D4vd's Friend Neo Langston Testifies to Grand Jury: Report

It has just been reported that David's. apparent friend, potentially a key. witness, Neil Langston, the guy who was. just arrested out in Montana, has. testified [music]. in front of the grand jury in the. Celeste Rivas Hernandez death. investigation. If this is true, and we. will get into the reporting on why it. may be, this could [music] be big. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Big news in [music] the David case we. got to talk about. So TMZ has just.

reported that the singer's apparent. friend, somebody we've talked about. before, Neil Langston, has testified in. front of a grand jury seemingly in. connection to the death of Celeste Rivas. Hernandez. We've talked about this. before, whether or not a grand jury is. hearing evidence in this case. And of. course, she is the 14-year-old girl who. was found in a Tesla reportedly. registered to David. That this was back. in September of 2025 out in LA. Now, how. do we know that he may be testified in. front of the grand jury today? Well, one. of TMZ's reporters actually caught Neil.

Langston entering the Los Angeles. courtroom today. They were bombarding. him with a series of questions about him. testifying about David. He didn't say a. word. And I want to explain why this is. such a big deal, if this is true. Okay. It was reported that when Langston was. arrested out in Montana at his mom's. house on an Los Angeles warrant for. failure to appear as a witness, something we talked about here on. Sidebar, it was because he allegedly. refused to testify potentially in the.

grand jury. We couldn't confirm that for. sure, you know, but given his apparent. connection to the singer, as documented. in photos and at least one video online, but people put two and two together and. they're like, "Of course he's testifying. in front of the grand jury. for of. course he was picked up uh on an. outofstate warrant to bring him back to. LA to testify. We didn't know for sure. though, but now that he's reportedly. seen going into that building, the. courthouse, given the reporting that. there is a grand jury that has been. hearing evidence in this case for. months, now you put two and two together. again in a very different way. So, he's.

probably testifying, right? I mean, I. guess it's also possible he was. appearing in connection with the failure. to appear charge, but I don't know. I. want to talk about that. TMZ also. reported that they ran into somebody. else walking into the courthouse. LA. Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman, who is allegedly the one presenting. evidence to this grand jury. Now, she. didn't say anything to TMZ as she walked. in, but by the way, TMZ reported that. back in December, there may have been a. conversation in that courthouse hallway.

between Silverman and an attorney named. Evan Jennis. Jennis apparently. represents Robert Morgan Roth, another. David figure. He heads up David's. touring company. His manager, who we. believe also may have testified in front. of the grand jury. And this conversation. between Jennice and Silverman per TMZ. was allegedly about yes, a potentially. uncooperative witness. Are we talking. Neil Langston? Is everything fitting in. here? We don't know for sure, but I mean. the pieces seem to be lining up that.

this guy now just testified at a very. pivotal moment. And here's the. interesting part. if he was testifying. in front of the grand jury and. presenting evidence against, let's say, hypothetically, David and or anybody. else in connection with the death of uh. Celeste or the disposal of her body, wouldn't you think he would testify for. a while? Apparently, that's not the. case. TMZ is reporting that Neil. Langston was only in front of that grand. jury for 30 to 40 minutes. Again, assuming he did testify, but that's it.

30 to 40 minutes. What does that mean? I. have an idea about what that could mean. if it's true. I'm going to talk about it. with a former federal prosecutor. We're. going to bring him on in a second. But. the value of Langston's testimony, what. is his alleged role? Let me just hit on. that for a second. Again, he was picked. up in Montana, arrested at reportedly. his mom's house. He was then transferred. back here to LA, booked into the M uh. DC, the Metropolitan Detention Center. He was released on a $60,000 bail. And I. go back to what Steve Fischer posted on. X about Langston's arrest when it.

happened. Steve Fischer, we've had him. on the program. He's the PI, the private. investigator who was hired by the owner. of the property that David was. reportedly staying at in LA, possibly. near where the Tesla was found. Steve. posted, "The arrest of Neil Langston for. failure to appear to give testimony, which are the exact words used by the. sheriff's department when speaking with. me, concerns me to a certain extent, assuming this arrest is related to the. Celeste Rivas Hernandez case. Targets. are not typically called to testify in a. case, essentially meaning somebody who. could be charged. Had Neo received a.

target letter, he almost certainly would. have retained counsel and invoked his. Fifth Amendment rights. That makes me. think that he is viewed as a witness. rather than someone currently at risk of. being charged. Did one person act alone. in concealing Celeste's body? If this. was a homicide, did a single individual. act alone without a conspirator? I find. that unlikely. This leads me to believe. that Neo may represent a lastditch. effort by prosecutors, a Hail Mary of. sorts, because they do not yet have what. they need to fully make the case. They.

may be attempting to pressure him into. cooperating, potentially by offering. immunity. Is Neo the last hope? And by. the way, I go back to what Steve Fischer. told me on a recent episode of Sidebar. about what he thinks Neo's potential. connection to this criminal case is. Take a look. Uh, I'm looking at this. whole situation a little bit broader. than just the homicide. I understand the. homicide is what we're looking for, but. you know, Celeste was trafficked and. listen, there's messages back and forth. They they knew her age. And so, it's not.

just that. Listen, there's sex crimes. against this girl. And there's certain. people that knew was going on. There's. some people that gave rides to her back. and forth, you know, even to like. Elsenor. And so, it's not just the. homicide for me. I I just think that. this is one of these things where we got. to start standing up for these young. girls that are just taken advantage of. by these predators. And I hope it's not. a situation where it's like we can't. make the homicide. We just can't get. there with it and let it go because. there is other crimes whether it's. concealment of the body, whether it's.

anybody that helped in facilitating her. to stay with David. And so it's not just. the homicide, it's it's just everything. that happened to Celeste, it's the whole. breakdown. And so while it's been. speculated, although not officially. confirmed by officials, that David is. being considered a suspect or a target, particularly for homicide charges, we. don't know for sure, there has also been. talk about whether there is a second. suspect, too. You have a claim criminal. defense attorney Mark Geriggo spoke on. the Two Angry Men podcast back in. November that according to people he. talked to who are connected to the case.

Investigators may be looking at a new. unidentified second person that was. involved quote before, during, and after. Celeste's death. That they may have. digital evidence to support it. Cell. phone data, social media activity, digital data from the Tesla. that this. evidence places this person in the same. Hollywood Hills neighborhood during the. time when either Celeste died or her. body was found. So again, we don't know. for sure, but what's Langston's alleged. role in this? What could it be? So, I. want to talk about Neo Langston possibly.

testifying in front of the grand jury. today, what it means. Let me bring on. former federal prosecutor Nema Romani. Uh Nema, thank you so much for taking. the time. Really appreciate it. Do you. think he testified in front of the grand. jury today? >> Jesse, I do think he testified. The. question is what did he say and did he. invoke? And I think the two most. important things to know and this is me. sitting in downtown Los Angeles. I'm. about a mile less than two miles away. from the courthouse. There's two things. to know about LA that make it different. from different jurisdictions that we. cover here on Law and Crime. And.

sidebar, first TMZ has its finger on the. pulse of Los Angeles. Their reporting is. very, very accurate here in LA. They. know people at the courouses in the. clerk's office and the DA's office, they. have sources that more traditional media. don't have. And the second thing to know. is this. In LA and at the district. attorney's office here, they rarely. proceed by grand jury. So grand juries.

are used in the federal system. They're. used in most states back east. Here in. LA, they almost always proceed by a. complaint and a preliminary hearing. So. the fact that we have a grand jury in. this case is unusual. Now obviously. Celeste has been presumed and found dead. since at least September and obviously. she was missing for many many months. before that. So the question is why is. the DA's office using a grand jury in. this case and not just charging David or.

other co-conspirators? They're using the. grand jury for an investigative. function. And the uninvestigative. function is to lock down witnesses like. Langston. They're going to plead. They're going to plead. But ideally, in. a case like this where you have an. individual who's the target of your. investigation, David, and he's. surrounded by an entourage, and members. of that entourage probably don't want to. cooperate or rat or snitch, whatever you. want to call it. The DA, Silverman, is. trying to use this grand jury to lock in. their testimony. So when they go to.

trial, they can't go sideways. >> Basically, if they take the stand, this. is not what you said in front of the. grand jury. You sold the grand jury X, Y, and Z. Uh way to, you know, hold them. to the their feet to the fire. If he. really testified only for 30 to 40. minutes, okay, have does that make sense. for a grand jury witness? >> No. Usually in a murder case, you're. going to expect much more testimony than. that. And obviously, look, we know the. grand jury can move quickly. There's no. defense attorney. Uh, so there's really.

no objections and things tend to move. much faster because there's no ruling on. those objections. There's no. cross-examination. But obviously, if. he's going to be a key witness in a. murder case, you would expect more than. 30 to 40 minutes of testimony. Now, if. you were to just invoke though, Jesse, >> explain what you mean by that. Explain. what you mean by that. So, invoke his. fifth amendment right against. self-inccrimination and and why would he. do that and what would that look like? So if he were to invoke before the grand. jury, that would probably be a much. faster series of questions and answers.

Obviously, he would give his name, some. identifying information, but anything. related to the disappearance of Celeste. Rivas would be met with, you know, I. assert my fifth amendment privilege. And. after that assertion several times, that. testimony is going to be over absent. some immunity, which we can talk about. uh I don't necessarily think that they. would have given him an immunity because. if they did again I would expect the. testimony to be much much longer. So I. don't know if he wasn't cooperative. I. don't know if we went through uh him.

invoking frankly I don't know if he's. represented if he was arrested and. didn't surrender. So there's a lot of. unknown questions but typically like you. said you'd expect to hear more testimony. than that or something shorter if he was. just going to invoke. I I I want to peel. that back a little bit for a second. So, um, first of all, if he did that and he. invoked his fifth, can the grand jury. use that against anybody they may be.

looking at charges for? Is that. something they're allowed to consider? >> Legally, no. If someone asserts their. fifth amendment privilege against. selfinccrimination, their right to. remain silent can't be used against. them, can't be used against anyone else. That's a constitutional right. Now, practically speaking, do grand jurors. and trial jurors implicitly say, "Hey, well, this person invoked, they must be. guilty." Maybe. But certainly the law is. that they're not supposed to do that. >> Let me ask you another question. Have. you ever seen a case before where the.

target of an investigation, a potential. defendant in investigation has testified. and in front of a grand jury and the. grand jury ends up indicting that. person? Because I always thought, and. I've been part of a grand jury before, it's usually the lead case agent, the. lead detective, the victim. There's some. It's not the whole case. It's not the. whole what everything that's presented. during a trial, but it's enough evidence. to support probable cause and then the. grand jury comes back and you need a. majority to say there's probable cause. for an indictment. Have you ever seen a. case where, let's say, he testified,

whatever he testified to, if he. testified, whether he invoked the fifth. or not, and they might return an. indictment against him. I have seen. cases where someone's testified before. the grand jury and because they've lied, they've been prosecuted. But usually the. target is not someone that you call into. the grand jury because of the target in. the investigation, right? That's the. person that you're trying to indict. Now, there have been instances where. it's a questionable case and the target. has wanted to testify and try to explain. away their case to the grand jurors and. I haven't allowed that. But typically,

there's two types of people you do not. put in front of the grand jury. your. defendant that you anticipate indicting. or your star witnesses. And the reason. you don't put your star witnesses is. you're potentially creating impeachment. material that can be used against them. at trial. Now, if you want to lock in. that star witness, that's a different. story. You're going to run that risk. You're going to have them testify. You're going to send that transcript to. the defense, but you usually don't want. your witnesses testifying under oath.

because there's always the possibility. that they're going to say something. different and inconsistent. That's why. in states that do allow for depositions. in criminal cases, the defense attorneys. do them all the time because then they. can try to trip up those key witnesses. at trial. >> That's what makes it so confusing. if he. was important enough to grab it from. Montana and bring here 30 to 40 minutes. of testimony doesn't on its surface make. sense unless they wanted to lock him. down for some key points in this case. Do you think that he's somehow uh.

involved in this? And again, we're it's. so much speculation because we don't. know officially if there's a grand jury. We don't know officially what charges. they'll be looking at. Steve Fischer. said they they should be looking at. charges related to not only the her. death, not only her the potential. disposal of her body, but whatever. alleged relationship she had with um. David as a minor. And so do you think. based on the surrounding circumstances. as you see it, is he a witness? Is he a. target? Is he an accomplice? What do you.

see? >> I think he's likely a witness. And. again, I'm going to assume for the sake. of argument here that there is a grand. jury impanled and that they're looking. at murder charges, disposing of body, sex trafficking, other sex crimes. because Celeste Rivas was a minor. Then. the question I have is Langston, what. role did he play in this inner circle? Was he someone that lived at the house? Was he frequently there? Did he have. access to the Tesla? Or was he someone. on the periphery? I don't know what his. relationship is and was with David. If.

he was a member of that close inner. circle that was living with him and. touring with him and helping him with. music, then you're right, 30, 40 minutes. seems light. If it's someone that just. happened to be present, you know, on a small number of. occasions, then maybe you get them in. and out pretty quickly. I just don't. know what his role is. But what leads me. to believe that this is an important. witness, you don't go through the. trouble of getting an arrest warrant, going out of state, having that. individual arrested unless they're a key.

witness. That's just not how the LA. County DA's office typically works. >> And I just want to be clear, all the. points seem to be saying that he. testified in front of a grand jury. today. Yeah, I mentioned even Beth. Silverman going into the same. courthouse. You could say, "Yeah, he was. there. Yeah, she was there." But he was. appearing for a different purpose. Could. it be that he was appearing in relation. to his charge of right failure to appear. as a witness? He appeared for in front. of a judge. I don't know. But you tell. me.

It's possible that it's something else. But look, the most likely is that this. was a grand jury? Cuz if it was a. failure to appear, why would the lead. DEA on a murder case show up to handle. that failure to appear? It's just not. something that because the failure to. appear itself is not a serious charge. So, you wouldn't typically have the. assigned DA investigating a murder case. handling a low-level misdemeanor like. that. It would be whoever was on duty in. that courtroom on that particular day,

that assigned DA. So, the fact that. they're both going in together or at or. near the same time, again, this is all. just, you know, drawing conclusions. based on limited information, but the. most likely thing that we're dealing. with is Langston testifying before the. grand jury and Silverman examining him. >> Would you, if he testified, and he. testified today, would you expect. charges soon in this case? I don't even. know who it would be for. I made this. point with Steve Fischer, too. Like I. understand his reservations and his. concerns about Neo testifying and being.

brought there, but it's also the. possibility that he could be testifying. against let's say hypothetically David. or other people and you know he doesn't. have a role in it. If he testifies. though today are should we be on the. lookout for charges for an arrest I. don't know in the next few days, next. few weeks? >> I mean this case is a head scratcher. I'm surprised no one has already been. charged, right? I mean, at a minimum, we. know that Celeste's body was found in. the frunk of the Tesla, and now it's. been many, many months without charges.

I don't think we're waiting for any more. forensics. I think we're waiting for the. toxicology for the LA County. Um, and my. understanding is those results. are complete because the DA's office. moved to seal them and not have them. released as a public records pursuant to. the California Public Records Act. So, it seems like the investigation is done, whether it's video, whether it's. electronic. I mean, there's not a whole. lot that's left aside from these. witnesses. So, obviously, look, you want.

to get it right. But again, [snorts] I'm. sitting here in LA and there's the. perception, right or wrong, that, you. know, it's crime has run a muck here. And the Celeste Rivas case certainly is. not helping because you have this young. girl that was missing for so long. And. then now that her body was found, there's still no charges in this case. I. mean, obviously, it's not a case that. I'm handling, but from a perception. problem here in Los Angeles, both in. terms of law enforcement and.

prosecutors, you want to get it right. But this delay is certainly raising a. lot of questions here as to what LAPD. and what the DA's office is doing and. what is taking so long. >> And it's easy for me to sit here and. judge and say, I mean, why aren't they. doing this? Why aren't they doing this? I don't know what's happening behind the. scenes. All I will tell you is there are. a lot of people invested in this case. If you even look at the comments on our. videos here on Sidebar, people are. frustrated. They want answers. They want. justice for Celeste in some capacity. Can only imagine uh her family. I. hopefully they're getting more answers.

than we are. Um, but look, we will. continue to monitor this. This is a big. development. We will see what happens in. the days and the weeks to come here on. Sidebar. Uh, Nema Romani, as always, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. >> Of course, Jesse, thanks for having me. as always. >> 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 get your. podcast. We're also up on NBC's Peacock. as well. If you want to follow me x. [music] Instagram, my NewsNation show,

Jesse Weber live Monday through Friday. at 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next. time everybody.