Disturbing New Allegations Against D4vd | "Case by Case" | "48 Hours" Podcast | Forensic Files

Just a trigger warning. Some of this reporting is graphic and disturbing. Please listen or watch with care.
Welcome to 48 Hours Case by Case. I'm Erin Moriarty. There are now pages pages of newly released details in the case of
singer-songwriter David Anthony Burke, better known by his stage name David. The 21-year-old singer-songwriter is
charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Riveras Hernandez, whose mutilated remains were discovered in the
front trunk of his impounded Tesla last September. David has pleaded not guilty.
On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office shared a brief, and that's what this is,
regarding preliminary hearing evidence. With me today to discuss it all is Los Angeles Times Investigative Crime Writer
Richard Winton. Richard, I want to give a little bit of background before we start just for
listeners to know a little bit more about David. I mean, it wasn't too long ago that David seemed to be on this path
to major stardom. He had billions of streams on multiple platforms. He composed the music for Fortnite. Um, and
now he's in jail without bail. Tell me about the brief and how unusual that there is a brief without a preliminary
hearing. >> This is more, I think, done before a trial in in typically in Los Angeles
County. Here, uh, Deputy District Attorney Beth Beth Silverman, one of our most experienced prosecutors, basically
just laid out the whole case right there in a document in great detail. Basically set out everything
they know. >> And it was filled with some pretty hard to hear details. Uh you can understand
them why the defense tried to get this sealed before any of us could read it. >> Yeah, I mean he is
basically cuz you're literally laying out how did David commit this murder? >> In addition to the murder charge he
faces, he's been charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of
14, unlawful mutilation of human remains, and then you have to add to that the special circumstances that
exist murder of a witness, murder for financial gain, and lying in wait. But, let's start with really from the
beginning what you learn in this brief. Again, it's according to the prosecution. It is a
uh it's their case. Tell me a little bit about her disappearances from home. >> Okay, so we were at the LA Times we were
already aware that she'd run away at least three times from her home in Riverside County. She lives in an area
called Lake Elsinore. It's considerable distance from LA, inland from LA. Um it turns out as early as the age of
11 she'd had contact with David. Eventually, going to this document, by 13 she's in a relationship, a sexual
relationship, and staying at his house. So, at one point the Riverside County Sheriff's have been contacted and her
family reported her missing. So, they track down that she's possibly staying with this David, and they call him on
his phone, and he basically says that she's not there right now, but she saw her a few days ago. He tells that story.
That very same day Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies turn up at the home to do a welfare check.
Basically, have the same conversation, emphasize her age, that she's a minor, she's not even 14 at stage. And
basically, within days, she returns to Riverside County. But, it's not over there.
According to this document, he pays another student a thousand bucks to basically give her a phone so they can
keep in contact. >> What other kinds of information does this brief does the prosecution say they found that
indicated that he was, in fact, still seeing her and, according to this brief, having sexual relationships with her?
>> Well, they have visuals from from his digital. They have text message, numerous text messages, quite graphic
and detailed. There's also references to abortion, Plan B medication, basically things which clearly indicate
sexual activity. >> According to the brief, the date April 23rd, 2025 is uh a crucial date. Is there something
that led up to that date? Is there a reason for that that is listed in the brief?
>> Yeah, so basically, we get to see for the first time at the the most detailed
account of what may be the motive. She's basically sending him texts which suggests she's, you know, unhappy with
him, concerned basically about the relationship, and she's, you know, implying that she might tell some people
about it. Obviously, that would have as Raff Sillman lays out in the brief, that
would have massive financial consequences if he was accused of having sexual relationship with the minor,
probably jeopardize everything he had. So, what they they say, on that night after getting those that one of those
messages, he gets Serena Uber and she takes it from Lake Elsinore to the Hollywood Hills home
and arrives about 10:10. That's basically the last time anyone can account for her being alive.
>> And is that why the prosecutor picks that date as the date that there is no longer any more communications
from her phone, but there apparently are communications from his phone? >> He starts sending between 10:30 and
11:30 a series of texts about her not being there or not turning up and then basically implying that she wasn't
there, which is kind of strange given we know the prosecutor says they have direct
evidence that that Uber dropped her off at the house that very night, 20 minutes before those
messages started. So, this is where the window starts where suspicious activity >> I mean, I can't help it. I work for a
show called 48 Hours that you hear those kind of details and if in fact that is true that he is calling
knowing that she is gone, he would know that that's going to look very, very suspicious.
>> As most people accused of murder often do, they tend to not be thinking straight in the immediate moments.
>> Now, I do want to warn listeners and anyone watching this podcast at this moment that some of the details I'm
going to ask you about are are hard to listen to because I think what matters now, according to the
prosecution, they believe that she is dead on that evening. >> They allege that he he stabbed her
and more interestingly and sadly, they allege that he let her bleed out. >> And they also allege that
if there was stabbing, it didn't end with her death, that there was dismemberment afterwards, and was there
a particular reason why? >> Oh, okay. So, this is this is one of the more incriminating facts, and I'll be
interested to see how the defense handles this. Two of her fingers were cut off.
Um one of her on one of her ring fingers. They alleged that on that finger was a tattoo.
And the name on that tattoo was David. I mean, everyone wondered when we had initially heard that there was some
fingers missing, what the deal was. And now Bastille man seems to have laid out what she alleges the reason why they
were gone. >> And the evidence that they list, what kinds of things did they say he ordered
in order to cover up the crime? >> Well, the the first thing that happens that night is they managed to track the
He's car and him drove all the way to Santa Barbara County to a remote roadside near a lake, Lake Cachuma,
which is a long way, by the way, from his home. I mean, a long, long way. And by the morning he'd gone back.
But then he starts the series what they alleged the series of purchases which he uses aliases to do. The first
purchase from Home Depot is a is a spade. A spade he has delivered by Postmates the day after she's they prosecutors
alleged she damn it disappeared. >> But it doesn't end there, does it? And what was the the name he used?
>> Victoria Mendez. Go on to this document, that's when he took to Amazon and he bought two chainsaws,
a burn box, a body bag, and a laundry bag, all in quick succession as the days unfolded.
>> I may be naive, but um until I read this brief, that was the first time I even
knew what a burn box, burn cage is. >> Yes, but he did end up using another item, which would be not
something you normally think about in disposing of a body, that was an inflatable pool, the kind of
one that young toddlers and kids use. >> How does the prosecution explain ordering an inflatable pool?
>> So, what Beth Silverman has alleged in this document is that in the days that
that follow in May, they she alleges that David used one of those chainsaws to cut up Celeste
in the garage in the pool. Blood was found in the garage. DNA tied to Celeste is found there, but
here's a really, really, probably very important part of that. When they did eventually find her
remains in his Tesla months later, it she was cut up, and she was in two bags. They also found embedded in amongst her
remains bits of plastic. Plastic that the prosecutors allege is from that small pool.
>> Does that explain to you, Richard, then why there were those circum- those special circumstances alleged initially,
the killing of a witness, um uh murder for uh for gain? It Does that evidence kind of point to the reason why
those special circumstances were added? >> Yeah, I mean, basically, the whole thing is basically
it Sillman is underlying this case with the bottom line is in the end what's it was all about
money. All about making money in the music business the success. In the end she became a potential obstacle to all
this. And then he decided to do the most horrific things. >> Richard, I know the way this brief is
written, the prosecution wants us to believe that it was absolutely David who did this. Um, but up until I read this
brief, there was a side of me that I mean, I thought couldn't he be set up? Do you really kill someone and leave
that person in your car knowing it's going to be traced straight directly to you? Does that make you at least wonder
about the details of this? >> I mean, the defense is clearly going to present okay, that's all you say all
this, where's your witnesses? The people lived in this house. And what the brief doesn't say
and this interesting because we had three three periods of grand jury activity and
investigated grand jury sat in this case. They were different grand juries. And basically what Beth Sillman did was
take witnesses in this case people with information before that grand jury and questioned
them and then got the transcripts to you to help develop her case. She wasn't actually trying to indict him, but
rather gather up information and basically bring people in who didn't want to maybe cooperate from his
entourage. We know members of his entourage were sat before that grand jury parts of the record company
management team was sat before that grand jury. So, that does dangle that massive question is well, are they cuz
then there's no witnesses in this document per se beyond the law enforcement and forensic officials.
So there is this big big unanswered question. >> Richard did it bother you at all? It
just struck me as you mentioned there were a number of grand juries that were called investigative grand juries, but
isn't it more common that the DA would have a grand jury indict him rather than a prelim? And
so I keep wondering is the case as strong as they say it is when they have not they obviously did not get a grand
jury to indict him. >> Yeah, this is a big difference I think that people don't really completely
understand. So in Los Angeles historically grand jury indictments are generally rare. Other parts of the
country grand jury indictments are pretty common. Here grand juries tend to be more investigative than indictive.
We learned fairly early on that this was not really they were not doing the indictment route. This was all about
hey, we need to get these people. >> Richard you had said that this this brief really lays out a very detailed
story the way the prosecution sees it. Now before this was released the defense had been very strong saying that the
evidence will show that that Burke did not do this. David Burke did not do this.
Have they responded? Have they talked about this brief being released and had new comments about their their client?
>> They haven't yet. What they did do in court is they tried to stop this from being made public because they'd
obviously read it. Pretty stalled by it what has happened and they tried to block it. They have not addressed it.
What they had going into that hearing they'd been pushing for a preliminary hearing as soon as possible. A very kind
of unusual let's see if we can catch the prosecution off guard. They don't expect
us to go to go and make this have a hearing. In California, basically, unless you have an indictment, you
basically have a small hearing where with the judge with a limited number of witnesses and they basically have to
find that there's establish some preponderance of the evidence. This isn't beyond a reasonable
doubt with the jury. It's just is the preponderance of the evidence that this that this event this allegation can is
at least strong enough to stand up to proceed to a trial. Here, the defense was like, "Okay, we don't
think they're ready. We're going to go for it." And they immediately start going for it. The prosecution is like,
"Oh, we're ready, but you should know there's like tons of terabytes, which is like the
equivalent of like a small library, okay, to look at in this case. Most of it is obviously visual and audio, which
takes up a lot of space. We get to yesterday and that this is the day where they're still meant to be
setting the date and lo and behold, Bev Sillman drops this document not not long after the defense is now
looking at, you know, next month, basically a month away from this date for for the for the prelim.
Obviously, they want more time now, they but they've got to see a little bit. You know, it was kind of like, "Hey, I
you punch us, we punch you." >> Well, but isn't there a risk for the prosecution as well? Because one of the
reasons why you want a preliminary hearing is you want to surprise the defense with evidence they may not know you have
and they're not prepared. Doesn't this brief then give the defense a chance to defend this at the preliminary hearing?
>> Yeah, I mean, I think yeah, the the the good thing for the defense and it's probably partly apart from the fact they
just got to look at a lot of evidence and they haven't got it all and it's like an enormous amount of terabytes is
yeah, they wanted to see they want to see the cards of the prosecutors here. They want to see what they got.
Now, they didn't they showed some of their cards, let's be real honest. They didn't show all their cards. They
didn't tell us anything about the human witnesses beyond the authorities. They didn't tell us what the friends are
going to say or who's going to Now, they don't usually in this kind of crime put
those kind of people on. Typically, they put on just the key detectives and forensic people just to prove something
happened. >> Richard, you actually alluded to this. Um the defense is correct, isn't it,
when the lawyers say releasing something like this pre-trial really could affect the jury pool?
>> I mean, there's no doubt in the in the modern era as well. Affecting the jury
pool is a big part of the of how things operate. Yeah, I don't think Beth Silvers naive. She knows by putting this
all out there that even those who've never heard of David and that's probably a lot of people over the age of 35
will now heard something about this and will it will permeate somehow into their sort of news cycle, their social
media or something, which means she'll now have you know, a leg up when it does eventually reach the trial, if it does.
>> Now, I'm just slightly over the age of 35, but I had been really curious about David and
I spent a lot of time looking at his videos. I mean, he was he was a a person whose start him was on the rise.
Um and I was interested in how he had set up this chat. It was very large on the Discord server. Um this area called
David's Closet. But Wired Magazine wrote a really interesting article recently talking about how I think the title
actually is uh they made David a star, now they want him convicted of murder. Have these young people who have been
following him, supporting him um turned against him? >> Some of them have cuz some of them were
very quick to start digging through the old imagery of that group. There's basically you have this whole sort of
interconnected community who put their sort of time into him. I mean, I don't know how this will play out at trial,
but in one of his videos he literally drags a body to the back of a car and puts it in there. It's actually very
weird because he's also the body as well as the dragging person. >> That's him. >> Yeah. And then there's you know another
one of his videos there's blood everywhere. Remember they have like his entire iCloud, they have all his
materials. So they'll know how he constructed songs. He wrote some of these songs probably with other people.
Typically when you work for a label, they may have interacted, they may know if this particular song references uh or
you know, so this is songs which aren't published possibly. >> Richard, do you know for a fact where
David met Celeste? Uh was it on Discord? Do you know? >> No, and we just know it's online. His
story is I mean, he's an interesting character in that he developed his sort of early career just by basically
originally doing other people's songs. He even like basically did this Alvin and the Chipmunks style voice. so he
would find ways to expand his audience and that turned out I Here's an interview early on with um
Benny Blanco, well-known music producer, who's a good interviewer. And he asked him a lot of questions
about how he grew his career and he sort of outlines the whole expansion of basically doing other people's music.
You know, he was in the sort of Fortnite game world where he became somewhat of a
personality. And then he was like basically creating these Alvin and the Chipmunks songs and then he moves into
the real music and starts producing his own stuff. >> I should point out that um
Epic Games, which publishes Fortnite, has actually offered refunds and Rolling Stone is reporting that in fact he's
been dropped from his label. Is that in fact the case? >> Yes, he was he's been dropped from his
label. We've confirmed that. >> So um we will continue to follow this case as it goes on. Is there anything
else that you found significant about this in just one day? >> I think I think one of the most I mean,
I think what we're going to see here is the the prosecution of Best Seller one of
the best prosecutors on this case. She's well-known and she's done other cases of
the highest level in Los Angeles and put away some of the most infamous murders.
But this Here we're going to see two of the more powerful players of LA LA legal community play
again a head-to-head. He's been principally represented by Blair Berk. Blair Berk has had Harvey Weinstein.
She's had a numerous clients. These two only recently have squared off in a murder case involving a
very famous hairstyle executive. So these two know each other well and they take no prisoners, both of them.
>> Are you predicting that the preliminary hearing, when in fact it's held in a month or longer, will be like a mini
trial? It's going to get the same kind of attention because these two are going to fight it out.
>> Oh, yeah. This is going to be a early showdown to see what you've got. Of course, Beth could also, given we just
see what she did with this this she could also just impanel a grand jury next week and indict him and just get
past the whole process. >> Now, I don't know whether you got any sleep last night because you actually
covered two hearings yesterday, two high-profile hearings. Um the first one was actually uh Nick
Reiner's. Is that unusual that you would have two of these very high-profile hearings on the same day in the same
courthouse? >> Um not in Los Angeles. Fortunately, the ninth floor uh is famous for handling high-profile
cases. Most Americans probably only familiar with this floor or maybe a brief reference in their minds of their
his is to the history that this was the floor where Judge Lance Ito, Judge Lance
Ito oversaw O.J. Simpson and it's kind of a has a little extra level of security. Luckily,
my colleague James Quealy was also covering all this stuff, so he actually did the lot of the bulk of the lifting
yesterday. But it's Yeah, it's a microcosm because these big cases get sent to this one
place in this massive LA court system. There's like this one floor where the judges handled the most biggest and most
heinous cases tend to be there. >> Now, this was simply a hearing and I should again, just for listeners and
viewers, uh to remind people that Nick Reiner is accused of killing his on or around December 14th, 2025. He has
pleaded not guilty. Um and I'm just kind of curious, what is the latest? Why was there a hearing?
>> What we have is pre-preliminary hearing. Them trying to work out the logistics of
how this is moving forward. Yesterday, we ran into a sort of significant obstacle, which is
apparently the autopsy and the medical examiner's report isn't ready for either of the Reiners yet. So, which is kind of
surprising cuz it was quite a while ago. >> I know. What would be the hold-up? >> We don't know. So, obvious delay. It's
obviously a major factor in any sort of prelim. It's okay, what happened? You know, what do you find? What
forensically do you have? They don't have it. So, delay happens here again. Now, we don't know a lot of details
about the the the deaths beyond in terms of facts. Before that seal was put on, we know
that the current the medical examiner in Los Angeles described this the the deaths as basically sharp object
penetration wounds. In the death certificate, it says knife. Um but there's not like a whole bunch of
Beyond that, we don't know a lot factually. >> I I also want to talk about unlike the
David case, it seems like the defense is not in a hurry to get this case uh adjudicated. You have written about uh
Nick Reiner's medical history. Um what part do you think that's going to play in this case if it actually goes to
trial or will it be the reason why it doesn't go to trial? Is there any indication at this point that there may
be an affirmative defense, not guilty by reason of insanity, anything like that at this point.
>> We don't have officially have that, but behind the scenes it's being talked about widely because he has a history of
mental illness, a severe history of drug usage. He's He's He Prior to this the deadly events, he's changed his
medications in the weeks before. There's apparently been issues with the medication. All this stuff has been
percolating. He has a very heavily documented history of drug and mental health issues. Some
of it she's even discussed, you know, in podcasts and things. You know, quite openly that there's a
lot of that. He's moved from being represented by a private attorney, Alan Jackson, that many
listeners probably are familiar with, to being now represented by the public defender.
>> Do you know why? Was it because his siblings didn't want to pay for his defense? That's been out there. Do you
know from your reporting whether that's true? >> From our reporting, we know that
we wouldn't say his siblings, but we would say his family discontinued paying the law firm that Mr. Jackson
works for. So there's There was a decision at some level within the family or the executor
to no longer continue to pay. Will that affect how Nick's represented? I I don't actually think it will as this
does lean towards some version of insanity defense or some sort, you know, try to plea down to
a a second degree or something. The public defender here in this case is actually a very able individual who's
handled that kind of case, and this case is very different from David. I In that
I don't think the defense will ever say he didn't do it. I think it's more he didn't do it or didn't knowingly do
it. So it's going to be a very, very different case. And those cases tend to take a lot of time historically when
I've seen them in Los Angeles. >> That's a That's a very good point because he's pleaded not guilty, but
that can also be pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, which which is saying I did it, but I didn't
know I was doing anything wrong or or knowingly killed somebody. So, we will have to see that. How would you describe
his demeanor in the court yesterday? Did he look differently? Did he >> Uh well, he's thinner. He's got a shaved
almost shaved head, very short haircut. He's, you know, he just looks like someone who's a little distant from
everything. >> Which brings us to Nick's older brother, Jake, who wrote a moving essay on
Substack late last week about what it was like losing his parents. He recounted hearing about what happened
from his sister, Romy, who first discovered their parents. I'd just like to get your reaction to it. It's It's
heartbreaking to read. He wrote, "We lost more than half of our family that night in the most violent way
imaginable. Sure, any loss of a parent is devastating, but nothing compares to losing both of them at the same time,
and on the top of that, having your brother be at the center of it. It's almost too impossible to process. I
understand that people have questions about what happened. Some of those answers will come in time, but some
parts of this belong only to our family, and keeping them private is the only way
to protect what little remains of something that was taken from us." What was your reaction when you read
that? >> My reaction overwhelmingly was there was something missing in the piece.
He never said Nick, which is kind of startling when you know your brother's the accused here.
He never mentioned him at all. So, he said a lot of really dramatic and sad facts about the family
and the loss and he told wrote beautifully about his parents and his sister's struggle, you know,
dealing with it. But he never mentioned Nick directly by name which was kind of telling about
it was like the unwritten what what he was saying. >> So, he'll be back in court when?
>> So, Nick will be back in court in September. It's just going to move on very slowly. At some point
in probably the fall, we're probably going to see what the real plea is and the real kind of approaches.
And then we'll see where it's going, where this is actually looking a trial or a bifurcated trial, you know, with
two parts essentially. >> And I hope you'll be back with us to talk about these cases as they advance,
promise? >> Yes, I'll be here as always. >> We'll be back next week with another
episode of Case by Case. Be sure to rate and review and let us know which cases you are following and you want us to
follow.

On Wednesday evening, April 29, prosecutors released a brief outlining their case against singer-songwriter D4vd, who has been charged in the murder of 14 year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. On this episode of “Case By Case,” we examine the state’s timeline of events, including the allegation that D4vd stabbed Celeste and went to great lengths to cover up the crime. Plus, an update on Nick Reiner who appeared in the same court just hours before D4vd. “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty and Los Angeles Times crime writer Richard Winton dig into the new details on both stories.

The cases everyone's talking about, explained as they happen. "Case by Case" is a weekly update on the biggest criminal stories unfolding now. New episodes every Friday, available wherever you watch or listen to podcasts. You can also get ad-free access to 48 Hours podcasts by subscribing to 48 Hours+ at 48HoursPodcasts.com.

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Brief Summary

David Burke is charged with murdering Celeste Hernandez, with evidence suggesting financial motives and gruesome details of the crime.

Key points

David Burke's Rise and Fall. Once a rising star with billions of streams, David now faces serious murder charges.
Graphic Details of the Case. The prosecution alleges David committed horrific acts against Celeste, including dismemberment.
Incriminating Evidence. Two of Celeste's fingers were found cut off, one with a tattoo of David's name.
Motive Behind the Crime. The prosecution suggests financial gain was the motive for the murder.
Defense's Challenge. The defense questions the strength of the prosecution's evidence and witnesses.
Courtroom Drama Unfolds. The tension rises as the preliminary hearing approaches, with high stakes for both sides.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He had billions of streams on multiple platforms.

Discussing David's rise to fame.

1:14WatchMay 1, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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