Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - SINGER D4VD FLEES $20K/MONTH HOME, "BLOOD-SOAKED" VIDEO AFTER TEEN GIRL DEAD IN HIS TELSA
Episode Date: September 25, 2025D4vd was living in a home leased by his manager, Josh Marshal, but since police served a search warrant looking for blood at the residence, the singer has decided not to live in the $20,000 a month ho...me. The home was leased from the owner, Mladen Trifunovic who says Marshal signed the lease in February and he didn't know D4vd was living in the house. Regardless, after the raid on the home, Trifunovic says they didn't want to live there anymore and are breaking the lease. Trifunovic says he doesn't know what was found or what kind of tests were conducted in the house. Now, police are scouring the area around the home where the Tesla with the dismembered and decomposing body in the frunk was parked before being towed and they are looking for video. The rental home has security cameras positioned at all entry points, in the backyard, and on the street so people can't go in or out of the house without being recorded. Even as police investigate, photos are circulating alleging Celeste was with D4vd at his concert in Silver Springs Maryland on August 24th. If true, these photos create a timeline from August 24 until her dismembered, decomposing body is found in D4vd's Tesla in an impound lot on September 8, one day after her 15th birthday. It is reported the Tesla was parked on the street for a month before it was reported abandoned on September 3rd and towed to impound lot on September 5. The footage shows a person looking very much like Celeste Rivas on the balcony to the side and back of the stage. This is an area usually reserved for Backstage pass access only. Her hair is the same style as Celeste, and she is wearing a black tube top and ripped blue jeans. Even though police haven't given out much information about the body found in the Tesla, they have said she was wearing a black tube top and ripped jeans. Joining Nancy Grace today Troy Slaten - Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Slaten Lawyers; Twitter @TroySlaten Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, AngelaArnoldMD.com, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Moses Castillo - Private Investigator for the Dordulian Law Group, Former Supervisor Detective from The Los Angeles Police Department, website: MosesCastilloInvestigations.com Tami Ballard - DNA and Crime Scene Consultant, Crime Scene Investigation and Reconstruction, Law Enforcement Liaison at Othram, Inc., Former DNA Criminalist in the San Diego Police Dept. Crime Laboratory Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host of NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue”, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University) Melissa McCarty - Reporter & Host of the “Killer Genes” podcast, Author of “The Making of a Crime Reporter”, website: www.youtube.com/@KillerGenesMelissaMccarty , TikTok: McCarty143, Instagram: MelissaMcCarty1 Dave Mack - Crime Stories, Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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This is an I-Heart podcast.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
The singer David Anthony Burke, known as David, it looks like D4VD, has fled his $20,000 a month home, breaking a very expensive lease.
Why?
Why run out and flee your home in the middle of the night?
Are you concerned about what forensic evidence is found in the home or does it hold bad memories?
This is a blood-soaked video emerges after a teen girl, just 13 years old when she goes missing, Celeste is found dead in the trunk of his Tesla.
LAPD, why no arrest?
I'm Nancy Grace.
This is crime stories.
I want to thank you for being with us.
You could smell the trunk as you approached the Tesla.
How could somebody put a then 13-year-old little girl in a trunk
and leave the car there for weeks on end?
An integral part of any homicide investigation.
is a timeline. It's critical. Based on a timeline, you can alibi people. You can unaliby other people
that you're looking at as a suspect. It changes everything. And in the last hours, a video has emerged
potentially placing this little girl just 13 years old when she goes missing at a David D.
for VD concert in Maryland on August 24.
Significance.
Very quickly, Dave Mack joining me, Crime Stories,
investigative reporter.
Dave Mack, when was Celeste's body found in David Burke's
Tesla Trump?
She was found on September the 8th.
And it had been sitting out on the street
in Posh Hollywood Hills for weeks that we know of.
So that gives me
a timeline. That's what I'm getting at. And this will be very significant when we have Dr.
Kendall Crowns, we're now a medical examiner, explain the degree of decomp in this little girl's
body. So if she is alive, if this is in fact her in the video, August 24, and then we've got
September 7, that gives me a timeline. Let's take a look at the video right now. This video has
been circulating video from
at Clips of David on
TikTok. Now, isn't it true
Melissa McCarty joining me
investigative reporter, host of
The Killer Jeans podcast,
author of The Making of
a Crime Reporter. Melissa, thank you for being
with us. Isn't it true that Celeste's body was found
in a black tube top and ripped jeans?
Isn't that true, Melissa? She was
about 75 miles away from where
she was living with her family in Lake Elsinore
in the Hollywood Hills. Now, I'm
going to come back to you on that, Melissa, because I don't think she was living with her family
anymore. She was at one time. And then she goes missing. And according to neighbors that we
have heard about tonight, she had been living with this grown man, David Anthony Burke,
aka David, for a long time. Some sources date her relationship back to her age 11. Did you see
that picture of her as a little girl?
Yeah, age 11.
We can establish age 13.
You are seeing a video from at Clips of David on TikTok.
I want to see that again because now we are learning.
We are learning Moses Castillo joining me, former supervisor detective at LAPD, private
investigator for the Doordelian law group.
Castillo, look at this.
People are saying, no, that's not her.
So it's a woman that, a young girl, that looks just like her, that is wearing her clothes,
that is in a balcony reserved for special guests and family.
And Moses Castillo, oh, by the way, this is from at Cleopsov, David, on TikTok.
Moses, same clothes.
People are saying, oh, wait, I don't think that's her.
It sure looks like her.
Who should I believe?
Them are my lying eyes.
Yes, I believe it is her.
And I believe many people also believe it's her.
I've been getting several DMs on my social media with that same video saying, oh, my gosh, he killed her in August.
Guys, this is from a Silver Springs, Maryland concert, August 24.
And if true, these photos create a timeline from August 24 until her decomposing body is found in Burke,
artist known as David Tesla, in an impound lot on September 8, is reported.
the Tesla was parked on the street for about a month before being reported abandoned,
there is, I assume that is the front of the tow lot.
It was reported abandoned September 3.
Now, we now have a timeline from August 24 to September 3, not when the body was discovered
in the parking in the tow lot, but when it was reported a band,
and the body was already in there. We have now narrowed the timeline down from August 24 to
September 3. Joining me right now is a renowned medical examiner. And when I say that, I mean it.
I go to Dr. Kendall Crowns repeatedly on and off air with questions. Why? Because he has performed
over 10,000 autopsies. I'm talking accident, um, natural causes.
suicide, homicide, and of course, undetermined deaths.
He has autopsied infants, the elderly, bizarre deaths, and found the answer from inside his morgue.
He is the host, a hit podcast, Mayhem in the morgue, and he is a chief medical examiner
in Tarrant County, that's Fort Worth, and esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine
at TCU.
you. Dr. Crowns, what does this mean to you? The fact that we have a narrow timeline, August 24 to September 3. Her body was an advanced state of decomposure. I don't even know if we're going to get a COD cause of death.
Well, with individuals that have been placed in trunks or have been murdered and then not found for a period of time, especially in a warm environment, you can have a significant amount of decomposition occur where the body begins to blow or fill up with
gases. It turns a discoloration of a green discoloration and almost gets a black color at some
points. The skin starts to slip off. And this can obscure injuries, but it won't completely obscure
gunshot wounds and knife wounds. It can actually make strangulations hard to detect. But all
and all, you can still find...
Dr. Kendall Browns, can you see your monitor? As you're just tripping, is the word just
tripping off your tongue. You see who we're talking about, that little girl. You're talking about
her body turning green and then black and how I don't know how you do that how you just look at
this gorgeous little girl just 13 at the time she goes missing and talk about her skin turning
green okay that's for you and your shrink to figure out how we're going to get a COD on this little
girl well by doing a complete autopsy they'll be able to evaluate the body for injuries and any
fractures or anything of that nature, you can look at the neck structures, looking at the
hyoid bone, which is a bone in the neck, looking for fractures, things of that nature.
You can look at the skeletal system looking for fractures of the bone.
You can still see the skin surface, even though they're decomposing, and you can see injuries
that look like gunshot wounds or stabbings.
The only problem is when the body is decomposing.
If you get insect activity, insects can alter how injuries will look, and they can also
create their own burrowing into the body that can look like injuries themselves.
So you're going to want to look for blood.
Okay, stop right there, please.
You are now talking about a very, very advanced technology, and it is forensic entomology
where the age of, for instance, a blowfly, a maggot.
The age of the maggot can determine how long.
the body has been dead because maggots or blowflies appear at a certain point in decomposition.
So if they're one day old, two days old, three days old, if they have already laid their own eggs,
that can give you a date of death. Did I enunciate that correctly?
Yes, the life cycle of a blowfly can be helpful in,
trying to help pinpoint the time frame in which this individual died,
although the life cycle can be altered by things like cocaine,
which can speed up the life cycle.
So you have to take into effect the environmental conditions around it
when you're making those determinations on how long that individual's been dead.
Many listeners and viewers have asked,
how can a blowfly get into a sealed trunk?
And as you know, with a Tesla, it's a frunk
The trunk is in the front, but they somehow managed to get in spaces that seem to be hermetically sealed.
I don't know how they do it, but they do get in, and their existence can help you pinpoint a time of death.
Now, I'd like to draw the attention of our veteran trial lawyer, Troy Slayton, to a video I'm about to play.
Slayton, out of this jurisdiction, L.A. Criminal Defense Attorney at Slayton Lawyers, let's roll the video, please. Take a look, Troy Slayton. Oh, who's that? Oh, it's the artist known as David. What's he doing? Oh, he's putting a dead, bloody body into a car trunk. Let's just let that soak in for a moment.
Okay. Troy Slayton joining me, guys. This is from David YouTube. That's not helping any potential defense.
So we're going to prosecute people now because of their art. We're going to prosecute people because of music videos that were heavily produced and edited and created by a team of creative experts. I don't think so, Nancy. He also had a casket on stage sometimes what he would perform.
So just because he was obsessed with these morbid themes, that doesn't mean that he's a murderer.
I don't think that's really helping anything that you bring up.
Wouldn't this be the perfect thing for somebody who wanted to frame him?
I'm totally not hiring you anymore when I murder someone.
If you're going to bring up that I've been obsessing on a casket and then I commit a murder, no, no, no, no.
Uh-uh. No, Slayton.
Freedom of art.
He's obsessed with this anime culture.
No, we'll see the video again.
It's not just that he may be obsessed with death.
Here's an MO.
You know what that is, right?
Motors operandi method of death, method of operation.
Can I see the video?
This is not a casket.
This is him dragging a body, as you say for art's sake, and putting it in a trunk,
a dead body, a blunt.
He's also blind-folded.
That's the method of operation here.
There's all sorts of other imagery that's going on here.
And this is a person, an artist, who's obsessed with Japanese anime, which glorifies certain death and alter egos.
He talked about having an alter ego that was obsessed with death.
And so I don't think that somebody's music video, I don't think that's really interesting that you would say that because you remember the name Orenthall J. Simpson, right, O.J. Simpson. He talked about sports on TV, but he also had a premonition that he murdered his wife, Nicole, and he did.
Oh, you mean the book if I did it?
Trust me, if you did it, I am not making a cameo appearance as a defense attorney. Just know that. And while you chalk this up to freedom of expression and,
First Amendment. You know what? Just stop with that. Dr. Angela Arnold is a psychiatrist who has
been voted to the top of all sorts of accolades. She's an Angela Arnold MD and former professor
psychiatry at Emory University. Former medical director at Psychiatric Clinic at Grady Memorial,
which is known for its high traffic. Dr. Angie, thank you for being with us. Yes, Troy Slate. I knew
who's going to fall back on the First Amendment there.
But I want you to look again at your monitor and tell me who creates that?
Who?
I mean, think about Picasso.
Remember how he treated women in his life like crap?
And I'm putting that very mildly.
And his art showed them dissected and in cubes and their bodies all ripped apart and
very ugly, like their tongues hanging out and their eyes, one over here and one over here.
Yes, that was freedom of expression, too, and he also hated women.
So help me out with this video.
I'm not saying this is state's exhibit number one.
I think we're going to have hard evidence if this ever goes to trial as to who murdered this little girl.
But I want you to analyze this video.
So, Nancy, the control and domination that can be shown in this are signs for the musician of hyper-masculinity.
So that is what we're seeing in his, in his performance.
That is what he is enacting.
He is enacting the thoughts in his head that give him hyper-masculinity.
I'm not really sure how you're equating depicting murder and hiding the body in a car trunk with masculinity.
But again, that's for a shrink to figure out.
What?
It's for, because these are signs of control and don't.
dominance. What more control could you have over someone than wrapping a body up and putting it in the trunk of a car? To me, that is the sign of ultimate control. Actually, Troy Slayton does have a good point. The video in itself proves nothing, and it can be argued. It's just his art. So let's talk about hard evidence. I want to see the picture that some say is not Celeste, who happens to be, according to Melissa
McCarty joining us, a star of a killer jeans podcast, some are saying that's not her.
So I guess it's somebody wearing her tube top and her jeans with similar hair.
Can I see the video?
I don't know how to act it out for you with the same hairstyle, the same mannerisms,
and sitting in the box,
reserved for friends and family this clip from David on TikTok.
Photo circulating, alleging Celeste was with David at his concert in Silver Springs, Maryland
on August 24th. If true, these photos create a timeline from August 24th until her dismembered
decomposing body is found in David's Tesla in an impound lot on September 8th. It's reported the
Tesla was parked on the street for a month before it was reported abandoned on September 3rd,
towed on September 5th.
Hey, way, wait.
Oh, look it. Answer that one.
That's so mean if you're not.
What's one?
What's one?
13-year-old girlfriend is found dismembered and decomposing in your Tesla.
Neighbors complained about a foul older coming from the Tesla.
Neighbors now reporting that Celeste Grivas had been living with the artist known as David.
It looks like D4VD for a long time.
So how old was she when she moved in with him and what interest would he have in a little girl?
Curious that video we just showed you is him with her.
That's her in life.
She's dead without decomposing in his Tesla trunk.
I want to show you another video that we dug up.
Take a look at this.
The words, I got time to kill.
You got time to fill.
we got blood to spill all over the new car seats that I'm sleeping on.
Okay, let that sink in just for a moment.
You got time to feel.
We got blood to spill all over the new car seats that I'm sleeping on.
She's dead.
I'm curious.
Straight out to Tammy Ballard joining us, DNA crime scene consultant crime scene investigation
and Reconstruction, former DNA criminalist in the San Diego PD crime lab.
Never a lack of business there.
Tammy Ballard, thank you for being with us.
Explain to me, I know all the focus is on the trunk of that car where her body was not only
decomposing, but dismembered.
Tell me there's not going to be a tertiary crime scene such as where her body was dismembered.
That said, all the focus.
is on the trunk. What about the rest of the car? What about the seats of the car? He sings about
blood on the car seats. How do you process a scene like this? How long will it take, Tammy Ballard?
The rest of the vehicle is a fair game. You are going to need to be looking up and you're going
to need to be looking under. You always want to see what's on the ceiling of the vehicle.
You want to see has whicked through possible seats because a lot of the cleaning that gets done doesn't actually get rid of any of the blood if this truly is the crime scene.
So a lot of the issues are going to be where do you find the blood and making sure you don't miss the blood.
So literally pulling those seats out, cutting through that material and making sure that there is not blood saturated.
through onto that foam, which is definitely some of my cases.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Tammy Ballard, you just brought up a really interesting point, and I hope LAPD,
criminologists, are hearing what you're saying.
It's reminding me of the murder of a little boy, and when you look,
in his room, you don't see anything. You see no evidence of a crime at all. When
criminologist ripped up the carpet on that carpet liner that goes under your carpet between
the cement or the hardwood floor and the actual carpet, there's a mat. There's like a filler
right there. It was soaked, soaked with the little boy's blood, but you couldn't see it. So you're
saying, Timmy Ballard, which many people
People have not discussed this.
You're saying the seats have to be ripped open to see a blood has soaked down into the foam under the car seat cover.
Is that what you're saying?
Exactly.
And I have worked those carpets from residents as well that Elizabeth Sullivan case in San Diego is a big one.
It actually had saturation stains all the way through to the wood subfloor.
and that's because you have that wicking material just like you would have in the foam seating of a vehicle
and if you try to clean that say with a carpet cleaner or some sort of cleaning agent on top of a car seat
that doesn't necessarily get rid of that blood and usually bad to say with this case like this
there's probably going to be a lot of blood they're going to assume that they've been able to clean that up
if they were still using the vehicle or the residence and it's but
You can't get rid of it once it gets through that surface.
So I'm hoping that they're a very thorough job and just absolutely tear that vehicle apart and tear his residents apart.
Tammy Ballard, I assume that you've seen your car get its oil change right at an oil change station, not you sliding under it in your garage, but where they jack it up and then they go under it and work or repairing.
Um, that's what has to be done here.
We just investigated the case of missing mom, Nikki Chang, and her bloody sheets were found
in the trunk of her truck.
But when the car was jacked up and they looked under it, blood in mass quantity had leaked
down into the underworkings of the car.
Changing oil, not a good example.
You don't need to necessarily get under the car for that.
car repair.
They're going to have to jack this car up
to see if blood has soaked
down. How does that work?
They're going to have to put it up on
they should
have the equipment available, especially
with L.A. to put those up on
jacks where you can actually get a very
thorough
analysis of under the vehicle.
But I would say the undercarriage
vehicle, but I would also stress
that this is probably, if it's the
crime scene, the
the primary crime scene, it's going to be most likely contained within that vehicle with all
of those materials that can actually soak up blood. I've had a case where a woman was stabbed
91 times in the passenger seat. Very, very thorough cleaning by the perpetrator, but you're
obviously going to miss something. There's, there's, good thing is that most people can't
effectively clean up a crime scene to absolutely get rid of everything.
So I would be willing to bet there's some decent evidence within that vehicle.
And in this one, Tammy Ballard, I think that's quite the understatement because the killer
left the body in the trunk.
I don't think there was an extensive cleanup at all.
And curious, before I move on to the next topic, Tammy Ballard, you said you have to look
up and down.
Dan would be cutting open the seats and looking at the foam under the seat cover.
and the undercarriage of the car, but up.
You say you have to look at the top of the car and the dome.
Explain why.
And you're right, of course.
I think most people forget.
I shouldn't say most people forget.
I would hope that most people in this field would remember to always look up.
You need to look at the feeling of that vehicle.
If that's where that crime scene occurs, you need to look behind the, you know, the mirrors,
everything just to see if there is any potential blood spatter evidence that's present that
could easily get overlooked if you're not very, very thorough and looking at the entirety
of the inside of that vehicle. We learned that overnight. The musician known as David
flees his three plus million dollar match and he was paying $20,000 a month and breaks a lease.
So getting out of that mansion was more important to him than losing a lot of money.
Burke was living in a home leased by his manager, Josh Marshall.
But since police served a search warrant looking for blood at the residence,
the singer decided not to live in the $20,000 a month home.
The owner, Mladen Triphunovic says Marshall signed the lease in February.
And he didn't know Burke was living in the house.
After the raid, Trifunovic says they didn't want to live there anymore and are breaking the lease.
The home was previously owned by Hallie Berry.
You're not seeing a really good shot of it at the beautiful side of the front.
Oh, by the way, these shots are from our friend Harvey Levin over at TMZ.
Take a look at this.
So he leaves and breaks a lease.
Coincidentally, Melissa McCarty joining us, investigative reporter and host of Killer Jeans podcast.
He breaks the lease to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.
He may have had to pay out the lease.
I don't know how many years.
It was, what, 20,000 a month for how long, how many months, how many years?
He breaks the lease and flees in the middle of the night.
Tell me about the search of that mansion that just went down, the mansion that was belong to Hallie Berry.
Well, police officers are looking for anything to help build a case at this point.
So they're looking for traces of blood throughout the property.
They're also collecting all kinds of electronics because they also, a huge issue here,
they need to prove the extent of this relationship that he had with this child.
You know, so they're looking at communications when they met.
What age was she when they connected?
So anything that could help them build a physical and digital forensic pathway.
You know, I'm very curious to Moses Castillo joining us, former LAPD detective,
supervising detective.
How do you go about placing the time she started living there?
According to neighbors, it was a long time ago.
She went missing at age 13.
Some allegations, the relationship started much longer than before she was 13, much longer before.
Yeah, one of the things they'll do is they're going to analyze all the digital evidence, cell phone records, cell site locations, any interviews with people close to the family, close to her friends, interviewing students from her classroom.
All those are going to be very important to conduct in a very thorough manner.
Troy Slayton joining us, a veteran defense attorney out of this jurisdiction, L.A., Troy, I guess you're going to tell me that it means nothing that he fled the home they shared.
So I guess he never thought she was going to walk back in the front door.
Well, you said that he broke his lease. I think that the reporting is that his manager actually is the one who signed the lease is the one who is legally responsible for the $20,000.
a month lease payment. It was not the artist known as David. And I would think that after the
police conduct a raid at a home and remove all types of evidence, I wouldn't want to be there
either. So I think that seems perfectly reasonable. So you don't think there's any chance that
Celeste was actually killed there, by the way, this video from our friends at Fox 11. Oh, she certainly
She certainly could have been, and I think that there's a lot of video.
Look, we live in the digital age where everyone has a ring camera.
Everyone in that neighborhood has advanced security systems and CCTV.
The police are going to be combing through everything.
If a body was dragged out of that house, we're going to eventually have video of it.
Either video from the house security footage itself or by a neighbor or by the Tesla,
which also has about six cameras all around it that are recording at various times.
In the night, the musician known as David, it looks like D4VD, flees his home, his mansion
in upscale Hollywood Hills after it was searched and processed for fingerprints and blood.
His little girlfriend who took up with him that we know of around 13 years.
old has been found dead in his Tesla trunk. Tonight, no arrest. This brings to mind another little girl
whose case I investigator. Her name was Miranda Corset. Now, here is home video. It's a surveillance
video of Miranda. There, she's to the right. She's walking around in the alleged killer's front
yard, and then we see her walking back into the home. This little teen girl was tortured,
brutalized, and murdered. She was seen by neighbors in the home, completely naked, crying
in the corner. Now, Miranda Corset is seen walking into the home, but not much after that.
she is seen being carried out of the home and placed in the killer's car trunk. Keep watching.
It's like he doesn't even care. If the neighbors are watching, much less their security cams going the whole time.
Yeah, he puts little Miranda in the trunk, slams it shut, and then wipes it.
his hand like okay task accomplished my only question is is video going to emerge in the current case
of a little teen girl found dead in a trunk i'm referring of course to celeste rivas joining me
in all-star pound to make sense of what we are learning and i'd like to see now the photos taken
by t m z our friend harvey levin that show the
outside of the home.
As you see, the red arrows are pointing at what we believe to see home video.
Take a listen to this.
Police are scouring the area around the home where the Tesla with the dismembered and decomposing body in the trunk was parked before being towed and they are looking for video.
The rental home has security cameras positioned at all entry points in the backyard and on the street so people can't go in or out of the house without.
being recorded. Straight out to Moses Castillo joining us former
supervising detective LAPD. I want to hear your take on that
what you would make of it if any of that video had been deleted
if that's true and how that video especially if it's up in the cloud
how is that video recaptured and used. Yes Nancy what they're going to do is a
very thorough search of this location from top to bottom and
information I have is that the prosecution teams are already on board with the elite team
of detectives at robbery homicide division.
So that tells me that they're being very careful.
Hey, slow down, slow down, slow down the train because my follow-up question to you was going
to be, why is this being investigated by robbery at LAPD?
This is not about a robbery.
This is about a homicide, but you're telling me, an assistant district attorney has already
has been assigned to the case?
Yes. Robbery Homicide Division is the elite team of detectives that investigate not only
robberies, but homicides as well, especially those complex murder investigations.
And I have information that an assigned prosecutor is already on board with this team of detectives.
And that's awesome because they get to see things real time, not playing catch up at a later time.
I want to talk you about the fact that you're saying LAPD robbery homicide.
Much has been made online that LAPD robbery is investigating the case, but you're saying it's one of the same robbery homicide.
Yes, it's actually a robbery homicide division is the name of the division.
It's a specialized unit that the best of the best of detectives are assigned to this unit and the investigating the most complex.
Good to know.
Because Castillo, I want to just put out that fire right now for our online sleuths.
Don't stop sleuthing.
Keep sleuthing.
But let me take you off that particular episode.
of inquiry. So Moses, you're saying that all of this cam video is being amassed. And if this
girl was carried out or walked out of that mansion at any time leading up to the discovery
of her in the musician known as Davis Tesla's trunk, we're going to get it. And that includes
next-door neighbors, neighbors across the street, you name it. And think about this, Castillo.
What about cam video of who was moving that car from place to place to place in Hollywood Hills
and who put it there to start with?
Because whoever did that is somebody, I want to talk to, Castillo.
Absolutely.
And you know what, the test does record video all the time.
So I'm sure they're going to look at that as well.
And yes, every bit of digital evidence will be examined and thoroughly investigated by these
detectives who are dedicated to uncover the truth, ultimately getting justice for Celeste.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
Another issue, Mrs. Castillo, our online sleuths have been working 24-7 on this,
and they were concerned this had not been sent to homicide because there was not a C-O-D or any evidence that Celeste had been murdered.
Let me throw that to Dr. Kendall Crown.
So what would be the alternative that she crawls into the trunk and has a heart attack?
Of course she was murdered.
Yes, I mean, nobody's going to go into a trunk and then shut themselves in willingly.
That it's obviously a homicide.
We just have to figure out what.
And I think there is some mention that I've seen that she was possibly dismembered,
which is obviously not something that would occur naturally.
And another thing, Dr. Kendall Crown, speaking of partial dismemberment of this little girl,
I've got to follow up with a shrink on that.
But Dr. Kendall Crowns, you can tell so much from the tool markings on the body when someone has been dismembered.
And since a body is dismembered with, of course, some sort of cutting utensil like a knife,
does that lead you to believe her COD may have been stabbing or, statistically, it would be some sort of a strangulation or asphyxiation?
Explain.
That's correct.
More likely than not, it's a strangulation.
that followed up by them cutting her up.
Is there any way that normal decomp, which of course is not normal to decompose in a car trunk?
So right off the bat, that question is a non-sequitory does not follow.
But can normal decomposition in any way resemble partial dismemberment?
Well, if you get like animal scavenging involved, yes, the limbs can be pulled away from the body by animals.
But usually in normal decomposition, which in individuals.
You don't have that animals have nothing to do with this?
Can we stick to the facts?
Please, Dr. Crowns.
Certainly.
So she's laying in a trunk where animals can't get to her.
Your limbs are not going to look like they've been dismembered.
If you get to the point of skeletonization, yes, your bones will fall apart, but you won't look like you've been dismembered.
There is a clear difference when a body decomposes naturally as opposed to when the body has been dismembered.
You see tool marks or you see bones out of place.
There's nothing close to.
They don't fit together.
One will not be mistaken for the other.
Is that fair to say?
Yes, that is fair to say.
Now comes the story of Two Celeste.
A video called Two Celeste is gaining attention after being shared on eggs by Josh R.
Post with a caption that reads, quote, David, why are there Two Celeste?
The clip features the user claiming Celeste has two faces, one being a Celeste Rivas Hernandez and another Celeste Herrera, who interacts with Burke on social media.
The claim is that Burke was obsessed with Celeste and something terrible happened and he can't be with her, so he's trying to replace her with a lookalike.
To Melissa McCarty, investigative reporter host of Killer Jeans podcast and author of The Making of a Crime Reporter, again, Melissa, thanks for being with us tonight.
What can you tell me about the existence of two Celeste's?
This is fascinating.
And again, one of those internet sleuthing phenomena that have researched that the LAPD, I'm sure, is trying to track down.
You have an older adult version, Celeste, and then you have the minor, Celeste Hernandez.
But the most important information is we have one that was found dead in the trunk of his vehicle.
And another, you really have to investigate the extent of the relationship.
Did he actually know both of them?
Was he intimate with either of them?
How did he know these two?
And who is this other person?
What does she have to do with the other?
Well, from what we've been told, Celeste Herrera, the 23-year-old, interacts extensively with David on social media.
I'm referring to David Anthony Burke.
The claim is that, and this would have to go to Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist,
joining us. The claim is that Burke was obsessed with teen girl Celeste and that as soon as she
was gone, he's trying to replace her with a lookalike. Now, is that hard evidence? No, it's not.
I'm sure Slayton's doing a backflip right now. But what does, what do you make of that that a Celeste
lookalike is his online protege? As you can see with these two young girls,
there's a pattern in how they, in how they appear.
I have a feeling that the younger girl, the younger Celeste, was much easier for him to control.
He's now found someone that appears to look much like her, and we don't know what his motives are.
His motives are, his motives could be directly what we're doing here.
When did these two girls exist?
You know, another issue, Dr. Angie, we don't even know the exception.
of their relationship, for all I know, it's just an online relationship where she interacts
online, but we're finding out. I want to look at the leaked lyrics of Burke's song, Celeste.
Oh, Celeste, the girl with my name tattooed on her chest, smell her on my clothes like
cigarettes. I hear her voice each time I take a breath. I'm obsessed. Oh,
Celeste. Now, remember, 13 at the time, they started their relationship. Oh, Celeste, I afraid you'll only
love me when undressed, but you look so damn gorgeous in that dress. Missing you so much
makes me depressed, but I digress because I love you so much. Okay, Troy Slayton. Yeah, he's not
obsessed, is he? Again, this is art, Nancy. You can't convict somebody
based on art and we keep mentioning that she was 13 now I know that this is not a legal defense and it
wouldn't provide a legal defense in court but how do we know what age she said that she was
there's been some reporting that she had some fake IDs I don't know of anyone that's ever
dated somebody is her fault I'm not saying that at all those fake IDs was
she was murdered and put in that trunk.
Not saying that at all.
If it's not a legal defense, why are you even saying it?
Because we're talking about somebody.
Are you so not trying to blame her with the claim that you think she might have had a fake ID?
Absolutely not, Nancy.
But what I am saying is he didn't necessarily know that she was underage this whole time.
She was a runaway.
He didn't necessarily know she was living with their family or that she was missing.
We don't know that he knew.
of this. You were bringing up modus aparandi.
Under the law, you do know, that doesn't matter. Every statutory
rapist I've ever met said, I thought she was 18. Yes. How is this any different?
We've all heard that, Nancy, of course. But what I'm saying is this just goes to his potential
state of mind. And that's why it's important. Okay. Okay. Important to you, not to me. She's
dead. And I want to know who did it. And I want to remind everyone that the musician known as
David, his real name is David Anthony Burke, is innocent. He stands innocent tonight.
He will not be guilty unless he has been charged and proven guilty in a court of law by a jury
of his peers. If you know or think you know anything about
the disappearance and death of this little girl, Celeste, please dial 213-486-6-890.
You can remain anonymous.
213-486-68-9-0.
And now we remember an American hero, firefighter, paramedic, Stephen Scott, Houston PD, killed in the line of duty, served L.E. 30 years.
survived by a grieving wife and three children, American hero, firefighter paramedic, Stephen Scott.
Nancy Gray signing off. Goodbye, friend.
This is an I-Heart podcast.
