No Arrest...Has D4vd Been Cleared in Mysterious Death Investigation?

If David weren't in any way connected to. the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, wouldn't someone have come out with a. statement? As we think about the car, the property he was apparently renting, the new footage, the statement from. police, we are now getting new. perspective on this case from a former. detective commander. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. As we continue to cover the. investigation into the death of. 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found in the trunk of a.

car registered to singer 20-year-old. David last month. I want to now get new. perspective. And I want to get new. perspective who we're going to bring on. in a minute, a retired detective. commander. And I think it's important. because there are so many moving parts. to this, especially since so much has. been happening as of late. We learned a. new timeline of events. We learned about. what was happening with that property. that apparently was being rented by. David, whose real name is David Anthony. Burke, which was reportedly, by the way, near where the car, the Tesla with.

Celeste's body inside was found. This. property apparently nearby. We learned. there was a possibility she wasn't. murdered. But here's the thing, there. have been no arrests since her body was. found in the trunk on September 8th. Authorities have not identified a. suspect, nor a person of interest. And. to be clear, David has not officially. been implicated in any wrongdoing or any. crime. And law enforcement have not even. come out with a definitive connection. between the singer and Celeste. But I.

want to bring on right now Will Spiel, who's a retired detective commander. Uh. Will, thank you so much for taking the. time. You and I haven't had a chance to. talk about this case yet as it's really. in the news. It's continuing to develop. We're trying to understand what's. happening behind the scenes. Since you. and I haven't spoken, let me get your. perspective. Why no arrest? Why not name. any suspect? Why not name any person of. interest at this point? It's been weeks. now and it's almost what are we at? Almost a month, almost a full month. since the body was found.

>> Well, one thing I want to be clear on is. a crime has been committed now. And the. crime is minimum u we call it in. Illinois desecration of a corpse or. improper handling of a dead body. The. girl was put in the trunk of a car, dismembered. Somebody did that. That's a. crime. Now, the events leading up to her. death and her actual cause of death. still has to be determined. Uh, and. without that, you're not going to get a. murder charge. Unless somebody says it's. a murder, and that's the medical. examiner, you're not going to get a.

murder charge. To couple that, we've. talked about this extensively here on. Sidebar, but I haven't talked to you. about it. LAPD Captain Commanding. Officer Scott M. Williams told People. magazine, quote, "The Los Angeles County. Medical Examiner has not determined a. cause or manner of her death. So, we. don't know for sure if anyone has any. criminal culpability for her death. beyond the concealment of her dead. body." Now, with that in mind, something. I don't think we've talked about yet is. that Fox 11 LA, Fox 11 LA, they spoke. with a private investigator, Steve.

Fischer, who apparently got his hands on. images of that car, the Tesla, that. Celeste was found in. And remember, this. car was apparently sitting there for. weeks before it was towed to that towy. yard and then workers there smelled this. foul odor and alerted authorities, but. it was in the Hollywood Hills. Now, it. could suggest she was in that trunk for. that extended period of time, too. We. don't know how long she was in the. trunk, per se, but her body was. decomposed. Anyway, so Fiser says, quote, "The car almost looks like it's. been off-road in the desert or.

something. The wheel wells are all beat. up. There's a huge dent in the back. This could have been an overdose." and. they panicked and hid her body because. they didn't want to expose the. relationship between her and the minor. And by the way, she was found one day. after she would have turned 15. With. that in mind, you had mentioned that a. crime has been committed. We're just not. exactly sure how many crimes. That's absolutely true. And um and. that's correct. Everything we talk about.

now as far as cause of death is. speculation until we have some science. to back it up. When you talk about a. crime, we talk about the concealment, the dismemberment, the desecration of. the corpse. We also talk about a. situation where if they can prove that. there's some sort of relationship. between a 14-year-old and a 20-year-old, that's a problem for him. Yeah. The age. of consent in Illinois is 17. You can't. give consent at 14 to be with an adult. There's another crime. That's like the. backside of that is another crime. If. the LAPD can come up with definitive. proof that he was in fact involved in a. relationship, he has another problem.

>> Let's analyze this a bit. What makes. more sense to you? Someone panicked. putting the body in the car. Didn't have. enough time to know what to do with it. The car was there for a long period of. time, though, so I don't know if that. makes sense. Or we're purposely putting. it in this car. We know it's registered. to David. The car is near where the. property he was renting was. There's an. argument we're targeting David. I mean, what makes more sense to you? >> Well, it's an awful elaborate scheme to. target David by arrival or something. along those lines to do a murder and. then steal his car and then put the body.

in the car. Now, he never reported his. car stolen. So, we don't know if there's. an autotheft in that. That seems pretty. elaborate to me. The girl dying of her. natural causes is possible. A murder is. definitely possible. And you say the car. is found not far from where the house he. was renting. The car has been evidence. that it's been in the desert off the. road. If I'm investigating this, I am. trying to find a route from his home to. where this body is found and see if. there is any like, you know, part of the. out of the desert or an off-road area. where maybe she dies or she's killed.

They take her to that spot. They do what. they do to her body, put it in the car, and then give her and then ditch the. car. So, there's a lot of things that. still have to be determined. >> So, if you're a fan of Sidebar, by the. way, then you know we cover a lot of. cases and we put out a lot of clips a. day. And I will tell you, you might be. saying, "How are you able to do that?". Well, we use a platform called Opus. Clips. So, if you're online, if you're. on social media, this may be of interest. to you. It is 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. OpusClip automatically.

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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 trials. And we do it. very, very quickly. So at Sidebar, look, 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 and grow your. audience. So give it a try for yourself. Go to opus.pro/sidebar. to start creating your own videos today. And to be clear, law enforcement hasn't. come out and said, you know, what the. condition of the car was. But here's the. point. When we say there's been no. identified officially, no identified.

suspect or person of interest, do you. think police really do have somebody? And I guess the bigger question is, and. this is a bigger theme I have today, are they just not making it public? If. it didn't involve David at all in any. way, would they say it? Would they say, "Hey, listen. We want to clear him. at. least we'll put out a statement and say. at this point in time David is not. connected to this whatsoever. I haven't. seen a statement like that. Now, I'm not. suggesting that he is. Again, he hasn't. been officially implicated in. wrongdoing. But would it be typical of.

police to say if he had absolutely no. involvement in this whatsoever and. there's this whole cloud on a lot of. public attention, I have to imagine they. have more information than we do at this. point. Would they come out and. immediately, you know, clear him of. anything? It's. >> case-byase basis. I mean, if there's if. you absolutely know it's not him, you. know that. But I can tell you that these. detectives are operating on theories, too. There's probably two or three. different theories that they're. operating under. And I think they're not. giving that information that he's been. cleared because they just don't know.

yet. They're still trying to figure out. exactly what went down, what caused this. girl's death. And we talk about persons. of interest. It's kind of a weird. statement to use or weird way to depict. somebody as a person of interest in a. disappearance. Cuz a girl's been gone. missing for a year and a half roughly, I. believe, is the number. How could you be. a person of interest in a disappearance. unless you're doing an abduction? And I. don't think there's any evidence that. she was abducted. Seems like she left. under her own free will. So, I think. there's not a lot of information coming. out because they just don't know yet. They're operating under theories, but. you can't just, you know, talk about all. your theories.

>> Toxicology testing, other testing, lab. reports for cause and manner of death. You've said it so well. Feels very clear. that may be the answer for this. investigation for a lot of people. her. cause of death has been deferred pending. additional testing. What can we expect. from that testing? How accurate is it. going to be? And I guess the most. important question of all is when do. those tests come back and when are they. made public? Well, I don't know when. they're going to make it public out. there, but I know it takes about 6 weeks. sometimes, six to eight weeks for us to.

get toxicology back on a post. Um, and. what that's going to show is levels of. alcohol or ethanol in her system. Any. drugs, any level of drugs, regardless of. what it is, they'll test for it. And you. will be able to see that if she had a. toxicity level high enough to kill her. on whatever drug it is. If that comes. back positive or comes back in a number. that would have killed her, now you got. a cause. You don't have a manner yet, but you have a cause of death. A manner. just means, did she accidentally take. it? Did somebody drug her? And again, these are all very very difficult things.

to prove in a situation where you've. lost a lot of evidence on a on a. severely decomposed body. >> Does an investigation get more. complicated by what we actually reported. in a previous sidebar that uh this is. being reported by uh LA magazine and. other outlets that David has hired a. defense attorney, a very prominent. celebrity defense attorney, Blair Burke. She's represented Harvey Weinstein, CEO. Green, Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan. So far, from what we've. seen, not entirely sure her role as of.

yet in this case. I haven't seen any. public statement from her on behalf of. her client, but when someone I can't say. a subject, I can't say a suspect, I. can't say a person of interest, obviously can't say a defendant. When. someone has some sort of connection to a. case and they hire a criminal defense. attorney, does that complicate the role. of investigators and how? >> Uh, it can. It can. And again, you know, if he didn't get a defense attorney in. this case, I think you'd be foolish uh.

in this situation because it's not only. the death of the the girl, but we're. talking about that the fact that she was. a minor. That that angle of it, too. It. can't. And when you have an attorney. representing person of interest or. client, you have to go through the. attorney to talk to this person. Now, when you go to talk to somebody, I could. go to his house and say, "Hey, this is. who we are." At that point, the person. I'm talking to can say, "Okay, I have an. attorney. You have to talk to my. attorney." Now, regardless, now we know. that people are represented. doesn't. mean we can't talk to them because the. right to counsel has to be invoked by. the person's by the person who you're.

talking to. Many many times we've had. lawyers show up when we have somebody in. custody say, "Hey, I'm this person's. lawyer." We'll go in, hey, do you have a. lawyer? There's someone on here says. you're a lawyer. You have to tell them. that. But that person doesn't. necessarily have to say, "Yep, that's my. lawyer. I'm not talking to you." They're. the person that has to invoke their. right. So, I think it's probably a smart. move to have a lawyer in this situation, and it can impede law enforcement when. they start to do interviews. It doesn't. always do that. She may bring her client. in. They may speak to law enforcement. with a lot of conditions, you know, a. lot of things that she'll allow him to. answer and things she won't. So, it can.

impede the investigation, but it's. nothing that they're not used to dealing. with. >> I want to talk about the property that. he was renting. So, we know that the. Tesla was registered in his name. It was. found in the Hollywood Hills. We have. also uh seen reporting that again he was. renting this property, this mansion. nearby. Reporting says $20,000 a month. He apparently broke the lease, moved his. stuff out. This came after authorities. searched the place, confiscated items. pursuant to a search warrant. Well, TMZ.

is reporting that the owner, Malden, uh, Trifanovich, is getting that mansion. ready to be back on the market as soon. as possible, that someone came by last. week to pick up a few things, but. anything that was left behind, he's. tossing out because he wants another. renter in place. Now TMZ has actually. posted photos of a crew apparently. tossing out stuff. So maybe stuff. possibly belonging to David. Well, I. thought that was interesting because. does that mean that the house has no. more evidentiary value? Why allow this.

to happen? Why not just it be closed. off? Make sure nothing happens to it. >> Well, you can only hold people's. property for so long. And it's and the. the whole always the legal uh standard. is reasonleness, right? Is it reasonable. to keep this person's property for so. long? You get a search warrant done, you. have 96 hours in Illinois to execute. that search warrant. If you can't get. everything out of there in 96 hours, you. have to apply for an extension of the. warrant. So, it's not reasonable to lock. down this person's property. I'm sure. they went through it pretty well. And. once it's released, it's it's his.

property. He does whatever he wants with. it. >> Okay, that's fair. That's fair. Um, and. that's, you know, a good point to make. Um, I did want to talk to you about. Celeste and I want to talk to you about. her movements, what may have been going. on in her life. So, ABC7 has reported. that court records show that police in. Lake Elenor, California showed up to. Celeste family's home multiple times in. the last several years. That reporting. from TMZ News Nation, ABC shows that. Riverside County Sheriff's deputies, they were called out to this home,

Celeste home, 11 times over a 14-month. period. ABC says that a phone log from. the home shows that there are many. calls, particularly in 2024, to this. home. Many are listed as follow-ups that. Celeste's apparent ex-boyfriend told TMZ. that she had a tough home life. There is. surveillance footage from a liquor store. in March of 2024. This is a liquor store. that was in the neighborhood where you. apparently see Celeste jogging down a. street. She turns a corner, disappears.

from frame. We believe that this is one. of her apparent runaway attempts that. while she apparently went missing in. April of 2024, there is another video of. seemingly Celeste in September 2024 when. she's apparently back in this Lake. Elenor neighborhood arguing with people. possibly about a prank at her home. That. has shifted the timeline. So, Will, how. much of this is doing a deep dive into. Celeste's life? Every aspect of it, the. surveillance footage, the missing. person's reports, what her home life was. like. How much of it is is the.

investigation centered on that? And how. confident are you that they can track. what she was up to before she wound up. dead? I'm. >> I'm confident that it's if a. 14-year-old's missing from their home, there's some there's some things going. on in that house. Okay. It's a big part. of the investigation. It gives you a. little background of her mindset. Her. movements are huge. We have to figure. out where she was going. Where has she. been for a year and a half? How is she. making a living? Who's taken her in? All. of that is crucial to finding out how. she ended up in that car. So yes, the.

deep dive into the family life is big. All of her friends, the ex-boyfriend, everybody comes into play at this. Talk. about surveillance videos of of her mo. Is she staying with somebody around the. house? How did she end up with David? All of these things can be put into play. and all these things can be figured out. by doing interviews and doing the deep. dive that you're talking about. And her. personal life and her home life is a big. part of that because 14-year-olds aren't. on the street for a year and a half by. themselves. Going back to something that. you mentioned talking David here. So. Steve Fischer that PI this is his.

opinion but I'm curious your perspective. on it. So he said quote I'm really. baffled that he hasn't at least come out. meaning David acknowledged said her name. or offered condolences. You agree or. disagree with that? Because there is. he's hired an attorney. There could be. legal consequences for any statement. that he makes. You agree or disagree. with that? >> Well I'm going to tell you something. that a defense attorney told me years. ago. Okay. You never have to explain. something that you didn't say. So, the. best thing to do in his case is keep.

your mouth shut. You can't talk about a. relationship with a 14-year-old when. you're 20. So, I think that the silence. is probably his best option. That. doesn't really surprise me. >> I have to get your opinion on this, though. It goes back to the idea, and I. mentioned this in a previous sidebar. when we first covered it. Is this, you. know, are we talking about David. possibly being targeted, uh, framed, set. up? Why? So, we reported again, we. reported on this on a previous sidebar. You can check it out, but there was a. recently released body cam video that. points to David's family maybe being the.

target of some kind of scheme. TMZ. obtained this footage, which was taken. by police after Celeste's body was found. in that car. Officers respond to David's. family's home in Hempstead, Texas, because someone had reported there was. 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'm going to 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? What? >> I'm serious. That's why we came up here. like this because And then they talked. to the caller. Whoever they were talking. to said that there's a person dead. >> No, sir. No, sir.

>> Knock on the door. We need to talk to. him. We ain't got time for this. >> Ma'am, we got to figure out what's going. on so we can leave. Okay. >> 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'd. be concerned about somebody else. Like. like really like you know what I mean? Like maybe they've been trying to help. >> Tinder for you too, sir. >> Sorry to bother you, but somebody called. and said there was something in me. There was a person that or they called. on themselves. You know what I mean? It.

was like, "Hey, there's somebody dead.". >> Someone dead. >> That's why we have to take caution. You. know what I mean? Trying to scare y'all. This house is way off the roadway. [Music]. >> So, you just open the gate and came in. >> Yes, ma'am. I'll put it back. I have a. gate just like it. >> Uh, I think I put it back. >> 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. >> Oh, it 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 missing. >> But whoever it would ping here though. because wherever they call from, it. pings and sends it to dispatch. >> What the what? >> So like whenever you call 911, wherever. you are, >> it sends a it sends like a ping 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. 42. >> So it says somebody on my property. >> 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 with the gate here and. the fence around the fence. >> 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. cuz if I really do have an emergency, then. >> Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Sorry. We do have an emergency. You know, we're. going to be here. Okay. >> We're going to get here. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Thank you, John. All right. You have a. good night. >> Now, it appears that the Burke family. may have been victims of what has been. called swatting. When someone calls 911, pretends there's an imminent threat at. someone's home in the hopes that police. will respond, maybe in full force. It's. not clear if David was at the home when. this happened, but you could see just.

how confused and apprehensive his. parents were. Will, is this a part of. the investigation? Is this connected? I. mentioned at the time that I wonder if. investigators are looking at this and. saying interesting timing. Is he being. targeted? Is he being framed? Is this. connected? Your thoughts? >> Well, my my thoughts are you you have to. look at every aspect of it. Is it could. it be that somebody did that? But then. Quibono, who benefits from that? Who. benefits from framing David? Is there. extortion? Because if he's being. extorted, I think he would probably tell.

law enforcement he's being extorted. Are. you trying to destroy a person's. reputation? It's pretty extreme to. destroy a reputation by killing someone. and dismembering them. So yeah, you got. to think about it. You got to look into. it. The thing in Texas, Texas is a long. way from California. Is this conspiracy. so far reaching that's going to go from. Texas to California? I don't want to. discount it, but it's one of these. things that you look at and say it could. be, but I'm not going to pour all my. resources into into a frame. >> And we go back to this relationship, right? Or what what the relationship is. As as I've been clear, police have not.

definitively established what that. connection is between David and Celeste. There has been a lot of speculation. though that they were involved in some. sort of romantic or sexual relationship. TMZ reported that they had sources who. came to them that people around David. believed that she was 19 years old, that. there was some sort of relationship. going on. They were apparently. photographed together at one point after. her body was found in early September. People online discovered that there was. this allegedly unfinished track of.

David's, which may have included the. name Celeste in its file name. It was. apparently leaked on Soundcloud back in. 2023. Someone claiming to be a moderator. of the singer's Discord and Twitch. accounts posted a message saying they. don't know Celeste. They don't know how. old she was. They didn't know that she. was missing. Others who did know her. have said again they believe Celeste was. 19, that she was attending college. She. was actually in the seventh grade, by. the way. But they said that she was able. to attend age restricted events. If. that's true, you think about maybe a.

fake ID, what was going on. But that. suggestion has been brought up by police. according to TMZ. That there's also the. fact that it seems the pair may have had. matching tattoos, the word sh on their. fingers. Doesn't mean that they had been. in a romantic relationship, but I. believe that was used as an identifier. of her body. I was talking to Bobby. Chicone about this will, and he made the. point that she could have just been a. fan and saw his tattoo and got a. matching tattoo. investigators maybe. know more about what was the. relationship between the two of them, whether it's connected to her death or.

not. It's a piece of the puzzle. But I. also have to imagine the public can help. here. The public can help investigators. maybe unearth a little bit more about. this apparent connection. What do. investigators do here as they're trying. to establish that? >> You know, you made up a very very good. point and it's really the only defense. in a situation where you're you have a. 14-year-old in a relationship with a a. 19 or 20-year-old. I had no idea how old. this person was. Now, think about this. You're in a romantic relationship with a.

minor that you think is 19 years old. You find out this person's really 14 and. you start thinking about and people. around you start thinking about the. impact of that. That's a motive. Now, that's a motive. If you now you find out. that I've been with a minor, holy cow, what does what does this mean for my. career? I'm not suggesting that's what. happened. You're talking about you're. talking about a motive here. I thought. the same thing. It could have been a. fan. I'm sure this kid has a lot of. young girls who are fans. Um, obsessive. fans. You know, there's orders. protection against plenty of people that.

are stalking celebrities. Again, I'm not. suggesting that's what's happening here, but it's very possible it's a fan. He. meets her at a show. She's got a fake. ID. You know, she she makes herself look. older. I guess it's it's not hard to do. But then you find out this is really a. minor. Now, you got big problems in your. life. So, what are you going to do about. it? >> Let me just add this point. when they. conducted an autopsy and this came out. last week. She was not pregnant at the. time of her death and they indicated she. had not been pregnant in the past year. So, just to put that point out there. before I let you go, Will, you're an.

expert in investigations. What are you looking out for next? What. do you think is going to happen next? >> Well, I think this case is going to. start to turn when you get a cause and. manner of death. Again, you can you have. no prosecutable case into her death. until you have a cause and manner. And. that cause and manner comes back as. whatever it comes back as drug overdose, accidental, manual strangulation, homicide, you have to have a cause and. manner before the investigation moves.

further. Now, you have plenty of time to. make a case. If it turns out this poor. girl dies of a drug overdose and it. appears to be accidental, that doesn't. mean there's going to be no charges in. this case. I I anticipate that there'll. be charges in this case one way or the. other. But as an investigator right now, you've got a bunch of theories. You've. got a bunch of reports and handwritten. notes, and you're you're analyzing. video. You're doing your interviews. You're working this as it is a murder. You're doing everything you would do in. any murder investigation. And if it. doesn't turn out that it's a murder, your investigation is still the same.

So, as an investigator, nothing really. changes. But the big change is going to. be and the big break's going to be the. cause and manner of death. >> We'll see you. Thank you so much for. coming on. Really appreciate it. >> My pleasure. 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 should get your podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm. Jesse Weber. I'll see you next time.

[Music].