Guns Drawn at D4vd's Home After Teen’s Body Found in Trunk

That ain't on their phone. >> And that's not a This is not a This not. a Texas. Uh. >> yeah, that's an out of state number. >> Someone's messing with us. >> Were David's parents victims of a. swatting incident as police investigate. the discovery of a dead body in a car. registered to the singer's name? Is he. being targeted? Is he being framed? We. have the body cam that we're going to. get into. Plus, this young dead girl, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, her apparent. ex-boyfriend is speaking out. Welcome to. Sidebar presented by Law and Crime. I'm.

Jesse Weber. Such a strange update in the David. story. We have been covering every. aspect of this investigation of the body. of teenager Celeste Hernandez who was. found dead in a car that was registered. to singer David out in Hollywood. This. happened at the beginning of last month. There have been no arrests. There have. been no identified persons of interest, no suspects, no confirmed relationship. or connection between David and Celeste, who by the way, when her body was found,

it was one day after she had turned 15. years old. But now we have something. new. Now we have this new video, and it. is so weird. Not even sure if it's. connected or ties into this case, per. se. Maybe, but we're going to discuss. it. So TMZ obtained police body cam. footage and this is from days after. Celeste's body was found in that 2023. Tesla and police show up to David's. Hemstead, Texas family home. So we're.

talking September 18th after Celeste was. IDed. And the Texas officers, they. respond to this home, guns drawn, and. they respond to a report of gunfire. >> I'll go out wide and keep you covered. You want to tap the door? Just wait for. me. Wait for me cuz I'mma keep you. covered. Go ahead. I got you covered. Come right here. There's too many windows here. Knock on. the door.

Dude, we got a phone call from here. saying that somebody was dead. >> 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 scream. >> What? >> I'm serious. That's why we came up here. like this because then they talked to. the caller. Whoever they were talking to. said that there's a person dead. >> No, sir. No, sir. >> So, officers have guns drawn. They're.

ready. Thinking someone might be dead. And there is just seemingly a lot of. confusion by David's parents. They don't. appear to have any idea what's going on. They close the door. So, let's see what. happens next. Ma'am, we got to figure out what's going. on so we can leave. Okay, >> guys. We made contact. They said nothing. happened here. She shut the door. Now. she's calling 911. [Music]. >> That's clear. We haven't received a.

call. >> I believe she's going to be in the. process. >> Go ahead. Give him a call if you want to. verify it. >> Okay. >> All right. She's calling you now. There's more that went on. >> Can you repeat, sir? Broken traffic. >> Huh? That's not normal activity. If some. if you were at the wrong address, they. would be concerned about somebody else. Like, like really? >> Like, you know what I mean? Like maybe. they've been trying to help. >> Tinder 42, sir. >> Sorry to bother you, but somebody called. and said there was something in there.

was a person that where they called on. the cell. You know what I mean? It was. like, "Hey, there's someone dead. >> Someone's dead.". That's what we have. I mean, I'm going. to take caution. You know what I mean? Trying to scare y'all. Just. >> This house is way off the roadway. >> 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 my. >> Yeah. When it's something like this,

when they say somebody's dead, their. life just matters more than, you know, >> I didn't damage your gate. I just opened. it. And that is when there is a. realization. Did someone just prank. them? Are they the victims now of. swatting? >> They ain't on their phone. >> And that's not a this is not a this not. a Texas uh. >> Yeah, that's an out of state number. >> Someone's messing with us. >> Someone's messing with. >> But whoever it would pinged 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.

to let that's how they know the address. And this address and this address came. up to this number. >> Yes, ma'am. That's where he was. >> So, is there somebody on my property? Um, >> it could be. We'll check the property. for you. Yes, please. >> So, we'll ride around. If you give me a. layout, how is it? How's the property? >> Like, does it go further back? >> No. No, it doesn't fit. It's right here. I got to go fence.

and the fence around. Okay. Well, him. and I will ride around and check and. then uh we'll leave, you know. >> Yeah. Okay. So, that was a false alarm. You see, I don't like this kind of. thing. So, if I really do have an. emergency, then. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Sorry. >> If you do have an emergency, you know, we're going to be here. >> We're going to get here. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Thank you, Jennifer. >> All right. You have a good night. >> Someone is messing with us. Yeah. It's. pretty scary. And you can see David's. mom wondering whether someone is still.

on the property. By the way, if you're a. fan of Sidebar, if you're a fan of what. we do here at Long Crime, you might be. wondering, how are we able to get so. many clips out there to all of our. followers? Well, I'll tell you what. This is a little secret. If you're in. this game, if you're in the content. creation game, if you interested in. putting stuff out on social media, we. use a platform called OpusClip. It's an. all-in-one AI editor that makes it. easier and faster to cut, create, and. upload videos across all social media. platforms. through the power of AI. Opus. clip. It automatically generates B-roll. It cleans up audio. It refframes your.

videos for any platform. And it is so. easy to start using. I'm going to show. you how right now. All you got to do is. go to opus.pro/sidebar. You sign up. You upload a video. In just. a few minutes, you will have tons of. perfectly edited clips ready to go. So. whether you're making videos for Tik. Tok, shorts, Instagram reels, OpusClip. is your one-stop shop for getting your. best content seen by more viewers across. all these platforms with the press of. just one button. And if you're wondering. how good these AI edited videos are from. Opus Clip, just look at our content here. at Long Crime. Our producers have used.

Opus to help us cut and share clips of. some of our biggest cases, our biggest. trials really, really quickly. And at. Sidebar, we know our listeners have a. lot of opinions and ideas to share, and. this is the most powerful tool there is. to help you edit like a pro, grow your. audience. So give it a try for yourself. Go to opus.pro/sidebar. to start creating your own videos today. Now, it's not clear if David was in the. home when this was going on. According. to TMZ, the police report indicated that. officers spent another 20 minutes on the. property, possibly to see if anyone was.

there. It appears this could have been. an instance of swatting. We don't see. any kind of confirmed continuing. investigation into this or whether or. not there's been any arrests. Is this. connected to anything regarding Celeste? And I will tell you one thing, I wonder, there is a theory that David was framed, right? body was found in his car in a. public place. Does this connect to that? Is he being targeted in some way? I. might be speculating, but I want to. discuss it. So, let me bring in Colin.

Schmidt, retired FBI agent, president, CEO of Kronos Investigations. Thank you. so much for taking the time. Really. appreciate it. Okay. The timing and the. circumstances of this weird. No. out of. all times for this to happen as the. body's discovered in his car after she's. been identified, for there to be a. potential swatting incident where. somebody calls 911 with a fake. allegation, a fake crime for their. property out of all people out of all. times. It's weird. Well, it's weird, but it doesn't.

necessarily surprise me because he this. case has taken on national significance. in terms of people paying attention to. it. And there are bad actors that. understand how to bring harm to somebody. by way of swatting. So, somebody called. the 911 system down there. They found. the address online and uh were basically. uh made up a story for the cops to go. there and then they went in and. fortunately the police were very. professional and they were able to. immediately understand that it was a. swatting incident and it wasn't a. legitimate call.

>> What did you make of the body cam? >> Body cam. I think the parents were. scared to death. Law enforcement coming. to their front door with guns drawn, they had a reasonable reaction that I. that I would even have even though I've. been in law enforcement for 28 years. So. that's really what the insidious nature. of swatting is. you really put people in. danger because those parents if they had. come to the door with a gun or resisted. in some way, law enforcement would have. had a duty to defend themselves and it. would have been a disaster. >> That's a really really good point. I I. will call out just the professionalism.

of the officers during the course of. this as they're trying to make sense of. what happened. Is it accurate, if I. understood correctly, that the only way. someone would have been able to make a. call and for it to be pinged back to. that property, that person who made the. call has to be on the property? >> No, not necessarily. So what the FBI. actually just recently had been started. investigating is these VoIP systems. where they can basically uh impersonate. an address uh by way of GPS and then uh.

the 911 system you know takes takes note. of that and thinks it's coming from a. particular address but also we don't. have the recording of the 911 call. the. call may have come from some other. source or some other area and they just. said that this address is a problem and. this address has these things going on. there which prompted the police to to to. respond. >> Do you think they'll be able to find out. who did this? >> The recently the FBI has gotten very.

especially if they're using internet. services. by way of VoIP to make these swatting. calls if it was just a local person who. called in. Most of those 911 systems do. have a trap system where they trap the. numbers that where they call in so they. can immediately identify the number and. the call ID so to speak and they have. agreements with the telephone systems. like Verizon AT&T so they could get that. information as soon as possible. >> Here's my thought on how this possibly. is connected and I'm curious your your.

opinion on it. So, I think it is bizarre. that Celeste body was in a car. registered to David out on a public. street in LA. And the reports indicate. that that car was there for weeks, that. it got a ticket, that it was towed, that. it was impounded. Her body was. decomposed. So, if we assume her body. was in that car for quite some time, we. don't know exactly when it was. deposited, but assuming it was in that. car for as long as that car was parked. there, it does make me think, and we've. seen theories online about this, is it.

more likely that someone deliberately, they were purposeful, to put that body. in there to make sure it was found, to. make sure it was connected to David, as. opposed to the idea that the body was. out there and it was found before the. perpetrator had time to dispose of it. Now, if I accept that, if there if there. was this idea to frame David, if he is. being targeted, is it possible this. alleged swatting call was done with the.

same intent, the same person? Is there a. connection in that way, or am I really. reaching here? >> That's it's possible, but not probable. It just appears that somebody was. harassing his family by way of this. call. Uh going back to the car, you're. spot on. Uh their their car comes back. so directly to him. Law enforcement has. to take a step back and always ask that. that compelling question or the. alternative uh you know alternative.

question is was he framed? What's going. on here? Is somebody really that stupid. to take a car registered to them and. then kill somebody and put them in there. and then leave the car in there for. multiple weeks? So that's where it leads. credence to the framing theory. But the. bottom line is the law enforcement is. going to gather all the facts and now. because of the swatting depending on. where the call came from, the FBI will. likely start to get involved and. eventually law enforcement is definitely. going to get get the answers to all. these questions. Well, let me ask you.

Do you think law enforcement is looking. into this in connection with the death. of Celeste Riva Hernandez? In other. words, look, we're at the point here on. Sidebar where we're trying to analyze. any update in this case because we. really don't have a ton of information. Other outlets are doing the same, whether it's connected to Celeste or. not. Do you think this is a piece of the. investigation? Do you think uh LAPD is. looking into this potential swatting. incident? >> Absolutely. So basically what they're. reaching out to that law enforcement. agency who's already reached out to the.

911 system and their tech people to find. out where the call came from. And if it. was a VoIP system, they're may bring in. the FBI to help trace the ping so to. speak to get to the person who actually. did this. And then of course once they. identify that person, they're going to. see if that person has any relationship. to the victim and or the the person of. interest in this case. So, yes, definitely LAPD is reaching out down. there and they're trying to piece all. these get all these puzzle pieces and. put this this the picture together. I.

>> I'm going to get into a minute. We have. a new update regarding uh Celeste's. apparent ex-boyfriend and what he had to. say. I'll get to that in a second. I. just want to jump on something that I. mentioned. I'm not crazy in thinking. that there is a possibility that this. was deliberate for the body to be found. I mean, the other way of looking at it. is I think when the initial reporting. happened that we thought that car might. have been out there only for a few days. before it was towed, if it had been out. there for weeks, okay, either someone. panicked and didn't have enough time to. dispose of the body, which again seems.

strange, or was it supposed to be found? I mean, where do you stand on it? >> Well, it's all comes down to context and. timing. If somebody put a car on my. street and if it's there for two or. three or even four days and it doesn't. fit the the the the environment, I'm. going to call the police. The police are. going to do investigation. They're going. to run the plates and they're going to. do everything they did do. Typical LA. fashion, the car was there for weeks and. weeks and weeks. And so the people there. just kept walking by it and ignoring it. and and it wasn't dealt with. And I. think whoever left it there, it looks to.

me normally the car would last a week or. two if it's in a residential street. before it's going to dealt with. So, it. appears to me that the person who left. it there didn't think it would stay. there for three, four, five weeks. Uh. they thought maybe it'd be a short. period of time before it was recovered. Or the alternative theory is they just. panicked, left it there, and they walked. off. It also, like we talked about. before, goes back to that Tesla, basically a rolling supercomput. Once. they fire it up, they're going to get. all kinds of data off that computer to. find out what happened when the car was.

turned off the last time. >> Colin, I mean, it's interesting. LAPD. Captain Scott Williams said to People. magazine, "We don't know for sure if. anyone has any criminal culpability for. her death beyond the concealment of her. dead body." So, how do you interpret. that? That Celeste Rivas Hernandez died. from natural causes that it was an. accident that I'm not saying this in any. way which way, but in another case that. someone had an overdose, someone found. her, panicked, tried to dispose of the. body. Is that what we're talking about. here? Well, somebody that young likely did not.

die of natural causes unless they had. cancer or some other uh known problem. So, the most likely uh outcome here or. hypothesis is it was a drug overdose. Once again, I'm not aware of the. toxicology report being uh being. distributed or even if they are able to. do one because the body was in such a. far state of decomposition. But if they. were making a statement like that, it. it's kind of leading you to believe that. they feel that she was dead before she. that she was placed in that car.

>> Yeah, I think they might be waiting on. toxicology results. We know the cause of. death, the manner of death um have not. been released at one. It's been. deferred. Um they're waiting for further. examination. Are you confident they will. get to the bottom of what caused her. death and whether or not it's a homicide. or something of that nature? >> Absolutely. with this type of media. attention, there's lots of resources. that are being poured into this because. LAPD, they're known for being the best. homicide investigators in the world. So, there there's somewhat of a a personal.

um uh motivation for these detectives to. make sure they close this case. So, I'm. absolutely confident that they'll get to. the bottom of this and we'll be able to. know exactly what happened to this poor. girl. >> Now, I got to get your take on this. So, 15-year-old Damen Hernandez spoke. exclusively to TMZ and claimed that he. dated Celeste in middle school when she. was in the seventh grade. He was in the. eighth grade. He claimed she was quote. looking for something serious, that she. was having problems at home, particularly with her mother, who he.

claimed didn't treat Celeste right, that. this made Celeste unhappy, that she. wanted to run away. You and I both know, and we reported it extensively here on. Sidebar, that Celeste had a reported. history of running away. There was. surveillance footage that was released. from March of 2024 of her walking and. then jogging down a street in an. apparent runaway incident that this was. captured on a liquor store camera. How. does this statement from this apparent. ex-boyfriend? How does this help. investigators when we're trying to. determine what happened to Celeste?

>> Well, he's part of the part of the big. or the timeline, the big picture. you. know, they they have to talk to him to. get context on the victim to understand. if she was leading a high-risisk. lifestyle, whether it be drug use, prostitution, or involved in criminal. activity. So, he he's helpful in the. sense that he's going to be able to give. them a better picture of her history. It's unfortunate that he's now talking. to media outlets about this because that. just puts more pressure on the family of. her in terms of of, you know, airing.

their so-called dirty laundry when this. is should be a private matter. Well, you. couple this with what we talked about on. a previous sidebar. There there was. footage that TMZ obtained uh that was. released that apparently shows Celeste. in her neighborhood in Lake Elenor, which is about 75 76 miles away from LA. where she's having this confrontation. with people in the neighborhood. This is. from September of 2024. So, this is. months after she disappeared in April of. 2024. So, seemingly we know she's alive. at that point. Um, and I thought that.

that was interesting as we're trying to. talk about what the apparent timeline. is. >> Well, in light of that, and I'm very. familiar with Lake Ellenor, that's about. about 20 minutes from where I live. And. so, the next step of the puzzle would be. LAPD reached out to Riverside Sheriff's. Department, the Lake Ellor station to. find out for calls of service, any any. issues that occurred around her. neighborhood, and any issues in terms of. calls to service to where she was. purported last seen or last living. Now, at this point, we don't know where David.

is, okay? He's not made a public. appearance. He's not issued a public. statement. We know his tour was. cancelled. We know that he moved his. stuff out of this rental property that. was apparently near where the Tesla was. abandoned. However, this is new. Fox 11. Los Angeles has reported that people. online claim that the singer has been. active on his own subreddit and deleting. posts that criticize him in connection. with this case. Apparently, the. subreddit was later locked down. By the. way, someone allegedly claiming to be.

the moderator of his Discord and Twitch. accounts allegedly posted a message. saying they don't know Celeste, nor how. old she was, nor that she was missing. What do you make of all that? >> Well, it's also adds more pieces of the. puzzle. He can delete it, but law. enforcement's going to get it. So. they'll send out subpoenas or court or. search warrants to all those entities. where he has a uh online presence and. they're going to get all those posts. because that's going to lead to also.

understanding the timeline that to. frankly see if he either has culpability. in this or he had knowledge of what. happened to her before the body was or. the person was was placed in that car. >> And we don't know for sure. This is just. commentary online about what people. assume. Do you find it strange we. haven't heard from David that we don't. definitively know where he is? There was. his representatives have come out and. said that he was cooperating with law. enforcement, but this LAPD commander who. I mentioned before couldn't even confirm. whether or not he was actually. cooperating. What do you take away from. that? >> Well, frankly, that's the smartest thing.

for him to do is keep his mouth shut. Uh. especially if he's involved in this. um. his crisis management people or. consultants are probably telling him. right now is not the time to make a. statement because anything he say will. be used against him. So I think uh right. now if he is involved I think the next. time we hear from him is because he's. been either arrested or there's been. some sort of public spectacle of him. being involved with law enforcement. >> And to be clear he has not been. implicated in any crime. He's not been. implicated in any wrongdoing. He's not.

been listed as a person of interest. He's not been listed uh as a suspect. LAPD has been very close-lipp. uh Scott Williams again this LAPD. captain to People magazine. Another part. of it is he says we know for sure that. Celeste Rivas Hernandez died and someone. placed her body in the front trunk area. of David Burke's Tesla. So confirming. that the car belonged to David. We know. that the Tesla had been parked at the. location from which it was towed for. several weeks. So, it is very likely. Celeste Riva Hernandez had been dead for.

several weeks prior to her body being. discovered. The Los Angeles County. Medical Examiner has not determined a. cause or manner of her death. And as I. mentioned before, her cause of death was. listed as deferred on the death. certificate. This is as LAPD is. continuing its investigation. One thing. about that death certificate, Colin, that was interesting as well, was the. fact that it confirmed she wasn't. pregnant and she hadn't been pregnant in. the last year. Why is that significant? >> Well, I think that you kind of read into. that a little bit. That's a standard.

process that they would go through. because ultimately if there was a fetus. in there, depending on the cir. circumstances and the number of weeks, that could also be considered a murder. if she was killed and the fetus. obviously would die along with her. So, in that case, the that that's where that. comes into play. But in terms of her not. being pregnant, I think we might be. reading into it in terms of what that. has to do with uh anybody that's sus. suspected in this case. >> Are you surprised there have been no.

arrests at this point? And do you. anticipate arrests within the near. future? No, I'm not surprised because the LAPD. is going to be very very careful about. their steps they take in this because. they don't want to make a mistake. because of all the media scrutiny that's. on this. So, this might be a couple more. months before they end up giving the. public a resolution to this case. >> Colin El Schmidt, thank you so much. Really appreciate you taking the time. >> Thank you. >> And that is 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 podcasts. You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you. next time. [Music].