Singer D4vd Charged with Murder. Cause of Death revealed | The Emily Show

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Welcome back, Lonard, to the Emily Show.

[00:00:02]And it's time we have much to talk about. The voice is still a little tired. I was out of town for all of last week. And so much happened from the time the episode went live on Monday, April 20th to this episode going live on Monday, April 27th. It was a lot of a week and so much happened in the David case. That is what we are talking about today. Because David was in court twice.

[00:00:27]We have new information from the coroner's office. We have the official charging documents from the district attorney's office. He is still being held with no bail. And there's a lot that's going to happen this week. And we're going to continue to find out more about this case. And none of it's going to be easy. If this is the first time jumping into this case, don't worry.

[00:00:45]I'll give you a bit of a road so far. We are going to talk about everything that's happening. We are not going to be getting into every single detail of everything in the coroner's report and more because a there will be time for that, but b it's important to me that we go over what's happening legally. We don't always need to get into every horrific detail of this case. And unfortunately, there are many. So with that, we are going to just be in the criminal docket today with now officially California versus David Burke, aka the singer David. So let's get into it. I'm legal analyst Emily D.

[00:01:22]Baker. Yes, also a lawyer. And this is the Emily Show. I break down the pop culture, entertainment, and high-profile cases that we're all talking about. I know you want the facts, so let's get into it. I think it's helpful to do just a little bit of an overview of the timeline that we've had of this case.

[00:01:38]And that's going to continue to have points added to it as we get into a today's discussion about this case. And then B, as we learn more about the case, hopefully we will have more points on the timeline about what happened, how, and when. We have some of those allegations today and some more information than we did last well and a lot more information than we did last week, but there is still a lot we don't know. And that's not surprising for being early days in a criminal prosecution. Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who sometimes is called by her full name, sometimes referred to as Celeste Rivas. I will be referring to her both ways, but you will also see her referred to as Celeste R because she is underage and in the charging documents, she will be referred to by first name, last initial. So, we will see that as well.

[00:02:37]But she went missing from Lake Elsenor, California around Valentine's Day 2024.

[00:02:43]Her family reported her missing April 5th, 2024. However, it was reported and is still being reported that sheriff's deputies had responded to the home around 11 times between February 2024 and April 2025, including three times on March 19th, 2024. The family was trying to find where Celeste was. And it seems from the information I have been able to find in this case and we are going to learn more that because of David's presence online and streaming video games like Fortnite and other things on Twitch, they were able to connect digitally before they connected IRL. We know that then remains were found in the front trunk of Singer David's Tesla registered to him on Monday, September 8th, 2025. That Tesla had been towed off of streets in Los Angeles where the car had not moved appropriately for street sweeping and things and was towed. Then the towyard called law enforcement and the remains were discovered. The remains were identified by the coroner's office on September 17th, 2025. And from that date moving forward, the internet had pulled up clips of her on stream with him, things that she had said on stream and a lot more information of a digital footprint. And then we heard that a grand jury was underway. And then news broke last week that David had been arrested. And I covered that on last week's podcast. Not indicted, arrested on a warrant. And then on Monday, the district attorney's office did a press conference. They then arraigned and charged formally David with three felony counts. We're going to get into what those are and what that means. And then he was back in court later in the week and the media was largely reporting that that was for preliminary hearing. If you follow me on the Launder app, you would have seen that I did a really quick YouTube short to explain that basically everybody was reading that situation wrong. And though it was set for a preliminary hearing date, it was a three of 10, which means it was going to always be continued. And that's a bit of an LA thing that that media was just not familiar with and getting wrong. So, we're going to talk about what that means, what's going to happen at preliminary hearing and how this case is going to progress after we get through the charges. I am not going to go through all of the district attorney's press conference and the video of the arraignment today. If you're interested, let me know in the comments and we can go over that on stream and answer questions about it. But going over what the charges are, what they mean, and where we go from here, I think is more helpful than trying to take snippets out of the arraignment and what have you.

[00:05:29]So, let me know in the comments. First, we are taking a look at the official statement and news release from the LA County District Attorney's Office from April 20th. singer David charged with capital murder of 14-year-old girl. And then they go on to say victims decomposed and dismembered remains found in David's vehicle. And this is their release. The release says Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hawkman announced that musician David Anthony Burke, known as David, spelled D4 VD, was charged today with murdering 14-year-old Celeste R, whose body was found decomposed and dismembered in his car that had been impounded in September 2025. quote, "Celeste was just a child under 14 years old when David Burke allegedly engaged in repeated LWD and lascivious sexual relations with her."

[00:06:17]District Attorney Hogman said, it goes on to say, quote, "But Burke's actions did not allegedly stop there when she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career." Burke allegedly murdered her, cut up her body, and stuffed her body into two bags that were placed in the front trunk of his car. There, the dismembered body sat for over four months.

[00:06:38]decomposing until it was found at a towyard on September 8th, 2025. This horrific and gruesome murder committed by the charged sexual predator is shocking and appalling. To Celeste loved ones, we will get the justice you seek and deserve. Now, that's a direct quote from the district attorney of LA, Hawkman, regarding the alleged facts of this case. Why does the district attorney say alleged when their standard is that they have to be able to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt before filing it? There are a lot of rules about what attorneys can say and that includes the elected district attorney. So the elected district attorney should always remind everyone these are allegations. There is a presumption of innocence and that that presumption remains through and until this case is resolved either by plea or by jury verdict. They go on to say Burke, who they identify by date of birth with March 28th, 2005, was charged in the case number with one count of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. We're going to look at that complaint together in just a moment, so you can see how that complaint is worded uh visa v some of the others that we have looked at on this channel together. They go on to say that the complaint also includes special circumstance allegations of murder of a witness, murder for financial gain, and lying in weight, as well as a special allegation that Burke personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp instrument to commit the crime. I'm going to talk about that more as we get into the complaint. They go on to say that the arraignment is scheduled for later in the day on April 20th, and that did in fact happen. They then go on to say that on April 23rd, 2025, Burke invited the victim to his home in Hollywood Hills. Celeste R arrived at the defendant's house and was never seen again. On September 8th, the victim's decomposed and dismembered remains were found in the front trunk of the car registered to Burke that had been impounded after the vehicle had been reported abandoned. They go on to say if convicted as charged, Burke faces death or life in the state prison without the possibility of parole. A decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be made at a later date and that the case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman of the Major Crimes Division and remains under investigation by LAPD robbery homicide.

[00:08:59]They say that the charges filed in this case are allegations the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. And then they include the booking photo of Singer David. One of the questions I got a lot was why arrest him now? And I don't know if we will find that out until later in this investigation because it wasn't as if a grand jury had just indicted him. We don't have information like we did in the Aden case with Donna being literally arrested as she's stepping on a plane to leave the country. But flight is a consideration of course and it's something that I'm curious about. But also as we learn more we learn that they were also wiretapping his phones. So they might have had information that he was contemplating leaving. That is again speculative on my part based on all the circumstances. It may just be that they had what they needed to prove their case and now was the time to charge him. There is a little surrealness to it that this is alleged to have happened April 2025, right after he had performed at Coachella and seemingly had parties and events that he was attending right after the murder is alleged to have happened before he was to go out on tour. And yes, when they say that Celeste was never seen again, they would also be using digital evidence for pattern of life, when she had last logged on to digital accounts, things like Discord, what her phone had done, and all of that. And we've seen pattern of life activity used in phones quite a lot in the cases that we've covered. And we know from reports that there was some wiretapping, so they were listening to what was going on and conversations that were being had. And as always, I will be very interested to see what comes out when all of this goes to trial. But it might take until then to understand fully why he was arrested when he was lonard. A quick moment to talk about something that a lot of us think about way too often and if you're like me stresses us out all the time. What's for dinner? And sometimes what's for breakfast and what's for lunch? Which is why I love Hungry Route because it's flexible and can accommodate what's going on in my life. Some weeks I just need groceries. Some weeks I need just meals ready in 5 minutes. And Hunger Root adjusts what you need week to week.

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[00:12:04]So, just head to hungarroot.com/lonard and use code lonard. That's hungarroot.com/lonard and use code lonard to get 40% off your first box and a free item in every box for the life of your subscription. Now, let's get back to today's episode and we are taking a look at the official complaint out of Los Angeles. You'll see that they are a little more penal code heavy than some of the other complaints that we look at. And you will notice there is not a probable cause affidavit and there are not a lot of descriptors in the charging document. It truly is the crime, the crime, the crime and the defendant. And that is really it. Count one alleges on or about April 23rd, 2025 in the county of Los Angeles. the crime of murder in violation of penal code section 187A. A felony was committed by David Anthony Burke who did unlawfully and with malice of thought murder Celeste R human being. And then they go through the notifications and the statutory notifications about this being a serious offense and a strike offense.

[00:13:05]And then the further allegations, those are the special circumstances.

[00:13:09]It's further alleged that the murder of Celeste R was intentional and was carried out by the defendant David Anthony Burke for financial gain within the meaning of penal code section 190.2A1 then saying that this was committed under section 190.2 A10 because Celeste R was a witness to a crime and was intentionally killed because of that fact. And then the last special circumstance under 190.2 to A15 is by means of lying in weight. And so all three of those special circumstances take it from being a firstdegree murder into a special circ murder or an aggravated murder as we've talked about it in the context of other jurisdictions. In Utah, it's aggravated murder. Same with Florida and elsewhere.

[00:14:00]And then these circumstances are the aggravators that take you into that as we've been calling it murder plus. So it plus these things takes it from being a 25 to life case to a life without parole or death penalty case. And many ask whenever we talk about this California has the death penalty. Yes. And I understand where the confusion is because there's a moratorum on carrying out the punishment. So yes there are people on death row but there is a moratorium on carrying that punishment forward. However, it is still on the books in California. So yes, somebody could be sentenced to death and yes, they can be put on death row, but it is to be seen whether or not there will be, you know, different governors who will change whether there's a moratorum on it or whether the voters in California will eliminate it altogether. That is up to them. But this is an option. When we talk about what the special circumstances mean, that's what it means in all practicality at this moment. It takes it into being a life without the possibility of parole case. But the district attorney's office could choose to pursue the death penalty on this. And as we talked about in the Riner case, that will go to a committee. Input will be given by the defense attorneys and they will evaluate the crime, the defendant, the wishes of the family, and more in their special search committee.

[00:15:24]And so the next question I think naturally is, okay, killing of a witness, but to what? And that's what we saw in the DA's press release saying that Celeste was threatening to be a witness against David regarding his illegal sexual activity with her and she was threatening to expose that which makes her a witness. We don't know where those conversations have been had. We don't know if those are also digitally recorded. if there are witnesses that are going to testify or if there may be police reports or more. We do not know.

[00:16:05]We will find out as this case goes on, but she was a witness to the crime against her in addition to being a victim. When we're talking about financial gain, the district attorney Hawkman also addressed this that the financial gain was him trying to preserve his career. So when you look at murder for pecuniary gain in California, we've seen that in other cases that we've discussed. That has been a special circumstance. In this case, it's the preservation of the career that's being alleged as the financial gain. When the remains were discovered and the car was connected to David, I saw for the first time how much was going on with his career. It's not that he had just performed at Coachella and just that he had music that was gaining popularity, but he also had some massive and substantial brand partnerships and work that was just getting ready to launch in September, right around the time that the remains were found and then were quickly pulled, including with Hollister and Crocs. He had a skin and a bunch of other stuff on Fortnite, which we'll talk about because that is recently been pulled like literally this weekend as I'm recording this. And he had performed in Milan for Valentino at fashion week.

[00:17:26]He had opened for Siza. He had just performed at Coachella. So this was substantial and growing brand partnerships. the type of collabs that are multi-million dollar brand deals.

[00:17:43]And then you have the by means of lying and wait as a special circ which in this case I imagine is going to be the luring her over false pretenses waiting for her there and then taking her life and we will learn more about that as this case goes forward. Let's talk about count two. Count two is a violation under Penal Code section 288 alleging that on or between September 7th, 2023 and September 7th, 2024 in the county of Los Angeles, the crime of continuous sexual abuse in violation of Penal Code section 288.5A was committed by David Anthony Burke, who did unlawfully engage in three or more acts of quote substantial sexual conduct as defined by the penal code.

[00:18:27]having sex. We're just That is what they are talking about here. And it says three or more lewd and lascivious acts.

[00:18:35]That's also going to include having sex.

[00:18:37]It says with a child under the age of 14 years old while the defendant resided with or had recurring access to the child. So she was living with him during this period of time that they believe they can prove. And during that period of time, he was engaging in a substantial sexual relationship with Celeste. She was under the age of 14.

[00:19:02]And David was born in 2005. So this period of time is running up to his 20th birthday. And one of the things that we had discussed in previous episodes is that even though she was found September 8th, we had talked about the fact that that was on the cusp of her birthday.

[00:19:20]She was born September 7th, 2010. And so we had talked about some reporting initially that she was 15, some reporting initially that she was 14. It is now much more clear that they believe that her death occurred in April, well ahead of her 15th or what would have been her 15th birthday. But the dates in this September 7th, 2023 to September 7th, 2024 is also aligned with her birthday and would have been while she was 13 and then turning 14 years old.

[00:19:51]Count three of this case has a different allegation date as well. On or about May 5th, 2025, County of Los Angeles, the crime of unlawful mutilation of human remains in violation of Health and Safety Code 7052. A felony was committed by David Anthony Burke, who did willfully and unlawfully mutilate remains known to be human. Specifically, the remains of Celeste R. with this. I am wanting to see more information of what they have because it seems to me this is around the time they believe that she was put into the Tesla, which raises some questions about what would have happened between April 23rd and May 5th and how they know what they know about what happened on May 5th and if they have recordings from the Tesla. So, we will learn more about this as this case moves forward into preliminary hearing, which is what we're going to talk about next. But there are some questions here because the dates are not just all alleged on one date. These are very specific differences in the complaint on the dates things happened.

[00:20:58]And at this time, David is still being held no bail. I imagine that that will be the case throughout this case and that he will not bail out. Even if the defense does hold a bail hearing or asks for a bail hearing, I don't suspect that we will see that be granted. We're going to talk a little bit about the arraignment in this case that took place on April 20th. Again, arraignments are pretty quick hearings. It is, you know, generally waving formal reading of the complaint. the complaint is what we just looked at and letting the defendant know what their rights are and when their next dates are. And at that arraignment, the defense was asking for an immediate preliminary hearing within the statutory period. What does that mean? Well, the preliminary hearing is the probable cause hearing. And a lot of jurisdictions and things that we've covered have just gone by indictment at a grand jury. And so there is no preliminary hearing. But in the Corey Richens case, they did a preliminary hearing. It took about 2 days. We watched that entire preliminary hearing together. It is an overview of the evidence. And again, the standard there is probable cause. Is the defendant most likely the person who did what they're being charged with? Is there enough evidence to show that that person should be held over till trial? It is not even a mini trial, though sometimes in high-profile cases it can feel like it because the rules of evidence are slightly different. A lot of this can be done via hearsay. In California, you're going to hear it referred to as 115, where they bring in a lead investigating officer to say, "I reviewed this evidence. It says this. I talked to this person. They said this. This is what the coroner's report says." And they can go through an overview of the investigation and how the investigation ties the defendant to the thing that happened.

[00:22:38]So, the defense was asking for an immediate preliminary hearing within 10 days of arraignment. He was immediately arraigned and pled not guilty on that arraignment. different than what we've seen in other cases in Los Angeles recently. So that was then set as a preliminary hearing three of 10 on April 23rd. It's always a little eerie when they line up that the dates there in court are lining up with dates that things were charged. So the defense was asking for a statutory preliminary hearing within 10 court days of the arraignment date, April 20th. So the court then set the April 23rd date as a preliminary hearing three of 10. We knew because well I shared with you that that date was going to get continued. We knew that was going to get continued but there was a hearing in front of the preliminary hearing judge who at this point is not allowing cameras and LA is generally cameras are a no-go unless a judge makes an exception. So, I don't know if we'll see cameras at the preliminary hearing or if we will see cameras at an eventual trial. It's up to that particular judge. So, they were back in court on the 23rd and then set a status hearing for April 29th. The preliminary hearing will not happen that day. It's a status hearing. Why?

[00:23:57]Because, as we heard on April 20th and again on the 23rd, the defense is asking for discovery. The district attorney said there are over 40 terabytes of data already in this case and there will be more. The defense attorney complained of not having even the coroner's report yet and we know that because it was sealed.

[00:24:14]So nobody had the coroner's report which is what we are going to look at next a little bit together because that was finally unsealed and is now more publicly available. Yes, I have lots of thoughts about whether autopsy reports of minors should be available. However, the coroner's department has policies of transparency and that has been made available. But with that, I am going to cover cause and manner of death and not a lot more at this point because we will learn more after the preliminary hearing as well. So on the 20th, the defense was asking for discovery and is like, "This has all been so secret and we don't know anything and we need to do it." And the DA was just, "Well, fine. Let's do the preliminary hearing within 10 days." So, the preliminary hearing may go forward on May 1st. We'll learn more on the 29th if the defense has the discovery that they need to go through for the preliminary hearing, which is going to be a lot of stuff to go through before May 1st. But on April 22nd, the coroner's report did release the findings from the autopsy and the autopsy. And we're going to take a look at the coroner's statement now. Lonard, a quick moment to thank our sponsor, Lola Blankets. First of all, this is the blanket that everyone in my family fights over, including Fred and George.

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[00:27:05]They say cause and manner of death determination for Celestria Hernandez from April 22nd, 2026. Quote, "The County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner, DME, determined the cause and manner of death for 15year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez."

[00:27:21]And again, I take issue, but the age from the coroner's report is not really going to create a wrinkle for the prosecutors because the prosecutors are alleging that she was killed in April.

[00:27:38]The coroner's office is going off of the date of discovery. They determine the cause of manner of death for 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez as multiple penetrating injuries caused by objects and in other reports they say sharp objects. So generally those are knife or other sharp object wounds. They go on to say that the manner of death is homicide. So cause of death is sharp penetrating injuries. Manner of death homicide which means caused by another not accident. They go on to say Miss Rivas Hernandez was discovered at 1100 hours on September 8th, 2025 in the front trunk of a vehicle in a towyard in Los Angeles and death was pronounced by a detective with the LAPD. A deputy ME conducted an examination of Miss Rivas Hernandez on September 10th, 2025 at the DME's forensic science center. The cause and manner of death were determined December 9th, 2025. That is new information. That is also very interesting information to know that around the time that we started hearing about the grand jury was also around the same time that the coroner's office had come to a determination about cause and manner of death. It's why when we don't have information, I do not speculate.

[00:28:54]There's always a lot going on in these cases that we don't necessarily know, but it's going to take time when you are dealing with decomposition to make some of these findings. it does not mean that it's impossible. They go on to say that a court order initiated by LAPD previously prevented the Department of the Medical Examiner from releasing its findings. And we discussed that a bit last week, too. Quote, "After several months, I'm grateful this information can now be released not only to the public, but also to the grieving family enduring loss," said the chief medical examiner. "It is unfathomable that they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter. The transparency of the information contained in our findings and reports is essential for empowering the community to make informed changes to effectively reduce fear and allowing the community to take informed action. Making the department's information publicly available is not just about accountability. It is also about social justice and prevention. By ensuring access to this information, we strengthen our ability to learn, to act, and ultimately to prevent the next tragic loss of life. I want to extend my gratitude to our partner agencies for taking the necessary steps of filing an order with the court to make this disclosure possible. It continues to sound like the DME's office is at odds with LAPD based on all of the statements they've released. The DME has been really unhappy that they have not been able to release this information earlier. They were not pleased by it.

[00:30:23]they remain unpleased by it. However, I understand their concerns, but I also understand the concerns on the other side that this is an ongoing investigation. They were not concerned that David was an unknown person that was going to cause harm to others. This was the murder of someone that was apparently living in his house that he was in a relationship with. This is not a case where I think they were concerned that immediately he was going to harm others. And so law enforcement gets to make that determination in an ongoing investigation. And it seems that it's really ruffled the medical examiner's office quite a bit. We also learned from the medical examiner's report that Celeste had two deep stablike wounds in her torso and one in her upper abdomen that had pierced her liver, one in her chest that had gone between her ribs and damaged the surrounding bone of her ribs. And they do talk about the fact that her right pointer finger did have a sh tattoo on it that we had heard uh quite a bit about early on in this case.

[00:31:30]One of the other things I've noted from the coroner's report, as something I am waiting for more information on, is that the coroner's report indicated that the bags that Celeste's remains were located in were cadaver bags, like actual body bags. And what that indicates to me is that it is a actual um more sturdy type of a body bag, which might have made DNA easier to get off of that bag. But there were also additional just black trash bags recovered. So there were both types of bags recovered with remains in them.

[00:32:10]And having a actual zip handled body bag just makes me wonder a where did it come from? B did anyone else help in obtaining it? and see what digital trail there might be finding that it is more specific than just trash bags. And so there is going to be more information there that I am keeping a note on to see where that information connects back to. And upon the coroner's information becoming public, the family of Celeste Rivas gave a statement to LA magazine and said, quote, "The family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez issued a statement through their attorney, Patrick Steinfield, saying, the Revas Hernandez family is absolutely devastated by the findings contained in the medical examiner's report involving the horrible and gruesome death of their beloved daughter." The statement goes on to say that the findings have caused profound emotional pain for the family.

[00:33:13]They respectfully ask for privacy, understanding, and patience as they process this information. Jesus and Mercedes will not attend David Anthony Burke's hearing tomorrow. The Rivas Hernandez family sincerely appreciates the community's support and concern. And again, having someone missing is a very specific and horrible thing for families to go through. The details in this coroner report are a horrifically different type of now information that they are going to have to grapple with. And that's not going to be easy, especially as it is so public and it is going to continue to be, I would imagine, fairly high-profile. It's horrific. And in the district attorney's statements, in everybody's statements, all of them mentioned the family. All of them mentioned their own kids, and all of them mentioned what an unending nightmare this is for the family to have to walk through.

[00:34:19]What they didn't mention, and I am waiting for more information about is how many people were surrounding David.

[00:34:28]It was not just a dude in a house. She had been on streams with him. He had managers and friends and entourage.

[00:34:40]There were people around. What was going on after Coachella?

[00:34:46]I just have so many questions for all of them and we haven't heard a lot of information about that just yet.

[00:34:55]Unfortunately, this is a case where the details that we are going to continue to learn are going to continue to be horrific and that's exactly what happened in court on April 23rd as reported because there were not cameras in court that day and they were not allowed. We are taking a look at information from reporting from those in the courtroom on the 23rd for that three of 10 preliminary hearing setting date.

[00:35:23]The headline from LA magazine is shackled David appears calm quote almost bored in court as CSAM on iPhone is revealed. Talk about that. It says, quote, "A court appearance Thursday in the first-degree murder case against singer David Burke, known as David.

[00:35:40]Again, I'm not pronouncing it D4VD. I don't David." They go on to say, "It was not a preliminary hearing as some had expected. Y'all need the Lard app." I explained what three of 10 meant to everybody. The Lards knew it wasn't going to be a prelim. Everybody else got real confused. The Lonards knew that we were going to have to wait till the 10 to 10 date cuz the DA's have the right to trail. Y'all knew that. They go on to say that Burke arrived in the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit, shackles, and a look of boredom. I mean, I don't he might still be absolutely shell shocked that he got arrested on this, but who knows? They go on to say, "The distinction matters. A preliminary hearing is where prosecutors begin laying out evidence to show probable cause, often calling witnesses, and presenting major elements to prove their case to a judge. A status conference is more procedural."

[00:36:25]Yes. Yes. And to be fair, the docket listed it as a preliminary hearing. So if you did not watch the arraignment and hear that that was really a preliminary hearing setting three of 10. Just looking at the docket, it says preliminary hearing. It does not say preliminary hearing setting three of 10.

[00:36:44]So it is a nuanced distinction, but I understand where the frustration comes from. They go on to say that inside the courtroom, Thursday's hearing focused on the logistics rather than the underlying facts of the case. Prosecutor Beth Silverman said David's phone contains quote a significant amount of child sexual abuse material, which they cited as one of the reasons the evidence has not yet been turned over to the defense. Instead, the material must be reviewed on a secure standalone computer at the district attorney's office. That has to be arranged with law enforcement and the DA's office. This is not something that will be turned over on a hard drive to the defense. You can understand why. What they did not clarify is whether or not some of those images involved the victim in this case, which is also a possibility in this case that some of those images might involve the victim in this case given the nature of the charges against David. That would not surprise me if that were true. I am not saying that it is. I am saying that that is possible, which would also make it more necessary for the defense to review that because he's not being charged with having images on his phone, but he is being charged with the sexual abuse of a minor. And so if those images relate to this victim, then it's something that the defense is going to need to do before the preliminary hearing versus something that will come up later, which is why I bring it up. They go on to say that the singer appeared in court Thursday for the status conference exactly one year after prosecutors alleged he killed 14-year-old Celeste Revas Hernandez.

[00:38:25]They go on to say that he also nodded along in agreement when media was discussing the need for cameras in the courtroom. They go on to say due to the nature of the sexual abuse of a minor charge, cameras will not be allowed.

[00:38:38]Well, that answers that question for us and I can understand why the court would have concerns given the charges about that being televised. But I do think there are ways as this case gets to trial to have witnesses that go to those counts, not televised, but they're not going to close the courtroom either. Individuals will be allowed in court. There's also a way to not show evidence if physical or visual evidence is shown to the jury to not show that evidence publicly. We've seen that in many cases. We see that every case when they show autopsy photos that are only shown to the jury, not shown to the public, not streamed. There are a lot of ways to navigate that. I don't think that's going to happen here because for me, having reporters in the courtroom is not much different than having cameras in the courtroom. Like, the reporters aren't going to see the autopsy photos either, but I understand why the court would make that decision.

[00:39:39]They go on to say that the defense continued to request missing evidence.

[00:39:43]Prosecutors also revealed that a wiretap was involved in the investigation which occurred last year. No other specifics were provided. Wiretap can take a lot of gigs of data. That's a lot of data to review. But there's an interesting note from the reporting from court. Both the defense and prosecution would like to go to trial within 60 days pending the defense's receipt of all the discovery.

[00:40:06]Ahead of the May 1st preliminary hearing, a status conference will take place April 29th at 1:30 Pacific Standard Time. So, the new information that we have learned at this point is one, there is a wiretap that took place, I'm interested to learn more. Two, there are illegal images of children on David's phone. I do not know if that directly relates to this case, but they have not charged him with possession of those images. And if the defense needs to review those before the preliminary hearing, I would anticipate that they might be connected to the charges here, which is also horrific to think about, but it might be connected to the charges here. We also learn from the coroner's information and from the charging documents that they believe that the mutilation count happened on May 5th, not April 23rd. They believe the date of death is April 23rd. And everyone says that this is going to go to trial, it seems, within the 60-day period. We will see. I have some hesitancy on whether this will go to trial within the 60-day statutory period, but if everybody wants to do that, then they will have to move it move it to get this case to trial within the statutory time limit. We will know down the road if David ends up waving time for trial or not. But at the beginning, keeping it on the statutory time pushes on prosecutors to make sure that they are getting the defense everything and it keeps really a a very clear focus on moving this case forward and getting the defense everything they need. There's no time to waste and we will learn more about that this week at the next status hearing on April 29th.

[00:41:49]In addition to that, this weekend I started seeing more information amidst all of the travel and things that all of the stuff that David had had in the game of Fortnite is now being refunded by Epic Gaming. And I can imagine that there are a lot of parents and gamers themselves that are very uncomfortable with having anything connected to David.

[00:42:12]And I'll add, when I was traveling for a YouTube event, because David had been a streamer and very prominent on social media and connected to different social media platforms, there were a lot of conversations about this case and what was happening and if she was seen on his streams and did people around him not know. There are still a lot of questions and a lot of discomfort I think around that most people would never have have thought that this would ever happen. As I had mentioned, we are looking real quickly at an article from Forbes regarding Fortnite. The headline reading after David murder charge Fortnite is refunding his cosmetics and those are the things in the game. Quote, Fortnite fans were wondering what Epic would do about its previous collaboration with David Anthony Burke, known as David the Musician, whose cosmetics were sold in the game in 2024 and 2025.

[00:43:11]And now we have an answer. The outcry has been due to the fact that David has now been accused of the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was discovered in the front trunk of a car registered to him. Hernandez has been missing since April of 2024 and her body was not discovered until September of 2025. The article goes on to say a day ago, which would have been April 25th, a few Fortnite users were starting to see that they were being granted refunds for David Cosmetics, a rarity for digital items. And then Epic came out with a statement this morning, that would be April 26th, about how this was being handled, saying, quote, "We hear the concerns. We have a bunch of changes we're rolling out over time. The first one will be available on Tuesday, April 28th, when anyone who purchased one of these items will be able to get an immediate self-service refund. And right now, players who requested refunds of David cosmetics via player support can be refunded." They go on to say there is some push back that the cosmetics which include a dance emote and two jam tracks. He has also had his own locker bundle are now being removed from the game entirely. But this may be included in the quote bunch of changes that are happening with requested refunds being step one. It does seem a bit odd that it's not being flatout removed and autorefunded as step one, but that may happen soon enough. Obviously, with so many collaborations over the years, there have been various controversies that featured celebrities based on some scandal or another. They go on to say again, but obviously the grizzly situation with David is in an entirely different league with an accusation of capital murder and the horrific details of what happened to the victim. Yeah, I think um Epic should and Forbes asks the question, why aren't you just removing these things from the game entirely and refunding everyone's accounts?

[00:45:05]automatically. I imagine if you can do requested refunds, you can do the other as well. But this is not the only video game David's connected with. Of course, he's connected with Fortnite quite a lot because part of the reason, or at least it's been reported, and this is my understanding, that part of the reason he began a musical career was to have copyright free music when he posted his own Fortnite gameplay. And so instead of going to like Epidemic Sound or something, he started making his own music. And that included then a partnership in September of 2025. Emily, wasn't that when the car was found? Yes.

[00:45:42]September 2025, he had partnered with Epic Games to release the official Fortnite anthem, Locked and Loaded. And that wasn't the only one. He had a song that he collaborated with called Call Me Revenge that was part of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 in 2023. He has a song on Madden NFL 2026. And I believed he had something in connection with Arcane as well. So pulling stuff back out of where it is woven into pop culture and gaming culture is going to take some time. But the DA's office is going to use all of that as part of the special circumstance regarding the pecuniary gain and the financial gain showing all of these things that were growing and maybe even going the step further to show how much of it's now being pulled back. Though there's can always I guess be an argument that if the relationship had been exposed perhaps that the response would not be what it is now given that he has been charged with her murder and her remains were found in his vehicle. But we will have to wait and see. Will the preliminary hearing go forward on May 1st? What more will we learn about this case? And do you want to watch some of the court hearings that are available so far on stream? you let me know. Thank you for putting up with my very tired voice. Thank you for being here and thank you for being alonored.

[00:47:08]This case is going to be hard, but we will be keeping in the loop with it here on the podcast. I do not think we will see cameras in the courtroom at all going forward, but I will keep you in the loop with the reporting. I've been following the journalist we saw from LA magazine who has been in court, and there will be others that will be in court for the hearings with trusted reporting. And if it goes to trial and the Lnards are like, "EDB LA, it's time for some time in LA. Maybe I'll just go visit the friends and spend a little time in court back at CCB." Lonards, let me know if you're interested. And I will see you back on stream this week. Make sure you stay tuned in the Lonard app so I can keep you in the loop because then you would have known there was no preliminary hearing this week. And again, thank you for being here. Thank you for being a Lonard and I will see you in the next one.

[00:47:59]Cheers. Thanks for joining me. If you enjoyed this episode and don't want to miss updates on your favorite cases, you're going to need the Lonard app at lonardapp.com. That way, you can stay in the loop on the cases that matter most to you. And you never know when you're going to catch feelings for a new case.

[00:48:14]So, make sure you get it for free on iOS and Android. Thank you for being here, and thank you for being alerted.