BREAKING: D4vd’s Friend Arrested in Montana

One of David's friends has just been. arrested out in Montana. Let's discuss. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, breaking news. We are literally. jumping on right now. We're getting. information as I'm recording, but TMZ. has reported that a friend of Singer. David, somebody we've talked about a lot. here on Sidebar, this guy named Neil. Langston has been arrested out in. Montana. Now, it seems to be for failure. to report as a witness. Why is that.

important? It is important because, as. we've been reporting, there is. apparently a grand jury that has been. impanled and has been hearing evidence. in connection with the death of. 14-year-old Celeste Riva Hernandez, who. is found dead. Her decomposed body found. in a Tesla reportedly registered to. singer David. This was back in September. out in Los Angeles. And to be clear, David hasn't been charged or officially. implicated in any crime, but with the. reports of a grand jury, this is a. flexible situation. We've always. wondered what could come of that. Now,

according to a representative for the. Lewis and Clark County Jail, there was. this warrant out for Langston's arrest. And as the information's uh coming out, uh again, we looked at the court. records, it seems to be 23 years. He's. 23 years old. It was originally uh for. an unspecified warrant. So, at first, while we couldn't confirm exactly what. it was for, TMZ reported though that. this warrant was out of Los Angeles and. it was for failure to appear as a. witness. And by the way, he's currently. being held without bond. And TMZ has.

also reported that police in Montana. have been working with LAPD's robbery. homicide division. And we believe that. has been the unit that has been heading. up this investigation into what happened. to Celeste. By the way, this this jail. is out in Montana. Population about. 70,000. The jail is in Helena. It's the. capital city. It's almost 1,200 miles. from LA. So, we think about that. Now, why is this also important? It's. important based on our past reporting. because, as we previously discussed on. Sidebar, TMZ reported that with this.

grand jury apparently being in panel, there was a discussion, an alleged. discussion outside the courtroom about. an uncooperative witness. Okay, we go. back to a conversation that may have. happened in December between Deputy. District Attorney Beth Silverman, who we. believe may be spearheading this case, and attorney Evan Jennis. And Jennis. represents apparently both a witness, so. maybe Neil Langston and Robert Morgan. Roth. Now, Robert Morgan Roth is.

apparently the head of David's touring. company and a manager of his label. We. previously reported that Morgan Roth has. been uh potentially questioned and we've. previously reported that Morgan Roth had. been questioned in front of this grand. jury. Obviously, we don't know anything. officially. Authorities aren't going to. confirm it, but that's based a lot on. the reporting, including from TMZ. So, if you have an uncooperative witness and. now you have Neil Langston being. arrested out in Montana potentially for. failure to appear as a witness, you put. two and two together, we're starting to. see what might be going on here. Now, Neil Langston, we believe, is a friend.

of David. We've seen him in photos with. the singer. He has posted content. himself. Don't know the exact. connection. We also don't know if. Celeste, if he knew Celeste, if he had a. relationship with Celeste of some kind. Um, and again, we can't officially. confirm that he was supposed to be. testifying in front of this grand jury. But again, we're trying to put two and. two together. I want to bring on retired. detective commander Will Spelar uh to. talk about this. Will, thank you so much. for coming on. Again, we're still. developing this. I'm still looking for. breaking news as we record this. Um,

this is a big development. Your. thoughts? >> Well, if he's being held for a failure. to appear as a witness, that's a. contempt of court charge. So, the charge. is contempt of court. They're going to. extradite him, bring him back to LA, it. sounds to me like, you know, two and. two, like you said, the grand jury's. been convened since November. What what. happens then is they are presenting the. prosecution is presenting witness after. witness putting evidence in against a. specific target for or targets for a.

specific charge. So bringing this guy. in, this guy they they probably believe. has uh pertinent information to support. this charge. Um and it sounds to me like. uh the news is starting to tighten. around uh around the offender. If we. assume that he was supposed to be. testifying in front of the grand jury, and obviously we know grand juries are. kind of one-sided. It's the prosecution. presenting enough evidence to suggest, hey, can you return an indictment? Um, first we had thought that it was just an. investigative grand jury that couldn't.

return an indictment. Then there was. reporting, no, this is a grand jury that. can return an indictment. The the. standard to get back an indictment is. relatively low. But it's the. prosecution's case. They're presenting. evidence to support whatever charges. they're looking for here. If we assume. he's been an uncooperative witness and. we assume he's all the way in Montana, so 1,200 miles away. Timeline's. interesting, right? So, the reporting in. December of an uncooperative witness and. now in January, I wonder if they might. have had trouble finding him. I don't. know the circumstances of his arrest. I. don't know the cooper I mean, talk to me. about the cooperation. If you have uh.

LAPD now working with Montana to maybe. find him, it I do wonder was there an. issue to figure out where he was. Sure, it could have taken a while to find it, but once you once you square out a. warrant and you put a warrant uh across. the database, across the country, anywhere this guy gets stopped, it's. serviceable. As long as it's a good. warrant, it's serviceable and there's. extradition involved, it gets served. wherever he is. And you get it out there. across law enforcement channels, you put. it in the leads, once it's it's in. leads, every law enforcement agency has. it. So, regardless of where he went, he.

was eventually going to get caught. Now, they may have had some information from. whatever sources that he was up in. Montana, but this could be as simple as. a routine traffic stop where he gets. picked up on a name check. >> What do you think his connection is to. this case? >> Well, he's a friend. He's an influencer. Um, I think the purpose of the grand. jury is to try to find out what that. connection is. Um, and again, there's so. many different things out there with. these influencers and and the YouTube. I. I don't know what his connection would. be, but the grand jury wants to find.

out. The prosecution wants to find out. And again, now you can bring him back, extradite him, make him go to the grand. jury, but he could still take the fifth. Doesn't have to testify. >> Yep. I was gonna ask you that. I mean, if this is true, he's uncooperative. What's the value? What's the value? But. then again, I guess they believe um if. he takes the fifth, you know, I mean, I. do wonder what that would look like and. what the value of it is. But by the way, you don't even know. I don't even know. if he's somehow implicated in this. You.

don't even know. We don't even know that. as well if they're like, you know, if. he's not just a witness, but he's. somehow potentially a criminal. defendant. Um, we don't know. And a lot. of this is speculation because we don't. even know what charges they're looking. at. I can't officially confirm what. David would be looking at, if they are. looking at him, because at first it was. right. Um, there might not be any. charges other than concealment of a. body. They weren't 100% sure it was a a. a homicide, it was a murder. Um, reporting kind of changed on that. Um, so again, you do wonder what his role.

might be. >> Well, if it's if it comes back, the. medical examiner comes back that this is. a homicide, changes everything. If it's. a homicide, now you're looking at a. murder charge. This grand jury is being. presented information and evidence to. support a specific charge against a. specific person or persons. Could this. guy be part of it? He could be, or he. could just be a witness. Now, the. benefit of bringing him in, if he. decides he doesn't want to testify, he. wants to take the fifth. Well, then the. judge can make him sit. The judge who. issues a warrant can make him sit in.

jail. And you know, up to 30 days, you. might change your mind. >> That's a good point. And uh yeah, Montana, I wonder, you know, they talk. about what's the connection here, right? First of all, we don't know where David. is. Have no idea where David is. He's. been radio silent. No idea where he is. Um, you know, they talked about this. kind of Santa Barbara trip that David. may have taken and whether or not it has. any connection to what happened to. Celeste because we don't have an. official, let's be clear, we don't have. a a cause or manner of death. The. medical examiner's reports have been.

sealed. We don't know exactly if they. have a theory of when she died, where. she died, how exactly how long she's. been in that car. But Montana, now I. wonder whether or not LAPD will have the. ability to go to Montana and maybe see. if there's any evidence connected to. Celeste's death there or it's just. Montana's somehow connected to this guy. and not anybody else. >> Well, every time that that my guys had. warrants that got served out of out of. state, the first thing I did was put.

them on a plane to wherever that warrant. was served and to see if they could get. some conversation going while the before. extradition. So, I'd be really surprised. if LAPD wasn't in Montana right now uh. talking to this guy or trying to talk to. this guy. >> They We also have gotten word that. they're going to continue to have. witnesses testify maybe even into uh. next month. So, for those who are. wondering whether or not an indictment. will come out or whether an indictment. will come down soon, what is your theory. on this? And also, by the way, do you. think in a case like this where there's.

so much speculation and there's the. possibility when you think about what. happened to Celeste, whether or not. multiple people can be involved, do you. think that this is a grand jury that is. hearing evidence evidence against. multiple people and there would be. multiple indictments or indictment. containing multiple defendants at the. same time? >> Absolutely. Could well be. And I can. tell you, like you mentioned earlier, the threshold to get an indictment, to. get probable cause, to indict it, to. move it on to trial, to the next phase, is isn't that high. Okay? It's just it's. it's like probable cause. But if you're.

bringing all these witnesses, you're. laying out a pretty complex complaint or. a complex argument that possibly there. could be more than one person. I matter. of fact, I'd be surprised if there was. only one person. Even as I'm reporting. this, I'm realizing how much how little. information we actually have about this. Do you think once there's an indictment. or if there's an indictment, authorities will release the information. they have. They'll they remember they. petitioned a court to uh seal the the.

medical examiner's records. Do you think. it's all going to be released? I mean, do you think all that information will. be released to the public, the media? I. know it's still an ongoing. investigation, I imagine, but when will. they give answers? >> The records are sealed right now. That. grand jury is always sealed um until a. judge says you can give information. If. there's an indictment on this, I think. you're going to hear an indictment. You're going to hear an announcement of. an indictment. You may get some. background, but I don't think they're. laying out their whole case. And and we. can't get it because the the right now.

all the transcripts are sealed. So until. it gets unsealed by a judge, we won't. know anything until probably time of. trial. >> And by the way, just to go back to Neil. Langston, if someone is allegedly. uncooperative, does that mean they have. something to hide or have you seen in. your experience maybe they don't want to. testify for a variety of reasons? >> Both ways. Either someone's got. something to hide or and more more often. than not when we get reluctant witnesses. and and you know, I 32 years on a job I. worked murderers and violent crimes for. 25 of them. Most of the time in those.

instances where we can't get someone to. cooperate, it's because out of fear, their fear of retribution and they don't. want to get themselves involved or their. families involved. >> This is also a case that's develops and. changes rapidly, which makes me always. wonder whether or not people have been. talking, people have been cooperating. So, as I mentioned, if there was that. shift from we don't know what happened. to Celeste, there might not be any. charges beyond concealing her body and. then, oh, maybe it's a homicide. investigation. I do wonder if this is a.

case where deals have been worked out. and whether or not people have been. incentivized to provide testimony. >> It all when you talk about a deal, you. know, if say you got someone who's a. codefendant, if there's a codefendant in. a trial and you make a deal with them to. testify against the other person, that. testimony cannot come in until the. charge that you're making a deal with is. adjudicated. So, it can't be two two. trials going on at the same time. It has. to be adjudicated. There has to be a. punishment or a sentence and then that.

person could come in to testify. I don't. know what's going on behind closed. doors. We don't know what any of these. witnesses are saying because it's. sealed. You could have half half of them. coming in and taking a fifth, but I. believe they're probably getting some. pretty good information. That's why it's. continuing and they're calling more. people. >> By the way, did you see this mug shot of. him? We have it. Did you see it where. >> Yeah, he looks pretty uh. >> smiling. That was weird. >> Yeah, he looks like he's in a good mood. >> Yeah, that was interesting just to say. the least. I mean, >> yeah, I did see that. But also think. about how young they are. I mean, you're. talking about 23 year old. What is.

what's David? 20 years old. These are. young people that investigators might be. looking at. I think that's what And. that's by the way something else that. everybody talks about. You know, they. say if they're looking at David, it's. not just in connection with the death of. Celeste, but any alleged relationship he. had with her. Um, do you think that's. being explored? >> Sure. Absolutely. There there's, you. know, there's ages of consent. She's. below the age of consent. He's over the. age of consent. That's an inappropriate. relationship and not only inappropriate,

but illegal. So, when we talk about the. indictments and the charges, that could. very well be part of it. >> Do you think they know where David is. right now? >> I think they probably have a pretty good. idea. >> And we know, as we previously reported, his attorney, he's retained Blair Burke, who is a very highpowered attorney. So, I have to imagine there must be some. sort of communication between her and. authorities. Just going back completely. different case, but with the Diddy case, right, his attorneys were in constant. communication with federal prosecutors.

about where he is. He's going to come to. New York. We've taken his passport. Do. you imagine something like that's been. going on here? >> I would guarantee it. There's no way. Blair Burke's going to hide her client. When it comes time to indictment or for. charges, she'll surrender the client. No. question about it. Um, she'd be foolish. not to. >> When are we going to learn more about. this guy? Uh, are we going to learn more. about when he's taken back to LA? Will. we know the circumstances of what's. going on? How much will the public. public and the media be aware of this? >> Oh, wait. Hold on. I got and I got an.

update. >> Oh, okay. Listen to this. It appears he. was brought in by the US Marshalss last. night at around 6:00 p.m. What do you. make of that? >> US Marshals Task Force works with every. uh jurisdiction in in the country. every. every department or every county has a. US Marshall task force that basically. they serve warrants, criminal warrants. They get the criminal warrants, they do. all their stuff, ping phones, whatever. they have to do, and they find the. person. So, federal task force, we use. it all the time. And and that task force.

is US Marshalss and also local law. enforcement. >> What What assets do they provide? Because originally originally, right, it. was supposed to be LAPD coordinating uh. with Montana authorities. Why bring in. the US Marshalss? What resources do they. have um that Montana authorities or LAPD. doesn't have? >> Well, they have the expertise. Well, first of all, LA, you can't the more in. LA once you bring it over to out of. state, LA can't really serve it. They.

have to have local law enforce local law. enforcement do it. And the marshals are. a great asset because they have all the. information. They have access to phone. records and the people that write their. warrants to ping phones and and to and. to look for people are very good. It's. all they do. All they do is get criminal. warrants, serve them and get and get the. bad guys off the street. And they're. very good at it. >> By the way, Steve Fischer, who we've had. on this program before, he's the private. investigator who has been hired uh by. the owner of that property that David.

had been renting and staying at where. the Tesla was found nearby. Uh Neil. Langston has been arrested in Montana on. a Los Angeles Superior Court warrant for. failure to appear for testimony. Lewis. and Clark County expects LA County to. begin the extradition. uh process. By the way, can you just. explain a little bit more about what we. can expect with extradition? >> Yes. He will go before a judge in. Montana and he will either wave. extradition or he'll fight extradition. Nine out of 10 times they wave. extradition and they are brought back to.

the jurisdiction by detectives from that. jurisdiction. If he waves it now, it has. to go to the governor or if he fights. it, it has to go to the governor of. Montana who has to say, "Yep, it looks. like there's probable cause. You have to. go and that's usually about 30 days. It. doesn't happen very often, but uh that's. usually what it does. It's just a. formality where it takes it about. another month.". >> And you wouldn't really want to fight it. if you feel like, you know, you're going. back like you would fight it because. you're going to you're going to stay in. jail. If you fight it, you're staying in. jail in Montana. Whereas, if you're.

like, "Okay, I'm not fighting it. Let's. go back to LA." He's probably not going. to be kept in jail. I mean, if he does, if he's cooperative and decides to. testify or whatever the situation may. be, I mean, again, we don't know if he's. facing charges or whatnot, but there. wouldn't be an incentive for him to. fight it, per se, right? >> No, I wouldn't think so. You're getting. a free ride home and like you said, if. you go before the grand jury and you. give testimony, you're not going to be. locked up. The warrant will take care of. itself. All the charges will be. dismissed. Now, if he doesn't provide. testimony, it's up to them whether or. not it's up to the judge whether or not. they want to keep him in jail on.

contempt charges, and they could. Um, one thing I I forgot to mention is that. he did see a judge for a courtesy. arraignment today and he's already being. uh transferred out to Los Angeles. Um, anything we should be thinking about. there? >> No, he he just he's not fighting it and. the uh the LA detectives are bringing. him back to LA County. >> All right. I I don't really have much. more. Um, yeah, that's I I think that's. it. I think that's all we can report. right now. It is an interesting. development because there hasn't been. much. Uh, but Will Steel, thank you so.

much for jumping on so quickly and. talking about this. >> My pleasure. >> All right, everybody, that's all we have. for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcast. You can also. check us out on NBC's Peacock. We got. Sidebar episodes up there as well. If. you want to follow me, X Instagram. I. got my NewsNation show, Jesse Weber. Live, Monday through Friday nights. Thank you so much, everybody. I'll see. you next time.