D4vd Murder Case: Every Disturbing Twist and Turn

This is the complete [music] timeline of. the David case. From 2022 to 2026, [music]. this is a comprehensive look at every. major development and detail in this. story as we await the next steps for. [music] the singer accused of murdering. a 14-year-old girl. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. All right, real quick before we go any. further, I got to tell you about this. partner of ours, this app, this sponsor. It is called Upside, and it's amazing.

because it gets you cash back, extra. cash back on everyday purchases like. gas, groceries, takeouts. So, here's. what you do. You download Upside for. free, you claim an offer at one of their. 100,000 plus locations, you pay like. normal with your card, you verify the. purchase, and just like that, money. back. So, say I need to get gas or I. want takeout one night, I'll search for. Upside offers first, and after I spend, money appears in my app that I can. transfer straight into my bank account. And by the way, Upside's frequent users, they 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, and make sure to. use promo code SIDEBAR because you'll. get an extra 25 cents bonus on every. gallon on your first tank of gas. We. have been covering all aspects of the. David case since the story broke last. year, but this is a story actually that. goes back years before then. So, what we. want to do, what we want to do is. clarify, simplify. This is a full. timeline of all developments, all major. developments, the investigation, the key. dates that prosecutors claim these.

alleged crimes were committed. So, this. is going to be everything you need to. know. This is a comprehensive look based. on reporting and prosecutors'. allegations. And when I say alleged. crimes, by the way, I mean that David is. currently charged with first-degree. murder, continuous sexual abuse of a. child under 14, and unlawful mutilation. of human remains, all in connection with. the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas. Hernandez. So, with that in mind, here. we go. Full-time [snorts]. line of this entire story. Now, I said.

this goes back years before, right? January 2022, to be exact. According to. the prosecution and their pre-trial. brief, this is when David and then. 11-year-old Celeste first met. The. details of that meeting not entirely. clear. I'm sure that's going to be. explored at a trial. Then you. fast-forward to November 2023 because. that is when prosecutors claim David and. Celeste began a sexual relationship when. she was just 13 years old and he was 18. years old. And how do they know that?

What is their apparent evidence to prove. that allegation? You go back to the. pre-trial brief. It says from the. evidence list, quote, "The description. of photographs depicting the victim. naked as well as while she was engaged. with defendant in sexual activity when. she was 13. As this evidence constitutes. child sexual abuse material CSAM, the. photographs themselves will not be. presented. While all possible charges. that could be proven were not filed, the. CSAM is proof of their ongoing sexual. relationship while the victim was 13 and. 14 years old." By the way, we did a. whole sidebar on what could be the.

potential defenses for that apparent. evidence and if he takes the stand, what. he would say about it or maybe say about. it. Also, we did a sidebar on what. potential federal charges could be in. the works if you take those allegations. So, it's all up on Law Crime's YouTube. channel if you want to check it out. Oh, and by the way, when I mentioned this. pre-trial brief, it's up on the case. file section of the Law Crime Plus app, too, if you want to check out the whole. brief. I'm going to talk about it a lot. more. But going back to the brief, it. also says "numerous text messages. between defendant and the victim. evidencing their sexual relationship, pregnancy, abortion, and use of Plan B.

emergency contraception. Messages. through March 2025 prove defendant. continued to manipulate the victim as. she messaged, 'All we do is have sex and. just hang out. Man, I want more than. that for myself.' And these messages, they say, were obtained from defendant's. iCloud data. January 2024, according to. CNN, Celeste and David appeared together. in a twitch stream, February 2024. That's a key month. You go back to the. pre-trial brief, it says, quote, "Detectives learned the victim had been. reported missing to the Riverside County.

Sheriff's Department by her family who. live in Lake Elsinore in February and. April 2024. RCSD telephonically. contacted defendant on February 17th, 2024 after they identified a phone. number in the victim's phone records. that belonged to him. During the call, defendant claimed he had spoken to the. victim last on February 13th or 14th, 2024, but stated he was unaware she was. a minor or that she had been reported. missing. RCSD advised him that Los. Angeles Sheriff's Department deputies. would be coming to his home. On that.

day, defendant was living at 804 North. De Hine Place in West Hollywood. RCSD. requested that LASD conduct a welfare. check at defendant's home. LASD deputies. went to defendant's home that night at. 8:15 p.m. and informed him the victim. was a 13-year-old runaway. Defendant. again claimed he was unaware she was a. minor and he'd only met the victim once. in person in November 2023. However, defendant showed deputies a yearbook. photo of the victim he had on his cell. phone. Although he claimed to be unaware. of where the victim was at the time, she.

returned home 2 days later. Despite. being informed by law enforcement the. victim was only 13, defendant continued. to pursue her. After the victim returned. home in February 2024, her parents took. her cell phone away. Defendant drove to. Lake Elsinore and paid a junior high. school student in the victim's class a. thousand dollars to give the victim a. cell phone defendant purchased so they. could stay in contact. Throughout 2024, the victim spent a significant amount of. time with defendant including summer. weekends at his home in the Hollywood. Hills and traveling with him to Las.

Vegas, London, and Texas to meet his. family. So, we don't know the exact. dates in 2024 that the prosecution. alleges this travel or meetings. happened, but I'm sure that's going to. be explored in a preliminary hearing or. a trial. March 19th, 2024. So, we talk. about the runaway aspect or the apparent. runaway aspect of Celeste's life, TMZ. reported there is surveillance footage. from a liquor store down the street from. her home in Lake Elsinore, and this. footage apparently captures a person in. a black hoodie, white pants, who has.

reportedly been identified as Celeste. walking and running down the street. April 2024. So, just to be clear, April. 2024 is when her family reports her. missing, and she had been reported. missing in 2024 three times. April 5th. was apparently the final time that she. was reported missing. May 2024. According to ABC7, she reportedly called. home. June 2024. According to CNN, she. was photographed backstage at one of.

David's LA shows. September 7th, 2024. Celeste turns 14 years old. September. 8th, 2024. TMZ reportedly has video of. Celeste engaged in some sort of. altercation with people in her Lake. Elsinore neighborhood. And by the way, this is going to be a year to the day. before her body is found. November 2024. According to the. prosecution's pre-trial brief, David and. Celeste apparently broke up, but.

continued to stay in touch, and they. claim the text messages suggest they. continued to have sexual relations. January 2nd, 2025. According to Steve. Fischer, the private investigator who. has been looking into this case from the. very beginning, when he was on a prior. episode of ours on Sidebar, he said the. last photos in their possession that. they have of Celeste was January 2nd, 2025. April 22nd, 2025. This is the. night before prosecutors claim, authorities claim, David allegedly.

killed Celeste. So, April 22nd, 2025, the prosecution's brief says that the. defendant and the victim engaged in a. lengthy argument described in detail in. their text messages. The messages reveal. the victim's jealousy over defendant's. relationships with other women as. defendant led her to believe they had a. future together. She became extremely. upset and threatened to disclose. damaging information about her. relationship with defendant to end his. career and destroy his life. Defendant's. first studio album was due to be. released on April 25th, 2025. He had an. emerging multi-million dollar career.

already in progress. He also had. multiple product endorsements which were. highly profitable. April 23rd, 2025. This is the day that. prosecutors believe Celeste was killed. and all of her cellular activity ceased. That is according to prosecution. And. going to their brief, it says, quote, at. approximately 8:40 p.m. on April 23rd, 2025, defendant sent an Uber to. transport the victim from her Lake. Elsinore home to his residence. Uber. records showing defendant's transaction. where he ordered an Uber to pick up the.

victim from her Lake Elsinore home and. transport her to his residence the night. of April 23rd, 2025. They communicated. before and during her Uber ride which. dropped her off at defendant's Hollywood. Hills home around 10:10 p.m. At. approximately 10:30 p.m., defendant sent. text messages to the victim inquiring. where she was. The people contend this. was part of defendant's premeditated. plan to cover up the murder as she was. already dead by this time. Knowing he. had to silence the victim before she. ruined his music career as she had. threatened, very soon after the arrival.

at his home, defendant stabbed the. victim to death multiple times and stood. by while she bled out. At no time did he. call law enforcement or 911 or take her. to an emergency room to attempt to save. her life. And we talked about this on. previous sidebars about how they may be. able to prove that whether there's a. witness or surveillance footage or maybe. just the fact that there was no or. apparently no outgoing call to emergency. services. Back to the timeline. Despite knowing. she was dead and her family was trying. to find her, the evidence will show. defendant lied and claimed he didn't.

know where she was. In fact, defendant. drove to Santa Barbara County. immediately after the victim died. attempting to dispose of her property. and destroy evidence. At approximately. 11:30 p.m. on April 23rd, 2025, he drove. away from his home as he texted and. called the victim's phone asking where. she was. Again, these were acts. calculated and planned to set up his. defense within a very short timeline. after the victim's vicious murder. Defendant drove his Tesla north on the. 101 freeway to San Marcos Pass Road, SR.

154, near Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara. County. He returned home early the. following morning on April 24th, 2025, before going to a radio interview for. the release of his album that week. He. sent two additional texts to the. victim's phone that day, which obviously. went unanswered because she was already. dead. On April 24th, 2025, prosecution. says, they claim, defendant ordered a. shovel from Home Depot that was. delivered to his home from Postmates. Also, on April 24th, this is according. to PI Steve Fisher, he claims the David.

management team held a Withered album. release party in LA at 8:00 p.m. and he. believes that David possibly took a. red-eye flight to New York after. April. 25th, David releases his debut studio. album Withered. Again, goes back to that. alleged financial motive. Think about. the timing of when he allegedly killed. Celeste, his album's about to be. released. April 26th, 2025, the. defendant never attempted to contact. Celeste again. So, the argument is that.

he killed her, right? That's the. allegation. And the other argument is, I'm sure this is going to be made, is. the prosecution will say, "Look, if he. didn't do anything to her, isn't it odd. that he never contacted her again?". Assuming these allegations are true. Go. back to the pre-trial brief, prosecutors. claim, May 1st, 2025, defendant ordered. and subsequently Amazon delivered two. chainsaws to his home. May 5th, 2025, defendant ordered and Amazon. subsequently delivered a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue. inflatable pool to his home. He made.

these purchases under the fake name. Victoria Mendez. May 8th, 2025, defendant returned to the same area in. Santa Barbara County, leaving his home. around 11:30 p.m. He returned to the. area again on May 31st, 2025. This is an. isolated site off SR-154 where the. victim's identification was subsequently. discovered in January 2026. We'll get to. that. July 4th, 2025, according to TMZ, a live stream apparently shows David. allegedly telling his purported friend.

Neal Langston and Sukarno about the. smell in his house, saying that he. apologized for how his bathroom smells. and claimed that he went to the bathroom. 2 hours earlier. Now, if that's true, if that's going to be presented as. evidence, possibly significant because. the prosecution, their filing the. pre-trial brief, claims that he lied to. friends, business associates, and others. who noticed, quote, a strong smell of. decay in and around his home and. vehicle. July 7th, 2025, again, this is according.

to the prosecution in the brief, defendant ordered and subsequently. Amazon delivered a burn cage to his home. under the same fake name as part of his. plan to incinerate evidence. July 29th, prosecutors claim surveillance video and. other evidence confirms David was the. last person to drive the Tesla. Again, we're we're getting into this where. Celeste's body was apparently found. before he left LA on a concert tour. Now, not entirely clear whether someone. else could have moved it before the. Tesla was found, but either way, it was.

reportedly found on 1405 Bluebird. Avenue, which was parked approximately. 400 ft from defendant's home at 1368. Doheny Place in the Hollywood Hills. August 5th, 2025, David's Wither Tour. starts in Del Mar, California, and he. was supposed to have performances in the. United States and Europe and finish on. November 4th, 2025. Key financial. motive, timing, goes to that, right? And. before he left for the tour, the. prosecution alleges at some point he did.

the following, quote, "Defendant took. horrifying measures to destroy and. discard the victim's body. After placing. her body into the blue inflatable pool. to prevent her blood from spilling onto. his garage floor, defendant used a. chainsaw and perhaps other tools to cut. off her limbs. Small blue plastic. fragments were found embedded in the. victim's remains, which were collected. by the Los Angeles County Medical. Examiner's Department. The fragments. were analyzed by the LAPD's Forensic. Science Division Trace Analysis Unit. An. expert was able to make a physical fit. match from the blue fragments to the. blue inflatable pool purchased by. defendant in May 2025. In order to.

distance himself from the victim, he. amputated her left ring and pinky. fingers because her ring finger. contained a tattoo of his name. Her. fingers have not been recovered. Defendant then placed her head and torso. into the cadaver bag he purchased. He. placed her limbs into a garbage bag, which he deposited into his front trunk, laying the cadaver bag on top. For. several weeks or possibly months, defendant left the victim's body to. decompose inside his Tesla. August 27th, according to Fox 5, the position of the. tires on the Tesla was marked by.

authorities. So, it's parked there and. it's now being noticed. September 3rd, according to Fox 5, a parking citation. is issued for the Tesla. September 5th, the Tesla is towed and impounded in a. Hollywood tow lot. September 8th, the. day after what would have been Celeste's. 15th birthday, her decomposed, dismembered body is reportedly found in. the front trunk of the Tesla. Prosecution alleges that the manager of. the tow yard where the Tesla had been. impounded noted a strong smell of decay.

and the presence of flies coming from. the vehicle. He notified the Los Angeles. Police Department Hollywood Auto. Detectives through departmental. resources determined that the Tesla was. registered to the defendant. At the tow. yard, LAPD detectives opened the Tesla's. front storage compartment and observed a. black cadaver bag covered in insects. Inside the bag, they discovered a. severely decomposed head and torso. A. plastic garbage bag beneath the black. cadaver bag contained the dismembered. arms and legs. However, the victim's. ring and pinky fingers on her left hand.

had been amputated and were not found in. the Tesla. September 9th, David, as part. of his tour, reportedly performs at the. Fillmore out in Minneapolis. September. 16th, the Los Angeles medical examiner. positively identifies the body as that. of Celeste through dental records. And. investigators say that Celeste has an. index finger tattoo reading "shh". similar to a tattoo that David. reportedly has. September 17th, detectives from the LAPD Robbery.

Homicide Division serve a search warrant. on this reportedly $20,000. a month rental property which David was. renting near where the Tesla was found, 1368 Tahini Place, and bags of evidence. reportedly seized. And according to the. prosecution in their brief, quote, "Inside the garage, detectives. discovered evidence consistent with the. dismemberment of the victim's body in. the inflatable pool which contained. multiple linear cuts. Several biological. samples which tested positive for blood. were collected within the garage area.

DNA analysis determined that various. samples match the victim's unique. genetic profile." September 19th, 2025, David officially cancels the rest of his. tour. September 23rd, 2025, David transfers. ownership of his Texas home to his mom. Now, there is kind of mixed reporting on. it because we have seen reporting that. he made changes on September 18th and. September 22nd and he transferred two. Texas homes. Either way, why is this. important? Why is it suspicious? Well, the argument would be he did this,

right, because he thought he was going. to get arrested. I wonder if that's. going to be an argument. I wonder if. that's going to come up, but that's. something to keep in mind. Could it have. been for financial reasons? Sure, but I. do wonder if it's going to be something. that comes up in trial. September 25th, 2025, Celeste's body was reportedly. released to her family. September 29th, 2025, it is revealed that Celeste death. certificate lists her cause of death as. deferred and her manner of death is. pending. We're going to get into more of. this in a minute. But also on that day, we got a statement from the LAPD that.

read, quote, "The Los Angeles Police. Department's Robbery Homicide Division. has been diligently investigating the. death of Celeste River Hernandez over. the past several weeks. At this time, we. can confirm that Celeste River Hernandez. is deceased and her body was found in. the front trunk area of a Tesla. belonging to David Burke. The vehicle. had been parked at the location from. which it was towed for several weeks, so. Ms. River Hernandez may have been. deceased for several weeks before the. discovery of her body. The Los Angeles. County Medical Examiner has not yet. determined the cause or manner of Ms. River Hernandez's death. As such, it.

remains unclear whether there is any. criminal culpability beyond the. concealment of her body. RHD is. thoroughly examining every aspect of. this case to uncover the truth and seek. justice for Celeste River Hernandez and. her family. We appreciate the public's. patience and understanding as we. continue this investigation. Further. updates will be provided as appropriate, but at this time, we are unable to. answer additional questions. Now, obviously, that caused quite a bit of. stir and confusion about how the. investigation was going and how no one. could be charged with her death. But. then you go to October 2025 and we learn.

through reporting from the New York Post. that David has hired celebrity criminal. defense attorney Blair Burke. Did a. whole sidebar episode on her and. potential defenses, too, but at the time. he hadn't been criminally charged, but. reportedly hired her. November 2025, it. is reported that David is no longer. cooperating in the investigation. November 21st, 2025, this is when a. court orders that the LAPD Medical. Examiner report and information on. Celeste death be sealed. That a security.

hold is placed to prevent any. information from coming out to the media. and that this was petitioned by the. LAPD. Now, the Chief Medical Examiner. have released a statement that said at. 10:54 a.m. on Friday, November 21st, the. County of Los Angeles Department of. Medical Examiner Department received a. court order initiated by the Los Angeles. Police Department to place a security. hold on Medical Examiner case number. 2025-14252, Celeste Riveras 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. In fact, the Chief. Medical Examiner, Dr. Ode Ukpo, said, as. quoted in the press release, "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." So, arguably, a little bit of. tension there between the ME's office. and an LAPD. Maybe, maybe not. And I did. a sidebar episode when I talked about. potential defenses and whether this is. something that's going to be explored by. the defense. By the way, LAPD Robbery-Homicide put out a. statement that said, at that time, quote, "The LAPD sought to seal the. records of the Los Angeles County. Medical Examiner's investigation into. Celeste Riveras' death. That order was.

sought only to ensure detectives from. the Robbery-Homicide Division learned of. important information surrounding her. death before the media and the public. The order was not sought to undermine. transparency.". December 9th, 2025. While it wouldn't be. publicly released until after David's. arrest, we have learned that the medical. examination on Celeste was completed on. December 9th, 2025. You read verbatim. from the summary portion, and it says, quote, "Autopsy examination was limited.

by extensive postmortem changes. There. are two penetrating wounds of the torso. with smooth edges that may represent. sharp force injuries. The wound on the. upper abdomen penetrates the liver and. the wound on the left chest penetrates. one of the left intercostal spaces with. disruption of the adjacent ribs cortical. surfaces. The left lung appears intact. The bilateral upper and lower. extremities show full thickness. dismemberment. Multiple other skin and. soft tissue defects are present without. apparent associated internal injuries.

The etiology of these defects is not. clearly apparent due to severe. postmortem changes. Postmortem. toxicology performed on liver tissue. shows the presence of a low level of. ethanol which may be due to postmortem. changes or ingestion and does not appear. to be contributory to the cause of death. given the history and circumstances as. currently known by me in the setting of. the findings by examination and. ancillary studies and in the absence of. other definitive causes of death, the. cause of death is multiple penetrating. injuries, the manner of death is. classified as homicide. And the report. also shows there was presumptive.

positives for benzodiazepines and. methamphetamine and DMA and Celeste. system. So now we get a sense of when. authorities knew what. By the way, we. start hearing rumblings at this time. about a grand jury hearing evidence in. Celeste's case. We don't have a ton of. details. We would later learn there were. reportedly three grand juries hearing. evidence and in December of 2025 we. learned, reportedly, that David's. manager, Robert Morgroth, allegedly. testified and reportedly said in a. hallway during a break in the courthouse. that the LA County Deputy DA, Beth. Silverman, was quote very pushy on why.

David called police. This is per TMZ. And that he allegedly said that quote I. feel like I didn't have the. responsibility to do that and just. wanted to continue with the tour. January 2026, David's family is. reportedly subpoenaed to testify, reportedly in front of a grand jury, regarding Celeste's death. January 17th, 2026, Celeste's passport card, as I. mentioned before, was found by a. Caltrans worker off SR 154 in Santa. Barbara County. Remember that's where. authorities claim David traveled to to.

possibly dispose of evidence. January. 22nd, 2026, David's purported friend. Neil Langston was arrested in Montana, allegedly at his mom's house, on. reportedly a failure to appear as a. witness on that charge. It was reported. that the local PD had assisted the LAPD. on this. February 4th, 2026, TMZ reports. that Langston appears in a Los Angeles. courtroom, reportedly to testify before. the grand jury, but only for 30 to 40. minutes. Raises a lot of questions. If. this is true, what did he testify to? He. was so important. Short time to testify,

right? Immunity deal? Did he plead the. fifth against self-incrimination? I'm. sure that'll be explored later on. February 2026, David's father, mother, and brother challenge subpoenas to. travel to LA and testify, but a Texas. court denied their petition. Notable was. this comment from a court hearing where. Bennett Dodson, assistant DA for Waller. County out in Texas, told the court, "Don't think it's a secret to anyone at. this point that Mr. David Burke is a. musician who's quite famous, and this. matter concerns a car that was. registered to him at this at these. witnesses' address here in Houston that.

had a dismembered, decomposing body in. it. I would say if a car with a. dismembered, decomposing body is. registered to your home address, that is. something you should expect to be. questioned by the authorities about, and. that's what this is, Judge." We learn. from these court filings that there is. in fact a murder investigation into. Celeste's death, and that David is the. target. March 13th, 2026, Neil Langston. posts private Instagram stories that. reportedly read, quote, "Thankfully, I'm. legally fine in every way, and boy do I.

got all my receipts for things. Hahaha.". And then he reportedly posted, "I think. the worst part is that I've told so many. people that I trust and I thought knew. me as a person my side of things, all. for that to be thrown out that window as. soon as I get arrested and they slap. that bleep's name next to mine. And for. the record, the thing I was arrested for. wasn't even charged. They never filed. it, and my warrant was retracted because. there is more to the story than what's. on the news." April 16th, 2026, David. was arrested. Armed personnel took him.

from a Hollywood Hills home just over a. mile from the tow yard, which was. significant because we hadn't had any. clue where David was during all this. time. He had reportedly been radio. silent since he canceled his tour. Reportedly, he made no public. appearances, but he was arrested. Not. formally charged, by the way. That was. interesting. He was arrested, not. formally charged, and we would learn. that a grand jury never officially. indicted him. And instead, this case. would move forward through a preliminary. hearing process which a court, a judge, would determine whether there's. sufficient probable cause to support the.

charges and have this case move forward. towards trial. We're going to get more. on that in a second. April 20th, 2026, Los Angeles County District Attorney. Nathan Hochman announces the formal. charges against David. Today, I am. announcing the charges against David. Anthony Burke, the musician known as. David, spelled D 4 V D, in connection. with the brutal and horrific murder of. Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time. These charges include the most serious.

charges that a DA's office can bring. That is first-degree murder with special. circumstances. The special circumstances being lying in. wait, committing this crime for financial. gain, or murdering a witness in an. investigation. Uh these special circumstances uh carry. with it, along with the first-degree. murder charge, a maximum sentence of. life without the possibility of parole. or the death penalty.

The determination on whether or not the. District Attorney's Office will seek the. death penalty will be made at a later. time. Before I get into the actual charges, and there are additional charges against. Mr. Burke, including continuous sexual acts, lewd. and lascivious sexual acts, with a with. a an individual under 14 years old. and mutilating a human remains of a. body.

Before I get into the description of. these charges and their seriousness, I want to look at this as a parent. I am a parent of three children and a. parent's nightmare. is a situation where your daughter goes. out one night. and never comes back. As we will show in a court of law and. what I also want to make sure about that. the understanding of these charges is. clear, is my description of these charges is. not evidence that we are going to.

present in court. These charges, in fact, will not be. evidence in the in the court. Evidence. will be the witness testimony, the. documents, and different types of. admissible testimony that we will admit. into court in the prosecution and if it. leads to the eventual trial of Mr. Burke. to convince a jury of 12 people beyond a. reasonable doubt that each and every one. of these charges is true.

as well as the special allegations and. circumstances that have been alleged. Yes, so the prosecution alleges that. David murdered Celeste to keep her quiet. ostensibly about their alleged illegal. sexual relationship. And David also. appeared in court alongside his attorney. Blair Burke and prosecutor Beth. Silverman. We believe the actual. evidence will show David Burke did not. murder Celeste Vivas-Hernandez nor was. he the cause of her death. And we would. like to be able to have the evidence.

come into the light of day at the. earliest opportunity in order to. establish that. Your Honor, as I. indicated counsel, there's approximately. 40 terabytes of discovery in this case. Moreover, in order to obtain the. transcripts from a grand jury. investigation, counsel has to file a. motion. She knows the way the system. works. I'm not able to gather those. Uh. they have to be provided after the court. orders them released because it was an.

investigation. Second of all, uh if counsel plans on. going to a preliminary hearing within. the 10 days, uh it is unlikely that. there will be very much discovery. provided within that period given the. voluminous nature and how long it's. going to take to copy onto drives. In. addition to that, the coroner's report. was sealed in this case. uh in order to prevent it from hampering. uh truthful testimony for witnesses that. testified at the grand jury. So, an.

order will also have to be obtained in. order to get the coroner's department, which is now the medical examiner's. department, to release those materials. April 21st, 2026. Celeste's family. breaks their silence. They release a. statement that says, "We'd like to thank. the Los Angeles Police Department and. the District Attorney's Office for their. hard work. We would also like to thank. the people of Lake Elsinore for all. their support. Celeste was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance. Every Friday night was movie night, and. we spent wonderful times together. We.

love her very much, and she always told. us that she loved us. We miss her. deeply. All we want is justice for. Celeste." April 22nd, 2026. Again, the. ME report that I mentioned before, that. is released. Along with a statement from. the Chief Medical Examiner that says, "After several months, I'm grateful this. information can now be released not only. to the public, but also to the grieving. family enduring loss. It is unfathomable. they have had to wait this long to learn. what happened to their daughter. Transparency of the information. contained in our findings and report is. essential for empowering the community.

to make informed changes to effectively. reduce fear and allowing the community. to take informed action. Making the. department's information publicly. available is not just about. accountability. It is about social. justice and prevention. By ensuring. access to this information, we. strengthen our ability to learn, to act, and ultimately to prevent the next. tragic loss of life. I want to extend my. gratitude to our partner agencies for. taking the necessary step of filing an. order with the court to make this. disclosure possible. April 23rd, 2026. In a follow-up court hearing, we learn. that there was reportedly a {quote}.

significant amount of child pornography. found on David's device or devices. A. preliminary hearing is set for May 1st. April 29th, 2026. David's back in court. That is when the prosecution's pre-trial. brief is released, the one that I've. been talking about throughout this. episode. The preliminary hearing is now. continued, moved to May 26th. April. 30th, 2026. The death certificate has. been amended to state that it is unclear. whether Celeste was pregnant before she. died. Although I've talked about this. before, there's nothing in the ME's.

report that suggests necessarily she was. pregnant. And if there had been evidence. she was pregnant, I got to believe. prosecutors would have jumped on that as. proof of the alleged illegal sexual. relationship as motive. I spoke to. forensic death investigator Joseph Scott. Morgan about this. He suggested that. they just had to put this down given the. apparent messages regarding pregnancy. and abortion and Plan B that I referred. to before. May 12th, 2026. The court. continues the preliminary hearing now to. June 29th. It is essentially an issue of. there being a large amount of evidence.

to review in order to be properly. prepared for this hearing where the. defense will challenge the prosecution's. evidence. A status conference has been. set now for June 17th. So, there you. have it. Full timeline in the David. Celeste [music]. Revis Hernandez case. It's all we have. for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining. us and as always, [music] please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's. Peacock as well. If you want to follow. me, X, Instagram, [music] and NewsNation. show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through.

Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you. next time, everybody.