Eyes on D4vd's Family as Murder Case Explodes

How much did David's family [music]. really know about his alleged. relationship with 14-year-old Celeste. Davis Hernandez before she was found. dead and [music] dismembered in the. trunk of a Tesla allegedly registered to. him? What did they potentially [music]. say to a secret grand jury in the months. before the now 21-year-old was slapped. with murder and mutilation charges? And. did his [music] brother really think now. is the time to just kick off his own. music career? We're [music] talking. about David's family right now. Welcome. to Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime.

I'm Jesse Weber. David Anthony [music] Burke, known by. his moniker or stage name David, is. accused of sexually abusing a teen girl. 4 months before allegedly luring her to. a swanky rental home in the Hollywood. Hills, killing her with some sort of. sharp instrument, letting her bleed out, and then cutting her up in an inflatable. pool in the home's garage. Horrific. But. this is all according to investigation. by the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division. and now the Los Angeles County District.

Attorney's Office. Now, we know David. has entered a not guilty plea to the. charges that he faces, and that his. attorneys, led by Blair Berk, say the. evidence will show he didn't cause. Celeste Davis Hernandez's death. Exactly. what that evidence might be though, still unclear. But again, as he faces. these charges, including first-degree. murder and the special circumstances. allegations, which could make this life. in prison without the possibility of. parole, maybe even the death penalty, even though there's a moratorium on. executions, the stakes are very severe.

And today, as we inch closer to a. preliminary hearing in David's murder. case, I want to do something else. I. want to talk a little bit more about. what we know about him, his family, his. relationship or alleged relationship. with Celeste, and what's next in this. very high-profile criminal case. Because. you may or may not have heard of David. before Celeste's body was found in the. trunk of a Tesla towed to a Hollywood. tow yard in September. The. singer-songwriter shot to fame in 2022. with a song called Romantic Homicide, which has more than I think a billion.

plays on Spotify. His latest album, Withered, landed a top 15 spot on the. Billboard 200 when it debuted last year. This is according to the Hollywood. Reporter. Sandwhiching David in between. hitmakers like Billie Eilish and. Chappell Roan. Guy's a big deal. By the. way, important for the legal case, his. career. And David also made headlines in. the music industry because of his. production process. According to an. interview with the Hollywood Reporter, most of his songs are recorded on his. iPhone using apps like BandLab. But his. success quickly pulled him from his.

Texas bedroom to the international. stage. Multiple websites list David's. net worth as between two and three. million dollars, which by the way, we. weren't able to independently confirm, but it's safe to say that he has been. seeing some serious success. You got to. imagine that. And in September of 2025, the media pivoted from talking about his. Withered concert tour, which he soon. canceled, and instead focused on his. alleged involvement in Celeste's death. She should have been celebrating her. 15th birthday, but instead she was found.

dead, dismembered, some of her body. parts still missing, all in the front. trunk of a Tesla, reportedly registered. out of Texas to David. She had last been. seen or heard from months earlier in. April. So now David was the focus of. serious scrutiny from law enforcement. and online sleuths and traditional. media, and that scrutiny spread to his. family as well. And it turns out that as. David was writing and releasing Romantic. Homicide, he was also allegedly. interacting online with young fans,

including Celeste. According to a brief. that was filed by Los Angeles. prosecutors in anticipation of a. preliminary hearing, quote, "Pursuant to. their investigation, LAPD. robbery-homicide detectives determined. the victim and defendant met in January. 2022. when she was 11 years old. They began a. sexual relationship in November 2023. when the victim was just 13 years old. and defendant was 18. But he wasn't the. only one interacting with Celeste. She.

apparently spent time with his friends. including Neo Langston who was. reportedly one of David's good friends. Investigators say she even traveled to. Texas with David to meet his family. The. prosecution's brief states 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. Now it's unclear how much. David's parents and brother knew about. his interactions with Celeste and if. they were aware of how young she was, but we do know that the family was. ordered to come to LA and testify.

seemingly in front of a grand jury as. prosecutors were working to build a case. against him. After David's arrest in. April, an attorney representing the. Burke family released a statement to. Rolling Stone saying the parents are sad. and disappointed that David was. arrested. However, they fully stand. behind him and believe that he is. innocent. They fully support him. Okay, before we jump into this work the. weather's getting nicer and it means you. know, it's time for a little spring. reset on the closet, right? For me that. is about quality over quantity. Going. for pieces that are easy for every day. but have an elevated feel and something.

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connection with Celeste's death right. now. His family members have not been. accused of any wrongdoing. But, David's. parents are Colleen and DeWood Burke. He. also has an adult brother, Caleb, as. well as a younger sister. This is. according to TMZ. And we'll get again. into more about Caleb and how he's maybe. turning heads right now in just a. second. But, last fall, when all the. speculation started swirling around. about David, the Tesla, a body being. found in California, what was going on. in Texas? Well, the Burke family home. was reportedly the target of swatting.

So, swatting's a dangerous prank where. someone calls 911 and pretends that. there's been some sort of incident, so. it requires an urgent police response. It's a hoax. And in this case, two. Waller County deputies responded to that. home in Hempstead, which is apparently. on a large piece of property set back. off the road. But, according to. realtor.com, the 4,400 square foot home. sits on nearly 7 acres of land. And it. all started with a phone call to the 911. on September 18th, so just days after. Celeste's body was found. Waller County.

Sheriff's Office, this is Amber. Hello. >> Hello. Yeah, Waller County Sheriff's. Office. Um hello, I need help. Okay, what's. going on? Where are you at? Um my address is. Okay, what's going on? Um I heard like. so many gunshots. Okay. How close to your residence were. they? Um they were like right outside my. house, and I think someone's dead.

Okay, what's your name? Say it again? WHAT'S YOUR NAME? OKAY, WHAT'S A GOOD PHONE number for. you, sir? Okay, and why do you believe that. somebody's dead? I don't know. I just heard like a loud. scream and there was um gunshots. Oh, scream. Okay. After shots. Okay, but you haven't saw or heard. anything else after that? Uh I heard a scream. Uh was it a male or.

a female scream, do you think? It was like a female. Female? Okay, we're going to go ahead and get. deputies headed out that way and just. confirming you're at. Yes. >> Okay, I'm going to get him sent that. way, okay? Okay, thank you. >> welcome, buddy. So, someone's alleging. that there's someone dead at this home, doesn't want to provide much detail. We. spoke with an audio expert, by the way, for an episode of Sidebar when this. first came out, and she said the voice. was distorted and it's likely someone. trying to mask it. Now, one of the. responding deputies called into the. sheriff's office to get more information. from the dispatcher as he approached.

this property. How far is the other guy. out? Um not Let me see where he's at compared. to you. Show me finally my location. Um. he is turning right now onto 359, so. he's probably like 5-6 minutes if he's. booking it. Yeah, this house is far. Be careful. Wait on him, Christian. This guy he. That's what I'm going to. >> guy. Yeah, whatever he told me he's like,

"Hey, I just heard gunshots and and. someone's dead." And I was like, "Wait, what do you mean somebody is dead? Like, how do you know that? Do you see them?". And he's like, "No, I just He's like, "I. heard a lady scream right after the. gunshots." And I was like, "Okay, so. have you seen anybody? Have you heard. anything? Have you heard any more. gunshots?" He's like, "No.". And I was like, "Okay, well, what's your. name?" "My name." And I was like, "Yeah, what's your name?". But, behind it, to the side of it?

I don't know where that is, so yeah, just be careful. He said I'm going to. see you. He's on Porter Lane away now already. All right. So, he's moving. Yeah, we'll. move up a little ways and then we'll run. in. Okay, well, we're going to close it when. y'all get there just to make sure. All. right, let me grab my. Yeah, cuz this ain't this ain't right. I. ain't never I remember one time coming. out here when I first started and we had. a. crazy dude back here and I don't or it. was like when I was on FTO. Yeah, and I looked at the prior scene. cuz he kind of gave me that vibe, but. yeah, it's a very long driveway that.

leads around to his big old house. Yeah. So, I mean, there's. no other house that's close to him and. that's why it's just probably huge. Yeah. >> That's why when you said that it. confused me. All right, let me let him. know. I'm getting ready to pull up. beside him and I'm going to let him. know. Okay, fine. So, the deputies, one of. whom by the way is armed with a. high-powered rifle, walked up to the. Burks' front door. All right. We got to keep talking to him right. here. Too many windows here. Here, knock on.

the door. We got a phone call from here. Said that somebody was dead. What? Is there somebody else that lives on. this property that has your address? What's your address? No. That's it. >> That's it. That's what I actually got. We got We got an address. There was a. gunshot and a woman screamed. What? I'm serious. That's why we came up here. like this because it then then I talked. to the caller, whoever they were talking. to said that there's a person dead. No, sir. David's mom, Colleen, apparently. fearful that the deputies might not be.

who they say they are, called 911 to. verify what's going on. All right, so. yeah, but somebody called saying that. you know what I mean? There was a person that They called on. themselves. You know what I mean? It was. like, "Hey, there's somebody dead.". Someone's dead. That's why we have I mean, we got to. take caution, you know what I mean? We're not trying to scare y'all. Just. And if it was This house is way off the. roadway. We. So, you just opened the gate and came.

in? Yes, ma'am. I'll put it back. I have. a gate just like it. Uh I think it's probably one of my. neighbors. Yeah, when it's something. like this, when they say somebody's. dead, their life still matters more than. the You know what I mean? >> Yeah, I hear you. Yeah, the dispatcher. read the phone number of the person who. called 911 to Colly typed it into her. phone and it didn't show up in her. contacts. And then on their phone. And this is not a This is not a This is. not a Texas uh Yeah, it's an. out-of-state number. Someone's messing with us. Someone's messing. >> But it would But it would ping here. though because wherever they call from. it pings and sends it to dispatch.

What the what? So like whenever you call. 911, wherever you are, it sends a. It sends like a ping It thinks to let. That's how they know where the address. And this address And this address came. up to this number? I guess ma'am, that's where he was. pinging. County to Engine 42. So it says. somebody on my property? It could be. We'll check the property. for you. So there's this police report. that was apparently reviewed by TMZ that. says the deputies were on the property. for another 20 minutes or so before they.

closed out the call determining that it. was likely swatting. And TMZ also later. reported that David had transferred. deeds of two Texas homes to a trust in. his mother's name. That reportedly happened on September. 18th and September 20th. Why? Remember, September 18th was the day of that. swatting call. It's not clear why the. singer decided to do the transfer, but. there was speculation at the time that. if he did end up getting arrested in. connection with Celeste's death, he. didn't want authorities be able to seize.

his assets. It's also interesting to. note that between September when he. canceled his Wither tour and April when. he was arrested, we don't know where. David was. We didn't know where he was. He went silent on social media, didn't. make any public appearances as far as we. know. He was arrested in California. Is. it possible that he was lying low at one. of those Texas homes during these. months? We know he was arrested at this. property in California. How long was he. there? And another interesting. connection, we actually learned for the. first time that David was a quote target. of a murder investigation because of.

court documents that were filed by. David's family. What do I mean? In. February, what's called a petition of. attendance was filed. And essentially it. was trying to compel Colline, the Wood, and Caleb to appear before a Los Angeles. grand jury. And here's an example of. what that paperwork said, quote, that if. the Wood Burke comes into the state of. California in obedience to a summons. directing him to attend and testify at. said grand jury investigation, the laws. of the state of California and of any. other state through which he may be.

required to pass by the ordinary course. of travel to attend such proceeding. shall give him protection from arrest. and the service of process civil or. criminal in connection with matters. which arose before his entrance into. said state pursuant to such summons. That the Wood Burke is an adult, that. the prosecution will provide the witness. a round trip airplane ticket and. transportation to and from the airport. Wherefore, it is requested for on behalf. of the state of California that your. honor certify to the above and foregoing. by the issuance of a certificate thereto.

under the seal of the superior court of. record in the state of California to. compel the attendance of the Wood Burke. as a witness at the grand jury. investigation on the date and time set. forth and pursuant to law. So clearly. they wanted him, right? And we had a. chance to dig into that court paperwork. And attorneys for the Burkes filed a. writ of habeas corpus arguing that the. order compelling them to go to. California was illegal, that it was. unlawful because they didn't get fully. unredacted copies of the documents that.

were accompanying the the request. So. they didn't have the full information, they didn't have notice. And the judge. considered those arguments but. ultimately denied that, denied the writ. But as part of those proceedings, there. were some documents that were unsealed. and it gave us a look at where this. investigation stood at that point. Again, this is before David's arrest. In. those documents, David was referred to. and this was a big shocker, as a target. of a murder investigation. Quote, "It is alleged in this case that. the target may be involved in the death.

of 14-year-old victim Celeste Davis. Hernandez, who may have been a victim of. foul play. Her severely decomposed, dismembered body was found in the front. trunk of target's Tesla on September. 8th, 2025. On September 8th, 2025 at. approximately 10:30 hours, Los Angeles. Police Department LAPD detectives. received a phone call from the manager. of Hollywood area official police. garage. The manager stated a black Tesla. Model X had been impounded as an.

abandoned vehicle by the Department of. Transportation on September 5th, 2025. The manager told police there was a. strong smell of decay coming from the. vehicle, which was attracting flies. LAPD detectives responded to the. Hollywood tow yard to investigate. Detectives approached the vehicle, which. was parked on the upper deck of the. impound lot, and immediately noticed the. smell of decaying biological material. consistent with a decomposing corpse. coming from the front storage. compartment of the vehicle. Detectives. obtained a search warrant for the.

vehicle, and when the front storage. compartment was opened, detectives. observed a black cadaver bag covered. with insects and a strong odor of decay. Utilizing black latex gloves, detectives. partially unzipped the bag and observed. a decomposed head and torso. Investigators and criminalists from the. Los Angeles County Department of Medical. Examiner responded to the tow yard to. process the decomposed body. Upon. removing the cadaver bag from the front. storage compartment, it was discovered. the arms and legs had been severed from. the body. A second black bag was.

discovered underneath the cadaver bag. Upon opening the second bag, the. dismembered body parts were discovered. Detectives were advised that on August. 26th, 2025, a citizen reported the. above-mentioned Tesla as an abandoned. vehicle parked across from 1405 Bluebird. Street. On August 27th, 2025, Department. of Transportation officers responded to. Bluebird and marked the vehicle. On. September 3rd, 2025, Department of. Transportation returned to the vehicle. and issued a citation. On September 5th, 2025, Department of Transportation.

impounded the vehicle to Hollywood Area. Tow. It was noted that the Tesla was. registered to target David Anthony Burke. in Hempstead, Texas. David, who is a. singer and performing artist, was on. tour at the time his vehicle was. impounded. And then the next section is. different for each witness, but it says. detectives learned that Caleb Burke is. the younger brother of target David. Burke and has a close relationship with. him. Detectives learned that Colleen. Burke is the mother of target David. Burke and has a close relationship with. him. Per several witnesses, she is. instrumental to his career success and.

manages his business finances. Detectives learned that DeWood Burke is. the father of target David Burke and has. a close relationship with him. So, you. also wonder if they were going to be. compelled to testify about maybe the. relationship or the electric. relationship with Celeste. And then. there's a large chunk of text that's. redacted, but from there we have this. application for writ of habeas corpus. and the basic argument here, again, is. that under Texas law, a court can only. force a resident to testify in another. state if there's been a meaningful. hearing. They need to understand what.

it's all about before being forced to go. somewhere or being confined in some way. And as I mentioned, that writ of habeas. corpus was denied by the court. But to. get back to the point, two hearings were. held. And at the first one, on January. 23rd, Colleen and Caleb were in. attendance as well as two LAPD homicide. detectives who could testify if they. needed to. Now, we don't know why DeWood. wasn't present, but Mia Magnus. represented Texas as well as California. basically by proxy. And she argued that. the determination about materiality of. these witnesses, like their importance, why they're valued, was already made by.

a California judge. All the Texas judge. needed to do was make sure that the. paperwork was all in order and to tell. the witnesses they needed to go. Now, the judge said actually, since this was. so last minute, he didn't have any of. the paperwork. So, they decided to. reschedule the hearing for several days. later. At the February 2nd hearing in. Texas, Colleen, Caleb, and Wood were all. there with counsel. Bennett Dodson, assistant D.A. for. Waller County in Texas, told the court, "I 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." Well, the. attorneys for David's family members. argued that everyone involved in both. California and Texas courts, so the. judge and the prosecutors, they had seen.

the unredacted affidavit, but their. clients only got the redacted version. And they want to know what's in that. big, blacked-out section of the. petitions. Again, it goes back to the. legal argument, "Hey, we have a right to. know what this is about under habeas. before relinquishing our freedom in a. way." Now, ADA Dodson claimed that most. of that information in the affidavit is. already known to the public, saying, quote, "It's all over TMZ." Goes on to. say the redacted information concerns. knowledge that is only known to the. grand jury, period. It has not been. distributed anywhere." And then the. judge's decision, "But even when I look.

at it myself, I still think these. witnesses are material and necessary. because of the relationship that's. involved with the witnesses and the. defendants, so my ruling is going to be. that they are to go to California and. honor the subpoena by California." And. while the judge ordered the Burkes to go. to L.A., appear before seemingly this. grand jury, it is unclear when that. happened and what they had to say, apparently, in those secret hearings. However, as I mentioned earlier, the. family has come out in support of David. They say they believe he's innocent. And.

I will say this, and this is a new. update, and it's a. bit of a strange twist, to say the. least, but as David is languishing. behind bars right now as he's awaiting. his preliminary hearing and his trial, and again, he's innocent until proven. guilty, his brother Caleb is making the. news. Because Caleb has apparently taken. this opportunity to launch his own music. career. Yeah, so according to a report. from TMZ, Caleb has used several stage. names including a version of his name.

where a V replaces the A. And his more. recent monikers are Caracova or just. Cova. And earlier this week, Cova. released a couple of singles on major. streaming platforms like Apple Music and. Spotify. By the way, the platform that. helped launch David to superstardom. And. the two singles are called sex and. imaginary love. Now, of course, the. decision to release music right now is. getting a lot of backlash with some. online calling this move tone-deaf, demonic. This is according to the.

Mirror. But Caleb attempted to silence. the critics through a lengthy Instagram. story on Thursday appearing to distance. himself from his brother, from David, dispel rumors that he helped his brother. somehow cover up the alleged murder. Again, there's been no uh allegations of. that. There's been no definitive proof. of that. And Caleb also addressed a. video of him circulating online. interacting with Celeste backstage at. one of David's concerts. So, Caleb's. post says the following, quote, "I've. been wanting to say something for a. while, but I have to be careful about. what I say as this is an ongoing legal.

matter. I don't want to make this. horrible situation about me. I want. justice for Celeste and her family. I've. seen people say that I knew what was. going on and was protecting my brother. This is not true at all. I have not. lived with my brother for years and was. not very close with him. We didn't speak. often other than when our family was. brought on tour or he was visiting home. I was around Celeste a few times when I. was 15. I did not know her well and did. not know her age. People have been. posting a video showing me backstage. with her at one of David's concerts when. I I 15 and I've been wanting to address.

it a while. People have even gone as far. as to say that I was sneaking her. backstage, which is not true. She was. already at the show, and the video takes. place after the show had already ended. In the video, we were sent to grab. something from a fan that was in front. of the stage, and we were walking back. News companies such as TMZ, Daily Mail, and others have started saying that I am. taking advantage of the whole situation. to promote my music, and that I am just. now launching my music career. This is. not true at all. I have been releasing.

and posting music over the last 3 to 4. years and took over a half-year hiatus. due to what happened. I changed my name. online from Cleb to Cova as I did not. want to associate myself with any of. this. I have not once mentioned the. situation or my identity on the new. accounts. TMZ even reported my age. incorrectly, saying that I'm 20 when I. just turned 18 in November. I had. scheduled my first release under the new. name before any of this became a. headline again, and the song came out 2. days before the arrest. This project,

music videos, and songs was already in. motion long before any news coverage. around my brother surfaced. My intent. has never been to use this to bring. attention to myself or my music. This is. the whole reason why I started over from. scratch. My decision to continue. releasing music is not about using any. of this for attention. Music is my life, and after stepping away for months. because of everything that's happened, I. want to build my own path. Now, it's. possible that we'll find out more. details about possible family ties and.

connections between David and the Burks. and Celeste at a preliminary hearing. later this month, because the. preliminary hearing, which is when the. court will hear some of the evidence the. prosecutors have against David to. determine whether or not the case should. move forward to trial, is there enough. probable cause to support the charges? And that was originally scheduled, by. the way, within just a few days of. David's arrest, but the defense said. they have terabytes of discovery to sort. through. They're not ready yet, so the. preliminary hearing is now set for the. end of May. So, we'll of course continue. to follow this case closely, bring you. any updates as they come out. And of. course, if we hear any more connections. to David's family, we'll [music] talk.

about it. But 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 [music]. 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, [music] X, Instagram, my NewsNation. show, Jesse Weber Live, 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. See you. next time, everybody.