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January 5, 2026 • 21 mins

It’s now officially 2026, and there are still no arrests in the death of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas, the teenager found dismembered and decomposing in the Tesla owned by singer D4VD back in early August. Despite a few unsubstantiated reports from “police sources” in tabloids, investigators have been radio silent since November when they finally acknowledged the singer was in a romantic relationship with Rivas-Hernandez and is officially a suspect in her death. From the D4vd investigation, to the deaths of Martha Nolan and Anna Kepner, Amy and T.J. will spend this week going over some of the mysterious cases that plagued the headlines in 2025, to see where they are headed in the new year.  

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, that folks did is Monday, January fifth, four months ago,
a teenager's dead body was found in the trunk of
singer David's car, And here we sit still no arrest
in that case. And with that, welcome to this episode
of Amy and TJ Robes This and several cases that

(00:24):
we're following, but this was one. I don't know if
we felt we'd be sitting here four months later still
talking about who's going to be held responsible for this?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yes, And I don't think it's an exaggeration at all
to say at least weekly, but sometimes even daily, we
check to see if anything is going on with this
case and several others, because there are some high profile
cases that seem or at least at the time, seemed
like there were going to be immediate charges or within

(00:54):
a reasonable amount of time there would be charges. Never
did we think when we heard about not just the
fact that a teenager's dead body was found in David's
tesla four months ago, but the fact that she was
found decomposing and dismembered. Clearly she didn't go in there
on her own volition and somehow get locked in. There

(01:16):
was no explanation as to how she got in there
other than someone put her there, and someone did something
to her body and put it in there. So to
think that they have not been able to cross enough
tease or not enough eyes to bring formal charges against
someone is kind of baffling.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
And it's one of a number of cases that have
baffled us. What we're gonna do here, folks, what we
decided as we're starting the new year, we're gonna be
looking and looking ahead to what these big cases are
that have not like, don't just say solved, but they
remain incredible mysteries, at least to the public. This is
one of them. And a Kepner, the teenager died on

(02:00):
that cruise ship, Travis Turner still missing, a coach wanted
on child porn charges, Martha nolan oslatterer, that young woman
died in August in montac and I am saying, not
a peep have we heard about that. So we decided

(02:21):
these are cases we have been following it really robes
almost daily. We are looking for stuff on them, and
there have been so few updates that these kind of
remain mystery. So we wanted to start here with David.
If people don't know the singer. It's spelled D the
number four then v D. If you see it written out,
it's written with a four there. But his name it
is pronounced David. And this was the guy we weren't

(02:44):
familiar with when we first started hearing his name connected
to this case.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
No, your twelve year old daughter, Sabine was familiar with
him because he is somebody who came up through TikTok,
through social media. He actually started composing his own music
because he wanted to use it when he was playing
his Fortnite games, and so it evolved organically, and his
following did too, and he amassed quite a following in

(03:08):
a pretty short period of time. And he was twenty
years old at the time of all of this. I'm
not sure if he's grown a year older since then.
But a young artist, a merging artist who was on
his way up.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
He had just set off on this world tour.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
His professional career was skyrocketing when this happened.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
So young. Twenty is so young, And didn't you tell me?
I don't know if you haven't in your note there,
but there was some was it. I don't know if
it was time, but it was of upcoming artists. He
was number one on the list one year of upcoming
artists from whatever publication that was. This guy was. We
didn't know him, but a lot of people did, and
the industry knew him.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
And if you hadn't known him before the scandal or
the controversy, I haven't hate to call it that because
there was a murder, I would say they haven't have
they classified it, but even as a murder yet thomiside,
I mean that took months, so yes, so before all
of this, I think it would be fair to say
you were going to know his name, but just for

(04:10):
his musical talent, not for any of this. And yes,
he was Billboard I believe was the publication that named
him such, and even your enders, you know, they go
through artists, people who had buzz about them, top artists.
His name was among some of those artists because unfortunately,
of all the curiosity about his music based on now

(04:32):
the fact that this young woman who you know, it's
she was a teenager and we've been calling her a
fifteen year old and just so we can get her
name out right away, because of course, there is a
young girl who suffered on an unimaginable fate. Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Her body was found the day after she turned fifteen,

(04:52):
but authorities who haven't told us much have said that
she had been dead for at least weeks, perhaps even months,
before her body was discovered. So she died at the
age of fourteen. That is very fair to say and
incredibly incredibly sad. Big age difference between Celeste and David

(05:12):
and a lot of people mentioned. I think by all accounts,
they met online when she was just twelve years old.
We don't know if she didn't fully disclose her age,
but certainly the people who have spoken who were around David,
friends of his, who actually saw Celeste or saw them
hanging out, said she acted like she was older, said
she was nineteen, made everyone believe she was a college student.

(05:33):
So obviously who knows what he knew about her actual age.
But this is just a tragic story with a young
young woman who lost her life far too short.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
She was troubled and clearly had a troubled home life.
She had been missing what year year and a half
before she was discovered in the trunk of that car,
But what happens to a fourteen year old thirteen year
old is missing for that long. I mean, so it's
it was a track end to what was a young,
tragic life in a lot of ways already. So it

(06:05):
was sad just to hear it. But now, what is
justice supposed to look like all these months later, robes
We don't know at this point where David is having
heard a peep. I'm trying to remember early on, maybe
there was one attorney that said one thing, but there's
been nothing from his camp.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
So, yes, it was in September, and so again the
same month that reves Hernandez's body was discovered, his management
company said that David was cooperating with police. That is
the last we heard from them, and it has been
radio silent from police as well since November eighteenth. That

(06:49):
was one of the last updates we got from the
LAPD because that's when they formally announced that David was
officially a suspect in the death of Celeste Reves hernan
So that took two plus months for them to even
acknowledge that he was a suspect in this case, which
was puzzling.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Look clear out there in LA that this is one
of the most scrutinized I to scrutinized police forces. On
planet Earth, certainly in this country. Look, maybe we've dealt
with them planning. Look, they're real careful after ninety four, right,
and how they got eviscerated in front of the country
for how they handle things, and they do to our

(07:29):
frustration in the media at least whole things close to
the vest. Maybe they have a very good reason for
doing so, but it has been wildly frustrating. I can't
imagine for the family. We haven't heard much from them either.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
They haven't spoken out very much. Initially, her mother did.
She's the one who said she almost knew immediately it
was her daughter when the body was described, because there
was a very specific tattoo that Celeste had, She had
shhh on her index finger and David Singer David had
that exact same matching tattoo, which was one of the
first links between those two. His real name, by the way,

(08:05):
David Anthony Burke, wanted to get that out there, and
think it's very important to say David or David Anthony
Burke has not been charged with any crime as of yet,
and yes.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
The LAPD has been tight lipped.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
But it's interesting because we heard at the end of
November from the medical examiner in LA and they announced
that they actually received a court order initiated by the
LAPD to place a security hold on any information that
came out of her autopsy. And I haven't seen this before,

(08:40):
but the medical examiner, the chief medical examiner, came out
and basically said he was pissed off about it. He
made a very formal statement, and he didn't mince words.
He said, no records or details associated with the case,
including the cause and manner of death and medical examiner report,
can be released or posted on this website until further notice.

(09:02):
The department understands the public interest in this case and
remains committed to transparency when possible. But then he went
on to say that his mission with his department is
to have full transparency and so he feels like that
empowers people to make changes that save lives. And he said,
I've worked on eradicating the practice of placing security holds

(09:23):
on medical examiner cases simply by law enforcement, because he
believes it's unheard of in other counties and has not
proven to improve outcomes.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
In the linggal system. So he actually made that statement.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
He was puzzled and frustrated that he has a security
hold placed on information that he feels should be made public,
that should be a part of the transparency of his office.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Look, I deferred of police. We've seen this and a
part of their investigative tools sometimes that keep things close
to the vests because there are some details that only
the police and the killer knows and they like that.
I get and I understand maybe it's frustration, but I
mean I can't take issue with police for possibly wanting

(10:09):
to hold onto something.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
No, I mean, obviously if it is going to make
or break a case. When it comes to what you
see in a courtroom, you get it.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
We get it.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
We followed enough court cases over the years to know that, yes,
certain types of information are important to maintain the integrity
of an investigation and to be able to prove certain points.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
And if you let it all out then it can
muddy the waters.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
But it was interesting to see this particular medical examiner
say it doesn't actually improve outcomes in the legal system.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
But you know, people have different opinions.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Somebody will probably take issue with that, and what's really
fact and who's going to go look it up? And
everybody is he running something? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (10:51):
I mean, yes, I get that.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
We don't hear a lot of public statements from medical examiners.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Who knows if there's some private going on between the
head of the LAPD and the chief medical exam You know,
of course there's rival resources, things that we don't even
understand that go on back and forth. But yeah, from
the LAPD, we know that we know that her body
was found dismembered, we know that it was found badly decomposed.
We know that they acknowledged that David and Revas were

(11:20):
involved in a romantic relationship. They did acknowledge that, and
they did acknowledge that David in fact is a suspect
in her death.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Was what the police were the ones acknowledging some type
of relationship.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
They confirmed it.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
They confirmed it to several news outlets who were constantly
asking do you know the nature of the relationship, And
finally in November they acknowledged publicly and officially that yes,
David and Celeste were involved in a romantic relationship.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
I mean, I don't know where this goes, but this
is a case we thought was going to be wrapped up.
I don't know why we just somebody's dead body's founding
a trunk. Assume that's suspect number one. And to think
it's still been that difficult to piece it together again,
this dude might have had absolutely nothing to do with it.
This dude could have had somebody driving that car, somebody

(12:10):
on his team. All those things are still possible. And
also from I keep Brian Walsh think about that, what
if the girl died some other way? You can make
the argument somebody freaked out and put the body in
the trunk, tried to dismember her first, try to who knows.
I mean just we got nothing and we should have something,
and maybe we vilevant eventually. But I have a hard

(12:32):
time thinking there's not enough evidence to piece something together here.
This isn't one of those.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yes, because it should be noted that this tesla was
moved a couple of times. It is registered to David,
and he never reported it stolen. So those are all
very important pieces of information. We also know that police
raided the home that he was staying in, reportedly with
Celestreeves Hernandez in the Hollywood Hills, and they were seen

(12:59):
taking evidence out of that home. We know there was
a private investigator hired by the homeowner who's been talking
and saying things that he knows without giving away too much,
but breadcrumbing the press a little bit with that. And
really the only other people who are talking is TMZ,
who claims to have police sources who know this and that.
And then we've actually had in multiple occasions the LAPD

(13:21):
come out and refute what TMZ is saying, and the
TMZ says, we stand.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
By our story.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
But truly there is a vacuum of information, and so yeah,
people are going to try to fill in those bits
of information. So when we come back, we're going to
talk about what we do know about the investigation into
singer David, what police have acknowledged that they do know,
and we'll also talk about this young man and his

(13:45):
burgeoning career, where he was when this all went down,
and what he did when the news broke And.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Welcome back everyone.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
We are going over all that we know right now
about the investigation into singer David following the death of
Celeste Reves Hernandez. She was technically fifteen years old when
police found her body, dismembered, badly decomposed. It happened on
August eighth of twenty twenty five, and so yeah, now

(14:24):
four months later, it's pretty much been radio silent from
the police as they're putting their case together, and we
understand potentially from a couple different sources that there may
have been a grand jury going on where they are
listening to evidence. There have even been reports about David's

(14:44):
manager testifying for days in front of this grand jury,
and there are reports that maybe in February they're going
to possibly have some diamonds, but none of this has
been confirmed by LAPD. So we are at a place
where here is what we do know. Here is what
they have actually confirmed for us. They said that David
has not been cooperative.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
That's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Because initially in September we heard from his management company
that he had been. That's a major statement to have
police come out and say, Singer David is no longer
cooperating with the investigation.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
And that's what his lawyers should tell him to do
and stand by. That doesn't, at least for me, I
get it. That doesn't say a lot to me about
his guilt or innocence. I think in that position we
all sit down and shut up.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
And you mentioned his lawyer, and a lot of people
have pointed to who he hired Blair Burke. She is
a high profile criminal defense attorney out of Los Angeles.
Her clients include Harvey Weinstein, Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson and
I've even seen people online saying, oh, he must be guilty,
look who he hired.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
That's ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
If you are potentially going to be charged with murder,
whether you did it or not, if you have the means,
you are most likely going to hire the best lawyer
you possibly confined.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
You know, I heard of my boys sometimes Chris Rock.
He has a whole thing about Johnny Cochrane in this like,
I don't care what you want to hire Johnny Cochrane
and look guilty, So what right I want to be innocent?
And at them all, I mean, it doesn't matter, said

(16:19):
you get the absolute best, it doesn't matter what it
looks like. So no, that's absolutely true. So this guy,
and again we were pointing to all this evidence. It
has to be said, we're pointing to the case in
the circumstances, but it has to be said, my god,
this kid could be one hundred percent innocent. There is
no explanation at this point of anything, just speculation from everywhere.

(16:42):
So until that, I mean, he is presumed innocent, and
we should have that presumption of him as well.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
I'm curious just the delay in hearing anything from the
police or getting any actual confirmation about where the case
is headed or what they're thinking, if that is actually
better or worse for David in terms of public opinion,
because it seems like when you go online, people have
already tried him in the court of public opinion, and

(17:09):
it's not good. I have not seen anyone going or
coming to his defense. People are being their own internet sleuths,
which is never a good thing because you aren't dealing
with all the information. You don't know a lot of
the facts, and police are making a point to make
sure you don't know a lot of the facts.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
So I do wonder how much harm that.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Does to him if he is innocent, if he had
nothing to do with her death. That's got to be
tough to just be twisting in the wind and having
everyone throwing their shots at you.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
What do you do? I mean, you could argue an
innocent person steps to that microphone and screams the at
the highest mountaintop. I did not do this. I am
sorry for this girl and her family, and I hope
they figure out who does it. I am not going
to stand by and let anybody yes what you do
when you innocent?

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Exactly the other problem he has when it comes to
perception of his choices. When all of this stuff came out,
when the body was found, they didn't initially know. It
took a couple I think it took at least a
week for them to get a name and an identity
to this body. But when the body was first found
in a car that was registered to him, he kept touring,

(18:19):
He kept singing, he kept going up on stage. Wasn't
a good look. And the day her name was actually released,
he canceled his concert that night, and then shortly thereafter,
the rest of his tour, which was going to include
San Francisco, Los Angeles, a European leg, they all got canceled.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
I just it all looks bad, That's what. That's the
first thing that's out of his mouth. If he walks
into a room with people say Okay, I know what
you're thinking.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
I know what this looks like.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, because we it all looks awful. His behavior, every
step has been what you would deem not from a
sympathetic somebody who is in mourning for someone he knew.
It just reads completely wrong. This is not supposed to
be a pr game, but it's from a human being standpoint,

(19:14):
you're surprised at some of the stuff, especially if it's
someone he knew and possibly cared about.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Yes, and police have also said that they believe Riva
Hernandez most likely died in the spring. So if that's
the case, we are talking about her being dead for months,
not weeks, and that's a significant difference. They've also said
that they believe David most likely had help dismembering and
disposing of the body. A lot of legal experts will

(19:39):
say when they look at this case, the problem for
the police and the problem for prosecutors ultimately when you
take this to court, is that, yes, you can possibly
point to who dismembered her, who put her body in
that tesla. There's surveillance video everywhere where this car was.
There are door cams and survey vince cameras. This is

(20:01):
a very affluent part of the country and it's certainly
a fluent part of La so a lot of people
said they've got to be looking through surveillance. They can
see who the last person was, who moved the car,
who drove the car, all of.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
This, But how do you prove how she died? How
do you prove who killed her?

Speaker 2 (20:17):
It's a major issue, and if you don't have a
cooperative suspect, it's a difficult thing to prove.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
This is one we're keeping an eye on, we have
for past for the past several months, but here as
we turned the calendar, it's a new year, and we
don't have a whole lot new information in this case,
even from the moment we first found out about it.
But I want to get you updated here. We will
continue to update you this week on a couple of
other big cases, including Martha Nolan, that death in montak

(20:49):
Travis Turner is still missing, Coach, what am I missing?

Speaker 2 (20:54):
And then you also have Anna Kettner, So you know,
you've got a lot of potentially damning and certainly a
lot of stuff has been leaked in the press about
her stepbrother and his potential role in her death. So yes,
we're going to look into all of these cases, and
just know we will be following them daily as we
have been. But just wanted to let you know we
have our eye on this and so many other stories

(21:16):
that continued to plague us and just be mysterious.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
In twenty twenty twenty five. Hopefully we'll have some answers
in twenty twenty six. And with that everyone, thank you
so much for listening to us. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ. Holmes.
We will talk to you soon
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