D4vd's Team Allegedly Helped Him Do WHAT?!

0:00Your path to pharmacy can be closer than you think. West Coast University's hybrid doctor of pharmacy program can be completed in as little as 33 months, and no bachelor's degree is required to apply. If you've started pharmacy coursework elsewhere, WCU may accept eligible transfer credits to help students keep moving forward. Learn online, train hands-on at our Center for Graduate Studies in Los Angeles, and prepare for real-world pharmacy practice. West Coast University, as real as it gets, visit westcoastuniversity.edu. WCU cannot guarantee employment. Earn your farm D in as little as 33 months, with West Coast University's hybrid program, no bachelor's degree required. Eligible transfer credits may be accepted. West Coast University, as real as it gets, visit westcoastuniversity.edu. WCU cannot guarantee employment. Your path to pharmacy can be closer than you think. West Coast University's hybrid doctor of pharmacy program can be completed in as little as 33 months, and no bachelor's degree is required to apply. If you've started pharmacy coursework elsewhere, WCU may accept eligible transfer credits to help students keep moving forward. Learn online, train hands-on at our

1:03Center for Graduate Studies in Los Angeles, and prepare for real-world pharmacy practice. West Coast University, as real as it gets, visit westcoastuniversity.edu. WCU cannot guarantee employment. Imagine your friend tells you she's taking an innocent family trip to Greenville, South Carolina. We'll call her Emma. The trip sounds great to you. Hiking at Jones Gap, dinner at Topsoil, a room at the best hotel in town. Harmless, right? Here's the thing. Emma and her family never returned from Greenville. They disappear. You search for answers, but nothing adds up. Emma had a great life back home. You guys were best friends. What happened? Well, the truth is, once Emma realized she could have access to Michelin recognized restaurants, nature, local shops, and performing arts all in one place, everywhere else started to seem a little. Meh. Emma's vacation is a cautionary tale. If you're coming this way, don't forget to tell your

2:03friends and neighbors goodbye. Visit Greenville, South Carolina, but you may never want to leave. Learn more at visitgreenvillesc.com. This is the Big Breakdown. Along look back at some of the biggest stories we're covering for you at the Hidden Killers Podcast and True Crime today. This is Hidden Tillers Live with Tony Brusky and Robin Drink. Let's go to another case that is getting more traction and very interestingly, we're learning a lot more about because of civil discovery, because of a civil case that's now been launched against David D4VD, David Anthony Burke, who is awaiting trial for the brutal murder and dismemberment of 14-year-old Celeste Reva Fernandez. Criminal trial is looming massive new legal development just dropped this week and what would have been Celeste's 16th birthday. Her family filed a sprawling wrongful death in human trafficking lawsuit, but they aren't just suing

3:07Burke. They're going after his mother, his management, his security guard and his record entities, alleging that the adults and his orbit knew about the exploitation of a child and did absolutely nothing. Joining us to break it down, it is Robin Drink, Retired FBI Special Agent, Chief of the Counter Intelligence Behavioral Analysis Program in Jennifer Kaufendaffer, Retired FBI Special Agent. Jennifer, the civil suit, it targets the inner circle, mom, manager, the live-in security guard, and your time with the FBI investigating high profile or wealthy targets, how come it is it for an entire payroll of adults to become willfully blind to the exploitation in this case of a kid, just to keep the money machine running. I can think of another guy who had some allegations like that against him not that long ago. They old didler, but this is kind of more of a different scale, if you will. Yeah, different scale but listen, they have to go after everybody in the inner circle because the money's been distributed to the inner circle, right? He signed over everything

4:11to mama, so they have to go there, but you know, and I don't know what you're going to think about this statement I'm going to make, but I'm just going to say everybody buckle up, everyone, quick, grace yourselves, buckle up. Stand by for spicy gents. Stand by for spicy gents. Stand by for for jinn. Okay, go for it. How can this family not point their critical finger in the mirror? Yeah, I agree. I agree. Oh, where are they? At the fact that she was reported missing, and then I have video footage of her at home arguing with the neighbor. Yeah. She was absolutely in and out, and I have other evidence that she, mom, family knew she was cavorting, you know, flying things they signed off on. So this critical finger needs to be pointed in both directions. That's sorry. It seems odd that they decided, again, is pure conjecture and just optics from what we've seen. It's all sudden. Now they decide to be

5:16parents. Yeah. Yes, exactly. I won 1000% agree with you, Jen. I've been screaming this for months now on this case too. You want to give grace, but at the same time, what the hell? I mean, you lost your daughter. I have, right, unders that's horrible. I cannot freaking imagine what that must be like. I don't ever want to imagine what that must be like. But at the same point, you also signed the the releases. Oh, yes, this is a great idea. Go go overseas with the the gentleman who's an adult and you're a child. And and that's fine. That's good. That's all a okay with us. Oh, you're the only child. You're the only underage person on this trip. You mean inappropriate things are happening? I didn't expect that. It just seemed like a nice educational trip. He's opening your eyes to the world. Yeah. That's what's happening, mom and dad. I don't buy for a second that they were that stupid. But I don't know that they also, I don't know that they, they, I don't know they fully understand or fully weighed the reality of what was going on around their daughter and

6:18this man. I don't know. I mean, at the end of the day, this again, it feels to me in a ceremony like cockroaches are running away from the scene of the fire because they don't want to get burned because they were too close to it, you know, putting the kindling on it to begin with. I do have empathy and I do have sympathy. But yeah, at the end of the day, I'm, I've been saying for a while, I'm kind of surprised to a certain extent that there's no charges against her own parents for, I don't know, something in here. Child endangerment? Child endangerment, something around those, those ranges. I suppose if you're going to go really loud and big and bold and file the, the civil lawsuits, you're really trying to push everybody over there going, see, we can't possibly be copable for any of this stuff or have any sort of responsibility. Let me ask you that. Does that matter? Does, does filing the civil suit? Does the grand standing of these are all horrible people? We're just innocent parents. Does that, does it affect anybody or any sort of charging decisions when it comes to looking at who to go after in a case

7:22like this? I mean, as well as empathy for someone who lost their kid when they're trying to determine who's all responsible in the bigger picture of this. First of all, and I agree with you that I cannot imagine losing my daughter, cannot imagine it, and I have a full amount of empathy for anyone who loses their child. But this is an extreme case, in my opinion, of 11, 12, 13, 14, I remember this started at 11, the grooming and the unsupervised situation. This, this never happens overnight. It just doesn't. And so I think to your bigger question as far as sort of getting the magnifying glass off the family, I really think this is all about money, denaro. That is what this comes down to. So I think more, I secondarily maybe, but the big thing is they want the money and they're hoping they can get their hands in some

8:26honey pot. It just drives me insane with all these cases between the go-fun, these and the lawsuits, all these people. It's just something. I don't think they're going to get much money off of it. We'll see what happens. Yeah, and I looked at the child endangerment, probability charges, low on this case because of how it was handled. There's a big gap in there between what they knew and what is okay or the, they can charge. And so again, just on the conjecture, everyone's innocent kind of thing. But again, likelihood is slim to none on that one. It's a level of willful ignorance. Anyone can look at it, you know, high-end setting go, yeah, maybe I shouldn't have let my 14-year-old, yeah, maybe you shouldn't have. That was probably a horrific idea in the first place. And they have a track record of putting her in as missing as well. So that, you know, the base is covered on that end. But I'm with, I'm with Jen. It's, I hate to think it, but the fact of the money of this thing, because you can easily put you again without no one of fax only what we know through social media and what we know so far of, well,

9:28they seem to not have a problem with them when she was cavorting with people a lot of money and all of a sudden she's no longer cavorting with the people a lot of money and all of a sudden they want the money. I mean, just see what I mean. Just, and predators are going to be predators. This is why they're out there. This is why they're swathing together. And not everybody is super quick to the draw when a predator comes at them. That's why they have prey. So I mean, it's easy for us to look at this and go, yeah, of course I would never do that. And I don't think any of us would ever do that. But there's people who would that don't necessarily, I don't know, their eyes are just not open well enough to, I mean, there's people still go into JPMellars church, you know, and I'm sure there's people that are like, yeah, go ahead, put my kids over in the children's youth program or what? You know, people do dumb shit with their kids because they believe they're safe. Even when all of the evidence points to that being a very dumb idea. So at the end of the day, you have predators, you have prey. Maybe that's part of it. Part of the argument that they're making in the case is that this was some sort of a coercive control type thing. He used his wealth, designer gifts, and traveled

10:33to coerce this 14 year old girl. How was a, how is a jury going to look at that when it comes to, yeah, but you sign off. You said it's okay. I don't know if they, the family accepted gifts or anything. I have no authority to say they did, but they're saying, you know, their daughter was happy. So I guess they were happy too to a certain extent while she was smiling while she was alive. Where do you think this actually goes as a civil lawsuit? Well, coercive control is ridiculous. In this case, I think for the most part, and this is why I say this. I truly think for, I just, I just truly think that he used, you know, the Hello Kitty's, he used the money, he used all of that definitely, but you can't say that without the parents involvement, this could have happened. And that's the problem I have with this. The coercive control, if we

11:38want to call it that, came on because of her not being supervised as a child. Yeah. That's why it happened. And so I, I have a, a problem with just using coercive control and only saying one person is responsible for it. I feel like they're, they're talking about their daughter who was 13, 14 and younger through some of this as if she's like a full grown adult. Like, like, well, you know, this happened. She was control like, she's a child. You know, you could do, you could also say no and lock the door. That's what you do. Yeah. You know, you're not doing this. You're a child, and I'm the adult, and I'm responsible for you. So no, you're not going to Las Vegas. You're not going to Paris with the man who writes about killing people and putting them in their trunk. That seems like it might not be a good parenting decision. So I'm not going to do it, but they didn't. And we're here now. So yeah, with the, the civil suit, the, the discovery process is, is,

12:39is broad. Civil attorneys are going to be demanding internal management emails, group chats, financial records. What sort of things do criminal prosecutors and FBI agents actively monitor in these, these parallel civil suits? Or do you think most of what's going to be coming up here in the civil suit is already in the hands of the criminal investigators? Or might there be little pieces that are pride loose over here, civilly, that will help the criminal investigation, or even expand the criminal investigation with further charges against David, or maybe some of those within his circle? Well, I tell you what I salivated every time there was a civil suit that ended up going on at the same time as my criminal. I mean, the smart thing, typically, is you do the civil after, to be quite frank. But in this case, it, I think, only helps the prosecutor. I think a lot more will come out. All those depositions that are going to be taken are going to be

13:42very, very interesting. I really think this is going to end up looking very bad against the family. I think that's where it's going to end up looking. Look, David, David, most likely, if you look at the evidence, is a horrible murderer. It doesn't get much worse than that. And the mother of David, she agreed, geez, it's got to be going on a year plus ago to have everything in her name. They saw this coming down the road. But is that criminal? Because the motivation for moving the property stuff around that is being talked about in the civil suit and whatever assets they had, if you believe your son did not do this, but you know these charges are coming, you know that they're going to go after him for it. And there's these assets. I mean, it's not illegal to move those things around to protect them. I mean, even if you do know that he's guilty. But even if you don't, if you believe his innocence, well, we're going to protect those.

14:45And we're going to let this settle down and you're not going to lose all this shit in the process. That's not technically illegal. Unless I get what there be a different thing going on here, though, if they did have knowledge that this in fact was true, that he did in fact do this. If he admitted to it or they had some sort of evidence that proved to them, yes, he did this. Are they more in the clear because or if they can't prove that they had anything that they were really trying to hide here? Well, they knew that they were trying to hide. There's so many aspects to this money, right? There's the aspect of what was given to Mama. Yeah. And everything she controls or has right now, which could be a gift. It's a gift to the mom. Yeah. Obviously, it was because he was going to be incarcerated most likely. I truly believe he was probably honest with his mom. Probably the only person and probably said, I did this. I'm probably going to prison. You have

15:47the money. And I think that that's what really happened. But then you have to ask yourself, what part of that money is really related to Celeste? And none of it's related to Celeste other than they're trying to get it for this wrongful desk suit, right? So in other words, the wrongful desk suit, they want the money really not related to how the money was gained because the money was acquired completely 100% legally. Sure. And it was transferred 100% legally. Yes. That's not in question. The question is, can they get blood from a turn up because David is now a turn up because all of his blood, everything went to the mom. Yeah. So they're trying to get it that way. I think this will play out in about five years from now. Hopefully this will have our channels running. Yeah. But literally, that's it's going to take years. And I don't think they're

16:48going to get much money if any. Yeah. What do you think is going to take years on that? Because there seems to be so much like what would delay this on on any side really just because again, the overwhelming evidence that at least it looks like we're seeing is going to be profound. And also just a couple of ability of I think just the witness, which could I think lead to the conspiracy aspect of it for charges potentially. So you got the bodyguard living inside his house. You have the manager that has stayed there for longer periods of time. All these people travel together. The mother's, you know, witness of it. You know, and again, I don't think he's sophisticated in his use of technology enough to cover himself for periods of time. So it's what do you think would take so long? Okay. I should be really clear on this because I think I wasn't. I'm not talking about winning the suit in terms of him being responsible for death. Like you said, you just it's a no-brainer. I'm talking about the money. Oh, the restitution,

17:54Sid. Right. Yes. That's all I'm talking about. It's to me an easy case in terms of most likely that a precondition of the evidence is going to point that he is responsible for death. That's easy. I'm talking about actually getting to the money. I think that is much more convoluted. And I think that's what's going to and and look at like the OJ Simpson. Yeah. Look at Karen Reed, that civil suit, that thing. All these civil suits take years and years and years to get through in my experience. One more question. What do you make of him dropping the attorneys? Dropping the high profile attorneys? I know the the the common thought is, well, he doesn't have the money or the money's over in mom's hands now. So now he's getting civil defenders or state defenders. That's not always a bad thing, especially in a a capital murder case. We don't know if

18:55they're going to go for capital here, but it could very well go there. The state does provide oftentimes you can get better defense there than you're going to get privately because of the resources that the state will give you and such. But what's your take on it? Was this is this part move on his part to not have to spend more of his money? Does he not I don't think he has enough money quite honestly to afford the attorneys, even if he has a couple million bucks, it's going to cost more than that to do this defense. Or mom said I want to keep it for my own defense. Or mom said she wants to give her own. I don't know, but but I do I read that and I'm like, oh, well, that's actually probably a smart move on his part. He's probably going to get better defense. I don't know. I mean, he had a good attorney to begin with. What's your take? Well, first of all, Tony, I agree with you on both fronts here. These guys are charging probably 600 to a thousand dollars an hour Tony. And that just means when they're thinking about the case, they're typically talking hours. And so the amount of money the bill that had to be paid

19:56already is astronomical. I can promise you that. Secondarily, the weight of the facts in the case, I mean, David might not have any common sense at all. And never watch a forensic file has no idea how to cover anything up, but he's not completely stupid. He is built. He built quite a business, by the way, in his music career. And he has a lot of money that I think mostly is in the hands of the mom. So having said all of that, it was a brilliant decision. He was throwing money in a waste paper can when you can have some of the most prominent, amazing public defenders that, first of all, their lives are devoted to this. They are getting paid squat, but they believe in the defense of the, or of of, of, of, of, of, not victims. I'm sorry, of people like this. They kind of see them as victims of defending people who needed defense. Yeah. Exactly. They're going to

20:58defend their, their civil rights and their rights, their constitutional rights. They're going to defend them. Number two, they are way more practiced than most private attorneys on these greeners. They see these cases. Are you kidding me? And LA, this comes all the time. They're docket is huge. And I can tell you from my personal experience, having to deal with public defenders versus huge high dollar attorneys, I won't name their names. I could. The, sometimes I never saw them come in to even look at discovery. Yeah. And yet I've got my public defenders who are getting paid, you know, $50,000 a year. And they are going through every inch of evidence in some of the best defenders and attorneys I've ever dealt with. So he made a brilliant move. Yeah. And also, I mean, just think about it. I mean, if you're the mother and you have a couple marbles rolling around upstairs, you're saying yourself, and you're looking at the preponderance

21:59of the evidence and let to your point, Jen, I wouldn't be surprised if he admitted to her as well. He wanted to do. She's saying, well, if we threw our money down the toilet, we're going to get the same result if we don't. So mine is well, just keep it. And we can put it in his commentary when he's in jail. Yeah. I mean, you're kind of weighing the options there. What if, what if she, okay, let's play this out. We're not saying this happened. We don't know. This is just conjecture. But what if we do find out that he did tell her at some point that he did it? Is there any capability for mom there? If it turns out she knew about this and didn't alert the authorities prior to his arrest? Well, a couple of things. First of all, there's no privilege between mom and son. And so if she's ever on a stand and ask that question, I think she will cover, but she might tell the truth, but just in my experience, family covers for family. So a little bit of perjury there, I would expect to be sprinkled in in this.

23:04So I don't think anybody would ever know because they would have been very private conversations. Unless, unless, and this happens all the time, all the time, is they talk on these jail phones. Yeah. I mean, the most one thing when I had somebody in jail and I was wondering if other people might be involved, I asked the corrections officers, you know, that person in the ward and to please save all of those so we could go through them. And normally they said, Oh, look, we'd like to help. And that would thank you because this takes a lot of time. And everybody's looking for these conversations. So that's the only thing, but I know she's not going to get charged. No. Yeah. Yeah. Unless she's the smartest, Donald Adelson and talks on the engines and talks a few, yeah, we're all be all set then. Good old. Mimpedana. Remember, people that do this, nutters flock together and nutters have about two marbles and they don't do great things. Yeah. Not a lot of good decision-making going on.

24:07Well, they were smart, though, to quickly put that over to her. Remember what that happened? I don't want to guess, but I remember it being a year, year-old. It was fast. Yeah. Somebody, somebody talks some sense and said, you got to do this. This would make no sense. It was probably the manager wanted to make sure he could still get a paid. I'm sure there's a motivation there by somebody. And it's still no. All of his music is up. If you've been listened to it and it is not doing bad, I mean, I just want everybody to know that. There's royalties. There's all of this. At least last I checked, unless it's changed. I mean, I got on there because I wanted to listen to some of it. Yeah. It's kind of a, you know, like many, he's a talent a kid. He had a good boy. So he had to be so curious. I don't know the legal ramifications or what you can or can't do in these cases because I know they're going to go after his assets and he's moved assets over. But I wonder if he signed over like the rights to his songs to the mother or even the record label and they can still draw on it, even if he's in jail.

25:09Oh, it has the rights. I don't know. I mean, he was a very new artist. He didn't, you know, people that have this idea that he was, you know, this, you know, super, the gross figures are what they talk about. Gross figures, meaning before all the expenses of promoting this artist. So at the end of the day, an artist that is like one or two songs that are minor hits, they are not usually making much money at the end of the day. They, they, there's an image that's projected out there. But in reality, they're not making much more than the family video employee. So I, what exactly he actually took home at the end of the day, I think is a big question. Certainly, there was something enough to get some properties, but he's not like rolling in, I think millions and millions of liquid dollars or the more even mom for that matter. There's probably a couple hundred thousand bucks floating around there. And I think it's going to be eaten up by attorney fees like that. And there ain't going to be much left for a civil seat at the end of the day. But I don't know. That's my conjecture, just kind of understanding how some of that functions. Your thoughts in the

26:10comments section on substacking YouTube. We'd love for you to weigh in and give us your thoughts. Jennifer Coffin-Daffer, break the case, check it out on YouTube, check it out wherever you get podcasts and press subscribe. Robin Drake, he has a master class. And it is good. Robyn, tell him about that. Yeah, just become the person people trust. They all about behavioral assessment and great communication skills. Masterclass.com, backslash, Robin Drake. Thanks very much. Go and check that out until next time for Jennifer Coffin-Daffer, Robin Drake. Todd, I am Tony. Thank you for listening. We'll talk again real soon. Crime Coverage from Tony Brusky and the Hidden Killers Podcast. This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brusky. On what would have been Celeste Revis Hernandez 16th birthday, her parents filed a wrongful death

27:19lawsuit, not just against David. Against the people around him. His mother, his manager, his live in security guard, his company's. There's a civil lawsuit, 10 defendants now in place here. In a 20 page complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Now, obviously there's the criminal case against David. We've been talking about that for quite some time. And there's so much information that has come out with that criminal case. But a lot of it is being held back by the government and also by his own defense team, things of that nature. So this civil case, completely separate over here. What does it do? What does it tell us? Well, it tells us a lot. At least from the perspective of the victim's family, it tells us a lot.

28:21There's a lot of accusations in here that give us almost a preview of what will likely be coming to light in the criminal case against David, what the accusations are, who was involved, who wasn't involved, who may have known something, who might not have known something. Again, these are accusations from the victim's family. And we're going to go into all of it today. I want to get your thoughts in the comments section and substack in YouTube. This is probably one of the most significant developments in this case across its entire timeline in terms of revealing information to the public. Your thoughts in the comments section, substack YouTube, links are in the description. If you've not already done so, press subscribe on the podcast. The QR code is right there. Take it with you wherever you go. Apple podcast, Spotify, just scan that real quick. And then there you go. Takes you to our link tree, hit subscribe. If you like our reporting, a review on Apple podcast,

29:21it'd be greatly appreciated if you can help us out there. Thank you for that. The sharpest allegation in the civil lawsuit filed on Celeste Rebus Hernandez. Lands on Sheldon Jokees, the security guard who lived in Berks, Hollywood Hills, home. Here's why. The lawsuit says Jokees helped move Celeste from her family and bring her to that house. That he helped remove Celeste from her family and bring her to that house. Okay. Well, let's hear what the hell's going on here. I mean, I'm not giving the family a pass of like, yeah, that's totally okay. This just, it's okay. Somebody just comes and manipulates and coerces your 14 year old daughter out of your home. You are parents. It's not like you're like, well, what do you do? Because well, what do you do? I'm sorry, not going to be an acceptable excuse here,

30:23as much as you want to be victims. You are victims in many, in many stretches of the word. But there's also accountability. And you're parenting? Well, we'll get into that. We'll get into the decisions. A lot of allegations of control being made here. So let's try and parse it out. Let's try and understand it before we judge. Prosecutors say the relationship between Berks and Celeste began in November of 2023 when she was just 13. He was 18. 12 causes of action in here among them, human trafficking, false imprisonment, aiding and abetting. You already know what David is charged with. You don't need the, you don't know who the lawsuit says helped him. Again, these are allegations.

31:26These are not criminal charges. Four adults allegedly had a direct line of sight to what was happening inside that house. The lawsuit lays out what it says they did instead of actually stopping it. Sometimes there's guilt by a mission. Guilt by lack of doing things. The complaint was filed September 7th to 26. Mercedes Martinez and Jesus Rivas Celeste parents are the plaintiffs. Beyond Berk the lawsuit names his mother Colleen Burke who managed his career and his finances. It names Josh Marshall, his manager and Marshall's company, Mogell Vision LLC and Mogell Vision partners. It names Sheldon Dukes. It names three of Berks own companies. David Entertainment LLC, headspace publishing LLC, Skull Rose merchandise LLC and it names Robert Moore Grant. The core allegation against all of them. They knew or should have known what was happening and enabled it by

32:27covering up or providing transportation and housing. So basically the lever that they're grabbing for here in terms of saying here's why we think we believe that you failed in this whole thing and why we think there's a civil liability here is going to be connected to the transportation and the housing lever of all of this. Jackie's face is the most specific claims. The lawsuit says he helped remove Celeste from her home, transported her and arranged facilitated Berks continued access to and control over her. He lived with Berk for approximately six months during the period the lawsuit covers not a guard who clocked out at the end of the shift but someone in the home full time. He's named an aiding and abetting claims your false imprisonment and human trafficking 12 causes of action total nine directed at Berk the rest spread across the people around him.

33:32Berk is charged with first degree murder with special circumstances prosecutors alleged he was lying in wait that he killed for financial gain and that he killed a witness to prevent her from exposing what he'd done. He also faces charges of continuous criminal conduct with a child under 14 and mutilation of human remains. He played not guilty on August 31st. The mother has the second role in the story in this civil suit. Celeste was reported missing three times. February 15th March 19th and April 5th of 2024 three reports in seven weeks. Her family told authorities three times that their daughter was gone each time she was returned each time the pattern resumed. On February 24th Sheriff's deputies went to Berks' door on a welfare check. He told them he'd met Celeste once at the beach. Said he didn't know she was a minor. The deputies showed him her yearbook photo. He proved she was 13 and she kept going back and he kept having

34:33her back. It wasn't a, oh my god, let me stop now. It was a, oh shit, they're on to me. But I'm me. I'm making all this money. I'm young and very dumb, but I think I'm really prolific and deep with my dark songs. What's the worst that could happen? Well, this. She became pregnant at 13 and obtained an abortion. In January of 24, Berk allegedly paid a classmate a thousand dollars for a replacement phone after Celeste parents confiscated hers. A move prosecutor's say was designed to keep the line of communication open after her family tried to cut it off. On April 23rd of 25, the night prosecutor's say Celeste was killed. Berk arranged an uber for her. They're right. Excuse me. Went from Lake Elson or to the Hollywood Hills roughly 80 miles at 840 in the evening. Child traveling 80 miles alone at night to a house where a security guard lived full time.

35:35Someone opened that door when she arrived. Berks' debut album, Withard dropped in April 25 two days later. The day between April 24th, Berk attended a radio interview and an album release event. His team, the same manager and the same career infrastructure, the lawsuit names was running the schedule. She and Berk had matching tattoos. The word shh. On the right index fingers, a permanent instruction not to tell. Each other's names were also on their left ring fingers. Which incidentally two fingers from Celeste left hand, the ring finger and the pinky were severed and never recovered. You know, true love. The ring finger, the one with Berks' name on it. Gone. Like you do. When you killed the person that you've been abusing and doing those horrible

36:40things with who's also a child. When Bush comes to shove, you cut the finger off. We all know that, after you get them tattooed with your name on them, thinking this is a grand idea. I guess that part of the story is, I mean, it's exactly what this simple case is bringing to light. Excuse me, I got a cough here and there. Got a late summer cold. So many things are being brought to light here. And I think what one of the most shocking things is, is the amount of adults that were surrounding this young ghoul named David that couldn't say no. That didn't say no. I mean, they could have said no. They just didn't. They chose not to. Why? Because the young ghoul over here is making all the money.

37:43And everybody else is just part of the support team. I guess what feeling too inferior to do anything on their own in life. They, oh, David, Messiah you. Let me just do whatever you want. Oh, great idea. I go get your fingers tattooed with a 13 year old. This is okay. Nobody's judging. Now we're good. I just keep paying those paychecks. Yeah. Nobody's saying anything like, hey, bad idea. Maybe you shouldn't do this. I mean, that's not new to people. I can't say, here's what I can't say. I can't say, I'm necessarily shocked by it when it comes to managers and industry people in the music. I mean, a, you know, a grifter, a, a hyena, which is basically, you know, 90 some percent of those operating the music industry, just ready to come in and get the food and run away.

38:51They're going to act that way. There shouldn't be any shock that the music industry folks are shit. Just to be putting it, yes. I mean, it's, it's not a great place to be. What is more shocking is the people who's, who's, I guess, payday from David really shouldn't matter. Shouldn't be part of the equation. And that's the parents. That's her mom and dad come in. That's where you got to say, you're making this money. This is great. But we're going to tell you what we believe is right and wrong here. And unfortunately, if he continues to make the wrong choices, well, you're going to have to either walk away so you don't get brought up into that storm or the intervene. And you really try and make something change. It seems there wasn't necessarily

39:56the intervening or the walking away that went on here. It was more like whatever I can do to help you, little boy, whatever you want. Oh, David, where are your parents? But you're making money. So let's, let's tell ourselves that this thing with a 13-year-old is just, they're just buddies. Right? They're just friends. I don't know what the hell they were telling themselves. And I'm not accusing them of knowing illegal activity was going on. But I'm saying, as a parent, I don't know. I think it'd be hard not to know. I have a child, the exact same age as Celeste Revis Hernandez was. So I'm running it all through that sort of a filter of what would life be like if this was going on? And what is an acceptable level of parenting or unacceptable level of parenting where one may say, okay, they, you know, you try to be the best parent. You can,

41:00nobody's perfect at it. You're going to miss things. And there's going to be a level of that in any level of being a parent. But what the hell was going on here feels a little bit beyond it. Again, feels. That's saying, I think illegal. But I'm saying observationally. Prosecutors say she traveled to Burke or traveled with Burke rather to Las Vegas, London and Texas. International trips that required coordination flights, hotels and itineraries. And when we heard about this a while back, I knew, oh, this is where shit's going to get real for a lot of people. Because it requires passports. It requires people signing off on things, people other than Celeste, people other than David. Celeste had a US passport card. Investigator's recovered it in January 26th at a disposal site near Lake Tacuma in Santa Barbara County.

42:06Burke made three separate trips to that site. April 23rd May 8th in May 31st to 25. Three drives to the same remote location weeks apart. And the days and weeks had followed. April 23rd, Burke made purchases under fake names that were traced back to his credit cards. You know, indiscriminatory purchases like a shovel on April 24th. A chainsaw on May 1st. A body bag and an inflatable pool on May 5th and a burn cage in early July. You know, like you do. You know, it's early spring. You're getting ready for the summer months. You want to clean shit up. You might need a body bag. A chainsaw. A shovel. A burn cage. If you live on a farm. Oh, those aren't the items that a 20-some-year-old R&B

43:06singer would be buying on Amazon. It wouldn't be like the subscriber saved suggestions from Amazon. Burn cage. You might need to do one every six months. Better click that box. The same credit card accounts. The lawsuit says his mother had signatory authority over. Investigators have collected 40 terabytes of evidence from Burke's devices and accounts. Again, this is this, this is the shit you got to think about when you're a parent, when you're an adult, you're signing over your your your your signatory license, if you will, to anyone on your credit card. You better press them. And maybe she did. Maybe, you know, maybe, you know, maybe to an extent the other pair. I don't know. I don't want to say it because I don't know that I mean it, but I'm saying maybe. We don't know.

44:11Maybe the parents of David when we really parse all this out and all of the evidence truly comes to light. Maybe we will end up looking at this going maybe they're more victims too. Maybe they were victims of their own son being manipulative and lying and cunning and saying one story to them and having another whole world going on behind the scenes. Very likely there's a version of that. I find it hard to believe that David's parents and other friends knew about Celeste being in the truck. I don't know. And but I don't know. I find it hard to believe as a human. But the more we learn about this case, the more I kind of get a little more understanding of, well, maybe the lawsuit says Colleen Burke served as her son's personal finance director for a year.

45:16She was a signatory on his accounts. She approved and paid the bills, including the lease on the Los Angeles residents. But prosecutors say Celeste was brought. The lawsuit alleges she and others controlled personal and premises and funded or approved the arrangements that house Celeste. Josh Marshall ran the career and booked the international tours. Jocky's lived in the house. That's essentially what the allegations are in the civil suit. A manager arranging international travel handles the logistics of who goes where a security guard living in the homes sees who walks through the door. A mother paying the bill sees what she's funding if they're paying attention. The question the lawsuit raises is not whether these people were close enough to see. It's what did they do with what they saw on August 31st, three attorneys Blair Burke, Marilyn Brinarsky and Regina Peter withdrew from Burke's defense. They said Burke had qualified

46:18for appointed counsel in that they continue to support his defense. Burke claimed he couldn't afford private counsel. The public court appointed deputy public defender. Waleed can deal and enter the non guilty plea on Burke's behalf. Patrick Steinfeld, the attorney representing Celeste family in the civil case called it unfathomable. The taxpayers would be forced to fund Burke's defense. He pointed to what former financial manager Benjamin Greger said under oath at the preliminary hearing. Greger testified that Burke earned roughly 10 million to 11 and a half million dollars in gross income from recording. Merch and Dyson music publishing between 23 and 25. Okay, that's neat. Key word in that sentence is gross gross income. It doesn't mean you, that's gross. It means that's total profits before expenses. And I got to tell you, having worked in the music industry for

47:21roughly 20 years, there's a lot of expenses. And when you're promoting a national recording artist, on a major label, the cost to do that, the cost to tour, the cost for the buses, the cost for the equipment, the costs for everything. I mean, there's a lot of cost very quickly get into the millions, multiple millions, tens of millions, oftentimes, and I'm not trying to make an excuse for David here. I'm just trying to help you understand what reality is because everybody's really kind of getting up and up about the money thing is 10 million dollars in two years, a lot of money without a doubt. So how does it qualify for a public defender? Gross, gross income. When you're paying all that to the the record company for all the expenses, because that's how it usually works.

48:26You usually get some sort of advance. And then after that, you have royalties, but that's going to get ticked away at before expenses. So on paper, it may look like, oh, you made all this money. But then you have it's just it's it's it's it's really somewhat basic business accounting expenses versus income. If you're familiar with that, that's really all it is. So yeah, makes the ton of money. But if your expenses are greater than, yeah, you may not necessarily have 10 million dollars in liquid funds to pay for the best of the best attorneys. And when your record deal gets cut to all that kind of goes away. But if you never really had it in the accounts to begin with, which I'm suspecting he didn't, he barely had a hit. Okay. Barely. Barely had a hit.

49:27Did he have some attention on Spotify? Yes. He was a sea rate artist. And that's I think giving him some credit. I've seen I've worked around and with, you know, artists that are huge. And I've seen a gazillion that are C and D. And I've seen what they make. And I see what kind of life they actually have. And I see what their sales are. And they can easily be in these high levels of millions of dollars. But what they're actually pulling in at the end of the day, they're living pretty much like you and me for the most part or or even less. In some cases, you'd be amazed. You'd be freaking shocked. So this idea that he's like brimming with cash. It's a it's a low hanging fruit. But when you actually go down the road of reality, it just it is what it is. Every music industry tie has been cut. Now, inner scope and dark room dropped him

50:31collaborations or pulled the income that produced those numbers. So even what would have been producing some sort of steady check of some sort for very likely thousands of dollars. That's gone, which is why Steinfeld says the question isn't what Burke earns now. It's where the money he already made went. I think honestly, I don't know that a lot of it's hidden. Are there some assets that have been moved around here with what he did have? Yeah. I think that might be going on. But he ain't Taylor Swift. Steinfeld pointed to three companies, Burke owns and directs David Entertainment, Skull Rose merchandise, headspace publishing billions of streams across platforms. Sounds like you'd make a lot of money off of that, doesn't it? Yeah, you'd be surprised. And Stan filled the ledges Burke transferred assets to his mother to shield his estate from the civil claims. So are there likely some? Yeah, probably. Some what? I just don't think it's the

51:36giant windfall that people think it might be. Greggert's testimony supported that theory. He testified about discussions involving Texas properties held by Burke and a possible transfer of those properties to Colleen Burke. Public records show Burke's father, Dwood Burke took out a hundred and thirty eight thousand dollar loan against the family's Houston property in late April of 26. The same month, David was arrested by early July, the Houston home sold for two hundred and twenty nine thousand dollars. Whether that money funded the private defense team has not been confirmed. And I got news for you. Two hundred twenty nine thousand dollars ain't going to fund a top-rate Hollywood defense team for more than a week. It's it's it's just not. But Burke and her co-counsel represented Burke from his arrest through the preliminary hearing then withdrew the day of his arrangement. The same Colleen Burke, the wrongful death lawsuit names as a defendant, the same Colleen Burke, the lawsuit says was a member of David entertainment LLC, a signatory on his accounts.

52:39The person who controlled the flow of company funds allegedly and approved the bills. If those allegations hold the mother is the person who allegedly saw what was happening inside the house. Does not even not even so much about the dollar amount. It's more about again, what did you know and when? And the person who now allegedly holds the money. The lawsuit doesn't just say the inner circle looked away. It says they profited to less family released their statements on September 7th her birthday. She would have been sixteen. They described Burke as a human being devoid of feelings and emptiness inside. You couldn't tell that from his music. The DA's office who said that if Burke is convicted as charged possible set inches include life and prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. A decision on which the the pressure will be made at a later date. The charges carry the special circumstances that make the death penalty available. The lawsuit doesn't just seek damages from Burke. It seeks accountability from the people

53:40so less families as could have stopped it. Next court date. October 19th. We will cover it. We will let you know what happens next. It's going to be interesting to see what comes out through civil discovery in this. We'll keep watching. Give me your thoughts in the comment section and we'll continue our conversation there. Be sure to press subscribe wherever you're getting podcasts. The QR code is right there in the corner of the screen. If you're watching us on YouTube, then you can take us with you and listen wherever you get your podcast. Go check it out. Until next time I'm Tony Bursky. We'll talk again real soon. Now and don't miss a moment of true crime coverage from Tony Bursky and the Hidden Killers podcast. Your path to pharmacy can be closer than you think. West Coast University's hybrid doctor of pharmacy program can be completed in as little as 33 months and no bachelor's degree is required to apply. If you've started pharmacy coursework elsewhere, WCU may accept eligible transfer credits to help students keep moving forward.

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56:43West Coast University's hybrid doctor of pharmacy program can be completed in as little as 33 months, and no bachelor's degree is required to apply. If you've started pharmacy coursework elsewhere, WCU may accept eligible transfer credits to help students keep moving forward. Learn online, train hands-on at our Center for Graduate Studies in Los Angeles, and prepare for real-world pharmacy practice. West Coast University, as real as it gets, visit westcoastuniversity.edu. WCU cannot guarantee employment. Imagine your friend tells you she's taking an innocent family trip to Greenville, South Carolina. We'll call her Emma. The trip sounds great to you. Hiking at Jones Gap, dinner at Topsoil, a room at the best hotel in town. Harmless, right? Here's the thing. Emma and her family never return from Greenville. They disappear. You search for answers, but nothing adds up. Emma had a great life back home. You guys were best friends. What happened? Well, the truth is, once Emma realized she could have access to

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59:50required to apply. If you've started pharmacy coursework elsewhere, WCU may accept eligible transfer credits to help students keep moving forward. Learn online, train hands on at our Center for Graduate Studies in Los Angeles, and prepare for real-world pharmacy practice. West Coast University, as real as it gets, visit westcoastuniversity.edu. WCU cannot guarantee employment. Imagine your friend tells you she's taking an innocent family trip to Greenville, South Carolina. We'll call her Emma. The trip sounds great to you. Hiking at Jones Gap, dinner at topsoil, a room at the best hotel in town. Harmless, right? Here's the thing. Emma and her family never return from Greenville. They disappear. You search for answers, but nothing adds up. Emma had a great life back home. You guys were best friends. What happened? Well, the truth is, once Emma realized she could have access to Michelin recognized restaurants, nature, local shops, and performing arts all in one place, everywhere else started to seem a little.

1:00:54Meh. Emma's vacation is a cautionary tale. If you're coming this way, don't forget to tell your friends and neighbors goodbye. Visit Greenville, South Carolina, but you may never want to leave. Learn more at visitgreenvillesc.com Imagine your friend tells you she's taking an innocent family trip to Greenville, South Carolina. We'll call her Emma. The trip sounds great to you. Hiking at Jones Gap, dinner at topsoil, a room at the best hotel in town. Harmless, right? Here's the thing. Emma and her family never return from Greenville. They disappear. You search for answers, but nothing adds up. Emma had a great life back home. You guys were best friends. What happened? Well, the truth is, once Emma realized she could have access to Michelin recognized restaurants, nature, local shops, and performing arts all in one place, everywhere else started to seem a little. Meh. Emma's vacation is a cautionary tale. If you're coming this way, don't forget to

1:02:00tell your friends and neighbors goodbye. Visit Greenville, South Carolina, but you may never want to leave. Learn more at visitgreenvillesc.com Your path to pharmacy can be closer than you think. West Coast University's hybrid doctor of pharmacy program can be completed in as little as 33 months, and no bachelor's degree is required to apply. If you've started pharmacy coursework elsewhere, WCU may accept eligible transfer credits to help students keep moving forward. Learn online, train hands-on at our Center for Graduate Studies in Los Angeles, and prepare for real-world pharmacy practice. West Coast University, as real as it gets, visit westcoastuniversity.edu. WCU cannot guarantee employment. Imagine your friend tells you she's taking an innocent family trip to Greenville, South Carolina. We'll call her Emma. The trip sounds great to you. Hiking at Jones Gap, dinner at top soil, a room at the best hotel in town. Harmless, right? Here's the thing. Emma and her family never

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