D4vd Murder Arrest: Shocking Case Gets Messy

With the breaking development that. singer David has now been arrested in. connection with the alleged murder of. 14-year-old Celeste. >> [music]. >> Davis Hernandez and the release of his. attorney's new statement, we have a ton. of legal questions we need to answer. Why wasn't he charged yet? He's only. been arrested. [music] Why is there a. dispute over cause of death? Is there a. weakness in this case? What was the. evidence LAPD had to make this arrest? So many questions I'm going to be. breaking it [music] down with renowned. celebrity criminal defense attorney.

Bradford Cohen. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law & Crime. >> [music]. >> I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, real quick before we jump into all. of this, we have this app, this partner. that I think you're going to love. It's. called Upside. Upside gets you cash. back, extra cash back on everyday. purchases like gas, groceries, takeout. So here's what you do. You download. Upside for free, you claim an offer at. one of the 100,000 plus locations, you. pay like normal with your card, you. verify the purchase, and just like that, money back. So say you need to get gas. or want takeout one night, I'll search. for Upside offers first, and after I.

spend, money appears in my app that I. can transfer right into my bank account. And Upside's frequent users earn an. average of $254 back a year. So to start. getting your cash back, click the link. in the description or scan the QR code, but make sure to use promo code sidebar. because you get an extra 25 cents bonus. on every gallon on your first tank of. gas. After 7 months, 21-year-old David. Anthony Burke, David the singer, has. been arrested for the alleged murder of. 14-year-old Celeste Davis Hernandez. And.

look, while my colleague Chris Stewart. on the case broke down the breaking news. of David's arrest last night, I was on. NewsNation, I was hosting my show, I. couldn't get to it. I apologize. There. is a lot more that we need to break down. today. There is a lot more that has come. out since that arrest. And there's a lot. of legal questions we need to make sense. of. I mean, I'm made of legal questions. right now. Why wasn't he indicted? Why. was he just arrested? Meaning he was. arrested for suspicion of murder, but he. hasn't been charged. Wasn't there a.

grand jury hearing evidence? Did the LA. District Attorney's Office know the LAPD. was going to make an arrest? What. happens now in terms of charging? Is. this a sign the case may not be strong? Are there cooperating witnesses? His. attorney's statement is very. interesting, particularly when they talk. about cause of death. But, let me just. start with this, okay? So, this is from. the LAPD, their PIO, quote, "Detectives. from the Los Angeles Police Department. robbery homicide division have arrested. David Burke, a 21-year-old resident of. Los Angeles, for the murder of Celeste.

Davis. Burke is being held without bail. The case will be presented to the. District Attorney's Office on Monday for. filing consideration." Now, this came in. from the LA County District Attorney's. Office. "Good evening, our office is. aware of the arrest of David Anthony. Burke by the Los Angeles Police. Department. The case is expected to be. presented to the Major Crimes Division, at which point prosecutors will review. the facts and evidence to determine. whether there is sufficient evidence to. file charges. At this time, additional. information is not available. We will.

share an update on Monday once a filing. decision has been made." And then this. came in late last night. "Good evening, the individual mentioned is still in. LAPD custody. You may reach out to the. District Attorney's Office once the case. has been presented to them." So, to be. clear, David has been arrested, but he. hasn't been officially charged with a. crime. And by the way, talk about his. arrest. What a scene it was. According. to NBC News, David was arrested shortly. after 4:30 p.m. at a house in the.

Hollywood Hills located on Marmont. Avenue. I mean, we hadn't heard publicly. from David in months. We hadn't seen. David publicly in months. He was on his. Wither Tour when Celeste's body was. found, and that tour was canceled, future dates were canceled. And then he. went radio silent. LAPD Captain Scott. Williams told the outlet, quote, "We did. the best we can to keep tabs on him, but. once we developed probable cause to. arrest him for murder, then we were on. him pretty diligently. And he told the. California Post they had a probable. cause warrant with them when they made.

the arrest. And there are photos of. armed police outside this residence. making the arrest. Per reporting from. the California Post, David appears to be. in handcuffs. He's led away. A neighbor. apparently told the outlet that she saw. quote so many cops on this street that. one of them took to a loudspeaker. shouting surrender. This brings me now. to David's attorney's statement. So this. is from Blair Burke, Marilyn Bednarsky, and Regina Peter. Let us be clear, the. actual evidence in this case will show.

that David Burke did not murder Celeste. Davis Hernandez, and he was not the. cause of her death. There has been no. indictment returned by any grand jury in. this case and no criminal complaint. filed. David has only been detained. under suspicion. We will vigorously. defend David's innocence. So that's. right, he's innocent until proven. guilty. And by the way, that was their. first public statement on this case. after so many months. And to put this in. the context, I said seven months. Remember when I said seven months? It. was back on September 8th when her.

decomposed body was found in the trunk. of a Tesla, reportedly belonging to the. romantic homicide singer. And while not. officially confirmed by investigators, there has long been speculation and. reports that Celeste and David were. romantically involved. But remember, there have been no arrests, there have. been no charges up until yesterday. That. was the first real arrest in connection. with the alleged murder of Celeste. Now, Celeste was reported missing from Lake. Elsinore back in 2024. This is about 75. miles away from LA. We believe the last.

reported photo of her was from early. 2025. We learned through court filings. that Celeste had been dismembered, that. her body parts were put in bags. But to. be clear, no official cause of death has. been revealed. Why? Because the ME's. records, the medical examiner's records, were sealed. They were sealed by a court. based on a request from the LAPD, which. has only added to the speculation, the. confusion, the frustration in this case. And those same filings indicated that.

David was a target in this murder. investigation, which is interesting. because at one point police indicated. there may not even be a crime outside. concealment of Sele's body. So something. changed. We heard reporting, particularly from TMZ, that a grand jury. had been impaneled out in LA on this. case. There was back and forth about. whether it was a grand jury that could. return an indictment or merely it was an. investigative grand jury that hears. evidence, locks, and testimony. And. based on what just happened, David being. arrested but not charged, isn't that.

telling? And remember, his purported friend, Neil. Langston, was arrested for allegedly. failing to appear as a witness, reportedly brought back to LA to testify. in a criminal proceeding. We imagine, we. presume it was this grand jury. So as. you can see, there are a lot of legal. questions about the case, the evidence, the defenses, whether he's actually. going to be charged, how he's going to. be charged, and that's what I want to. talk about. So I want to bring in. Bradford Cohen, celebrity criminal. defense attorney, friend of the show, friend of mine. Um so good to see you. I'm very, very.

confused. I'm very confused. Look, I I'm. confused because. he was arrested and not charged. He was. arrested what I think was via a. complaint, right? There's uh they they. got him through a probable cause. warrant. I thought there was a grand jury that. was being impaneled to present an. indictment. So the way I understand it. is now he's arrested, they're sending it. back to the DA's office for filing. consideration, and they already have the. case. Weren't they already presenting. evidence to the grand jury? I'm. confused. What's going on here?

>> So I'm confused as well because I. thought they were presenting evidence to. a grand jury this whole time. I thought. that's what was taking so long because. they were determining how the cause of. death happened, what the evidence was, and it was unusual cuz it's a Tesla, and. usually Tesla has audio and video. attached to their car, so you would be. able to see who was putting what in. where or when it happened and when it. was parked. The whole thing was very. unusual the way it developed and then. how long it took. And then to culminate.

in an arrest with a complaint seems. unbelievably weird because now it's. going back to the DA's office who. already knows all about this case for. filing consideration. So, I think that. there's something strange going on. It. could be, and I'm just spitballing, is a. CYA type situation where it could be. that the LAPD has a different point of. view than the state attorney's office,

and now they made the arrest, now. they're putting the onus on the state. attorney's office to now say, "Listen, there's not enough evidence there." So, sometimes this happens where the police. feel, "Listen, there's enough. We're. making an arrest." The state attorney's. office says, "Don't make an arrest. There's not enough." And the policing. agency just makes the arrest and says, "Good. Now, you guys can go to the press. and tell them there's not enough. evidence here to charge this guy where. it's his Tesla, it's, you know, three.

blocks from his house, it's his. ex-girlfriend, she's 15 years old, and. she's found dismembered. Now, you go to. the press and say there's not enough. evidence to charge.". >> You heard the statements, right? You. heard the statements last night. Uh. did did it seem to you that the DA's. office wasn't aware that the LAPD was. going to arrest him? Cuz they're like it. it. it kind of felt like we were made aware. of this. We're aware of what happened. It didn't seem like it was a joint.

operation that they were I mean, I could. be speculating, but that sort of seemed. like to me. >> I feel like you hit the nail on the. head. That's why I'm saying like the. only thing I can. in this situation is that there is not a. meeting of the mind in terms of that. they have enough evidence to charge this. young man. And if they don't have enough evidence. or the state feels they don't, but the. LAPD feels they do, like I said, the. LAPD never wants to look stupid and they.

do look stupid where it feels like. there's a lot of evidence here that. points to this gentleman and and they're. not making an arrest and it's been 6. months. It's been 8 months. So, that's. why now they can say, "Listen, good. Here's the state attorney. You say that. there's not evidence.". >> Let me ask you this. Tell me if any of. these scenarios could be true. One, the grand jury is still hearing evidence. and the LAPD just decided to arrest him. while the grand jury is still hearing. evidence. B, grand jury came back and. said, "No." to an indictment, which.

would be kind of a rare thing cuz of the. the standard to get a grand jury. indictment that there's probable cause. was very low. So, it's Maybe the grand. jury said, "No." or maybe this was just. a grand jury that was impaneled like an. investigative grand jury, hear evidence, lock in testimony, and then move forward from there. Any of. those possibilities? Really? >> I think the. The third one's more less likely, but it. could be. Um but generally speaking, the.

first two are probably more likely. scenario where the grand jury could be. still hearing evidence, but the LAPD. felt they weren't moving fast enough. Um. so, they made an arrest. Uh there could. be that they felt that he was going to. flee. You know, it could be that they. had information he was leaving the. country and they wanted to lock him down. because. >> if you hear the the commander, like it. it seems like they had eyes on him based. on uh the recording that they knew where. he was in the Hollywood Hills. >> I would imagine that they knew where.

every movement that he made was. So, generally, I'll tell you how this. generally goes. Generally, this goes. where if the state or the feds aren't. ready to indict, but they feel there's a. flight risk, they may make the arrest. and then, you know, figure it out, you. know, they let's see how it all goes. You know, that's kind of generally how. this works when you see the scenario. This is a little bit different because. the kid was out of the country, in the. country, they've been keeping eyes on. him. He knows an investigation is going.

on. Any minute this kid could have taken. off, but he didn't. And I think the LAPD. were keeping tabs on him. So, that is. the least likely situation that I see, but it could have been that. I think. more than likely it was that the LAPD. feels they have enough evidence and the. state does not feel they have enough. evidence and they were tired of waiting. and they just made the arrest. >> Okay. What would be What's that. disconnect? Why might there be a problem. in this case? And I'll give you an. example. It was reported that Neil.

Langston, David's purported friend, testified for only 30 to 40 minutes. And. this was believed that he was somebody. who was important to this case that. allegedly was there that maybe had a. role in this. And allegedly, he was. arrested for failing to appear. He was. arrested in Montana, brought back. So, you look at something like that, you're. like, well, maybe he didn't give them. what they needed. Maybe he pled the. fifth. You think about David's defense. attorney who's saying he's not the cause. of death. Is there something seriously.

lacking in this case from an evidentiary. point of view? >> Oh, I I've said this from the jump. Like, everything points to a certain. person or certain persons. The problem. that you have is that, and I said this. originally, is that is it a murder case. because they cannot determine the cause. of death. Let's say this young lady died. from an OD or died from something else. and we don't know at this point how she. died. And then after she died, obviously.

somebody or someone freaks out. They. don't know what to do. There's a dead. body in the house. Puts it in the trunk, tries to forget about it, things of that. nature. That's not a murder case, right? That is a illegal disposing of a body. There's other charges that could be, you. know, filed on that. Originally, I. thought that's where they were going. with this, that it wasn't going to be a. murder charge because they could not. prove the cause of death. I've read some. places online that they say, "No, no, now we can prove the cause of death." I.

don't know how. You know, it's been like. six or eight months and they were trying. trying to figure out what the cause of. death was. So, I think that is a very. large hole in a case where you're. charging a murder if you cannot figure. out how the person died. So, if you have. no evidence on how the person died, but. you have evidence maybe that the body. was disposed of in an illegal way, you. have a different charge, but you don't. have a murder charge. So, I think that's. the big hole in this case is no one.

knows how she died, when she died. because they're trying to determine it, but it's very difficult. And and Dr. Baden Dr. Baden did some reports on how. bodies decompose and and trying to. figure out, you know, when someone died. What lends itself to the confusion is it. was in the trunk of a car, you know, the. front I guess the front trunk of the. car. There it's, [snorts] you know, 90°. out, 85° out. We don't know what the. temperatures were, if the humidity got.

in there. There's a lot of things that. take place. >> And dismembered. To go back to this for. a second. What is happening Monday now? So, they present it to the DA's office. Does the DA within a few hours say, "We. think there's enough." and then they. present it in front of a judge for a. preliminary hearing where it's not in. front of a grand jury and it's it's the. it's a it's a different kind of way to. present evidence to say there's probable. cause. The judge determines if there's. probable cause to support the charges. and that's how you move forward. Or do. they go back to a grand jury? I mean,

what are we expecting now Monday into. next week? >> So, I I think that at this point their. hands may be tied and they might have to. go for a preliminary hearing in front of. a judge, a probable cause hearing in. front of a judge if they're going to. make that determination. I think between. then and now the defense attorneys will. be calling. I'm sure they've already. been in contact with the state. attorney's office and they're going to. say like what are we doing here? You. know, this kid should be out. Like I. don't know what the grand jury's doing, but like what are how are we proceeding.

with the case? And I think the state. will give them an idea of how they're. going to proceed. If a grand jury was. already impaneled and they're hearing. the evidence and now this guy's. arrested, they could still try and I. mean, there's different laws here. There. there could be speedy rules that come. into play. That's why generally you. don't make an arrest before you're ready. to, right? Because if they demand. speedy, you know, speedy trial and you. have to be brought to trial within a. certain period of time in every state, you could be in real trouble if you're. not ready to go to trial. And they might.

not be ready to go to trial because they. still haven't gotten all the evidence. that they want to proceed. So, my guess. is their hands are tied right now. They're going to have to make a decision. of how to move forward. I'm not sure. what they're going to decide. My guess. would be a probable cause hearing in. front of a judge and then now they're. laying the blame off to the judge to. say, "Well, the judge didn't find. probable cause." You know, like we. presented all the evidence, judge didn't. find probable cause. It's not us who. didn't want to file the charges, it's. now the judge. You know, everyone in.

these cases, whenever there's some stuff. flying around, right? They try to cover. themselves any way they can. So, the. LAPD is covering themselves by arresting. them. The state will now cover. themselves by saying, "Well, we filed. all the evidence and we did everything. we did, but the judge didn't find it or. the grand jury didn't come back with an. indictment. That's how they keep laying. the blame off on other people for shoddy. investigations. >> Are we going to learn her cause of. death? Because I wonder now that there's. been an arrest and now that we're.

talking about the presentation of. evidence possibly more in a public. forum, are the records, remember the. ME's records were sealed, are they going. to be unsealed and we'll learn what. authorities believe her cause of death. is? >> So, I think if if you're going to go to. a probable cause hearing, you're going. to have to hear what the cause of death. is. Like, you know, there's no way. around it. So, you can't go to a. probable cause hearing and say, "Judge, we're still trying to figure out how she. died, but we're charging him with the. murder." It doesn't work. So, unless. they know the cause of death and they're. ready to present the cause of death in.

front of either a grand jury or a judge. or or someone, um this case goes nowhere. So, yes, I. think that if the case does go forward, we will learn the cause of death at. either a probable cause determination or. after an indictment comes down. >> What about the probable cause warrant. that was used to secure the arrest? Is. there a way that can be. made public? >> Sure. So, the probable cause that that, you know, for the arrest warrant itself, once they make a determine I don't think. anyone will get it prior Well, they may.

You know, in this day and age, who knows. who gets it? But legally, I don't think. they will get it prior to a. determination of the arrest on whether. it was a good arrest. They'll file some. motions and things of that nature and. then within, you know, a week, maybe. they will. make that arrest warrant public. But generally speaking, before they have. that probable cause hearing, before. there's a determination by the state, that arrest warrant usually doesn't get. out into the public for, you know, until.

that time period. Now, again, in today's day and age, any clerk under. the sun, you know, is trying to make a. little side money, might, you know, all. of a sudden that might go out. So, I. don't know. We'll have to see. But, sooner or later we're going to learn the. cause of death. It can't be hid. Hid. >> What do you make of the fact no other. defendants were arrested? >> I think it's unusual because something. like this usually is not carried off by. one person, uh especially where there's. dismemberment. There you got to carry a. body into a uh a trunk of a car. You got.

to drive the car somewhere. You got to. get back to your house. um or however you're going to get back. to your house. Generally, there's more. than one. So, it's kind of unusual that. there would only there would only be one. person charged in this, but it could be. because the evidence is only linking it. to that one person. I don't know if they. got video from the Tesla. They haven't. discussed video from the Tesla, but my. guess would be if there is video of this. gentleman driving that Tesla to this.

location, even if if there's no video of. him actually putting something in the in. the trunk, if there's video of him. driving the Tesla to a certain location, leaving it there, and then, you know, getting home, walking home, or taking an. Uber, or however he got home, then he. would be the only one that would be. linked to that Tesla. But, like I said, there's a large gap in evidence here. that we have not seen. We have not. heard. >> Or there's immunity agreements. There's. people who are testifying against him. >> There could be immunity agreements.

Generally, when it comes to a murder. case, if you're assisting in the murder, I you know, it's like a Sammy the Bull. Gravano situation. Depends how badly. they want the person that they that they. target, right? So, like. uh the government can overlook a lot of. bad deeds, and the state can look over a. lot of bad deeds if they really want. that guy at the end. And if they want. David as badly as we think they want. David, yes, they could have offered some. sort of immunity, or maybe a an early.

sealed plea. on something lesser, you know, like. disposal of a body, and someone took a. plea, but it's sealed, and we don't know. about that plea until after, you know, if David gets charged. >> Hm. Okay, so what about the idea of. where the defense attorneys will go with. this? You saw the arrest, right? It. seemed they went in, guns, armored, I. there was reporting the idea that there. a lot of police showed up, apparently.

knew where he was. How does a defense. attorney pick apart the actual arrest of. David and maybe the probable cause. warrant there? Talk to me about that. >> So, a couple things. First of all, I. always find it unusual and disturbing. when you have a defense attorney, a case. been going on for 6 months. This is why. I don't think the state agreed with it. The state would have called the defense. attorney and said, "Hey, man, you got to. bring him in, and you got, you know, you. got 2 hours to bring him in. If you. don't bring him in, we already know.

where he is, we're going to pick him up, it's going to be ugly, etc., etc.". Instead of putting SWAT officers at. risk, other officers at risk, and going. into a house with guns drawn, and things. of that nature, that's always a risk, no. matter who you're arresting, no matter. what type of situation, it's not a good. idea, it's better to avoid that. So, that first part tells me that I think. the state didn't know this was going on, cuz if the state was involved, they. would have been involved with the. defense attorney, they would have pulled. the kid out, and they would have, I.

think, turned him in that way. That's. number one. Number two is, if the. defense is like me, I'd be attacking. exactly what every I think defense. attorney sees in this case, is the lack. of evidence. Where is the actual. evidence of that it was a murder? Where. is the actual evidence that ties him to. the scene, other than it's his car, and. it's 3 weeks 3 blocks away from his. house? It seemed like there was five. people or four people in the house at. all times, and most of these. entertainers, I represent a lot of. entertainers, most of these entertainers.

have like entourages with them. They. have, at any given time there's four to. six people in a house and they're all. hanging out playing 2K, whatever they're. doing, everybody is in the house at at. one point. So, it's like where is the. evidence that we need to see to say, yes, this is the guy and it's the only. guy and we're arresting him for this. murder. That's what is lacking here. Now, the defense attorneys may know more. than we know because they've been. involved in the case and they've been. seeing it develop. Who knows? But, I.

would attack it right from the from. jump. This is case has been 6 to 8. months old. I don't even know if it's. older than that. Kid went nowhere. Kids. never left the country and never came. back. He knew that he was under. investigation. There was reports of it. So, even for a bond hearing, like. where's he going? He's not going. anywhere. Like, we know that. And then. for a danger to society, like how often. were you watching him for the past 8. months? You're letting this guy, if you. think he's a murderer, you're letting. him walk the streets of LA without. keeping an eye on him 24/7. There's just. so much there on this case to defend at.

this point cuz we don't know a lot that. I I I don't see where this case goes to. an indictment. >> We And talking indictment, if the goal. was to charge him, if the goal is to. arrest him, charge him, like you said, maybe keep him custody, no other. charges, right? There was nothing about. the concealment or the dismemberment of. the body. Nothing also about him having, allegedly, a relationship with a minor, right? How come none of those charges? >> Again, it's so baffling. Like, I don't.

know if LAPD had the permission or the. authority from the state, which they. don't need to have. I'm not saying they. have to have it. But, generally, when. they're getting along, they coordinate. these things and they say like, here's. the charges that you should hit him. with. An alleged, you know, relationship. with an underage individual, the. dismemberment of a body, the disposal of. a body, all these other things that they. would have tacked on to give us an idea. what's going on number one and number.

two is to make sure he doesn't get out. on bond. Here's a litany of other. charges, judge. Like this guy is a is a. danger. He shouldn't get out on bond. That's what they should have done. My. suspicion is like I said, quite often. you find in a lot of these different. areas, LA is one of them, you'll find. that the chief of police does not have. the same view of different crimes with. the state attorney of that area. And you. find that in a lot of different areas. Orlando was one where, you know, the. prosecutor didn't get along with the.

sheriff. Sheriff was a real, you know, gung-ho guy on crime and the and the. individual in the office in Orlando. wasn't or Tampa wasn't as as gung-ho. And you see that quite often. Now, how. does that get resolved? The sheriff. keeps arresting, arresting, arresting. and the state either dismisses the. charges or says we're not filing, you. know, we're not going to file on. marijuana charges. And the sheriff says. I don't care. I'm still arresting. people. As long as it's illegal, I'm. still making the arrest. So, let the. state dismiss the charges. So, you see.

that quite often in different areas. Especially now, you used to never see. it. But now where I think politics play. a bigger role in how crimes are charged. and who charges them. Uh I think it you're you're seeing that. more often where a sheriff does not get. along with a with a state attorney in. that area. >> Okay, let's see what happens next week. Hopefully we get more answers uh come. next week. >> It'll be really interesting how this. takes place. >> It it really is. Um Bradford Cohen, good.

seeing you, my friend. Thanks for trying. to clear it up for us. Appreciate it. >> Thanks, Ben. >> 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 podcast. You can also check us. out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you. want to follow me, X, Instagram, [music]. my NewsNation show Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.