LAPD Fires Back on ‘Bogus’ Claim of Frozen Body Found in D4vd Tesla

The back and forth continues. An LAPD. official is pushing back on the claim. that the body of 14-year-old Celeste. Rivas Hernandez was frozen and. decapitated, while the LA County Medical. Examiner's Office has confirmed there is. a hold in place on any information. coming out about what may have happened. to her. There is a lot to break down. Let's get into it right now. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. Real quick, I got to ask you something. before we jump into all this. Have you. ever left a meeting and thought to.

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was apparently found in a bag in the. trunk of a Tesla registered to singer. David back in September out in the. Hollywood Hills. There has been a lot of. speculation on what happened to her and. a lot of confusion as to why the LA. County Medical Examiner hasn't listed. this information out yet. So the thought. was that they're still waiting for. toxicology reports, more information. It. was listed as deferred. And then we go. to the latest reporting from TMZ, which. by the way, I don't know, was maybe.

debunked. So, it came out that sources. close to the investigation told TMZ that. Celeste's body was frozen, that it had. actually been thawing out when it was. found in the car, that she had been. decapitated, that her limbs had been. severed, cut into pieces, and whether. that complicated knowing for sure what. happened to her. Here's the problem. This just came out. An LAPD captain and. commanding officer of the robbery. homicide division told People magazine, "This isn't true." Quote, "Celeste body.

was not frozen. She was not decapitated. The whole frozen thing doesn't even make. sense. Her body was in the car for. weeks. Even if she had been frozen solid. when she was put in the car, which there. is no evidence to suggest she was, five. or more weeks in the trunk of a car in. sweltering heat in the middle of summer. would not have resulted in a partially. frozen body being discovered on. September 8th. Now, Williams previously. said that Celeste had been dead for at. least several weeks. What is going on?

And now we got to talk about what just. happened. Okay, this is real. The. medical examiner's office has removed. information from Celeste's case on its. publicly available website. So, according to a release from authorities. yesterday, quote, "At 10:54 a.m. on. Friday, November 21st, the County of Los. Angeles Department of Medical Examiner. received a court order initiated by the. Los Angeles Police Department to place a. security hold on medical examiner case. number 2025 14252, Celeste Rivas.

Hernandez. No records or details. associated with the case, including the. cause and manner of death and medical. examiner report can be released or. posted on the website until further. notice. The department's mission is to. have full transparency with the. community by providing information about. our cases to empower people to make. changes that save lives. Since becoming. the department head, I've worked on. eradicating the practice of placing. security holds on medical examiner cases. simply by law enforcement request. The.

practice of security holds is virtually. unheard of in other counties and has not. been proven to improve outcomes in the. legal system. We are dedicated to. serving our community with full. transparency. However, the law precludes. us from doing so while the court order. remains in this case. The department. previously received a request for. security hold from the LAPD on this case. on September 15th, 2025, which was. denied due to insufficient justification. to warrant the hold. The department. understands the public's interest in.

this case and remains committed to. transparency when possible. Information. will be made available once the court. order is lifted. For questions about the. court order timeline and the law. enforcement investigation into this. death, you can contact the LAPD. Now, I. will add this. LAPD Captain Mike Bland. told NBC4 Investigates, quote, "This is. an ongoing RHD homicide case, Robbery. Homicide Division, and the purpose of. the court order is to ensure the LAPD. receives information on this case from.

the medical examiner's office before the. public does." Now, by the way, Steve. Fischer, who we've had on this program. before, the private investigator who was. hired by the owner of that rental. property that David was reportedly. staying at, which was near where this. abandoned Tesla with Celeste body inside. where it was found and where it was. towed. Again, someone we've had on this. show numerous times to talk about his. investigation. He wrote this on X, quote, I appreciate the commitment to. transparency by the LA County Medical. Examiner's Office. They previously. denied an LAPD request for a security.

hold on the case. Now, LAPD obtained a. court order sealing the case. The timing. of that, along with the wording of the. news release from the medical examiner's. office, leads me to believe a cause and. manner of death have been determined in. the case of Celeste Rivas Hernandez and. the Emmy's investigative and autopsy. reports are completed. Is he right? Now, to couple that, something else I got to. talk about. According to the LA Times, according to court documents that they. reviewed, a detective has categorized. this investigation as a quote.

investigation into murder. Now, that is. very significant because the LAPD. previously indicated that there might. not be a crime beyond concealment of a. body. So, this was paperwork in support. of not releasing the Emy's findings, which I just mentioned. And you had LAPD. detective Joshua Buyers who said in a. declaration that was filed that release. of these autopsy findings could taint or. jeopardize this apparent murder. investigation. Quote, will reveal or. tend to reveal the ongoing investigation.

and the integrity of the investigation. as well as the identity of witnesses. and/or informants who are cooperating. with law enforcement and the content of. the information they have provided which. could endanger the lives of witnesses. and or compromise the investigation. and. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig. Richmond granted the LAPD's request with. respect to not releasing the ME's. information. And by the way, last week, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, who. oversees the department's detective. operations, said, quote, "Accountability.

is coming. Our RHD detectives have been. working and not waiting for that. decision by the medical examiner. They. are going to get justice for Celeste. Rivas. No one is off the table, including him, seemingly referring to. David." Let me bring on right now a. special guest to try to get some clarity. about what all this means. I want to. bring on Dr. Nato Rutherford, Richland. County uh coroner here. Uh Dr. Thank you. so much for coming on. Let's start first. off what is a security hold and how. often do you see something like that? It's very rare that we see a security.

hold, but usually when we see it, it. means that there is very valuable and. specific information about that cause of. death and the manner of death that they. do not want to release to the public. It. means that there is something so unique. about that death that they want to hold. that information close to the chest so. that they can still conduct their. investigation without the public frenzy. that they know will happen once they. start releasing details. So whether. that's drugs were found in the system.

the way the body was found. They've said. that she wasn't dismembered but was. there something else unique about the. trauma that could have been associated. with her body? they have something. specific that they do not want the. public to know right now. And in my. humble opinion, as a person who is who. works with law enforcement and as a. coroner who does active investigations, if there's something very specific and. we release that to the public, we could. totally mess up the entire. investigation. You could lose witnesses.

They don't want to deal with whatever. information was found. Right now, they. are still doing an active investigation. And so if holding that information close. to their chest is going to help them get. justice for this potentially murdered. 15year-old, then I think that they. should do it and everyone should be in. agreement with that. >> So do you think do you agree with Steve. that right now the Emmy's office has. definitively a cause and manner of death. for Celeste Rivas Hernandez? >> I do believe they know what her cause.

and manner of death are at this point. and the fact that they have pushed for. this hold so hard. Um, they denied the. first one and then they went back again. >> What did you make of that? The fact that. they requested it all the way back. September 15th, 7 days after her body. was found. >> They want to keep information close to. them for this investigation. You have to. think about this. You have someone who's. a celebrity. You have someone who has. money, power, resources, and the people. around that person also have money,

power, and resources. So, how do you. infiltrate and penetrate all of those. things if you are giving all of the. information to the public? I'm all for. transparency, but gosh, we want to know. what happened to her. And the and the. people doing the investigation should. have that information first before the. public gets it and tears it up. And just. to be clear, if if we take all this as. true, if it was denied all the way back. in September, there's a possibility, would I be totally wrong by saying maybe.

they didn't have the cause and manner of. death yet? Maybe it was too premature. Maybe it was too early for the LAPD to. request that no information be shared, but now the Emy's office may have cause. and manner of death and the whole. situation has changed. And maybe you're. right, there's something in there that. they say this is going to taint the. investigation. So, do you think that my. timeline might be right there? Oh, absolutely. And here's the other thing. When you have a body that is decomposed, it takes longer to get that cause and. manner of death. The body is breaking.

down. It is literally liquefying. You've. got a car found in a hot area encased in. metal and the body is going to break. down even faster. Whether she was. frozen, not frozen, you put a body out. in the heat, it's going to decompose. And we don't know how this body exactly. was found. Was it found encased in. plastic? Was it was it found inside of a. suitcase? How was the body found? How. was it dressed? How was it how was it.

draped or clothed? All of those things. become so important. This girl's been. missing for a year. A year before her. body was discovered. >> And there have been reports about when. her last known uh uh sighting was. I I. will get into a second when it seems. authorities believe she might have died. Put that to the side for a second. Um. you you mentioned something very. important here. This back and forth on. freezing. I said this in our episode. yesterday. If this reporting is true,

not true, how distressing this must be. for the family to hear something like. this. But I have to tell you, when I was. doing the episode, I was like, it. doesn't make sense that the body was. found thawing. It was in a hot car. When. would a frozen body have been. transferred? It seems that when the car. was parked there, the body was already. inside. So, the fact that you have it, it's very hard to get definitive. information in this case. Um, and yes, there's speculation. Sources say this, but this idea of the body being frozen. and thawing out, I got to say, I'm not. surprised that it's been debunked,

seemingly debunked. >> Here's the thing. The medical examiner. knows exactly how that body was. presented to them and to that office. So. even if let's say she was frozen, let's. say they're trying to throw us off by. saying, "Oh, that wasn't the case." Her. body would be well preserved had it been. frozen and you would actually have more. of a whole body in front of you. So if. she was thawing in the car, yes, she's. going to decompose and the rate of. decomposition is going to be what it is.

But if she was frozen and then put in. the car, like let's say she was stored. someplace. We've had cases like this. here in our county where someone was in. a deep freezer for years and then the. body started to decompose once the power. was cut off to that site. So the idea of. her body being frozen and thawing, it's. a very real possibility. But that Emy's. report, that autopsy report, how that. body was found, and that determination. of how long she could have possibly been. dead, they have so many things that they. can utilize from bug activity to um to.

looking at just how much of her body had. decomposed. Was was there parts of her. body that were mummified? Was she left. someplace and then frozen? You will see. decomposition even in that. So, there's. a lot that the medical examiner's report. is going to have in it. >> Do you think based on what I just read. to you, this hold, do you think there's. a possibility that it's undetermined? They can't tell exactly what happened to.

her or does that seem unlikely? Because. if it was undetermined, why not release. that information unless they believe uh. this would cause an uproar? You know, how could you not know what happened? Um, you know, there's a obviously. there's a number of reasons why that. that could be and please elaborate on. them. But do you think it's maybe. unlikely that the cause of death, the. manner of death is undetermined? >> It's a possibility. You have five. manners of death to choose from. Natural, accidental, suicide, homicide, and undetermined. Those are the five. manners of death. And so when you get to.

undetermined, it means that all of the. other manners of death are equally. likely and you cannot make a. determination. And so again, the state. that her body was in is going to be. very, very important. If there are any. organs that they can look at, can they. look at her liver? Can they look at her. kidneys? Are her eyes intact enough to. be able to pull vitrius out to be able. to determine if there's any, you know, blood or a chemical that's in her system. that has kind of been able to be. maintained in that vitrius fluid? What.

other things are present? And so what I. hear when I when I'm reading all of this. and I'm hearing all these different. reports, they know something and they. are trying to put the pieces of the. puzzle together for a clearer picture. What did you make of that response from. the chief medical examiner regarding the. security hold? My interpretation is. there's a bit of resistance here, right? There's a bit of resistance and that was. a statement to make there. What did you. make of that? >> So, I think he's frustrated. I think.

he's saying, "I want to release this. information, but they're telling me that. I cannot do it." I think he just really. wants his hands out of it because once. they make their determination and it. goes to court, he can talk about his. findings and explain everything, but I'm. sure his office is getting railed with. the number of phone calls, requests that. are coming in from the media outlets, the community outcry from all of this. So, I think it's probably more of a. resistance like please let us go ahead. and release this so that we can get back. to all of the thousands of other cases.

that we have coming through that office. the line to empower people to make. changes that save lives. Does that. indicate something about what might have. happened to Celeste? >> Here's what I take from that. This girl. was um and not that she deserved to die, so I am not saying that you have a. 15year-old with a history of running. away. You have a 15-year-old who maybe. was getting into some trouble and maybe. they want to release information that. would be a cautionary tale to some of. the other children in that area who may.

be runaways, who may be rebelling. against their parents or the homes that. they're growing up in. So maybe that's. what he means. But what I took from his. statement was that he wants the public. to know what happened, but he also has. to follow the court order. So, I. certainly don't feel like he's trying to. be combative in his response, but he. certainly wants to release the. information. >> And based on everything that's come out. now at this point in time, does it seem. to you that Celeste was murdered?

>> This this is smelling a lot like like a. homicide. It's smelling a lot like a. homicide. It it does not seem like a. natural death. Um, could it be. accidental? Sure. Could it be. self-inflicted? Sure. But it's smelling. a lot like a homicide. >> You know, it was reported uh that LAPD. may be considering David a suspect and. that there was potentially a second. suspect as well. TMZ reporting about. this trip that the singer allegedly took. to a remote area in Santa Barbara in the. spring and you had an LAPD official not.

authorized to speak publicly about the. investigation, but apparently told NBC4. Investigates that Celeste potentially. died in the spring. What do you make of. that potential time of death? And what. do you make of who potentially could be. involved in disposing of her body in. whatever way her body was ultimately. disposed of? So if her if her last known moments are. to be in the spring, then it would make. a whole lot of sense that her body was.

preserved to the point that they had a. smelling rotting body in a car. decomposing. That would make a lot of. sense. This is why I keep going back to. this again. I know they said, "Oh, they've debunked this rumor." No, you. really haven't, in my opinion, because. all it takes is a person who can read. through all of these different reports. and all these different accounts. If she. was there and all of a sudden she. wasn't, where was she? The people who. were with her should know where she was. and they should be able to give an.

account as to where she may have been. Was he hiding her out? Did something. happen? He's with another person on this. trip. Was it just him and Celeste? Who. were the people who last saw Celeste. alive? And it's going to take people. knocking on doors, asking questions, and. and trying to appeal to their human. nature to say, "What happened to this. 15-year-old kid?" She She's not a young. adult at this point. She is a child who. is around adults who may have wanted to.

do her harm for whatever the reasons may. be. >> Here's the million-dollar question. How. long does this court order last, if you. know, in your experience? Because the. here's the bottom question. When do you. think we will all get answers as to the. cause and manner of death? When will. that be released? How long will the. court order be in place for? Will there. be an arrest first and then it be. lifted? In your experience, what can we. anticipate there? >> In my experience, usually there's an. arrest and then they release. information. So, it's one of those.

things where they want to have all of. their ducks in a row and then share with. the public how they came to make the. arrest that they made, which makes a lot. of sense from an investigative. standpoint, but from a public interest. standpoint, it's like, you know, who may. have done this to her? And is there. cause for community concern? Is there. someone going around snatching 15y olds. who may have a little bit of trouble in. their path, luring them away from their. homes or luring them away from whatever. safe place they're in and killing them? So, I think there there is a definite.

reason for public interest in this case. outside of just the sensationalism that. you have a wealthy, you know, star uh. singer who may have been involved in. this. But what other information does. the public need to know? And is this. something that can be used as a. cautionary tale for for students who may. be in the same situation? >> I I ask every guest this and I hope you. can provide some uh light on it as well. Is the family is Celeste family going to. be notified first about cause and manner.

of death before anybody else? I know. this is a sensitive investigation, but. given how high-profile this is, how many. different theories there are, should. they be notified? Do they think they. have the information right now? Um, what. would you think best practices are? >> To me, the family should know first. In. my investigations, before I do a press. conference, before I do a news release, I sit down and I talk with that family. Whether it's via a phone, whether it's. in person, I always speak to them and.

say, "Hey, here's the cause of death. Here's the manner of death. Here's the. information that I'm going to release to. the media. I want to give you a heads up. that these are the things that will be. said so that you are hearing them. firsthand from me and not from a media. outlet. And to me that gives respect not. only to the deedent the person who's. died but also to the family and the. grief that they are having to endure. >> Dr. Nita Rutherford I really appreciate. you and I really appreciate you coming. on. Thank you so much for giving your. perspective on this as we try to. navigate what is true, what are the.

answers, what can we expect. This is a. unique case. I mean, there's whiplash. right now, back and forth, and my. thoughts, my prayers are with the family. right now. This is a very difficult. journey for them to navigate. But thank. you so much for coming on. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> 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 should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.

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