D4vd Charged with Murder | Case by Case

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We're going to start things off with a trigger warning. Now, some of the reporting is disturbing that you're going to be listening to, but please watch and listen with Kaer. Today, I am announcing the charges against David Anthony Burke. The musician known as David spelled D4VD. In connection with the brutal and horrific murder

of Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time. That was Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hockman announcing the charges against 21-year-old singer-songwriter David Anthony Burke. He goes by the stage name David for the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The District Attorney calls this case a parent's nightmare and says there is significant physical, forensic, and digital evidence tying David to the crime.

David Burke has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges he has denied any wrongdoing. His legal team released a statement, and this is what they said, and let us be clear. The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, and he was not the cause of her death. I'm 48 hours correspondent Natalie Morales, and this is Case by Case, where each week,

the team here from 48 hours, we bring you the biggest stories in true crime in real time. And with me now to discuss the latest legal details in the charges against David Burke,

is CBS Chief correspondent Matt Gutman, who's been covering this case from when it first broke

back in September. Good to see you again, Matt. Hey, good to be with you again, Natalie.

“So, Matt, give us the play by play here, legally. Where is this case right now?”

I mean, when we're talking about play by play, it's literally playing out right now. As we are recording this, we're in the midst of a political preliminary hearing, and so what does that actually mean? Okay. So, a judge needs to determine whether there is enough evidence against David to move forward with the case. And here's the basic crux of the charges. First degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human

remains. Now, the medical examiner, just released or we should say, was allowed to release a report determining that this was a homicide specifically noting that Celeste died by multiple penetrating injuries caused by an object. It's believed that it was some sort of sharp object at David's arrangement, which happened on Monday. His defense team asked for this hearing to take place, as soon as possible, despite the fact that the prosecution says that it had 40 terabytes

of discovery to give them. That's where we are right now. 40 terabytes of discovery. That tells me that they've been working on this case for quite a while, and they have a lot of information. So, the investigation into David, though, really started with the discovery of Celeste, her decomposing body in his Tesla and the front trunk, and it is so horrific. It is so graphic. It's very disturbing. I mean, is it believed that Celeste ran away from her family to go

meet him and to go live with him? So, Celeste's family reported her as missing in April of 2024.

This hadn't been the first time in the past. She'd disappeared, but she'd returned home,

but a year passes since Celeste's family filed their last missing persons report. And in September 2025, employees in a tow yard, they noticed this really foul smell, and eventually they found a car, and inside was a severely decomposed and dismembered body.

“And it was later identified as Celeste. Remember, sitting in the bureau, watching this unfold,”

because there were helicopters over it, watching the work that they were doing, weren't quite sure what was going on, but something was clearly found in this Tesla,

I mean, hearing that and thinking about what her parents, how they were told and hearing all of these

details about how their daughter was found. The question I have though, I mean, this car found in this Hollywood tow lot, of course, it's registered to David. It's going to lead right back to him. He has denied any wrongdoing, but you know, why did it take now more than seven months to get to this point where they charge him now? It was pretty quick that we learned that it was his car. So his name was out there early on, but again, the manner of death took a while to get to,

“and I think for most intense purposes, the DA's office was keeping their cards very close to”

the vest. It were probably trying to protect witnesses, trying to protect evidence, that might have come out, and this is a high profile case. We're talking about a musician who is exploding online, who is doing a national tour, going abroad, very, very popular and they were trying to do all they could to protect their case. I'm sure that they were building in that time as much evidence as they could to make this arrest, right?

Yeah, I mean, you know, this is something that I think the press has asked for from the very start. We were curious about the manner of death, and typically the medical examiner's report will be released. It wasn't in this case. In fact, the LAPD initiated a court order preventing the medical examiner from releasing its findings. And you know, I just want to read to you this quote from the press release from the chief medical examiner, because clearly there was very

significant tension between the medical examiner, the LAPD and the DA. So this is what they wrote, quote, it is unfathomable that they've had to wait. The families had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter. The transparency of the information contained in our findings and reports

“is essential for empowering the community to make informed changes to actively reduce fear”

and allowing the community to take informed action. This is the public's right to know.

And the medical examiner in an extraordinary, I mean, I've never seen something like this report,

actually points a finger at the LAPD for not allowing this information to come out. So the information in that report says basically two penetrating wounds of the torso and a wound to the upper abdomen. Obviously, of course, Celeste's body was mutilated. Oh, gosh, and again, I go back to what Celeste's family was was feeling and hearing all of this information. They, in fact, have since now spoken and have shared that these findings have caused them profound emotional pain as

you would expect. It has. And, you know, during the arrangement on Monday, they were in attendance, but they've said that they're not going to be there, the preliminary hearing. It's just too painful

“for them, I think. Yeah, I can only imagine.”

Let's talk about the popularity of David as a musician. I mean, as you alluded to, he was very successful. Just 21 years old, and, you know, I mean, the number of hits and streaming views and listeners, it's, I mean, this guy's career was on the rise when this happened. Clearly, a very, very talented young individual. And again, a lot of attention online as a teenager by posting montages of himself playing Fortnite. He claims he got into creating original music

as a way to avoid copyright claims when soundtracking his montages, which is very interesting and indicative of this young man's talent. Yeah, and he's just looking at all of his accolades, you know, his on Spotify, and he's released two EP's, several, several singles, a full album from 2021 to 2025.

I mean, he's had billions of streams at this point. And 3.6 million followers on TikTok.

He worked with Fortnite to produce their official 2025, and them locked and loaded. You know, just going through his music and some of the videos that he's released, the one that caught my attention and a lot of people's as well, especially now in hindsight, is romantic homicide, you know, terrible title given the circumstances. The video shows him, though, as a character, he has, I read one of his interviews. He, he says he was inspired by anime.

And you see in that video, this character holding a bloody knife, there is a young woman,

“I mean, it's jarring seeing some of that now. I mean, obviously David is presumed innocent until”

proven guilty, but it's not a great look. Yeah. You know, it's not a great look, especially since he also produced a song called Celeste, and the combination of these two things certainly has raised a lot of scrutiny. You know, it sounds like this relationship, though, was pretty well known. It was documented, and people in Celeste life apparently knew about it. They even had, you know, unfortunately when they discovered in the autopsy, you know, this tattoo that says,

and they both had these tattoos, hers on her index finger, on her right index finger. So it seems like, you know, they were together, and people knew about it. And so, you know, her family was aware that she knew David. So let's brother told NBCLA that when she disappeared, she was on her way to see a movie with David and court documents say that she lived with David in Los Angeles. Now at this point, prosecutors alleged that the sexual abuse began in 2023

“when she had just turned 13, 13. I mean, and I think a lot of people at home probably asking”

themselves. So why now? I mean, she was reported missing multiple times. She's a minor. He is a legal adult. So her sexual abuse, according to the DA, I mean, was that being investigated that far back while she was still alive? I think at this point, Natalie, we could say pretty much categorically that no, there is no indication that her specific case was being investigated at the time, but the LEPD says that they only learned there was a sexual relationship after the death investigation

was underway. So this brings us now to the arrest. Yeah, April 16th, you know, LAPD flooded the streets of Hollywood Hills. This is LA's prized and highly regarded robbery, homicide division, and they moved in to execute the case. And they've been on the case pretty much from the start. And the DA reminds us that this investigation is still ongoing, but the DA so far is expressed confidence that they will be able to prove the charges,

and that their evidence will hold up in court. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about these charges,

because in a case that is so heinous, there are special circumstances attached to this first degree

murder charge. For our listeners, not familiar with that, as a legal term, explain what that means. These special circumstances in the case elevate a first degree murder charge to a higher level of severity, meaning if convicted, David, could either spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, or if the DA so chooses, they can go for the death penalty. Obviously, very hard in California to do. And the DA said that at some point in the near future,

they will decide about that death penalty. And let's break down with these special circumstances are... Okay, so the special circumstances here, there are three of them, and I'm just going to read, you know, there's murder of a witness, that's one, murder for financial gain to and lying in weight, and the murder for financial gain and witness these to go hand in hand.

Basically, the state is trying to claim that Celeste was killed in order to prevent her from

speaking about her sexual relationship. Let's take a listen to Hockman here. As the evidence will show in court, the financial gain was for Mr. Burke to maintain his very lucrative, music, musical career that Celeste was threatening on that particular knife. So interesting, he's releasing some detail here. The DA mentioning that Celeste was threatening to ruin David's career on that particular knife. Is there evidence then that she was

able to speak up to police or to go public in some way about the nature of their relationship?

“You know, we just don't know at this point, Natalie. That's what DA Hockman seems to be implying.”

As for the lying in weight charge, I know you asked District Attorney Hockman about that. Let's play a clip. The essence of a lying in weight, special circumstance that we've

charged in connection with the first degree murder charge is that he invited Celeste to his

with the idea that he was going to murder her. You're saying he knew you're saying he was

“premeditated that he knew he was going to murder her on that day and that you have the evidence to prove”

that. Yes, we will prove beyond a reasonable doubt in a courtroom that the first degree murder charge

which requires premeditation in order for us to meet the elements of that charge at that occurred on the night in which the individual known as David murder Celeste. So in a case like this, prosecutors typically don't move until they believe that they have proof beyond a reasonable doubt and a clear timeline. Obviously, DA Hockman believes that they have reached that bar, but we haven't seen it yet. Neither is the public. This leads us to David's preliminary hearing.

It's actually happening right now as we speak. Can you give us a little bit of the

“behind-the-scenes look at what's happening there? You know, I've been speaking to legal analysts”

about this and what they're saying is that the defense right now is essentially calling the

prosecutors bluff. We heard early in the week that defense wanted this hearing to happen as soon as possible. Fully knowing that the prosecution probably wasn't going to be able to have everything that it wanted to prepare. So they are playing a, I guess, a form of legal chicken here. Now, the defense says that there is not evidence against David for these charges. They have been adamant. He did not murder. He is not involved in her death. What they want is for him to be

released on bail. So far, the judge denied bail. The prosecution warned that they have 40 terabytes of evidence and this is kind of a warning in some ways, too, because that's saying, oh, you guys won evidence. We got evidence. The prosecution also revealed that David's iPhone apparently contained a significant amount of child pornography. The defenses mean while asked the judge to move the hearing now to next week, which, you know, it appears the judge agreed to that as

well. So it seems there's been a continuation in this preliminary hearing and Celeste family. Where are they in all of this? I mean, obviously broken. You know, seeing their faces is obviously

“very hard. Their lawyers made it clear that they are very private. I think many, many media outlets”

have tried to reach out to them. And her parents released the first statement since the arrest earlier this week. And I'll read a portion of it. It says Celeste was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance. Every Friday night was movie night and we spent wonderful times together.

We love her very much. And she always told us that she loved us. We miss her deeply. All we want

is just as for Celeste. It's just such a tragic case and story, but it is this family's life now. Again, David is denying any wrongdoing, but this is going to be clearly something that well, parents listening to watching will be wanting to hear more about how this all could happen. It's just beyond imagination. So yeah, this is a very dark case and it's probably going to take some time to play out. And it will be in the headlines from now until I assume long after this

case is completely wrapped up. Be, of course, going to continue to follow this developing story as new information is being released. We'll bring it to you. And again, Matt, thank you for being the person there on the doing all the work for us here and making it easier. Thanks for having me again. We will 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.

When beloved family patriarch Gary Ferris went missing, his family looked everywhere on their property until they came across something horrifying. It's a homicide. Absolutely. The blame game in this family went round and round. This is Bloodesticker, the Ferris wheel. I would don't see how anyone can look at this story and think they were happy. Benz the full series, Bloodesticker, the Ferris wheel, on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast.