Horrifying Autopsy Released in D4vd Murder Case

Breaking news, the autopsy report for. Celeste [music]. Riveras-Hernandez in the David murder. investigation has just been released. [music] Welcome to Sidebar, presented by. Law & Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, so thanks for joining us here on. this breaking Sidebar. As I mentioned. right here, this is what we've been. waiting for in the David investigation, in the Celeste Riveras death. investigation. This is the coroner's. report. So, just came in, right? So,

after David was arrested, after he has. been charged with the death of charged. with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste. Riveras-Hernandez, this is what we've been waiting for, the. cause of death. This has been sealed for. months, and this is providing a lot of details. I'm going to tell you right now, it is. very difficult to read through this. It. is gruesome, but this is going to be a. key point for both the prosecution and. the defense. We know that Celeste's. body, this is the body of this. 14-year-old girl was found in the trunk.

of a Tesla that was allegedly registered. to David in Los Angeles back on. September 8th, 2025. And again, this is. going to be a key factor in this. prosecution as he faces not only. first-degree murder charges because. they, you know, they're highlighting. special circumstances here, lying in. wait, financial gain, that she was a. witness to a crime, but he's also facing. sex crimes charges and mutilation of. human remains. So, I want to go through. this. I want to bring on a special. guest. I'm not going to do it by myself.

I want to make sense of this. I'm. bringing on Mary Gembelik, former. forensic pathologist and former chief. medical examiner to go through this. Mary, thank you so much for taking the. time. Before even get started into the. details, I would be remiss if I didn't. just start with the statement from the. County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner. I'm going to read it verbatim. The. County of Los Angeles Department of. Medical Examiner determined the cause. and manner of death for 15-year-old. Celeste Riveras-Hernandez as multiple. penetrating injuries caused by objects. The manner of death is homicide. Ms.

Rivas Hernandez was discovered at 1,100. hours on September 8th, 2025 in the. front trunk of a vehicle in a tow yard. in Los Angeles, and death was pronounced. by a detective with the LAPD. A deputy. medical examiner conducted an. examination of Ms. Rivas Hernandez on. September 10th, 2025 at the DME's. Forensic Science Center. The cause and. manner of death were determined December. 9th, 2025. A court order initiated by the LAPD. previously prevented the DME from. releasing its findings. And this is the.

statement of Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Odey Ukpo. After several months, I am 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. The transparency of the information. contained in our findings and reports 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 also 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. Um Mary, I'll first. start there. It's not every day you hear. a statement like this from a chief. medical examiner. Let's start right. there. That's true. Uh. sometimes we don't want to release the.

cause, the specifics about the cause of. death in an active investigation, because perhaps it's information that. only the killer would know. And so, that's understandable that might be. um obscured initially. But, I think what. the Chief Medical Examiner in LA is. saying is that they had this. information, they wanted to release this. information, and they were thwarted uh. in doing so. And and when you hear um.

so the just I'm reading from it, right? So, the date of the injury they say is. unknown, the place of the injury is. unknown, pronounced date time September. 8th, 2025 11:00 a.m., date of. examination September 10th, 2025, and it. was completed, right? So, December 9th, 2025. Is that time span typical? I think from September to December, that's reasonable because they're. awaiting certain specialty ancillary.

tests such as toxicologic examination, and it's much harder to do on a. decomposing body than if it were fresh. uh deceased. So, the fact that that. takes a couple months uh to get that. information so that that's part of the. whole picture of, you know, what. happened to this poor teenager, that's reasonable. And just to be clear, as we talk about. this, David is innocent until proven. guilty, and his defense attorneys have.

said that he did not murder Celeste, and. he is not the cause of her death. So, I. want to go through the specifics right. now. Again, it is not easy to hear this, but this is going to be important part. of the legal case. So, her cause of. death has been ruled multiple. penetrating injuries. Her death has been. classified as a homicide. I'm going to. read verbatim. Two penetrate And by the way, they put. diagrams in here as well, but two. penetrating wounds of the torso, right.

abdomen with injury to liver, left chest. with penetration of underlying. intercostal space, and cortical. disruption of adjacent ribs. Other. findings, bilateral dismemberment of. upper and lower extremities, multiple. additional skin defects. Death was pronounced at the scene. Autopsy examination was limited by. extensive postmortem changes. There And. by the way, this is something to keep in. mind because you're talking about. dismemberment and decomposition. 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. destruction 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 in. postmortem postmortem changes or. ingestion and does not appear to to be. contributory to the cause of death. Um. let's start right there. Mhm. What does. this mean and what does this tell you. and what are there still questions. about? Well, uh the body.

sounds like it's in a state of. postmortem decomposition. with some loss of integrity of the skin. surface and some bloating and. skin slippage and etc. But despite that, the medical examiner was able to. identify two wounds that penetrated, meaning they went into the body. significantly into the liver, which would bleed a lot, and significantly into the lung, the.

space around the lung, which also would cause a problem with. air and blood accumulating there. And. if it were a freshly deceased person, perhaps the edges of the wounds would. tell you the weapon much more clearly, but it's more difficult in a decomposing. body. But, they are trying to um generally. describe the wounds and the shape. without saying it's absolutely a knife. that did this.

And to be clear, I'm glad you mentioned. that because earlier in the week when. they talked about the charges and the. special circumstances, there was it was. very specific, a sharp force a sharp. instrument they claim was used. They. didn't say it was a knife or an axe or. something. They were just said it was. kind of specific. Um this was something. that was picked up on by TMZ. They. believe defense attorneys would jump on. this. There are two penetrating wounds. of the torso with smooth edges that may. represent sharp force injuries. So, in.

other words, is there room here to. suggest that it was something else? Um. something that was sharp enough to. penetrate. skin and underlying tissue and go into. the liver and then into the space around. the lung. Uh. is it you know, what exactly is it? That's really the question and I don't. know. that they'll be able to say exactly the. weapon that was used. I Is there and I'm going to go through.

this more. I hate I I don't want to ask. this question. I have to ask this. question. Is there anything in here to indicate. that she was alive at the time of. dismemberment? Not from what the medical examiner. described. It sounds like classic uh. amputee amputating the body to try to. compact it, to hide it, to to you know, dispose of of it. I've seen that in a. number of homicide cases. Um so, nothing.

that suggests. that these amputations occurred while. she was alive. Um. when you go to other parts of the. report, they talk about tattoos and they. say description that she had a ta- a. tattoo on the finger. Uh shh, this is. something that we've talked about before. that seemed to be the identifier, one of. the ways that they identified her as. Celeste. Um but when you go to other. parts of it, other parts of her body, including eye color, cannot assess due.

to severe postmortem changes. Is that. decomposition? Is that uh dismemberment? So, I I guess it becomes a question how. significant is that to determine what. exactly happened to her um and how much. does that complicate this analysis? Well, you know, um forensic pathologists. are skilled at identifying wounds and. trauma in all manner. of uh body composition. So, all the way. from the freshly deceased to the.

skeletonized, to the exhumed body. So, uh taking all of that with the education. and experience of the Los Angeles. Medical Examiner's Office, they're. familiar with the interpretation of. wounding in. in in a body and seeing it at this. decomposition level. So, yes, of course it makes it harder. You. have to really call on. uh your knowledge base to interpret the. wounds. The eyes being collapsed after.

death is normal. They lose their. turgor. They don't uh you know, they're. they're not the same shape. So, not. being able to see her eye color, that's. a completely normal thing. in a decom- a decomposition like this. Her weight was 71 lb. Is that. >> you lose a lot of weight also, you know, in this sort of death decomposition. process. So, that's not reliable as to. what her. antemortem weight was. I want to go to.

skin defects. Multiple skin defects are. also present over the torso with many. perforating the skin and soft tissue. without identifiable soft tissue. hemorrhage or associated internal organ. injuries. They range from 5/16 inch to. 1/4 inches in greatest dimension. Multiple superficial linear abrasions. are also noted on the right dorsal hand. The upper and lower extremity show full. thickness dismemberment with relatively. flat cut surfaces through the soft soft. tissue and bone. No discernible.

hemorrhage is identified at the sites. Multiple fragments of blue plastic. material are found embedded in the cut. surfaces. Representative fragments are. collected by medical examiner. criminalists and submitted to the. evidence department on September 8th, 2025. The right upper extremity is dismembered. 9 inches from the top of the shoulder. The left upper extremity is dismember is. dismembered, excuse me, 5 inches from. the top of the shoulder. The left fourth and fifth fingers are. amputated. The right lower extremity is.

dismembered in two places. One site is. 12 inches from the top of the leg and. the other is 10 inches from the bottom. of the heel. The left lower extremity is dismembered. in two places. One site is 9 inches from. the top of the leg and the other is 15. inches from the bottom of the heel. Uh it says. the head is partially skeletonized with. an absent left eye. and there is liquefaction. of the soft tissues. What does this tell.

you about how she was dismembered? Um well, uh. it's important in dismemberment to look. at the edges of the. wounds. So, any tool marks, any particular saw. that might have been used to do this. The fact that there are these blue flex. give you some clue. um. if you're able to then locate I've. something that was used in the process. And just doing the careful tool mark.

analysis on the ends of the bones in all. of the amputations. Uh the fact that everything is together. there in the There's the body bag and. then there's the trash bag with the. limbs uh in it as they weren't discarded. in different places. Um so. you have a lot of material to work on to. try to figure out what was used to cut. through the limbs. What What amount of. effort or tools would be needed to do.

something like this? And based on the. description, I I hate to say this, is. this some someone you would suggest is. sloppy that has never done this before? Does it look disoriented in a way? Um. just trying to make sense of it. You You. know, it's interesting because many. people when they try to dismember a. body, they'll try to go for the joint. Somehow they think that that that's a. good place to go when that's a really. complicated place to disarticulate. a limb. And so the fact that they didn't go for.

the joint um. uh says something about their logic. Uh. they. were making cuts presumably to be able. to confine her and fit her into a. certain uh. amount of space. And so they not only. cut the legs in one place, they cut them. in two places, you know, to to fit them. in. I think beyond that, you can just say. someone's trying to hide the body. Uh. they are doing their best to compact the.

body uh for to hide to hide [snorts] it. Um. but they left it all there. So. uh I Maybe they I don't I can't really. psychologically analyze that part. How is an eye missing? Is that from. decom-. >> Well, it's not really missing as much as. it's all gone away. I I believe there. was mention also in the report of uh. insect activity. Yeah, can you talk. about that a little bit? No, um they don't go into a great detail. about it or about how many generations.

of insects are there, but it's usually. fly activity that uh. we refer to and. adult flies lay eggs in moist places on. the body and then those eggs start to uh. grow and become maggots and then they. keep getting bigger and then they pupate. into the next generation, etc., you. know, uh so forth. So, they can do a lot. of destruction because they're. uh scavengers, if you will. So, they. will eat dead tissue, necrotic tissue,

and uh. just digest it and eat it, you know, and. they're and that's what they do. So, many times they will go for the soft. parts of the eye and other soft areas. And does that tell you how long the body. has been decomposing and does it. actually relate to a particular. location? Is there specific insects that. inhabit a certain location or you could. say perhaps there's evidence of those. insects being in a certain location?

Yeah, I think that uh you know, the. entomologists that do this work. specifically, the forensic folks, they. do, they collect the maggots, they look. at them, they see. uh if there's pupa casings there, if any. other material from the flies are there. to try to date it. Um that could give. important information. Um. the female reproductive tract. Okay, this is page nine. Uterus present and not enlarged and.

without. uh endometrial lesions and hemorrhage. Ovaries and fallopian tubes appropriate. for age. Uh. other private areas without lesions. Um. now, it says other female reproductive. tract findings, severe postmortem. changes noted. This I just want to highlight because. one of the allegations, right, that has. been put forward is, you know, that. David was allegedly engaging in illegal. sex acts with a minor, right, with with.

presumably Celeste. Um. and I know that there was at one point a. question of. was she pregnant or not? There's nothing. to indicate this. Is there something. about this particular section uh that. stands out to you? No, the report indicates the uterus was. normal, so it wasn't enlarged as it. would be in pregnancy. There wasn't. anything seen on the inner lining of the. uterus that would be seen in pregnancy. Uh. the external genitalia.

the description is of. decomposed tissue, so whether there was. forceful. uh penetration there because of the. advanced state of the decomposition, it. wouldn't be seen. I I just want to go back to the skin. defects. This is a part that we didn't. talk about. Or maybe we did. I just need to know if. this provides any more uh information. Skin skin de- skin defect, excuse me, 3/4 inch. uh entrance involving the right abdomen. 21 inches below the top of the head, 1. inch right of midline is a 3/4 inch.

length penetrating wound with smooth. edges. The wound is orientated in the. 3:00 and 9:00 directions. Mhm. The wound. track sequentially perforates the skin. and soft tissue of the right abdomen. and the liver. Uh the wound track is an. approximately depth of 1 and 1/2 inches. front to back. The skin defect involving the lateral. left lower chest 15 inches below the top. of the head 6 inches left of midline is. a 9/16 inch penetrating wound with.

smooth edges. Path the wound track. sequentially perforates the skin and. soft tissue of the lateral left lower. chest. left intercostal space. and enters the left chest cavity. The. wound track has a depth a depth of at. least 2 in left to right. The adjacent. rib show disruption of the cortical. bone. Is this anything. that we haven't talked about? >> those are those are the serious fatal. wounds that are described by the medical. examiner. Um. as I said going into the body cavity and.

hitting the liver which would bleed. extensively. and then hitting. the plural cavity on the left causing. air and blood to fill up that space. Again. seeing the blood and seeing the air is. not possible this many days. of decomposition, but the wounds are. there and they mark the track of the. penetrating weapon. Um the fact that there's injury on the. ribs themselves might be analyzed for a.

specific weapon as well. The marks on the ribs. TMZ reported. this. It I believe it's to be in here as. well, the toxicology findings. Right. So. it says there was a I believe a. presumptive positive for methamphetamine. and MDMA, but then apparently there was. another screening that says. meth was inconclusive. MDMA was not detected. That Celeste may. have had alcohol in her system. Didn't. contribute to her death. I think we. touched upon that before. What.

if you're reading the same thing, correct me if I'm wrong, but what what. does that tell you? Well, just referring to the toxicology. screening, you can screen for drugs and. there can be interfering substances that. might look like it's positive for a drug. and then when you do the in-depth. analysis to confirm if that's present or. not present, that's the more definitive. test. So the not detected uh results. after the screening is more relevant. that she didn't have that in her system.

The alcohol, you can form alcohol. ethanol after death in the decomposition. process and so. having some there in a decomposed body. is not indicative of imbibing the. alcohol. And and just one more thing I want to. touch upon. um. This is towards the end just goes into. more of the report. How when her body was found she was. wearing a tube top, underwear, leggings. and socks. I observed multiple holes in.

the front and back of the tube top. She. was missing both arms above the elbows. and both legs above the knees. The The decedent was in advanced state. of decomposition demonstrated by foul. odor, discoloration, discoloration, liquefaction, insect activity, partial skeletonization and skin. slippage. Goes on at another point. She. was dismembered and was inside a black. body bag. and black trash bag. Um we've known some of this before but. it's just so difficult to hear.

Uh. final thoughts on this and anything that. we're missing from the report that stood. out to you. I mean I think the medical examiner did. a thorough job and in fact associating. the clothing with the wounds on the body. is is a very important part of. analyzing, you know, the the penetrating. wounds. So some of those additional. injuries in the clothing may shed some. light on the. marks that can't be further identified.

on the body. Uh. I think. determining that it's these two fatal. wounds that are the primary cause of. death. and that it's a homicide is very. important here. Mary and Balak, thanks for taking the. time. I know it's never easy to go. through this. I know it's never easy to. go through it when you're dealing with a. child but that is exactly what the. situation is here. and I appreciate really coming on very. quickly to break this down with me. Thank you. Certainly. Thank you. That's. all we have for you right now here on.

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