Law&Crime Sidebar - D4vd Faces Horrific New Charges in Teen's Dismemberment

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has announced a series of gruesome charges against 21-year-old singer David Burke, known as D4vd, in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Burke now faces counts of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. These developments come seven months after the teen’s decomposed body was discovered in a car linked to the singer. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the disturbing new allegations and what this means for the high-profile legal battle ahead.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents bonus for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A parent's nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back. Their grief is uncalculable. The L.A. County District Attorney has just made a big decision regarding criminally charging singer David in connection with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Revis Fernandez. It was a shocking press conference where we learned never before heard details of this case in investigation and were some of the questions we have had. for the last seven months have been answered. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, huge day in David News. There was a big press conference that was held

by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. I'm talking about L.A. District Attorney Nathan Hockman. This is in conjunction with the LAPD. In this room, they were flanked by a mugshot, a new mugshot of David and a picture of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. We have finally learned whether David will be criminally charged and with what. And remember, this comes on the heels of what we reported last week. The arrest of the 21-year-old romantic homicide singer on suspicion of the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Seven months ago, her reported decomposed and dismembered body was found in the trunk of a car

reportedly registered to the singer. And it was confusing because he was arrested but not charged last week. And we thought that's strange because our reporting was, and we'd saw this from TMZ and other outlets, that a grand jury had reportedly been hearing evidence for quite some time in this case when the arrest came down. So why was he arrested and not charged? And we speculated and wondered, did the grand jury not believe there was enough evidence to charge him with a crime? Maybe it wasn't a grand jury with the power to indict, maybe just to hear evidence and lock in testimony. Maybe they were still hearing evidence when the arrest came down. And that's

why you saw, and we heard this a little bit from TMZ too, whether or not the LAPD and the DA, maybe their offices were not on the same page. You go to this press conference. That was not the case. I'll get to it in a second. So remember what also happened last week. The LAPD, the PIO, released a statement. Detectives from Los Angeles Police Department Robbery Homicide Division have arrested David Burke, a 21-year-old resident of Los Angeles for the murder of Celeste Revis. Burke is being held without bail. The case will be presented to the district attorney's office on Monday for filing consideration. That's today. Now, this also came in from the L.A. County. District Attorney's Office last week, Greg Reisling. Good evening. Our office is aware of the rest of

David Anthony Burke by the Los Angeles Police Department. The case is expected to be presented to the major crimes division at which point prosecutors will review the facts and evidence to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to file charges. At this time, additional information is not available. We will share an update on Monday once a filing decision has been made. So you hear that language and you wonder, again, were they on the same page? Now, LAPD Captain Scott Williams told NBC last week regarding David's arrest at this home in the Hollywood Hills, we did the best we can to keep tabs on him. But once we developed probable cause to arrest him for murder, then we were on him pretty diligently. And he told the California Post they had a probable cause warrant with them when they made the arrest.

And there were photos of armed police outside the residents making the arrest per reporting from the California Post. David appeared to be in handcuffs. He was led away. A neighbor told the outlet, there were so many cops. There was apparently an officer on a loudspeaker shouting surrender. It was a big scene. We also heard from David's attorney. So Blair Burke, Marilyn Benarski, and Regina Peter, they released a statement saying, let us be clear. The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death. There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed, although you'll hear Nathan Hockman maybe suggest otherwise about a criminal complaint. David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David's innocence. Now, again, this was from And last week, we got to talk about what happened today. Okay? By the way, before I even get into today, TMZ reported that their source told them that the ME, the medical examiner's office, determined Celeste's manner of death to be homicide.

Okay? Takes us now to today. Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hockman held a press conference alongside members of the LAPD, including Scott Williams, who I mentioned before, even indicated Beth Silverman will be the lead prosecutor on this case, which is interesting because we had previously reported she was the one who was apparently presenting evidence to this grand jury. She's a career prosecutor, particularly in homicide cases. And this was the moment after seven months when Nathan Hockman announced the charging decision for David Anthony Burke, David.

Today I am announcing the charges against David Anthony Burke, the musician, known as David, spelled D4VD, in connection with the brutal and horrific murder of Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time. These charges include the most serious charges that a DA's office can bring, that is first-degree murder with special circumstances. The special circumstances being lying in wait, committing this crime for financial gain, or murdering a witness in an investigation. The special circumstances carry with it, along with the first-degree murder charge, a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. The determination on whether or not the district attorney's office will seek the death penalty will be made at a later time. Before I get into the actual charges, and there are additional charges against Mr. Burke, including continuous sexual acts, lewd in lascivious sexual acts,

with an individual under 14 years old, and mutilating a human remains of a body. Before I get into the description of these charges and their seriousness, I want to look at this as a parent. I am a parent of three children, and a parent's nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night. and never comes back. As we will show in a court of law, and what I also want to make sure about that the understanding

of these charges is clear, is my description of these charges is not evidence that we are going to present in court. These charges, in fact, will not be evidence in the court. Evidence will be the witness testimony, the documents, and different types of admissible testimony that we will admit into court. in the prosecution and if it leads to the eventual trial of Mr. Burke to convince a jury of 12 people beyond a reasonable doubt that each and every one of these charges is true, as well as the special allegations and circumstances that have been alleged.

Okay. First of all, we suspected that David would be charged with murder after that was what he was arrested for. And in other court documents that came out a couple months ago, we know that he was being investigated for murder. But first-degree murder with special circumstances, lying in wait to kill, murdering a witness as part of an investigation, murdering for financial gain, and now facing the possibility of the death penalty, even though it's my understanding there is a moratorium on executions in California, that is a huge deal. And in a minute, we're going to get to the reasons the DA believes the evidence purportedly

shows that. But what you're seeing are different alternative. alternative theories on how to prove the murder charge here. And clearly, they believe David is at the center, that David is the one responsible. Now, to be clear, he is innocent until proven guilty. And we don't know the exact evidence that the prosecution is going to produce. But also, the sex charges, this is something we have talked about before. Steve Fisher, the private investigator who has been representing the owner of the property

where David had reportedly been staying at in the Hollywood Hills, reportedly near where the Tesla was found, he has been saying for months that David could already be charged with sex crimes. That aside from the alleged murder, that there's evidence that David was allegedly having a relationship with a minor. And you heard Nathan Hockman say continuous, meaning more than one time over a period of time. And you're going to hear later when Hockman talks about digital evidence. Are we suggesting here text messages showing this relationship, photos?

videos, witness statements of those around the two maybe? And I'll tell you what, this is the part of the press conference where Hockman talks more about the alleged crimes and he goes into the different theories. Again, lying in wait, murdering a witness. Take a look. On April 23rd, 2025, has been alleged by the complaint. Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time, went to Mr. Burke's house in the Hollywood Hills. She was never heard from again. On September 8th, 2025, as alleged in the complaint, Mr. Burr, excuse me, Ms. Celeste remains. Her dismembered and decomposed remains were found in two bags inside of a front trunk, trunk of a car registered to Mr. Burke. thereafter began an investigation. The investigation was to determine who killed, who murdered,

Celeste, months and months before. That investigation was carried out in unison and in partnership between the LAPD's robbery homicide division and the district attorney's office. At every point in the investigation through the arrest and the filing of charges, the LAPD and the district Attorney's Office have worked in lockstep. There's been no disagreements amongst these entities in deciding how to proceed with this case ultimately leading to these charges today. So what you have as well with these charges is that again there are three sets of charges that have been brought. The first-degree murder with special circumstances, and again, those special circumstances are lying in wait. that Celeste went to Mr. Burke's home on the night of April 23, 2025, as alleged in the complaint at his invitation, and again, was not heard from again.

The second is a special circumstance being that this murder was committed for financial gain, as the evidence will show in court. The financial gain was for Mr. Burke to maintain his very lucrative, musical career that Celeste was threatening on that particular night. The third charge, in addition to lying in wait and for financial gain, is murdering a witness to an investigation. In this particular case, as the evidence will come out in court, the witness to the investigation was Celeste, and the investigation was into the lewd and lascivious sexual acts. committed by Mr. Burke that is the subject of count two of this complaint with Celeste while she was under 14 years old. Wow. So it seems a fair interpretation would be she allegedly goes to this

house, this property, that David, you know, they're going to be saying allegedly lured her there, got her there, invited her there, and either he allegedly wanted her there because he planned to kill her, again, if the allegations are true, these are the allegations put forward, but that she was what? Planning on going public or telling someone about the relationship, planning to go to authorities about this relationship? I don't know. But that this was essentially going to risk his career. So he allegedly kills her to keep her quiet, make sure his album, his endorsements, his tour wouldn't be affected. I'm wondering if that's going to be the argument. I wonder if that's going to be the theory of the case. And I assume that's going to be the argument. Now, how will they

prove that? How will they prove that intent based on the circumstances? and timing of this alleged killing, text messages, witness statements, we shall see. But again, different theories here. And remember, I just go back to this, and I don't know of this for sure, but during the grand jury, it was reported by certain outlets that this record executive had testified. I mean, again, allegedly, what do the people around David know? What were they told? What did they communicate to him about his career, about his finances?

Just things I'm thinking about right now. And then we go into where Hockman talks about Celeste family. I had the chance to meet with some of the family members of Celeste. And their grief is uncalculable as to what happened to their daughter. What they have demanded, what we have assured them, that the district attorney's office working with LAPD would give them, is the proof beyond a reasonable doubt, on who killed their daughter, on how their daughter was killed, when their daughter was killed,

and bring that killer to justice. That killer that we have now charged is David Anthony Burke. Now, at one point Nathan Hockman brings on LAPD, Chief of Police, Jim McDonald, who not only talks more about the investigation, but also addresses the frustration the public has had with law enforcement regarding this case and a lack of public comments or transparency. Throughout the seven-month investigation, this department has faced criticism for how we handle the case and for our decision not to provide details. I want to be clear about something. My duty is not to fuel speculation, it to deliver justice, and that requires patience and discipline on everybody's

part. This investigation was driven by a single purpose to secure justice for Celeste Revis and for those who loved her. We had to be certain that nothing we did or said would ever jeopardize this case. Ms. Revis was a reported runaway from Riverside County. During the course of our investigation, detectives learned that she had been involved in a sexual relationship with Mr. Burke when she was a minor and he was an adult. On April 23rd, 2025, Ms. Revis arrived at Mr. Burke's home in the Hollywood Hills. That's the last time she was known to be alive. On September 8, 2025, Ms. Revis's dismembered and badly decomposed body was discovered in the front trunk of Mr. Burke's impounded Tesla.

From that moment forward, our investigators face an extraordinary difficult and complex case. The condition of her remains delayed the medical examiner's ability to be able to determine cause of death. The substantial amount of time that passed between her death and the discovery meant that crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared. And as detectives worked to uncover the truth, they also had to sift through and debunk a great deal of false information circulating publicly. These challenges were real, and they required patience, precision, and an unwavering commitment to the facts. Despite these obstacles and despite intense public pressure, robbery homicide division detectives remained steadfast in their duties. They recovered and analyzed

the substantial amount of digital and forensic evidence. They stayed focused, disciplined, and committed to uncovering the truth. Their work, including close collaboration with the district attorney's office has brought us to this moment today. I want to thank the district attorney and his team, as always, for their partnership. This case demanded coordination, persistence, and a shared commitment to justice. And that makes sense. He's not wrong. You don't want to say too much that could jeopardize a case, give a criminal defendant ammunition to say the investigation was tainted or the prosecution is tainted or that you had blinders on and we're only looking at one person without looking at

exculpatory evidence. But you also have more about cause of death, right? Which hasn't been publicly released because of a court order. The medical examiner's records have been sealed. In fact, Hockman took questions about a lot of things, and he took questions about this. And he talked about how details of the allegations regarding the special circumstances that are going to be produced in court. He didn't talk so much about it. But he did talk a little bit more about the coroner's report. So with respect to the coroner's report, we will be seeking quite quickly to provide an order to the court that now allows the coroner to release that report to the public. So once that report is released and we will see what the coroner's finding or conclusion

is, that's going to be a piece of the puzzle. I mean, I hate to say this, but again, it's tough to think about cause of death and how you analyze that when you're dealing with reportedly dismembered and decomposed remains. So could they be able to determine, let's say, asphyxiation or poisoning or blunt force trauma or a gunshot wound? And I don't even want to think about this, but it's the cause of death, the alleged dismemberment? By the way, you heard the defense attorney say, he's not the cause of death. Is that because they have their own interpretation of what the cause of death could be? Is this going to be a battle of medical experts?

Or are they going to point the finger at somebody else and say, that person is the cause of Celeste death? And Hockman was asked, why did it take so long to make an arrest here, given, again, the body was allegedly found in David's car, and you look at the state of Celeste. I think the police chief got it right, that in a situation where you don't have an eyewitness account, or we can't point to a video that it shows the killer killing someone, you have to go through the very rigorous and thorough investigation to look at all the digital and forensic evidence. You have to speak with witnesses often who are cooperative and some who are not cooperative in order to obtain all the information necessary to decide who did what, when, how, and what their mental state was at the time. That is what we've been doing over the last, between September 8th, roughly, and today when we bring these charges on April 20th. So again, it's a type of case that you want to make sure you get maximum information. And by the way, if there's anyone out there that has material information about this particular murder or any other actions taken by Mr. Burke, please come forward to the Los Angeles Police Department, come forward to the LA County DA's office and report that information.

So it gives us an idea of the evidence, maybe lack of evidence. You talk about a smoking gun, that one thing? No, totality of the evidence, all of the evidence, not one thing. some cooperative and non-cooperative witnesses. Is anyone working under an immunity agreement to provide testimony? We talked so much before about Neil Langston, David's purported friend, how he was arrested in Montana for allegedly failing to appear as a witness. Seemingly in this case, what was it in front of the grand jury?

TMZ had reported that he had only testified for 30 to 40 minutes. If that's the case, was he uncooperative? Is he a witness? I can't say for sure. Neil Langston did not come up today. Now, according to Hockman, the investigation is ongoing. They believe they have a strong case because of the totality of the evidence that was obtained by the LAPD robbery homicide unit.

They talk about the work that the DA's office has done. They believe they can prove these charges, the special allegations, the special circumstances. And this is where Nathan Hockman discusses whether anyone else will be charged. Is it possible that you will be arresting other people within his circle? And did he act alone in this death? Again, with respect to whether or not there's any other individuals or going to take any other actions, you will know about them if we do, but at this point I'm not commenting. Do you believe that you know how she was killed beyond it being homicide? The actual cause of death?

The coroner's report will be released shortly. Because it is not currently released, I'm not going to be commented on. But what it was determined, not that if you won't say what it was, but hasn't been determined how she was beyond it being homicide. The coroner has made a determination on how Celeste died, and at the point that the coroner's report becomes public, we'll be able to comment on. Was there a specific breakthrough last week? Is there physical evidence that ties data to this murder? There is physical evidence, and there is forensic and digital evidence that we intend to present in court to prove these charges beyond a reasonable death. Only a couple more questions. Yes.

Your investigation and just to his question, are you able to tell us exactly what the smoking gun is? And also, if you can address the issue of his visit to Santa Barbara, and that, how does it connect with the murder? So with respect to the actual details of the evidence we're going to be presenting in court, I'm not going to do that today. As far as the concept of a smoking gun, the smoking gun is the totality of the evidence that we're going to bring to prove any case. whether it's this case or any case beyond a reasonable doubt. Is there any evidence that you've used? An investigation is ongoing. If information comes forward on any, with respect to any additional crimes,

we will certainly investigate it. One more question. One more. What makes discussion about the difficulty in this case the chief talk about it as well? What makes you confident to improve these guys? What makes us confident is the totality of the evidence that has been obtained by the LAPD robbery homicide, by the work that the district attorney's office has done,

that has led us to the point where we believe we can prove each and every one of these three charges and the special circumstances and the special allegation beyond a reasonable doubt. So I guess it's possible someone else could be arrested or charged. I don't know, maybe if someone refuses to cooperate, refuses to provide testimony. We will continue to stay on top of this case wherever it will go. Thank you so much for joining us here on Sidebar. As always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well.

If you want to follow me, X Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, 11 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. I'll see you next time, everybody.