Two Chainsaws and an Inflatable Pool. The D4vd Murder Case Keeps Getting Worse.

0:00This is an I Heart Podcast, Guaranteed Human. Hey there folks, it is Thursday, April 30th, and a story that we already thought was just unthinkable, actually keeps getting worse. Now that prosecutors have released new graphic details about their case against singer David. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes, it was horrible before we got all these details. I cannot believe the details that have been released now. This is some monstrous, methodical stuff we're talking about. It really is. And prosecutors said it best when they called it horrifying. That is, there's no other word to describe it. And perhaps this is one of those cautionary tales for the defense, be careful what you wish for, or be careful what you ask for. They pushed for this evidence to be released immediately and my goodness, given what we've just read and seen,

1:00why would they want that? They pushed and what's the other thing they've said. We said at the very beginning, when David was arrested, real name David Anthony Burke, 21-year-old singer, charged with first degree murder in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, where they first came out with their statement. You and I said, wow, we've read a lot of statements from attorneys over the years who kind of, you know, they'll be cute with some words here or there. They came out and they full-throated defense. We are going to show this dude is innocent. I can't wait to hear them. I have one word response to that. How? Can't wait. When you see what the prosecutors were about to go through the eight stage filing, this is a new evidentiary filing that the prosecutors were forced to present because of David's attorneys pushing this process quickly along, which is very unusual. Most of the time, defense teams want time to go through the evidence, prepare their defense.

2:02They don't want this all put out for public consumption. And yet, here we are with eight pages of the worst horror movie I've ever seen in my life. So this sets up, folks, as we were about to go through robes, is that he was arrested with April 16th, 17th, when he was arrested. All right, this case has been going on for months. We were waiting to see what was going to happen. Are they going to arrest him? They finally arrest him. We don't get a lot of details, Rome. But we got a few early on, which were that they said, he was in some kind of inappropriate sexual relationship with this girl when she was underage. She threatened his career in some way, and that's why he had to kill her. That is essentially as most as we got and that got us to this point, we were supposed to get hearing this week, and this evidence has now been presented in a new filing you're talking about. This eight-pager robes, it goes through. If this, how do you begin to even put a defense up if they have what they say they have?

3:02Yes, from text messages to forensics, like DNA linking the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez to David and his home. They have just a number of items that he purchased, which would lead to how he dismembered her according to prosecutors. So look, from the relationship, which was inappropriate, the text messages between the two, a clear motive that they've established, and then the physical evidence they have, this is a pretty overwhelming case against Singer Day. All right, where you wanna start? Let's start with perhaps, you know, can I say something that was really interesting to me? I didn't realize this, we have been talking as we've been telling the story that Celeste had been missing for a year and a half. I didn't realize when she was first reported missing in February of 2024, where those flyers went up. Later that month, she came back home, and her parents took her cell phone away because they knew she was having this relationship.

4:03I didn't realize that, and that then he drove the almost two hours to her house to pay off a classmate, to buy her a phone so that he could continue to communicate with her. And then it sounds like in 2024, he took her all around the world, whisked her around with him and brought her with him everywhere from London to the Hamptons. I didn't realize all of that was going on. And I didn't realize you talk about that missing. She resurfaced and was reported missing again. And when she was reported missing again, Rose, this might be one of the most devastating details that I, for whatever reason, she's never seen again. What they believe it was April 23rd, 2025, is when he killed her. Well, on April 22nd, they say he put her in an uber and she was driven to his home and she was never seen again. What do you have here? It was just April 23rd, yeah. He sent an uber to pick her up, yeah. She was never seen again.

5:04She was reported missing, they say again, after that moment. Rose, he, they say, lured was the word they kept using previously. Now we're understanding a little better what they're talking about. He put her in an uber to bring her to him, to her death. It's pretty disturbing. So he says that she arrived at his home at 10, 10 PM. And then at about 10, 30 that night, he texted her to say, where are you? As a premeditated, premeditated cover-up for the fact that he had just murdered her. They believed she arrived at 10, 10, and by 10, 30, she was already dead. Yeah. And then here's the big deal, after he was texting her, they see that a couple of times, where are you? Where are you? He never tried to contact her again after April 26th. They said they know her phone. There was no activity. So that's why they're so sure about when she died. But Robes, the premeditated part, we heard about, right after he was arrested, now they're saying he actually was sending messages to her phone and trying to cover up to act like,

6:06for later, when they're looking at me, oh, this will be proof that I was just looking for him. He was in a new branch, he never came to my house. The other thing, how about this? So this all happened on the night of April 23rd, on April 24th, the following day, he gave a radio interview and had a record release party, promoting his new album, which came out, the following day on April 25th, the timing of that. It doesn't make any. I mean, okay, he's an innocent man, Robes, until proven guilty. Look, we've seen a lot of cases recently. Robes, I haven't seen one that is this overwhelming in evidence. I have not seen one. So disturbing. I would like to quote from the filing, from the prosecutors, about what they had to say. Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times

7:06and stood by while she bled out. At no time, did he call law enforcement, or 9-1-1, or take her to an emergency room to attempt to save her life? This is a 14-year-old girl we're talking about. He was what at the time to see, would have been 20? He would have been 20. And they said that there are text messages leading up to this day on April 23rd that reveal Celeste jealousy over his relationships with other women as they claim he led her to believe that he and Celeste had a future together and she became extremely upset and threatened to disclose their inappropriate relationship. And they have these text messages. They say some of this back and forth but Robes, other thing that came out, this relationship, they say started when she was what, 13, at least sexual one, he was 18, but they had been in touch for years prior to that. Since she was 11. That's I don't understand that one. Again, as you could argue, he was a kid himself at the time, well, he would have been what, 16, maybe?

8:07Maybe people will look at it some way differently there, but when he gets to 18 and 19 and 20, I mean Robes, she's 13 years old. So yes, that I didn't realize Robes that, as they explained, there seemed to be more time, more history, more years, more depth even, if you can forgive me for that one, to their relationship, then I certainly previously understood. They were in a full-on relationship. She broke up with him and then got jealous, and there was a back and forth, at least, Robes that sounded like a normal, if you will, relationship between two consenting adults. Except for that she was far beneath the age of consent. Yes, she wrote to him, they showed some text messages about all we do is have sex and just hang out, man, I want more than that for myself. So they discussed their sexual relationship in these texts. It's undeniable, according to prosecutors, back and forth and back and forth. But they also say that when you look at these text messages,

9:10it clearly shows how David was manipulating her, because he was an adult, and she was a child. How do you, okay? They, he is an innocent man, until proven guilty. Now, all this we've discussed now, Robes, it sounds awful. You can't even imagine that this story can get worse. Robes, every time they release a new detail about this story, I go, are you fricking kidding me? This gets more and more monstrous, which includes Robes, all of these orders he made, and his Amazon and postmate deliveries, are you fricking kidding me? It's, it's sickening, actually. So he purchased, will explain, an inflatable pool, two chainsaws, a shovel, a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and other materials, under a fictitious name, Victoria Mendez. No idea why he used that name, but got all of these items delivered to his home. You have the dates, what was April 24th,

10:11you have the day in May, April in May, and then there was a later one in July that got me. So let's start with what he ordered. Chainsaws, I guess that's pretty self-explanatory, body bags, kind of pretty self-explanatory. Robes, the, yes, you pointed out, and the prosecutors made a point to point out how important that inflatable swimming pool was. Yes, they say that he basically dismembered her body in this inflatable pool to try and stop the blood from spilling onto his garage floor, which it still did, because that is among the evidence that prosecutors say they now have, which is DNA from Celeste Reves Hernandez, from this blood stain that they found in the garage, with the inflatable pool was meant to prevent that from happening. Ew. What that suggests, Robes, you're talking about premedited, this was a lot of thought in planning into what he did, maybe not initially, but we've seen another case like this recently, forgive me, I can't remember the guy's name,

11:11but it was a dismemberment case that sure enough, after they believe the woman died, the guy goes out, and they have all these receipts of all this stuff, he started buying to try to chop up and get rid of a body. This plays exactly like that. Yes, because they believe, yes, he used those two chainsaws and some other tools they said to dismember her body in that inflatable pool. And then he amputated, we mentioned, we knew this, that he amputated two fingers. It was not the tattoo because they did actually use that to help identify her body initially. He amputated her left ring and pinky fingers, according to prosecutors, because they say her ring finger contained a tattoo of his name. Now those fingers have not been found, they have not been recovered. But according to people who knew her, she had his name on her ring finger. That's crazy, I will give you, this is, and you're right, you caught that detail. Like this case has been studied since September when,

12:13I say studied by internet sleuth, they've been on top of this story since her body was found last September and connecting and piecing together, her relationship with David, and they're finding old live streams, they're finding old photos, and they kind of piece together their relationship online. And one thing they pointed out was, was she appeared to have that shush tattoo on her finger. And when we first heard that fingers had been amputated, a lot of folks jumped to that conclusion immediately. I remember being on the podcast with you, and you say, wait a second, it's not the right hand. It's not the correct hand, and we didn't understand, but you caught, we've been following the story so closely that you knew immediately, that's the wrong hand. It's the wrong hand, it was the left hand, and you know what that says to me? She put his name on her left ring finger. She wanted to marry this guy. She wanted to marry him, she was in love with him. You don't put someone's name on your left ring finger, unless that's the person who you think you're going to marry. But you also do it if you're 13, you don't know any better and a grown man is manipulating you. You know what I'm saying, bro, I, yes, it was serious to her.

13:14It was more significant to her. I don't doubt that at all, but she is a baby, and to hear it, man, it gets worse. It's almost some stuff I didn't even rather not hear. Let me just, let me hear the charge, not the details. To think this happened to a baby, man. It's just awful. And when we come back, there are even more details. Why that pool is so important. What his friends and business associates notice and how they are sure that David is the one who parked that Tesla a few blocks away from his home. And... 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter, and on my podcast, 2%, I break down the signs of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more,

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15:18and the war that tore America apart. For Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you read me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. For freedom. Let's get out freedom from Vietnam. Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Staying here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon. On the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ, where we are going over. They're the horrifying, the grizzly, the unthinkable, the stomach-turning details about what prosecutors alleged singer David did to 14-year-old Celeste Reves Hernandez from their relationship, which was wildly inappropriate

16:19and criminal, to the murder itself, the motive behind it, and then the method to how he got rid of her body. It's all beyond disturbing. These eight pages, this court filing, just when you think the story can't get more shocking, it does. I found this particular detail, I don't know if you did, babe, to just be so deeply concerning and also confusing why it took them so long to arrest him. Apparently, David was lying to his friends, to his business associates, and to other people who would come over to his home or be in his vehicle, and complain about the strong smell of decay. Several people commented to him and said aloud, why does your home smell like a rotting body? It's unmistakable, frankly, that smell. And Robes, my biggest question through all that, I don't know if they have dates on those visits

17:22and when people were always at the house, but I thought it was crazy that they said, July 7th is when he ordered a bum cage, a cage to be used to essentially want to burn some stuff, get rid of something. Robes, if he's still planning and trying to get rid of her body, she disappeared in April. Where is her body? Where is he storing her from April to July? Robes, and then obviously goes on to September, but Robes, all this stuff, how long does it take a body to start smelling and decaying, days? Days, babe, and by the way, Burke was the last person to drive that vehicle. They can actually place him in the Tesla where he parked it on July 29th. So we know that that's when her body was at least at that point put in his car, but yes, that is a significant amount of time for a body to be decomposing in a body bag. It was in the house then, I mean, that suggests it was her body was in the house the whole time. And he had people coming over.

18:23He had people coming over complaining about a smell. Now, there was also small blue plastic fragments that they found embedded in Celeste's remains, and it was a physical match, an absolute match to the blue fragments from the blue inflatable pool. So they can directly tie her body to that pool, which was purchased by David on Amazon, and delivered to his home. So these are all of the, there are so many dots that they have connected pointing all back to Singer, David. Also, people had made note of the trips he was allegedly taking to Santa Barbara. They didn't know what that was all about. Well, apparently they found items from Celeste in the area where he was in Santa Barbara, including her passport and other identifiable items. So again, they can directly from a GPS standpoint, pinpoint him to the location where they found some of her items that had been discarded. So it's just one thing after another legally evidentiary.

19:28It's all pointing to David Anthony Burke. We'll wait, right? We always do this in cases where we hear overwhelming evidence and then we hear the defense, make a defense, and we go, well, okay, well, we'll listen. But this is unbelievable what they've laid out. Robes said there was a lot of criticism for the police department for releasing enough information. They haven't been giving up public updates. They had the medical examiner seal the report. So it wouldn't be public before they were ready. Robes, do what you got to do, please talk. Robes, this is an overwhelming case that you need to get right. And I'm looking at all of this they had to do and all they had to collect to present this now to what looks like an absolute airtight case. They want to get this right. Robes, it hats off to them. This is a very, it's been a very difficult investigation for months and dealing with something like this publicly. There's a rare cases, Robes, where we give them credit, where credit is due. But Robes, I can't imagine the gargantuan investigative task that this was and to do it with such public scrutiny.

20:31This is one. I will give cops their gifts. And I am impressed at their ability to prevent leaks. There were almost no leaks on this case. You know something else before we go that stood out to me? I wanted to see if you had any thoughts on it. I talked about what prosecutors showed in this filing about all the places that he had taken her to in 2024, Vegas, London. But one thing stood out to me, Texas, to meet his family. I am just so curious. We had done stories about how prosecutors or at least they were trying to bring his parents to that grand jury to testify. Not sure if that ever happened. Those are secret proceedings. But to think that he brought her to meet his family, that really, that shocked me. I mean, it goes to some suggestion about what this relationship was that we don't fully understand. We know it was inappropriate, at least according to authorities. They say it was wrong. What was that friendship like? One dude, there's a 16-year-old kid, an 11-year-old kid,

21:33which is what they were, right? What do you have in common with an 11-year-old when you're 16? Nothing. You're about to go a certain direction in your life. This kid is going to, is many years before catching up. I don't know. I don't know, Robes. And does that even matter? No. This is a matter of how old you were at the beginning. You have to matter how old you were at the end. And this is a grown man. And this is a baby. And they found, we don't know the details as to who or how many, or how much, but they said a significant amount of child pornography on his phone when they went through his devices. So including sexual images of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Correct. That is among the mounds of evidence they have, but photos of their sexual behavior, certainly that's disturbing. And also, I forgot to mention, they also have text messages that refer to pregnancy abortion and plan B emergency contraceptives. So there's a suggestion, perhaps, that maybe even at one point Celeste was pregnant. Like we say, every new detail, it's almost like just,

22:34I don't want to hear anymore. This keeps getting worse. But this is a significant story. A lot of people keeping an eye on. We are doing the same. And again, this is a reminder with all this and all the headlines and scandal you're going to see. This is about a 14-year-old baby that met her demise and was left in the trunk of a Tesla in a car. Just on a random street, just discarded in that way. And there was a tragedy of her life, even before she died. But man, this is a tough story, Robes. What's his next couple of things? He has a court hearing on May 12th, that is next as far as we know. But yeah, we do not expect him. He's no bail right now and can't imagine any suggestion. And we haven't mentioned it here, Robes, but couldn't imagine any chance of him getting bail of any kind because this is a potential death penalty case. It is a potential death penalty case. Prosecutors have not ruled that out. Not sure when they'll make that decision, but certainly it qualifies for the death penalty

23:34with the charges that he is facing, murder, continuous sexual abuse, and unlawfully mutilating a body. We will stay on top of this one for you, everybody. We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robock. Alongside TJ Holmes, we will talk to you soon. This isn't I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.