More Evidence Piles Up at D4vd's Shocking Murder Hearing

Fake blood, Celeste clothing, [music] an. inflatable pool, cell phone evidence, someone getting kicked out of the. courtroom. [music]. This is everything that happened in the. morning session of day three [music] of. David's preliminary hearing. We are. bringing back our reporter who is in the. courtroom and we're going to discuss it. all right now. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law & Crime. [music]. I'm Jesse Weber. Yes, as you just [music] heard, there is. a lot to get into as we talk about day.

three of this preliminary hearing for. singer David. Remember, he is accused of. sexually abusing, murdering, and. dismembering 14-year-old Celeste Revis. Hernandez back in 2025. Her dismembered, decomposed remains reportedly found in. the front trunk of a Tesla out in LA. back in September of last year. A Tesla. that was reportedly registered to the. singer. So, the question becomes for. this preliminary hearing, does the. prosecution have enough? Is the court. going to determine that there is.

sufficient evidence to support these. charges for this case to move forward. against David? Like I said, a lot to get. into. Let's jump in. Okay, so let me. bring in once again our eyes and our. ears in that courtroom, Julia Dang, NBC. LA reporter who has been fantastic. We. get her notes in every day. They are so. thorough. They are so specific. They are. so detailed. Um, thank you so much for. coming on. So, first of all, before we. even get into the substance, before we. even talk about the demeanor of David, this court day started with fireworks.

The judge was not happy. What happened? >> Jesse, what a morning. We are in day. three now of this preliminary hearing. and it started with a little bit of. drama this morning. There was actually a. reporter who was kicked out of the. courtroom. Um, the judge excluded her. from today's proceedings because. apparently there were live transmission. rules that were violated. So, this court.

has been very strict about preserving. the integrity of this case. And we've. talked about this before. Obviously, no. cameras are allowed in that courtroom, no phones. You know, I'm not. communicating with you guys with really. anybody in the outside world as all of. this is going down. And it's part of. this this larger, I think, respect of. the integrity of this court. and and the spirit of this court because.

they want to ensure everything is done. properly. Nobody here wants to risk any. kind of mistrial, anything leaking that. is not supposed to. So, right now during. this court break, we can talk to you. about what exactly went down. >> And look, it's understandable. I mean, particularly when you're dealing with. such a high-profile case like this and. the sensitive nature of this case. You're talking about the sexual the. alleged sexual abuse, uh murder, and. dismemberment of a minor of a. 14-year-old girl. So, let me ask you.

this, too. A guy that we've had on the. show multiple times, Steve Fischer, the. private investigator who was apparently. hired by the owner of the property where. David had been staying, right? This is. near where the Tesla was reportedly. found. So, he's been investigating from. day one. We've had him on the show. Some. drama with him in the courtroom today, right? What happened there? >> Right. >> That's right. Now, according to the. prosecutor in this case, the deputy DA. Beth Silverman, apparently Steve Fischer. violated grand jury secrecy. And because.

of that, uh she made a request this. morning for him to be excluded from the. witness list. He was in the courtroom. He was sitting right by me. Um he stood. up, acknowledged that request. There. wasn't any kind of pushback. There was. no argument there. And he just he walked. out. So, we're not going to hear from. Steve Fischer um in the courtroom as. part of this preliminary hearing, but. obviously if this goes to trial, we do. expect to hear from him. I know he's.

been on your show. I've heard those. interviews. He has a lot of intel that I. think is going to be critical to this. case if it goes to trial, but right now. we are still in prelim. This is day. three. They just need to establish. probable cause for this to move forward. are now on I think witness number eight. um as this continues and we're all. expecting this to go through the rest of. today and likely even tomorrow, maybe on.

Monday as well. >> Yeah. And look, Steve Fischer has. provided, you know, really, really. insightful information in this case, some of which has actually been backed. up by what we saw by the prosecution's. filing. It was not surprising. considering what we heard from Steve and. he's been quite vocal about this case. He's been quite vocal about David. He's. been quite vocal about the prosecution. as well. So, interesting development. Okay, before we get to the witnesses, I. always have to ask you since we don't. see it ourselves, it's the best we get. are sketch sketches from the courtroom.

artist. Um David, what's his demeanor. like in court? Because the way we've. been looking at it the past few days for. somebody who is by all accounts, I mean, if you ask me my legal opinion, I think. there's going to be enough here for this. case to move to trial. For somebody. whose life is on the line, for somebody. who's facing murder and continuous. sexual abuse of a minor charges and um. unlawful mutilation of human remains. charges, the past few days what we've seen, how. it's been described is somebody who. seems kind of like nonchalant, pretty. bored, kind of casual, doesn't seem to.

be too stressed out. Is that what he's. looking like today? >> Yeah, Jesse, and I can't get past that. I mean, imagine if if you or somebody. you knew were in that hot seat, I mean, I I think you might care a little a. little more. Um let me tell you actually. what the courtroom sketch artist said. I. chatted with um, Mona Shaver Edwards. during the court break about an hour ago. and I said to her, you know what Mona, you've got the most interesting. perspective in this courtroom in the.

sense that she's sitting facing the. defendant. She's in the jury box area. So, she gets to see his face, his. expressions and she's been sketching. this for all of us who are using her art. to cover this case. So, she told me. Jesse, it looks to her like David is, quote, on another plane. He seems. completely disengaged. I'm reading his. facial expressions kind of from off to. the side. I'm watching him from an.

angle. He's not reacting much, you know, it's a lot the same as um, as yesterday. where he's kind of just staring straight. ahead at the witness who's testifying. and then that overhead monitor that's. projecting the exhibits. But, no, he's. really not reacting and that includes. um, when we see the the victim's. clothing, you know, her soiled, blood. stained, insect infested, wet clothing. uh, that was found in the cadaver bags. along with her remains. He's just.

staring straight ahead. He's got his. arms folded. He's got this yellow legal. notepad in front of him. It doesn't look. to me like he's taking any notes. He's. got a white Styrofoam cup of water. I've. had maybe two or three interactions. today where uh, he's turned a little bit. and and kind of had, you know, a brief. exchange of words with one of his. attorneys, but other than that, he's not. even moving, Jesse. It's really. incredible.

>> I'm not here to speculate, but I just. have to ask, do you know if he's on any. kind of medication or anything like. that? >> I don't know, Jesse and and we're not. going to speculate on this show, but. that is a question um. that's come up in sidebar conversations. We don't know, and that hasn't come up. in court. I imagine if he is, it will. >> Okay, got it. Um all right, let's talk. about the substance. So, the first. witness back on the stand was this.

criminalist, right? And being questioned. by the defense, what happened there? >> So, we ended yesterday um with the. cross-examination. of an LAPD criminalist. She was the one. who was called to process um. evidence found in David's garage. And. that evidence included everything from. trash bags to rubber floor mats, um to. blood stains. She was the one who tested. chainsaws found in David's house. This.

was just about a week after the car was. found in the Hollywood tow yard uh with. the victim's remains in the front trunk, of course. So, they continued with that. cross-examination, and there was a lot of back and forth. about the chainsaws. And here's why. Defense attorney Blair Burke noted there. was no positive test indicating the. possibility of blood on those chainsaws. So, she kept on asking this LAPD witness.

for the prosecution uh why they didn't. take those chainsaws into evidence. It. sounded like she wanted to make the. point that touch DNA, which they didn't. test for, uh may have indicated. something else. May have painted a more. comprehensive picture of what exactly. happened and who may have been involved. Who else may have been involved, that. is. Um but the criminalist was very. sharp, very clear with her answers. Um.

at one point yesterday, she even brought. her notes back out to make sure that she. gave precisely the information that was. documented during this investigation. So, she said there did not appear to be. any kind of forensic value to those. chainsaws that were found in the garage, and that's why they were not taken into. evidence. So, my big takeaway from all. of this is that perhaps those were not. the weapons or tools used for. dismemberment, even though they were.

found in David's garage during this. search. >> Let Let me just clarify this point. Just. so it's clear for our audience. Is it I. heard there was reporting, maybe even. testimony, about a missing chainsaw? I. don't know if that's accurate. And what. about any evidence of a cleanup, including of the chainsaws? Correct me. if I'm wrong about either of those. points. >> Correct on the first point. There was. another chainsaw, a Makita brand chain. chainsaw that we talked about the other.

day and it was ordered online and. delivered to David's house. As far as I. know, from the evidence presented so. far, that chainsaw was not located. during this search. The two other. chainsaws, and here's why the. criminalist said there really was no. forensic value. She testified earlier. that had they been used for. dismemberment, there would have been no. way for blood to be cleaned up to the. point where their testing did not.

indicate something of forensic value. So, when they did that initial test on. scene and there was no presumptive. positive, they elected not to take those. two chainsaws into evidence. But yes, there is a missing one. There is another. one, and I'm sure that's going to come. up later in this testimony. >> And in terms of a cleanup at all, you. know, I know that there are there's a. whole big back and forth yesterday about. whether it's actually blood, possibly.

blood. anything about a cleanup? >> Yeah, they found a trash bag. This was. part of that same witnesses testimony. They found a trash bag. It was double. bagged in the garage and they did go. ahead and test on the interior bag. Again, there were two black plastic bags. and inside they found um stained wipes, white wipes with some kind of brownish.

stain. We actually saw the exhibit. photos. They were described as kind of. like Clorox wipes used to clean. Um so I. think what the prosecution is painting a. picture of here is wipes used to clean. up blood. And those wipes, according to. this witnesses testimony, did in fact. test positive for the possible possible. presence of blood. There's a question. mark on a lot of this, you know, it it. cannot be stated that it it was.

positively identified as blood. That. does require additional testing. Um but. I I think what this witness stated on. the stand yesterday and today goes to. show that there was plenty of biological. evidence found during that search in. David's garage. >> Now, here's something interesting. Somebody will listen to this and say, "Hmm, really? So, we are not 100% sure. what was maybe used to dismember her.

body. I don't believe we have the. alleged murder weapon. This feels like. problems for the prosecution. However, I. read your notes today. There was a very. important back and forth, a very. important piece of testimony regarding. this blue inflatable pool and how this. potential purchase by David of this pool. how it matches up to what was found with. Celeste's remains. Can you talk to us. about that testimony today?

>> Uh this, Jesse, is visibly, to me a. non-expert, irrefutable. We heard from. another criminalist from LAPD. She did. the actual forensic analysis of um the. inflatable pool, in addition to material. that was sent to her by the LA County. Medical Examiner's Office that was. collected during the victim's autopsy. Now, that includes, I mentioned, her. soiled clothing um and and bits of blue.

plastic found during the autopsy that. were essentially embedded in her. remains. So, this criminalist actually. pieced those bits of blue plastic in. with the rest of the inflatable pool. that she processed and analyzed, um. including work that was done under a. microscope. And there were exhibits. shown during court today, photos of how. those pieces from the autopsy fit in.

like a puzzle with the rest of that blue. inflatable pool. So, there was a a. a bit of back and forth. The prosecutor. spent quite a bit of time questioning. this witness, uh Lisa Lehendro from. LAPD, about her background, her. expertise, how she did this work, and. what it showed. They described the. linear cuts in the pool, exactly where. in the pool she noted them. There were. four different areas of damage, um what.

she found on the underside of the pool, and how this all fits in with the larger. picture that's being painted, uh which. is that Celeste may have been. dismembered in this pool. >> Taking a step back before we get in more. into the substance of the testimony, I. saw something in your notes regarding. this specific moment as they're talking. about this, the remains, as they're. talking about the last clothes worn by. Celeste. Um, her family was there today, right? Her family was there today listening to.

all this. What was their reaction to it? >> Well, Jesse, I I can't believe they're. back in the courtroom today. You know, they sat through all of day one, um, of. this preliminary hearing, all of day. two. They walked in a little bit later. this morning. They didn't show up until. about 10:30, but they did catch all of. this testimony, um, from Lisa Lehendro. They did sit in the courtroom and see. these exhibits, these photos, of what. their daughter was wearing, uh, when her.

remains were found. They did see the. little bits of hair and plastic that. were collected during her autopsy and. how those bits of plastic sit with. damage from this blue inflatable pool. Um, I I didn't see any kind of visible. physical reaction. You know, on on day. one, um, Mercedes, the victim's mother, she bowed her head and and just started. crying when we saw the photos and the. contents of those cadaver bags found in.

the defendant's Tesla. This morning, I I. didn't see her react. It's It's like she. was frozen as we saw, um, it was a pair. of Skechers brand socks, her daughter's. underwear, her leggings that were cut. into pieces, um, and that's because her legs were. allegedly cut off at the kneecaps. >> It's horrifying. I mean, there's really. no other way to describe it. It's. horrifying. It's unthinkable what.

happened to her. It is unthinkable what. this family is going through. I've said. it before, I'll say it again, they're. not only navigating the loss of their. daughter and how much spotlight is put. on this case, but having to see these. photos, having to see the hear this. testimony, it does make me always wonder. whether or not the prosecution is trying. to present, you know, maybe even more. than they need to in a preliminary. hearing cuz it's a low standard to get. to get this to move forward. It's only. probable cause, but I wonder if they're. signaling to the defense, "Look, we have. a strong case. Do you really want to. take this to trial? Is there some sort.

of deal we maybe we could take the death. penalty off the table if we chose to go. that route? Nobody wants us to go to. trial. Nobody wants juries to hear this. We don't want the family to experience. this again." Something I'm just keeping. in the back of my mind as we hear about. this. Um but I do want to get into. something that I have been waiting for, the digital evidence. So, if we recall. >> Right. >> the prosecution has claimed that David. Lord Celeste to his home out in LA right. on that April night back in 2025. And.

you know, I'm wondering if we're going. to hear about Uber receipts and things. like that, but the cell phone. The cell. phone tracks people. The cell phone. tracks people's location. This has been. critical because today we finally. learned about the geolocation data of. David's cell phone, right? So, talk to. us about that testimony from this. morning. >> This is fascinating and if you're. somebody who likes to nerd out on data,

this is going to be the most interesting. part of this testimony for you. Now, I. had questions when I first read some of. the charging documents about why in the. world anybody would take their own car, especially a car tricked out with. software like a Tesla. to do anything anything that might be. criminal. And on top of that, not just their car, but their iPhone. So, right now, right. before we broke for lunch, we were.

hearing LAPD testimony from their expert. who analyzed not only the Tesla data, but David's cell phone data. So, we're. actually seeing maps right now where. this expert is pinpointing. where the vehicle, according to data. they analyzed, traveled from the. Hollywood Hills west along Sunset. Boulevard and then north up the coast. into Santa Barbara County. He's. testifying how the path of that Tesla,

again according to his analysis of data, matches the path as David Eason. Same. time, same day, same location. And he's. testifying how that matches up with. where Celeste's passport card was later. found, right by Lake Cachuma off of. State Road 154 in Santa Barbara County. Now, this is interesting, too. This has. come up before in charging documents, but he's testifying both the vehicle. data and the phone data show additional.

trips up there after that first road. trip on April 24th of 2025. And that's, of course, the morning after. or overnight going into the morning. after the victim was allegedly killed. >> Let me ask you a big big picture. question as I'm hearing this testimony. from today and last few days. Seems that. a lot of the focus has been so far on. the alleged cleanup, the dismemberment, the cleanup, trying to get rid of the.

evidence of this alleged killing. >> With me. >> One of the questions I've been getting. from legal analysts is, what has been. the evidence that he actually murdered. her? And what do I mean by that? A, the. evidence that he actually killed her, that he stabbed her to death, and that. he murdered her, right? Not that this. was a case of manslaughter, not that. this was a case of self-defense. So far. in this preliminary hearing, what has. stood out to you as the evidence that he. murdered her?

>> None. There has not been any. This is. circumstantial evidence. And what you. pointed out the other day, Jesse, is. that many of these incriminating Amazon. and Home Depot purchases that were made. online under a fake name for items like. bird cages, fireproof mats, chainsaws, body bags, trash bags, they were not. made until after April 23rd, again, the. day of her alleged murder. Um so, we.

haven't seen anything like home security. video showing the actual killing. Uh we. have not heard from any witnesses who. testified about being there and actually. seeing this go down. We've heard a lot. about why he may have done it, right? For financial gain. We've heard a lot. about cleanup and cover-up efforts, um. including this road trip that is. supported by data from both the car and.

the phone. But, evidence about the murder itself and how. it was carried out, where I I think we're all waiting to see. where that goes and and what additional. intel the prosecution has. >> Well, here's the way I would look at it. I'm curious if the medical examiner is. going to testify today or tomorrow. And. if the medical examiner testifies or. people from the medical examiner staff. testify that she died from two. penetrating wounds. So, now you're. saying, "Okay, she was killed.".

If they also match that up with text. messages, which we haven't heard from. yet as far as I know, right? Messages. between David and Celeste leading up to. this night in April. They can show they. were fighting, if they can show she was. going to expose him, and then he lures. her there, gets her an Uber, and that there's no more no more. activity from her cell phone after that. night in April. He doesn't reach out. there, although I understand today there. was. a test that was evidence today about. him. >> Yeah.

>> About that phone call. So, talk about. that. But, I think that's what we're. looking for next. Maybe they started. with the relationship, they started with. the cover-up, and then they may move. into the actual killing. Cuz look, at. the end of the day, if they're saying, you know, she went to his place, there's. all this evidence. uh uh of potentially dismemberment. there, what else do you think happened? Although, you know, this is Is this a. slam dunk or not? So, just I mean, that's my thought. Tell You know, you. can jump You You tell me what you think. about it if you're hearing rumors of who. else may testify. But, the call, I.

think, was interesting today, too, right? This alleged call that he made to. Celeste. >> That was interesting, and defense. attorneys actually jumped in to object. uh during that portion of testimony. It. was sustained because they wanted to. make sure the court record stated uh. that you know, the LAPD detective isn't. testifying that David, the defendant, made a call. They wanted to make sure. the court record stated his phone made. that outgoing call. But, that call was.

placed uh about half an hour to an hour. after the Tesla got on the road heading. north towards Santa Barbara County. So, again, that speaks to the alleged. clean-up and cover-up efforts. Um if he. did, in fact, murder this girl, and if. he was, in fact, on the way up to Lake. Casitas to dump evidence, why in the. world would he call her phone? Of. course, she's not going to pick up. She's dead in his house. Um so, again, part of the cover-up, part of the. alleged cover-up. We did hear chatter.

about the LA County Medical Examiner. potentially testifying today. That has. not happened yet. I'm curious to see if. that happens, and I'm very curious to. hear from him. It's Dr. um Ode Ukpo. And. what's significant here is that after. the autopsy was conducted last fall, LAPD actually filed a motion. Uh they. initiated this motion uh to place. additional details from this autopsy.

under seal, essentially gagging the. coroner, the medical examiner leading. this case. He did make a statement. before that um about the state of. decomposition and the fact that the. victim must have been in that car for. quite some time. Beyond that, beyond the. report that was issued, we have not. heard from the medical examiner yet. So, a lot of questions for him. We have. heard that may happen today, um but we're going to hear from at least.

two additional witnesses. So, we'll see. who the prosecution decides to call to. the stand. >> Julia, there was something that we. haven't even talked about yet. And by. the way, what I'm about to get into is. something that has been speculated about. where the defense may go. How do you. explain these unusual purchases? How do. you explain the potential of what. appears to be brown stains or blood in. the home? What we're about to talk about happened. today. You even highlighted in your. notes. This is a new piece of.

information. >> Yeah. >> This seems to be where the defense is. saying there could be some sort of. alternative explanation. So, Julia, what. happened today? What was the defense. trying to suggest? >> If you've been following this case. online, you've probably seen clips as. David's music videos, especially the. ones where he's dressed in a white. T-shirt on with fake blood stains. So, this came up today in court, and it was. the first time I've heard it um during. this preliminary hearing. Apparently,

one of the LAPD criminalists found jugs. and jars of fake blood in David's. garage. Now, they didn't get into um. you know, how much of it was there, but. the defense did state that there was. some merchandising activity going on in. David's garage, meaning they were making. um music merch. And that could have. been, you know, t-shirts and sweatshirts. stained with fake blood. So, does that.

explain all the evidence that was. documented and collected? No, absolutely. not. But, it does explain the fake. blood. And how did they know it was. fake? LAPD did have their forensic team. go out there and test it. It came back. negative. It was not taken into. evidence. But, I think the presence of. that in David's garage uh does set up, you know, a new narrative for the. defense to potentially seize.

>> Yeah, I was always wondering are they. going to say all this was for a music. video, right? We've read this is all. this for a music video. So, this is this. is a complicating factor. Even if this. case moves forward to trial, you wonder. if they're going to have some room for. reasonable doubt. Look, interesting. things are happening. Your reporting has. been great. I know you have to jump back. into that courtroom. Julia Deng, thank. you so much for taking the time as. always. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. As always, please. subscribe on 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.

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