn't necessarily mean that. that person is your suspect in the. crime. It simply means that that place.

is likely to have evidence related to. the crime. So, certainly they had to. meet that legal standard in order to. execute the search warrant. And I'm sure. that in addition to looking for physical. evidence, forensic evidence within the. residence, as you said, they are seizing. electronic evidence. And that's going to. be critical in this case. I mean, just. from what's already been reported. publicly, there seems to be a lot of. online communication between people who. at least appear to be David and Celeste. going back maybe as far as 2022 when she. was 11 or 12 years old. There's also a.

lot of communication again that's being. posted online between David and other. parties that appear to have some. knowledge at least of his relationship. with Celeste. So the timeline is going. to be really important here and the. electronic record is going to be. important part of that timeline. >> 100%. And by the way we also have to. mention that while this was going on. deputies in Houston they also confirmed. to click to Houston that they responded. twice last week to David's Cypress Texas. home after security alarms were. triggered. Now, the property records tie.

the house to a trust that resembles the. name of his debut album, Pedals to. Thorns. There's no search warrants that. have been executed there, which is. interesting because, Matthew, how would. law enforcement uh typically treat these. kinds of security alerts in an ongoing. investigation? When you're talking about. a different property, are you surprised. that property hasn't been searched yet? Well, that's the first I'm hearing of. this, but uh it's interesting to think. that somebody may have tried to make.

entry to that property. That could be an. effort by somebody to remove evidence. that was there. That's the obvious. connection to this Los Angeles-based. investigation. As to search warrants, again, officer or detective needs to be. able to articulate probable cause to a. judge that there is evidence of a crime. on those premises. And apparently at. this point, they don't feel like they've. got that. Now, I I want your perspective. on this, too. So, TMZ obtained messages. from a Discord moderator that was tied. to David's online community, and the.

administrator insisted that they. believed Celeste to be 18 or 19 years. old and denied knowing that she was a. missing, you know, 15year-old. Part of. the message that was obtained by TMZ. reads, "We, the Discord and Twitch staff. teams, want to clarify what we knew and. didn't know regarding Celeste. We were. not aware of her true age or that she. was a missing person. We also did not. have any contact with her outside of. what was made public. From what was. shared in David's Twitch streams and. from her role in the server, we. understood her to be around 18 to 19.

Now, it's not clear which administrator. made this statement, but Matthew, that's. interesting, right? >> It is interesting, but I don't really. know how relevant it is in terms of this. criminal investigation. What's important. is what David knew. And all the publicly. available information appears to show. that he knew her age, that he first. communicated with her when she was a. middle schooler, again, possibly 12 or. 11 years old, and that when she left. home with him in uh the first part of.

last year, she was only 13. And as you. know, we've been talking about her a lot. as 15year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. And as you said, it's important to. remember she never lived to see her 15th. birthday. She was found in the front. trunk of that car the day after she. should have turned 15. So this really is. a child. And throughout her relationship. with David, whatever it was, she was. unquestionably a child.

And that's the point because TMZ reports. that there is this newly surfaced video. that apparently shows David and Celeste. together on a live stream interacting. with fans. And in the clip, Celeste can. be heard prompting David to respond to a. comment. That video was recorded in. January of 2024. You go back to that. timeline, Matthew, of when they said she. went missing. Is that video going to be. key for investigators? >> Absolutely. And uh that's just one of.

many images moving and still that have. been popping up all over social media in. the last couple of weeks. There seems to. be a really strong uh digital footprint. showing them in various locations. backstage at his concerts uh doing his. live stream and various still images. taken uh in various places going back at. least to early 2024. And again, as you. said, that was several months before she. left home. and while she was still very. much a a 13-year-old middle school kid. >> Well, I tell you what, it's not just.

investigators looking into this. There. have been a lot of online slews that. have been digging into David's posts on. social media as well as his songs to see. if there's any clue about what might. have happened here. There's an. unreleased song that was leaked last. week. It's reportedly called Celeste. demo unfin as in, you know, unfinished. This is according to KTLA and TMZ. And. in David's biggest song called Romantic. Homicide, David sings, "In the back of. my mind, I killed you and I didn't even.

regret it. I can't believe I said it, but it's true." We all know whether or. not lyrics will play a role in a. criminal case is a controversial and. constitutional issue as well. Just. putting that to the side, though. In a. 2022 interview, Forbes reports that. Burke had said that those lyrics are. figurative, saying, "I didn't kill her. physically, but in the back of my mind, she died." Online slew have also. uncovered a Tik Tok video made by. another user, but it was apparently. reposted by David, where the person in. the video is chopping up chicken and.

words on the screen read, "Me if I see. her talk with other dudes." So David's. label, Innercope Records, along with. UMG, Sony Music Publishing, Wasserman, they have paused all promotional. activities around his upcoming Deluxe. album and his career overall. Basically, his last Instagram post celebrates the. release of the deluxe version of his. album Withered, which was supposed to. come out on September 19th. Forbes. reported it hasn't appeared on streaming. services. Matthew, few things here.

First of all, the lyrics I mentioned I I. talk about cases involving musicians and. criminal cases and whether or not the. lyrics can be introduced into evidence. as uh you know intent or it shows their. knowledge or what what have you. But do. you think that there's something of. value there or are people maybe reading. into it too much? >> I think there's certainly something of. value. I mean, we need to be careful in. treating song lyrics as autobiographical. or confessional. Johnny Cash saying that.

he shot a man in Reno just to watch him. die and nobody thinks Johnny Cash killed. anybody. Um, but as you said, it's it's. the uh totality of what he is putting. out there. Not just the lyrics to. Celeste or romantic homicide, but the. posts of Chopping Chicken. Uh there's. another post uh that had to do with. jealous rage when he finds out she's uh. had prior relationships. He created a. sort of alter ego for his latest album. and tour called Itami who uh is pictured.

in a blood spattered shirt and David. Burke described him as interview in an. interview as uh his sort of evil. homicidal alter ego. Supposedly, there's. a video for romantic homicide that shows. Itami murdering a girl. So, uh, is it. proof of anything? No. Uh, but it's. certainly information and certainly part. of the, uh, the total picture that. investigators and prosecutors are going. to have to look at.

>> Why do you think there's been a full. stop pause on his career? Is it because, hey, listen, from a PR perspective, from. an optics point of view, as this. investigation's going on, we as a. business, we can't continue to promote. his music. we can't uh you know have any. role in this whatsoever. We want to. distance ourselves. We want to let this. cool off. Um or does it signal to you. that there is something going on in the. investigation that there is a. development that that something is about. to happen? It would help in the sense. now you know where he is and if you need. to further question him, he's not going.

on tour. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. He's uh he's not. leaving the US as to the the sort of. business decisions. I mean, I just, you. know, he right now looks like somebody. who's in a lot of trouble. All the. available information right now seems to. point to him. I can't imagine any. publicity conscious business wanting to. continue an association with him or. wanting to promote him at this time. That though is a different calculus than. is he guilty of homicide and can that be.

proven beyond a reasonable doubt. So. there's the the optics right now uh. which seem to point very strongly to his. guilt uh that may yet prove to be the. case, but we're still a long way off. from even at this point apparently. probable cause to arrest uh much less. guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. >> We got to talk about this next. development. It's pretty wild. Okay. A. Southern California teacher who is by. the way not yet been named by law. enforcement revealed or apparently. revealed in a Tik Tok video that Celeste.

had once been his student at Lakeland. Village Middle School. In that video, which was recorded by a student in his. class, he can be heard recounting that. Celeste allegedly told other students. that she met David online again when she. was 13 years old, ran away with him, was. eventually found by police in Hollywood, and then disappeared again in 2024, May. of 2024. And the teacher said that he. even spoke with students at the time who. told them that she had been in contact. with David. TMZ says they spoke with.

this teacher who told them that he. shared this story with his class as a. cautionary tale about the dangers of. social media. Matthew, given this. teacher's account or alleged account of. Celeste, you know, running away, her. interactions with David, what are the. challenges that this type of information. may present for investigators? Um, how. seriously do law enforcement agencies. weigh this kind of statement? So, you know, a uh video taken by a. student of a middle school teacher in.

his classroom. is not in itself proof of anything. It's. information. It's not evidence. Question. is, can this teacher's account be. corroborated in other ways? And again, a. lot of what's coming out now is just. coming out on social media. And. sometimes it's multiple levels of. hearsay, somebody posting on TikTok, something that they're screenshotting. off of Reddit or Discord. But it seems. like the family is also telling. authorities that indeed Celeste left. home initially in April of 2024. That's. when that missing poster was created.

that describes her as leaving home last. seen wearing Hello Kitty sandals. That. she came back for about a month or so. and that she left again in May and that. she was last seen by the family going. someplace with David. So if that is. indeed what the family is saying as has. been reported that would uh jive exactly. with what this teacher is alleging and. that is useful information for. authorities when it's not just alleged. but also cooperated. >> And the fact that this information uh. surfaced on social media does that.

affect how investigators handle it? >> You know it's funny trying to uh educate. myself about this case. I realize that. most of the up-to-date and detailed. reporting is on social media, on Reddit, on Discord, on Tik Tok, on Instagram. And uh that is a challenge for. investigators because this is a these. are new media formats quite frankly. A. lot of robbery homicide detectives are. middle-aged people like myself who. aren't really savvy in these newer forms.

of media. So, I would absolutely hope. that there is attached to this. investigation somebody who is a lot more. social media savvy and probably frankly. a whole lot younger than me because. that's really what this investigation is. going to have to include in order to. really stay on top of all the leads. >> Yeah. Um, and trying to corroborate that. story would be interesting, too. Um, could the Tik Tok post itself be treated. as potential evidence? Is it just more. of a lead that they then follow? What do.

you think? It's all potentially evidence. Again, the question is, uh, can it be verified? Can it be corroborated? Uh, there's a. whole lot of stuff out there. Like I. said, some of it is is second and. thirdand. It's tick tockers uh reposting. things from Discord or things from. Reddit. And so, all of that is not. inherently all that reliable. But if it. matches what uh Celeste's family shares, what Celeste's friends are able to. corroborate, what uh David's digital.

footprint uh informs them of, what the. forensic evidence shows, now you're. starting to put together a case. >> Now, here's the point. Through all of. this, Celeste's family is left grieving. In a message that was posted alongside a. GoFundMe campaign, the Reva Hernandez. family wrote, "As many of you know, Celeste Reva Hernandez has been. identified as the body found last week. She was a beloved daughter, sister, cousin, and friend. Her family is. heartbroken and devastated by this.

tragic loss. They are seeking help to. lay her body to rest. Any funds you are. able to donate are greatly appreciated.". Matthew, do you think an arrest is. imminent here? I mean, we started this. case off by not even there was a. question of whether or not they would be. even able to identify the human remains. came from the tattoo. They were able to. uh ultimately identify this body as. belonging to as that of Celeste. Do you. think that there's going to be arrest an. arrest soon?

>> I can't speak to the timeline of an. arrest. I would say this that the men. and women in LAPD's robbery homicide. division are the best of the best at. what they do. They're handpicked from an. agency of 9,000 or so officers. Um, in. terms of the urgency to make an arrest, is there a public safety risk here? There doesn't appear to be. Is there a. flight risk here? Apparently not. As you. said, they know where he is and he's not. going to be able to go anywhere. Uh, so.

the. caution would seem to be the best course. of action here. Uh this is a case that. you want to put together rock solid uh. bulletproof before you make an arrest. And I imagine that's what the folks in. robbery homicide are doing. I also. wanted to uh to thank you for saying. what you did about the Reebas Hernandez. family because. you know we are as a society fascinated. with true crime and that's.

understandable. often fascinating cases, but we're only able to to tell these. stories. We only hear these stories. because, as you said, somebody has been. terribly harmed and uh the people that. love them are grieving. And so, we need. to keep that in mind and not um. arrandise or mythologize the people that. do this harm, but instead keep our focus. on the victims and the people that love. them. >> Oh, I I appreciate that. You know, this. is a tragedy. This is a real loss. They.

were experiencing it each and every day. And let me tell you, as the. investigation continues and if there's. an arrest, the legal process begins, that pain only gets worse because now. they have to live through it and they. have to learn more, you know, more. details about the crime. And that's. really, really tough. But at the same. point, we're trying to amplify it. If. people have information, know something, that's what investigators need at this. point. Um, and even like we talk about. something like the teacher, will that. play into evidence? Will that be a.

factor? Will that be part of the. investigation? We shall see. Uh, Matthew. Irvine, thank you so much for taking the. time. Really appreciate it. I I loved. having you on. We'll make sure to have. you back. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate being. on. >> And 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 should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. Instagram or X. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.

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