Case Updates: Luigi Mangione, Barry Morphew, & Reading Prelim Report On D4VD

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00][music] >> Welcome to Pretty Lies and Alibis. Let's seek the truth and travel the long road to justice together.

[00:00:07]>> [music] >> What you know, alibiers? Welcome to another episode of Pretty Lies and Alibis. I'm GG. Good to have you here.

[00:00:14]It's Wednesday, May 20th. I took yesterday to finish up a few things I've been needing to get done. And now that I'm back in town and settled, we have some catching up to do. When I'm covering a trial like I did Tanner Horner for weeks, I really don't have time to check up on anything else. But I do like to keep up with the cases we're following with all the new developments and throw them in the playlist so that we are current. Let's jump in with Luigi Mangione. Now, this is a case I probably will not be able to cover when it goes to trial because it's federal and it's not live streamed and it's really just impossible to cover a trial when you can't see what's happening. But I have been keeping up with the developments in this case. Earlier this week, a judge ruled that some of the items seized from his backpack will not be allowed in a trial. The backpack was partially searched at the McDonald's where he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

[00:01:07]Investigators who searched it said they did to be sure there wasn't a weapon or a bomb in there. The judge ruled that Luigi's backpack was not in a grabable area. It was out of arms reach when authorities were detaining him and said it was an improper and warrantless search. Also, a violation of his constitutional rights. So, what is being suppressed? The magazine for the firearm, his cell phone, wallet, passport, and a computer chip.

[00:01:35]Also, statements about the fake ID he presented to police will be kept out.

[00:01:41]And just a reminder, he used that fake ID to check into a hotel with the name Mark Rosario. And that was the same ID he presented to law enforcement in that McDonald's. He did tell them his real name about 20 minutes later. The judge said while the body worn camera footage showed the officers did express concern at the scene that the backpack might contain a bomb, there was no evidence that a gun was a concern or that it was the basis for the search. But even if it were a legitimate concern, there was no possibility at the time of the search that the defendant might retrieve a firearm from the backpack and thus no urgency. Later on when the backpack was searched legally at the police station, the supposed murder weapon was found and that will come in at trial. Also coming in is the 3D printed silencer and the notebook that has writings allegedly by Luigi that are said to be expressing frustration with the healthcare industry as a whole and other damning writings like a manifesto.

[00:02:44]In part, it says, "I finally feel confident about what I will do. The details are coming together and I don't feel any doubt whether it's right or justified." According to prosecutors in court filings, Luigi wrote in an entry dated in August of 2024, "I'm glad in a way that I've procrastinated because it allowed me to learn more about United Healthcare. The target is insurance and it checks every box." In addition to the contents of the backpack and the video, officials say they have Luigi's DNA and fingerprints that were recovered from places near the crime scene. As of now, his trial is set for September 8th. Moving on to Barry Morphew, he had a hearing yesterday and his defense team has filed over 31 motions since his last court hearing and they were all dated April 13th. In those filings, they asked the court to not allow testimony about Barry's mental health state or his credibility. The defense also wants to exclude testimony saying Mr. Morphew looked guilty, untruthful or looked suspicious like he's hiding something.

[00:03:52]They also do not want statements allegedly made by Suzanne allowed. The state does expect to file several motions in response to these defense filings. One thing that I missed back in March is their daughters were asking for Suzanne's remains to be returned to them, but the state opposed that saying the remains are material evidence. And just before hearing on the matter, the daughters withdrew their request with no explanation given.

[00:04:20]Suzanne's remains will remain in custody until the end of Barry's trial. And moving on to singer David, who has been charged with murdering Celeste Reviss Hernandez, he had a hearing last week where he waived his May 26th preliminary hearing.

[00:04:35]That is now set for June 29th. They say the reason for the delay is getting evidence uploaded. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has also filed special circumstance allegations including murder of a witness and murder for financial gain.

[00:04:52]That alone can make him eligible for the death penalty. One thing that came out recently was the evidence filing that was a summary of what they expect to present at the preliminary hearing. So, let's go through that. And a trigger warning, it is a little bit graphic in parts. It says Celeste's body was found in the front trunk of David's Tesla September 8th.

[00:05:15]The car was towed 3 days prior to the discovery.

[00:05:18]The car was parked 400 ft from his home.

[00:05:21]Surveillance and other evidence confirms he was the last person to drive the car on July 29th, 2025 before he left the Los Angeles area for his tour. September 8th, the manager of the tow yard noted a strong smell of decomposition and noticed flies were coming from the car.

[00:05:40]When the front trunk was opened by law enforcement, they saw a body bag covered in insects.

[00:05:46]Inside the bag, they found Celeste's severely decomposed head and torso.

[00:05:51]Under the body bag were two garbage bags where her arms and legs were found. Her pinky and ring fingers on her left hand had been amputated and have not been located. LAPD detectives learned David and Celeste met in 2022 when she was only 11 years old.

[00:06:10]They began a sexual relationship in November of 2023 when she was 13 and David was 18.

[00:06:18]They learned Celeste had been reported missing to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department by her family in February and April of 2024. The Sheriff's Department contacted David on February 17th, 2024 after identifying his phone number in Celeste's phone records. During that call, David said he last talked to Celeste on February 13th or 14th and said he was unaware she was a minor and he was unaware she had been reported missing. He was told the LA Sheriff's Department would be coming by his house for a welfare check that was requested by the Riverside Sheriff's Office. They arrived around 8:15 p.m.

[00:06:56]and informed David that Celeste was only 13 and she was a runaway. He denied knowing she was underage and said he had only met her once in person in November of 2023.

[00:07:08]But then he showed law enforcement a yearbook photo of Celeste he had on his phone. He said he did not know where she was at that time, but it is noted she returned home two days after police talked to David. In spite of being informed Celeste was a minor, he continued to pursue her. After she returned home in February 2024, her parents took her cell phone away. David drove to the area where she lives and paid a junior high student in her class $1,000 to give her a cell phone he bought so they could stay in touch.

[00:07:40]Throughout 2024, Celeste spent a significant amount of time with David, including summer weekends at his home in the Hollywood Hills, and she also accompanied him to Las Vegas, London, and then to Texas to meet his family.

[00:07:54]Texts between the two contain references to sex, see, abortion, and the morning-after pill. There's also explicit photos confirming their inappropriate relationship. In November of 2024, they did break up, but continued to communicate and text indicating their sexual relationship was continuing. April 23rd, 2025 is likely the date Celeste was killed. All of her cell phone activity stopped. The night before, David and Celeste had a long argument through text messages, and those texts show that Celeste had jealousy over David's relationships with other women after he convinced her they had a future together. Celeste was upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about their relationship to end his career and destroy his life. His first studio album was set to be released on April 25th, and his multi-million-dollar career was already in progress, including multiple product endorsements that were highly profitable. On April 23rd, at approximately 8:40 p.m., David sent an Uber to bring Celeste to his home.

[00:09:05]The two communicated before and during her Uber ride. She was dropped off at David's around 10:10 p.m. At 10:30, David texted Celeste asking where she was.

[00:09:17]The state contends this was part of a premeditated plan to cover up the murder as they believe she was already dead at this time. They believe she was stabbed very shortly after arriving to his home, and the reason to protect his music career. They say he stood by as she bled out, and while her family was trying to find her, David knew she was dead, but lied and said he did not know where she was. In fact, he drove to Santa Barbara County immediately after Celeste died attempting to dispose of her property and to destroy evidence. At 11:30 p.m.

[00:09:51]on April 23rd, he drove away from his home and was calling and texting Celeste's phone asking where she was.

[00:09:58]These acts were set up to plan his defense within a short time after her murder. He drove the Tesla north on the 101 freeway near a lake in Santa Barbara County and returned home in the early morning hours of April 24th before going to a radio interview about his upcoming album release. He sent two more text messages to her phone that day and after April 26th, he did not try to contact her phone again. He purchased tools to carry out his plan to dismember and dispose of her body. April 24th, he ordered a shovel from Home Depot and had it delivered to his home through Postmates. That's like DoorDash. It's just another service where you can have things bought and delivered. On May 1st, he ordered and received two chainsaws that were purchased on Amazon. May 5th, on Amazon, he ordered a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable pool. He used the name Victoria Mendez on the order. On July 7th, he ordered a burn cage from Amazon which was delivered to his home using that same fake name. Investigators believe he placed her body in the inflatable pool to prevent her blood from spilling onto the garage floor. He used a chainsaw and possibly other tools to dismember her. Small blue plastic fragments were found embedded in her remains which were collected by the Los Angeles Medical Examiner. Those fragments were analyzed and an expert made a physical fit match from that blue pool that David bought.

[00:11:32]By the way, I've already done an episode on her autopsy results. I will link that in the description if you haven't heard that yet. But again, trigger warning, it is graphic. To distance himself from Celeste, he amputated her left ring finger since she had his name tattooed on it. He also amputated her left pinky finger. Her fingers have not been recovered. He placed her head and torso in the body bag he purchased and then placed her limbs in garbage bags and put all of that in the front trunk of his car. For several weeks or possibly months, he left her body to decompose inside his Tesla.

[00:12:10]He lied to friends, business associates, and others who noticed the strong smell of decomposition in and around his home and car. Before leaving for tour, he parked the car on the street around the corner from his house. The LAPD served a search warrant on September 17th, 2025, and they found evidence consistent with the dismemberment of her body in the inflatable pool, which contained multiple linear cuts. Several biological samples, which tested positive for blood, were collected within the garage area, and analysis showed that blood matched Celeste's genetic profile.

[00:12:50]December 9th, 2025, the medical examiner determined the cause of death was two penetrating injuries to the torso, and it was ruled a homicide. January 17th, 2026, her passport card was found by a worker in Santa Barbara County. Part two is the evidence to be presented, which is pretty much what we just went through. Uh they will do a description of the photographs of Celeste unclothed when she was 13 due to the fact that showing them it constitutes as child abuse material. They say this is proof of the ongoing inappropriate relationship when she was 13 and 14.

[00:13:28]Numerous texts between David and Celeste that prove their sexual relationship, pregnancy, abortion, and the use of the morning-after pill. Messages through March 25th, 2025 that were taken from David's iCloud account that proved David continued to manipulate her as she texted him, "All we do is have sex and just hang out, man. I want more than that for myself." They're going to show the cell activity and communication from April 22nd through the 24th, including that visit to Santa Barbara after they believe Celeste was killed. Surveillance photo showing David driving the Tesla July 29th, the last time before parking the car and leaving for tour at the end of July. They'll bring in DNA developed from blood stains found in the garage, which match Celeste. Proof of those purchases and deliveries to his home.

[00:14:20]The Uber records showing he had her picked up.

[00:14:24]And also proof of his lucrative career prior to April 23rd, 2025. He had an album release party April 24th and then left for tour in late July. They also plan to bring in the text where she threatened to destroy his career. So, a lot of evidence stacked against David and that's just what we know. There is a lot more I'm sure we don't know, including what they've learned from interviewing friends and business associates. What a horrific case. I think this murder was very last minute because he did not want her to ruin his career. Because otherwise, you would have all of this stuff already at your house ready to go. Instead, we see he's ordering it after she had been killed.

[00:15:10]And I don't know what the heck he was thinking by parking this car on a public road with a decomposing child in the trunk. It goes to show you he is a dumb criminal. So, that is it for those cases. If anything new pops up, I'll let you know, but that's it for now. Hope you guys have a good rest of your afternoon, and we'll see you soon.