Cops 'Not Close' to Making Arrest in D4vd Tesla Death Investigation: Report

TMZ has just come out with a report that. after speaking with the LAPD, they are. no closer to making an arrest in. connection with the death of 14-year-old. Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was. found in singer David's car. How is that. possible? Is the LAPD telling the truth? What is happening behind the scenes? We. are going to break down every aspect of. what this could mean with a retired. detective. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. By the way, if you're in the content.

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tool like Opus Clip means that our. producers can get you viral courtroom. updates instantly. This is the most. powerful tool there is to help you share. ideas and edit like a pro. So go to. opus.pro/sidebar. to create your videos today. And for. November only, you can get 65% off of an. annual plan. According to TMZ, they just. got this update in the Celeste Rivas. Hernandez case, the David case. That is. surprising. that is probably frustrating. for a lot of people, that is confusing, but also can maybe be interpreted in a. number of ways. The question that we.

have been asking is, will there be any. arrests and when will there be any. arrests? After all, if I were to tell. you that a 14-year-old girl, her dead. body was found in the trunk of a car. back in September out in LA after the. car was sent to a towyard, you would. think there would be an arrest, right? What happens if I told you that there's. alleged evidence identifying somebody. who moved that car? What happens if I. were to tell you that according to a. private investigator who's on the ground. in LA that that Tesla was found near a.

rental property where David had. apparently been staying that the house. was searched by authorities and. materials were taken out that David. moved out of that house and that PI. indicates that there is evidence in that. house that suggests there was a plan. possibly to dispose of a body. You would. think there would be an arrest, right? There is no arrest. To be clear, no one, and that includes David, no one has been. named a suspect, nor a person of. interest, nor officially implicated in. any criminal activity. Let me say it. again. David has not been named a. suspect. He has not been named a person.

of interest, and he's not been. officially implicated in any crime. There's been no arrests. And then we go. to what came out yesterday. TMZ's Harvey. Leven posted a video to social media. Now, this is what he said. Okay. Quote, "We've spoken with people at LAPD. today." So, he's talking about November. 17th. We are told it is nowhere imminent. that an arrest will be made. That. doesn't mean there won't be one, but. there's a chance there won't be one in. the sense that we don't even know if. this was a homicide. We pushed today to. find out and could not get answers or.

whether the medical examiner has weighed. in and whether toxicology findings are. in. And he noted that while it could. take several months for those results to. come in, they have to have the results. in by now, particularly in this case, right? speculated that perhaps she had. died from an overdose. Even though. there's no direct evidence to suggest. that, that is something that has come. up. If we're talking about if there's no. homicide, if she wasn't killed, what are. the circumstances surrounding her death? He said, quote, "We pushed and we cannot. get an answer that they are close to. making an arrest, that they have a. suspect. All we are told is it is not.

imminent. If they got video of somebody. putting the body in the Tesla on Dhini. Drive, that doesn't mean that person is. responsible for the death of Celeste.". After having this conversation with. LAPD, it does not feel like we are going. to find out today or this week or. anytime soon that somebody is. responsible for her death. Now, before I. bring on a retired detective to talk. about this, his perspective, whether the. LAPD is in fact being honest with TMZ, if this is all true, let me tell you, if.

this is all true, why this is so. surprising. Aside from how long this has. been going on, how long the. investigation has been going on, and the. potential evidence that was collected at. the home, I mentioned that private. investigator, right, Steve Fischer. Now, we've interviewed him a number of times. here on Sidebar. He is the PI who was. hired by the owner of that rental. property that David was staying at to. look into this to see what role that. house may have played in any of this, if. any. He has been on the ground in LA. investigating. And when hearing this. announcement from the LAPD and taking it.

as true, that they're not close to an. arrest, this is why this can be so. confusing. First of all, we knew that. the results of Celeste autopsy have been. deferred pending further investigation. and reportedly the toxicology results. coming in, but listen to what Steve told. us recently about why he believes the. results may be coming in sooner. Now, you've also been tracking the medical. examiner timeline, uh the LAD's. timelines actively, very closely. Um, have there been any developments there. that you can give a better sense of when.

we might maybe even see an official. determination about the cause of death, the manner of death, anything like that? >> I think it could be in the next um week. to 10 days. And that's because you know. what I've been doing is tracking uh you. know her uh you know she was discovered. on the 8th on September 8th. So, I've. been tracking the uh deaths for the. months and weeks before that date and. the ones that were in deferred status. Those are usually the ones that are. pending toxicology and then I'm seeing. that they're showing up as they're not.

deferred anymore and they're showing, you know, acute fentanyl intoxication or. whatever. So, they have that shows. >> in other cases. In other cases, yes. Yes. >> So, they they Yeah. In other cases. So. it it shows that the toxicology has come. back on those and they're making. determinations and I've seen those as. recent as September 3rd right now. So we. could be um you know just days away from. now that doesn't mean the autopsy report. is done in total but it does show it. does mean that on the website we could. see a determination of the cause and.

manner of death which will which will. then should free up LAPD to do what. they're going to do. >> That was back on November 3rd. This is. also what Steve said about knowing who. moved the Tesla. Again, if we're trying. to figure out what LAPD allegedly just. told TMZ about not being close to an. arrest, an arrest of any kind, does this. make sense? >> We now uh have a much better. understanding of when that Tesla arrived. at that final parking spot. Um, I'll.

tell you I do have surveillance from. different houses in the neighborhood. showing Tesla being moved and um, so. things like that like and I'm not even. saying that LAPD didn't have that, but. um, I'm sure they did, but we wanted to. make sure and you know and we did some. work and on the uh, um, upresing the. footage to find out who was driving the. vehicle. >> Do you know who was driving that car, that Tesla? You don't have to tell me, but do you know the identity? >> Yeah. Um I, you know, as far as it going.

to the final that what we believe is the. final parking spot to where it was towed. from. Uh yes. >> And that information has been. communicated to law enforcement. >> So it's been given to law enforcement. They don't they're not going to tell us. if they're confirming if if that's a. person or not. Robbery homicide. The way. they work is we'll take your. information. We're not going to speak on. it, you know. So I don't know. But. listen, it's very clear that that. neighborhood is filled with um. surveillance cameras and uh the. timelines once you once we learn those.

dates and we can see other things that. were happening that were even public on. Instagram and whatnot were going on in. those people's lives, it makes a lot of. sense. >> So, let me ask you this. If you see when. the car was parked there, have you seen. anything to indicate that Celeste's body. was transferred into that car after the. car was parked there? Or in other words, do you believe that her body was in that. car the minute it was parked in the.

location it was ultimately towed from? >> So, I'll say I have no evidence of a. body being transferred uh before or. after. There's no evidence of that at. all. Um, but I will say when it was. moved to that position, it was already. like that. So that car had not been used. in a very long time. It was super dirty, caked on dirt. I'll tell you this was in. late July. So it's bizarre because we. also got media that that car was used a. lot. David even spoke about it in. Instagram videos. He took it to a detail.

shop and stuff like that. And then all. of a sudden the very beginning of the. year that car something happens, you. know, and that car's not doesn't show up. anymore. It's not used. it seems to. disappear and then uh that red Tesla. learned which we didn't know until the. search warrant was served that there's a. red Tesla on the garage um which can. tell you was released on February 1st. >> Again, if they knew who moved the car, there's not enough to arrest that. person. And we're going to discuss what. the charge could be. And we go back to. that rental property which was rented. out by David's manager. By the way, David's manager was on the lease. David.

was reportedly staying there. Listen to. what Steve Fischer had to say. But I. will say this, there are some things. that um and I'm talking physical. evidence that was at that house that is. 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 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. >> But TMZ is now reporting that according. to their conversation with LAPD, LAPD is. no closer to an arrest. And yes, that is. fairly consistent with what we reported. on a recent episode of Sidebar, where. the LAPD confirmed with KTLA that its.

prior news release, quote, stands on its. own. Essentially, meaning this is what. they're referring to in the past, their. prior statement where they said there's. currently no crime other than. concealment of a body that may have. occurred with no case being sent over to. the LA County District Attorney's Office. for review or potential prosecution. But. again, they talked about concealment of. a death, but still no arrest is. imminent. Okay, so I want to try to make. sense of this. I want to bring on once. again Matt Irvine, retired detective, law enforcement instructor. Matt, uh, thank you so much for coming on. You.

were on with us last time. This is. significant and I I am curious whether. or not we can believe what LAPD. presumably told TMZ, but just your. overall reaction to that if that is true. that they are not there is no arrest. that's imminent right now. Well, I think we can believe uh that. they are. being straight with TMZ. I don't think. there's any reason for LAPD to be. deceptive here. They're not required to.

reveal everything, but I think they're. they've got no good reason to lie. >> Just push you back on that. Are they. concerned about revealing any. information to the media that would tip. any potential suspect off? I mean, why. make the announcement if it could. jeopardize the investigation? I mean, we'll talk about whether or not it's. true if it's 100% true they don't have. an arrest imminent. We'll talk about. that. But is it possible that they're. not being so straightforward, not. telling TMZ uh exactly what's going on? Well, I think that's absolutely likely.

They certainly are not going to show. their hand uh in the midst of an. investigation. They're not going to. reveal anything that might jeopardize. that investigation. But for them to say. that there's nothing imminent, there's. no arrest on the horizon, that's still. not a very hopeful statement. doesn't. summarize the entirety of the. investigation, but it's got to be. disappointing for Celeste family that. deserves answers to what happened to. their child and for the millions of. folks who've come to care about this. child and have every reason to be. disappointed at this moment uh in the. investigation.

>> But if that is true, if that is true. that there is no arrest imminent, I I. laid it out. There's a number of. potential crimes here. There's the idea. of moving the body in California. Even. if you move a body in an accidental. death, that's a lower level crime. It's. a misdemeanor, but it's a misdemeanor. If we're talking about whether or not. the toxicology results came back and. potentially, as we heard Harvey Leven. said, that you might be dealing with an. overdose. You do wonder, do they have. evidence whether anyone furnished drugs, narcotics to a minor, you do wonder if.

there is evidence in the house that. there was a plan to dispose of a body. There seems to be potentially something. that they could arrest someone on. And I. I guess the question is even if there. are lower level offenses, why not make. an arrest? >> Well, and we spoke about this a little. bit last time, that there are certainly. some lower level crimes, misdemeanor, and some felonies that are implicated in. what may be the circumstances around. Celeste's death. There is, and I. disagree with Mr. Lean on this, there is. a theory of homicide as well if somebody.

furnished drugs to her that caused her. death. So, there's certainly reason to. believe that people will be held. criminally accountable in this case. The. tricky thing when you're investigating. something like this is before you move. on somebody, you need to know the. universe of crimes that they may have. been involved in and kind of where they. are in the food chain of criminal. culpability so that you move on the. right people at the right time and don't. jeopardize uh the most the most liable. the most culpable uh suspects in a case.

like this. It occurred to me if they. make an announcement like this and it. couples with the announcement that we. reported on a previous sidebar that, you. know, we stand by our prior recording, we can't, you know, definitively say. that a homicide occurred. Um, you know, they had re previously indicated that. there might not might not be any crime. here even beyond, you know, beyond. concealing of a body. Has law. enforcement in the past, in your. experience, ever made a public statement. like this where the goal is to get a.

subject, to get a suspect to let their. guard down and do something and say. something that may implicate them in. some way. Um, is that a possibility or. am I really grasping at straws here? >> No, I think you're actually right on the. money there. So, it is very common in an. investigation like this when you've got. somebody under surveillance or you're. otherwise monitoring their. communications that you will do. something to try to um if you got a wire. tap, it's called tickling the wire. And. basically what that means is you try to. induce somebody to communicate with.

somebody to go someplace to do something. in response to the information that. you've put out there. You can put that. out there in the press. You can say. something to one involved party in hopes. that they will communicate that to. another involved party. So there's a lot. of ways in which law enforcement can try. to induce people to take an action that. will further the investigation. >> Now going to the idea that really we. have nobody to arrest right now. There's. nothing imminent. I did wonder let's say. for example drugs are involved and by.

the way no evidence to suggest that's. actually what happened. That's what. contributed to Celeste's death. But if. we are talking about that and we are. talking maybe potentially an overdose. that there's no homicide here, no one. killed her. Is it possible they may have. difficulty trying to establish that. someone gave her the narcotics? Whereas. if she just obtained them on her own. So. let's say it was nobody as part of that. house. Nobody connected to David. And. again, just to be clear, neither David. nor anybody in his camp has been charged. or has been named a suspect or a person. of interest. But maybe they're having.

trouble actually determining, again, assuming this is what happens, assuming. where those drugs might have come from. Is that a possibility, too? Because I. agree with you. We've seen cases before. where drug dealers get charged in. connection with somebody's death if they. furnish, you know, poisonous drugs to. somebody and they die. But could that be. what's going on, too? They just can't. determine if she had them herself. >> That's absolutely possible. And it's. something that's going to have to be. figured out probably by communications. either among the parties involved or. somebody involved talking directly to. law enforcement. uh that's really the.

only way they're likely to figure out. again if this was a drug overdose the. circumstances that led to her ingesting. those drugs. >> But how is it possible that there's no. medical examiner findings at this point? Why would it take this long? Unless put. aside the idea of a theory of drugs, if. she was killed, if she was murdered, there would be some sort of evidence. And yes, we have to talk about the. condition of the body. But you would. think after all this time, it's.

November. I mean, the body was. discovered in September. Wouldn't they. know? Wouldn't there be some sort of. indication that she was killed? Or is. that still I mean, is it strange to you? We still don't have an answer to that. Is it still strange that the medical. medical examiner's findings haven't been. released yet? What's What do you think's. going on there? >> So, obviously, I'm not a medical. examiner. I'm just a former sort of. enduser of their expertise. Uh, so I. can't speak to all the science involved, but it does seem to me based on my. experience that they likely know now all.

that they're going to know about the. circumstances around her death. And if. they don't know at this point, it is. likely due to the amount of time and the. conditions under which her body. languished before it was discovered. As. we talked about last time, drugs are. only going to stay in the body of a. deceased person for days, maybe weeks. And depending on the the mechanism of. death, even in a homicide, with a. certain amount of decomposition, you. just may not be able to tell. I had a. case years ago where somebody languished.

for 4 months before we found them, and. we were unable to establish a cause of. death specifically because of the the. amount of decomposition that occurred. before we were able to have that person. examined. There are times though when. law enforcement and authorities and. prosecutors, they'll release details of. how someone was killed before there's an. arrest. If there was evidence that she. was stabbed or shot or strangled or. there was blunt force trauma, do you. think that they because otherwise. everybody's speculating. Everybody's. speculating. They might not care what.

people online or the media cares or is. saying, but what would be the risk of. coming out and saying, "Listen, I know. there's a lot of speculation. This is. what we're able to determine at this. time, X, Y, and Z. Why not just come out. and say that? >> Well, if you have a case that at this. point seems to be dependent on people. talking, people communicating uh either. with each other or directly with the. police, the last thing you want to do is. to raise the kind of psychological. temperature, the level of anxiety around.

talking. So, if you put out there a lot. of really dangerous information, information that are make that's going. to make people be very apprehensive. about talking, you potentially undermine. your investigation. But do you feel at. this point it is becoming less likely. that she was killed, that this is a. homicide investigation, that we may just. be dealing with concealing the body? I. mean, does it seem to you that that's. the reality of the situation at this. point? It could change, but do you think. it's becoming more and more likely that. we are not dealing with a homicide? I.

think it's becoming more and more. likely, at least based on what is being. publicly reported, that we may not know. who, if anybody, took Celeste Rivas or. Najis' life. Doesn't mean it didn't. happen. It just may mean that there's. not sufficient evidence based on the. facts that we've discussed to show that. anybody took her life. But maybe this is. also then a moment where we need to have. a different kind of conversation around. this and stop with the speculation about. how she died and who may have been.

responsible for that death and talk. about what we do know which is we may. not know who took her life but it seems. really clear from what is being publicly. reported that David Burke and perhaps. others in his circle took her childhood. And I'm not saying that she was an. angel. We don't know that. But she was a. child and the circumstances that led to. her losing her life and ending up. abandoned in the front trunk of his. Tesla are not uncommon or not. unfamiliar. There's a lot of ways in. which the dynamic of this relationship.

that she seems to have had with David. Burke is very reminiscent of what we see. in child sex trafficking cases. And I'm. not saying that David Burke trafficked. her. There's no evidence of that. But. what I am saying is this dynamic where a. older man but still young enough to be. attractive to seem like boyfriend. material seems to offer this life of. glamour of wealth of fame of excitement. maybe even of love and lures a child. from a background that may be. disadvantaged or abusive or just bored. That is not a story that is unique to.

Celeste. That is a story that is very. common when children are trafficked and. exploited and it leads to a lot of kids, not just Celeste, dying way too young. under horrific circumstances. And if we. can start talking about that. and not kind of just stay in this loop. of speculation, maybe we can keep some other kids from. ending up like this. >> Now, I appreciate that. I appreciate. that that point and it's an important. point to make. um not just about Celeste.

story but like you said stories around. the country there could be a situation. where they just don't have definitive. proof about what this relationship was. you know the they came out that they. have when they did an autopsy initial. findings that Celeste wasn't pregnant at. the time she hadn't been pregnant in the. year prior they may not have physical. evidence of whatever kind of. relationship she may or may not have had. with David but this does go to a larger. point is there an advantage to arrest. somebody even on a lower level offense,

you get them in, maybe you can obtain a. search warrant of some kind, maybe you. can question them a bit that can lead to. further evidence because again, if I go. back to my interview with Steve Fischer. where there's surveillance footage of. someone moving the car purportedly and. you can ID that person now, we don't. know when the body was exactly put in. the car, but it looks like it was. already in there. Why not just make an. arrest on that point unless they can't. establish that that person knew the body. was in there or not? I mean, again, going back to this point, if there's an.

opportunity to arrest somebody, even on. a lower level offense, I've seen it. before in other cases, that could lead. to more evidence, that could lead to. more serious charges. You get them on. something at first. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Whether you're. arresting them or just talking to them. and trying to cooperate them and kind of. work your way up the the culpability. food chain, that is absolutely an. important strategy in a case like this. You know, you mentioned that there may. not be physical evidence that speaks to. the relationship that David Burke had.

with Celeste, and I I grant you that. But there is an electronic footprint. that shows he was communicating with her. years ago, maybe when she was as young. as 11 years old, and he was 17. But he's. a 17-year-old with a multi-million. dollar contract with Innercope Records. and millions of fans online. So, it's a. profoundly unequal and, I would say, potentially exploitative power dynamic. And until this case blew up, David was a. very public figure and he had a whole. lot of people around him. And his time. was other people's money. So there's.

going to be a lot of people that knew. where David was, what he was doing, and. who he was doing it with for a lengthy. period of time. A lengthy period of time. that coincides with a lengthy. relationship of some sort with Celeste. And again, to your point that we don't. have physical evidence to establish. their relationship, we do have. information that she was being held out. to people as being 19 years old, that. she allegedly had fake IDs showing she. was 19 years old. If his relationship. with Celeste were appropriate, none of. that would be necessary. The reason you.

hold a 13 or 14year-old child out as. being 19 is because the relationship. you're having is one that would be. appropriate if she were 19, is. absolutely inappropriate with a child. He hasn't spoken out about this. So, it's not like he's come out and said, "Hey, I thought she was 19." This is. kind of what like TMZ has got sources. who know David and his camp said that. there was a in that camp they thought. she was 19. He hasn't come out and. directly said it, but I hear you. I hear. you. By the way, talking about David, when it first came out, it was reported,

I believe, by his uh spokesperson that. he had been cooperating with. authorities. Now, if that is true, does. that mean that he has been 100% honest. with law enforcement if they've. interviewed him? Because if he had. provided false information in any way, we're talking 2 3 months, right? You. would think that they could have. arrested him for providing false. information to law enforcement. So, would it be fair to say that if he spoke. to them, assuming he spoke to them, what. he told them right now has been.

verified, or again, does it go back to. this question, that they're waiting on. on a fuller picture to understand. everything that happened? Um, because. that that that's something I was. wondering about as well. And we don't. know 100% if he spoke to law enforcement. and what cooperation means, but that was. something I was thinking about as well. So providing false information to law. enforcement in California is under most. circumstances just a misdemeanor. So. it's a fairly low-level crime and it. doesn't apply to suspects. And again,

I'm not saying that David is a suspect, but if he were a suspect, he's under no. obligation to be truthful or to. cooperate in any way because he's got a. fifth amendment right against. self-inccrimination. So there's really. no way to know what, if anything, David. said to law enforcement and how. cooperative or honest he was in those. communications. But given that he seems. to be circumstantially at least a person. of interest in the case, there's no. reason to think that he would be. arrested on a misdemeanor charge in the. midst of a potential homicide. investigation. >> And by the way, if they had proof that.

someone committed a homicide here, that. someone committed a murder or there's. manslaughter, wouldn't they immediately. pick that person up? Cuz wouldn't that. person be a danger to the public? Wouldn't they immediately make arrest? So, if they haven't made an arrest and. we take it back to full circle what. Harvey Lean had reported that there's no. arrest imminent, it seems again that. they may not believe that she was. killed. >> That's certainly possible, but. particularly on a homicide, you don't. make an arrest until you feel like.

you've got a pretty airtight case. Soon. as you arrest somebody, you start a. clock with the courts and you got 48. hours basically to get this person in. front of a judge with charges filed. And. you don't want to do that unless you. feel like this case is basically trial. ready because the clock after that in. California is 10 days before a. preliminary hearing and then a very. short time after that potentially a jury. trial where you got to convince 12. people beyond a reasonable doubt that. you got the right person for the charges. that you arrested them for. So there's. no statute of limitations in murder and.

most murderers to be quite frank in my. experience are not necessarily a danger. to the general public. they killed the. person that they. >> killed for the reasons that were very. personal and it does not mean that they. are uh serial killers that pose a danger. to the public at large. And so in most. cases of homicide, you wait to make an. arrest until you feel like you've got a. case that is pretty much trial ready. >> Prosecutors would disagree with you. during a bail analysis that one of the.

factors they would say is this person's. a danger to the public. I mean, they're. charged with murder. Uh, they shouldn't. be out, but that's a separate point. Okay. Let me just ask you this. LAPD. making the statement, apparently making. the statement to TMZ. Is it possible. that what LAPD tells the media is not. the same thing that they are telling the. victim's family? >> Absolutely. Absolutely. They may make a. strategic decision to release uh one set. of facts, one kind of information to one. party and something very different to.

another. I would hope they're sharing. anything with the family, that they're. being honest in what they're sharing. I. think families deserve that when they've. lost a loved one. But the media doesn't. deserve that. The general public, with. all due respect, doesn't deserve that. If misdirection or the withholding of. information is a strategic choice to. further the investigation, that's. absolutely appropriate. I don't think. you lie to loved ones, but everybody. else is fair game. >> Matt Irvine, thank you so much for. taking the time. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate the. opportunity to speak with you about.

this. 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. share your podcast. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.