Burn Cage Found Inside D4vd's House: Private Investigator

Was a major clue just revealed in. connection with the mysterious death and. disposal of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas. Hernandez, the teenager whose body was. allegedly found in singer David's car. Turns out the private investigator who's. been looking into this case, just made a. bombshell revelation on social media we. got to talk about. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Okay, real quick before we jump into. this. Got to tell you it's open.

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happened to 14-year-old Celeste Rivas. Hernandez, who as you know, her body was. found in a Tesla that was allegedly. registered to singer David back in. September out in LA. There have been no. arrests. There have been no charges. filed. There has been reporting, particularly from TMZ, that an possibly. an investigative grand jury out in LA. may be hearing evidence. We did previous. sidebars on that. You can check it all. out. But one underlying question that we. don't have the answer to and from a. forensic point of view perhaps is a.

complicating factor is what happened to. Celeste? How did she die? What was the. true state of her body? How was she. moved? Which is why the update that I'm. about to get into is so so interesting. You want to talk about complicating? You. know what else is complicating? the fact. that the cause and manner of death. hasn't been released and that the. details from the medical examiner's. office have been sealed by court order.

You know, according to a release from. the medical examiner's office, it said. at 10:54 a.m. on Friday, November 21st, the County of Los Angeles Department of. Medical Examiner received a court order. initiated by the Los Angeles Police. Department to place a security hold on. medical examiner case number 2025 14252. Celeste Rivas Hernandez. No records or. details associated with the case, including the cause and manner of death. and medical examiner report can be. released or posted on the website until. further notice. And then you had the.

robbery homicide division that released. a statement not only addressing this, but also addressing the media reporting. that Celeste was decapitated and that. her body was either entirely or. partially frozen. Now, this is based. primarily on reporting from TMZ. They. had a statement that said robbery. homicide division statement on Celeste. Rivas uh investigation Los Angeles. The. Los Angeles Police Department is aware. of the recent stories posted by various. media outlets about the David Celeste.

Rivas investigation and would like to. dispel some misinformation contained in. the reporting. The body of Celeste Rivas. was not frozen when it was discovered on. September 8th, 2025. She had not been. decapitated. As far as the court order, the LAPD sought to seal the records of. the Los Angeles County Medical. Examiner's investigation into Celeste. Riva's death. That order was sought only. to ensure detectives from robbery. homicide division learned of important. information surrounding her death before. the media and the public. The order was. not sought to undermine transparency.

Okay, now we got to talk about this. update. And this update concerns Steve. Fiser. We've had him on the program. before. Steve is the private. investigator who is hired by the owner. of the property where David had. reportedly been staying in the Hollywood. Hills. That property was apparently near. the Tesla. That property, by the way, was searched by authorities. Now, Steve. has come out and made some comments. about his investigation, including. things like this.

>> But I will say this, there are some. things that um and I'm talking physical. evidence that was at that house that is. that there could have been greater plans. as far as getting rid of her and it's. scary sadistic stuff and that's why. we're trying to learn more about that. I. wish I could say more but for obvious. reasons I can't but but and it doesn't. have to do with how she died but maybe. how they were planning on ultimately. getting rid of her and how maybe that. Tesla was just a holding spot at the.

time and things just you know their. timing was just off as far as getting. this done. But there's some there's a. few things that were just like will blow. your mind. >> And he was recently discussed on another. episode of Sidebar where he made a post. on X seemingly fighting back about. potentially being held in contempt of. court for allegedly talking about or. discussing a case that he had seemingly. testified about. He really fought back. about against that allegation as well. And we assume this was about the Celeste. Rivas Hernandez case. Not definitively.

confirmed, but when you read between the. lines of his message, it seemed to be. that. Maybe we'll get into that a little. bit later. But now, given what he has. said about his findings, this is what we. need to talk about. He just posted this. on X quote. Although my words have been. misqued by some, what I actually said. about certain items found at the Dhini. address was that they were quote items. you would expect to find on a farm. rather than in a home in the Hollywood.

Hills. One of those items was a burn. cage incinerator advertised to burn at. 1,600°. Human cremations are typically performed. at approximately 1,400°. An incinerator is not legal to use. within city limits and serves no. legitimate purpose at a residential. property in the Hollywood Hills. Some. will argue that this item was intended. as a prop for a video. If that were the. case, it raises several obvious. questions. Why would a 55 lb bird cage.

be delivered to a private residence. instead of directly to a prop designer. or production house? Why would be. ordered before departing on an extended. world tour? And why was it never used in. any video production? It is also. important to note that there were. additional items present that could be. used in conjunction with the burn cage. To be very clear, this burn cage was not. used. It was still new and in the box. However, given that Celeste Rivas.

Hernandez's remains were ultimately. found in the Tesla trunk, the presence. of an incinerator at the same residence. associated with that vehicle necessarily. raises questions about intent. The burn. cage was not taken during the search. warrant. And because it was not used, it. appears it's not of importance to any. possible criminal investigation, but we. think it's important context, even if. not criminal. The burn cage and other. related items were delivered to the. residents under a false name. Although. the deliveries were accepted at the. property, attached is a photograph of.

the actual burn cage incinerator as. found at the residence along with an. image from Dr. Burns advertising. materials for the product. # Celeste. Revas Hernandez #david. and he does include those photos by the. way. What do we make of this? Let me. bring on Matt Irvine to talk about this. retired detective, law enforcement. instructor. Matt, so good to have you. here. Um quite the statement from Steve. Fiser uh making it public. Um your. thoughts if this is true?

>> Well, I think Steve Fischer's remarks. are very well considered. I I cannot. think of a legitimate innocent reason. why a burn cage would be received at a. private residence. Uh why it would be. ordered under a false name. I also. frankly. >> let's just start there. Keep your. thought. The only thing I would say is. about a false name. You know, if he's a. celebrity, he doesn't want people. knowing that he's staying there. Thoughts? >> Fair enough. But, um, if he's got a.

bunch of people that he's working with. because he intends to use this as part. of a concert tour, as part of a video, he's got a whole staff of people that. can order something for him. I I don't. understand why he would need to do it. under an assumed name. But your point is. well taken that that that could be an. innocent explanation. But again, to. Steve's points, if that is indeed the. intent uh for this this item, why is it. delivered to a private residence? Why is. it not with them on tour? Why is it not. uh taken to some location to be used for.

uh you know, some kind of a video? Uh. that said, I also can't think of a good. reason why LAPD didn't seize this item. I mean, if you're conducting an. investigation into a body found in the. trunk of a car, one of your working. theories has got to be that this body. was placed there in order to move it. from the scene where the death occurred. and then transport it to some third. location to conceal it or dispose of it. And if you're looking at the possibility.

that somebody is trying to dispose of a. body and you search the residence of a. person of interest in that case and you. find what is essentially a a home. crematorium, why don't you take that? Um, I know that. when you're serving a search warrant, you can only seize the things that the. court authorized you to seize and that. you told the court you expected to find. there. I'm sure nobody expected to find. this item there. But what you do in a. search warrant when you find something. evidentiary that was unexpected is you.

write what's called a a piggyback. warrant. It's a simple addendum where. you say, "Hey, judge, while serving that. search warrant that you issued, we found. this other thing. We think it's. evidence. We'd like to seize that, too.". It's a typical one-page addendum that's. tacked on to your warrant. I've never. seen a judge not sign one of those, and. I don't know why that wasn't done in. this case. >> So, let me ask you this, Matt. You could. be 100% right. Right. First of all, assuming this is true, that a burn cage. was a b, you know, delivered there. And. assuming for a moment, um, that law.

enforcement didn't seize it. Okay, let's. say that's accurate. Um, I guess the. question would be either like you said. it was beyond the realm uh it was beyond. the scope of a a search warrant. Maybe. they didn't amend it for whatever reason. or is it possible when we're trying to. think about what happened to Celeste, her body showed absolutely no sign of. burning whatsoever and they couldn't. definitively establish that that that. the purchase the delivery of this. incinerator was related to her in any.

way. >> Well, that's a fair statement. I mean, and as Steve Fischer mentioned, it was. unused, but it it seems like because of. the circumstances that this body was. found uh in the trunk of the car, that. the the crime of disposal of the body. was incomplete. That there was a a plan. or at least the beginnings of a plan to. uh conceal or dispose of the body. And. for one reason or another, that plan was. not fully executed. And that doesn't.

make the the burn cage any less uh. evidentiary. Uh again, a search warrant. doesn't uh have to reach the level of. probable cause to arrest. You just have. to argue that you're investigating a. crime and that this item is uh. potentially evidence of that crime. So, it's a much lower standard than what you. would need to arrest somebody. And I. think that standard is well met just by. the circumstances of uh the discovery of. Celeste's body. If somebody had used. that, could it could it thoroughly.

incinerate a body and there would be no. human composition left? There'd be no. human remains left. >> You know, I'm not familiar with that. product. Um I I trust Steve Fischer when. he says that uh an incineration of a a. human body, a cremation takes place at. 1400°. If this thing could go to 1600, I. don't know what its uh capacity is at 55. lbs. I can't imagine it's that large. But, you know, that again brings us back.

to this uh this allegation of uh. dismemberment or potential dismemberment. if you're going to dispose of a body in. that way. It's pretty it's a pretty. awful thing to consider, but it it looks. like somebody may have been considering. this. >> Well, that's the that's an interesting. part because when we first started on. this case, there was a question, why was. the body left in a Tesla? Either it was, you know, somebody was in the middle of. trying to figure out what to do next. with the body. they panicked or it was. deliberately left there to cast.

suspicion on David, right? We thought. that could have been a possibility. But. if the bodies left in the car and now. you're thinking about the purchase of. this incinerator, that is like really, really, really sloppy work. I mean, you're purchasing an item to be. delivered for potentially the disposal. of a body. I mean, that's the allegation. or one of the allegations. We don't know. for sure, but if that we're taking that. as true, that is like really bad.

planning on a number of different. levels. >> Well, I would expect that however. Celeste died uh was not uh something. that was very well planned or thought. through. And I would expect that if. you've got a bunch of people who don't. have significant sophisticated criminal. histories and they're confronted with a. a dead body under whatever circumstance, panic would be a pretty likely reaction. And you know, despite all the stuff we. see in in TV and movies, most people.

that commit crimes uh aren't terribly. sophisticated. These are not, you know, Oceans 11 type um you know, master. criminal kinds of uh enterprises. These. are uh people that uh get in situations. where they are way over their head. Uh. things happen uh that they did not. intend and and they get out of control. and they panic and a lot of the kind of. uh circumstances of this case seem to.

suggest that. And if it is true that. that burn cage was not used, that it was. left uh in the packaging, if someone had. purchased that for the purpose, let's. say, of disposing of Celeste's body, it. gives you kind of an insight to. someone's mentality and what they're. capable of doing, which also makes me. wonder, was this the first attempt to. dispose of her body? If someone was. would be willing to incinerate her body, and we don't have definitive evidence of. that. I mean, we're just taking this.

report from Steve Fischer for a minute. We're assuming it. Does it not give you. indication about what the state of. Celeste's body may have been like? And. and again, what's complicated is we. don't know the cause and manner of. death. We don't know more details, particularly about her body. Um, but am. I off to say if someone has the will to. do that, would this have been their. first attempt to dispose of a body, does. it give you an indication of what else. may have happened to Celeste's body? Well, you raise a couple of questions. Um, I mean, everything about the.

circumstances of the discovery of poor. Celeste's body suggests something that. was not uh terribly well planned and um. an act that was uh not complete. In. terms of the uh the burn cage, I it's. hard to know when in the course of all. of this this item was purchased. Was. this the first plan to dispose of her. body and for some reason um you know a. plan B was hatched that involved putting. it in the trunk of the car? Uh was there. somebody that was supposed to remove the.

body from the trunk and place it in the. burn cage and for one reason or another. uh either failed to do that or decided. not to do that? I mean there's there's a. lot we can speculate about here. I think. the the the big takeaway is that one or. more people uh probably inexperienced in. uh criminal activity uh panicked and uh. hatched one or more schemes uh none of. which ultimately uh were taken to their. completion. >> And but what is complicating I mentioned. before is you have this seal on the.

medical examiner records. your. experience. I don't know if you and I. had an opportunity to talk about this. This whatever's going on between the. Emmy's office and the LAPD is. interesting to say the least. >> It is interesting and it is unusual. Uh. the LA uh coroner's office works with 40. plus agencies uh in the greater LA. County area, but it works very very. closely with LAPD and particularly with. robbery homicide. And uh you know, defense attorneys often complain that uh. homicide detectives and the coroner work.

too closely together. I've attended. autopsies where I'm standing with the. medical examiner and we're looking at. the evidence and we're talking about. what we think may have happened. And. when people are acting in good faith, that leads to good information and good. investigations, but it's very handin. glove. And that's not true in every. jurisdiction, but it's very true in LA. It's particularly true for the truly. expert and experienced people in LAPD. robbery homicide. So, for them to be um. issuing contradictory statements or uh. for the LA uh coroner's office to say,

"We wish we could tell you, but we. can't." And then LAPD coming out and. saying, "What's being leaked possibly. from the corner's office is not true." I. have never seen that before. These are. people that work very very closely. together on very sensitive cases and. there's usually a lot of trust and a lot. of cooperation. >> Yeah. A and the uh medical the chief. medical examiner released a statement at. the time saying the department's mission. is to have full transparency with the. community by providing information about. our cases to empower people to make. changes that save lives. Since becoming.

the department head, I've worked on. eradicating the practice of placing. security holds on medical examiner cases. simply by law enforcement request. The. practice of security holds is virtually. unheard of in other counties and has not. been proven to improve outcomes in the. legal system. We are dedicated to. serving our community with full. transparency. However, the law precludes. us from doing so while the court order. remains in this case. Look, I get that. the position of LAPD. They don't want to. compromise an ongoing investigation. They want to be careful about what. information is out there. Two questions.

I have for you is one, do you think the. medical examiner's office definitively. knows the cause and manner of death for. Celeste? And B, what is LAPD's greatest. concern about information coming out? So, there's a lot about this that is uh. very confusing and unusual to me. Uh, first of all, I would say it is very. likely the LA Medical Examiner's Office. knows as much as they're going to know. It's been more than 3 months since. Celeste remains were discovered. I I.

can't imagine a test or a procedure that. would not have been performed by now and. for which the results would not have. returned. So, I don't know what they. know, but I I'm afraid or I expect that. they know all that they're going to. Um, LAPD's greatest concern obviously is. about information getting out that could. uh damage the investigation, particularly at this point where. nobody's been arrested or charged. That. said, it's also strange to me that if. their concern is protection of.

investigation or sorry, protection of. information uh and the integrity of. their investigation that there would be. as has been reported an investigative. grand jury uh being held right now. Because when you bring people into an. investigative grand jury and ask them. questions, they then exit that uh. questioning and consult with their. attorney. and now you've got two people. that at least have some insight as into. what the investigation is about. And if.

you've got multiple people being brought. before a grand jury, there's often going. to be a uh a common defense agreement. among them where all of the uh persons. who are questioned and all of their. attorneys are all talking to each other. So, at least among the people who could. potentially be charged or called as. witnesses in this case, there's a lot of. information potentially leaking out just. by virtue of the grand jury process. >> I've been told that one of the. advantages of an investigative grand. jury here, other than, you know,

presenting evidence and issuing. subpoenas and gathering more evidence, um, and by the way, my understanding is. this is a grand jury that wouldn't even. be able to issue a formal indictment. You would need to bring it to another. grand jury. But one of the advantages is. you can lock in witness's testimony and. for a future case, hit them with it. Say, "This is what you testified to in. the grand jury. This is what you said. We're locking in your testimony as a. future witness in a case, particularly. when it's complicated, particularly when. it's high-profile." Um, and there was. reporting from TMZ about who may or may.

uh, you know, who may be appearing at. that courthouse, which can complicate it. as well. But you tell me what you think. the advantage would be. So the advantage. to an investigative grand jury is that. they can compel the production of. evidence be it physical evidence, documents, records uh or testimony and. uh that as you said can lock people into. statements. It may be accompanied by. immunity agreements and profers where. people are being cooperated. You know, we've talked before about there possibly. being a kind of sliding scale of.

culpability here where they want to roll. less culpable people uh on the more. culpable people. Grand jury is certainly. a way to do that. Um often though in a. typical criminal investigation, these. locking people into statements and uh. gathering evidence is done by the. police. Uh they're interviewing people, they're serving search warrants, and. they're they're getting this information. that way. So, uh, obviously they can't, um, compel.

people under oath, but they're usually. pretty good at getting people to talk. And so, the fact that there is, at least. as reported, an investigative grand. jury, suggests that there is evidence, be it uh, documentary or testimonial, that the DA needs that the police have. been uh, unable to obtain. And by the way, just so we're clear, if. there is an issue, if if an indictment. is ultimately handed down and there's an. arrest, are we the public, a Celeste.

family, going to know every detail. immediately? Are they going to are we. all going to understand what happened to. Celeste when if and when that day comes? >> It really depends on how the DA's office. decides to uh issue the indictment. An. indictment can be a very very brief. document that simply outlines the. charges and the persons being charged or. it can be what they sometimes call a. speaking indictment which is more common. on the federal side where they really. lay out a lot of the evidence uh in the. indictment document. Um however once.

somebody is indicted it starts a. discovery process where pretty much. everything that's known to the. prosecution is disclosed to the defense. More often than not, uh, the defense may. put stuff out there, at least stuff that. they feel is helpful to their client. The DA really isn't going to present. evidence that is publicly available. until the case actually hits the. courtroom. >> beyond what's, you know, lifted in the. indictment. Excuse me. >> Yeah. No. Um, okay. This is an.

interesting development. We'll see what. comes of it. So far, Steve Fischer is. the uh only one I see that is talking. about this uh incinerator um and its. possible connection to this case. All. right, we'll keep a careful eye on it. Matt Irvine, thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Jesse. >> 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. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.