July 27, 2026
D4vd Day 4: Graphic Autopsy Details, Sexually Explicit Texts, Photos and Videos
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RSS Feed Day 4 of the D4vd, aka David Anthony Burke, preliminary hearing was the most disturbing day of testimony so far. There were audible gasps in the courtroom as the medical examiner showed photos from the autopsy of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, detailing how the young teen was stabbed twice and then dismembered. We also heard testimony from a police detective who went over the sexually graphic and explicit photos and videos between D4vd and Celeste, including text messages describing at least one pregnancy and abortion.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Monday, July twenty seventh, and this will be day five of the preliminary hearing for singer David was accused of murdering and then dismembering a fourteen year old girl. Yes, today is day five. It's hard to imagine things getting more graphic and disturbing and what we saw in day four and with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Rob to Day four was on Friday, So this is our first time hopping back on and giving the updates. Robes. I can't imagine gasps and her parents had to leave the courtroom. Robes. This is the toughest stuff we've heard so far in a case that's been very, very tough to follow.
00:00:46
Speaker 2: Yes, and it began with the medical examiner, doctor Grant Ho on the stand, testifying about the condition of fourteen year old to Les revss or celest Revus Hernandez his body and look it grewsome awful just.
00:01:06
Speaker 3: Incredibly difficult to.
00:01:07
Speaker 2: Read and to imagine, and then to just think that you're the parents sitting there listening to what happened to your daughter, and all the while the man accused of doing these unthinkable acts is just sitting a few feet away from.
00:01:20
Speaker 1: You, and that is going to be repeated today again the very difficult preliminary hearing. This is what the judge you're determined whether or not there's enough evidence to go forward with a trial. Obviously there is. We do want to give a warning as we go through. We have been giving daily updates about this preliminary hearing, but we just warn you here. A lot of stuff we've reported on this is some of the worst stuff that you will hear. So some of the stuff at least we're going to report about Robes. I thought it was worth at least heads up because some of the stuff does have to do with, yes, graphic violence, but also has to do with graphic sex, having to do with an adult and a thirteen year old girl. Yeah, so just a warning here some of the stuff we're going to get into. But once again, Robes, he's in court looking the same, same jumpsuit and whatnot. I did hear excuse me here. We had to read these reports, but I think you probably saw them as well. It looks like he was a little more engaged in court on Friday that he has been in the rest of the preliminary hearing, and that was at least something that the reporters thought was worth noting.
00:02:28
Speaker 2: Yes, because he has been described as unfazed or just with kind of a blank, stoic look. But when you think about the fact that there were gasps, audible gasps in that courtroom, I'd like to think that there was at least some reaction from him, given all that was being seen, all that was being said, everything that folks in that courtroom had to witness and experience. Yeah, it was emotional, it was powerful, it was disturbing.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: And the disturbing testimony actually came from two witnesses. We continued with the medical examiner, doctor Grant Ho. He was up first, and he went through more detailed parts of the autopsy, and then we had a detective that got up and went through robes David's phone and some of the things we heard about and some of the images that were showed in court just are the worst stuff you can imagine. But let's go with Grant Hoe. Robes he described and again we forgive us here, folks, We're just going to go through what he actually described brokes. First of all, just the condition of the body that we've heard so much about. He is the guy obviously who knows most about it, because he did the autopsy on what was left. He said it was impossible, given the condition of the body, to determine when she died, but it was several weeks at least before she was found. And we asked, could it have been she'd have been killed in April? He said, yes, that's possible, but Robes, there was so much of what he answered said potentially possibly, but it's impossible.
00:04:02
Speaker 3: To know, right.
00:04:03
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just an indication as to what the condition was the fact that he couldn't tell you if she had been killed months prior or weeks prior that.
00:04:14
Speaker 3: What had happened.
00:04:15
Speaker 2: The decomposition was so significant that there was no way to hone in on a date. Certainly not a time of death, but not even a date or month of death.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: Androds, I don't know why this detail mattered, but it still stood out. We'd hear so much, and you and I have just in our career, as we know, there is a stench to a decomposing body that is unmistakable, and you can't get rid of it. You can fabrieze the hell out of anything you want, it will not get rid of that smell. For him to make note of Robes, the smell that was emanating from the autopsy room. I just thought it was an interesting detail that kind of hit home just how awful this was.
00:04:54
Speaker 2: It does bring it to the perspective of the fact we all basically understand that David was living with this corpse, this badly decomposing body in his home for a period of time, and then in his vehicle.
00:05:11
Speaker 3: And to hear folks who see this unfortunate situation day in and day.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: Out, this is their job to handle and to look at and to investigate dead bodies. For them to be making note of just how horrific the odor was that it could be smelled in the hallway, it is of significance because these are trained professionals who are used to this, and for them to be describing something this extraordinary gives you a sense of what David was reportedly living with and operating around. It's just it blows your mind.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: They did go on to and this is where some of the details Robes get a little more difficult in describing the condition of the body. But what has into two celestibus ornandez we did hear plenty of times. Robe was about dismemberment. Yes, that he did chop her up, for lack of a better phrase, but how he did so, and how many times he did He cut the arms not as many times as he cut the legs, and that's just sorry, folks, But that's what the guy testified to.
00:06:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, he said that he basically just dismembered her arm, one on each arm, just one time.
00:06:27
Speaker 1: One cut on, one.
00:06:28
Speaker 2: Cut on each arm, yes, and then multiple dismemberment sights on each leg upper thigh below the knee, so.
00:06:36
Speaker 1: He cut the leg in two places and the arm off in one place. Also showed images of the left ring and pinky finger that were cut off. Now, this is one of the moments that people describe robes in the courtroom that there were audible gasps and some of the images that were shown that they showed her dismembered fingers. They showed the fingers cut off. That's tough robes, and they showed well, you saw this term mentioned plenty of times in the writing. But this idea of skin slippage, yeah, was described plenty of times in the courtroom.
00:07:14
Speaker 2: It makes your skin actually tingle and makes you feel sick to your stomach to imagine this happening to what was a fourteen year old girl. He also described the fact that her left I was gone, that there was actual partial skeleton skeletonization of her face already, that that's how much decay had gone on. And there was only some of her And we've seen this in her beautiful, youthful photos of that curly black hair. They said only some of it remained on her scalp at this point. That's just how badly decomposed the body was.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: Also pointed out those punctures showed her torso and they said they showed a full body. Yeah, autopsy photo that you couldn't recognize as a human being almost and certainly wouldn't recognize it Celestie Us or Nandez. But she did have an abdomen injury and a chest injury, those penetrating injuries consistent with stab wounds. Said either one of those would have been independently life threatening, so didn't even need the two. She would have possibly bled out and died with either one of them. I think he said this could she could have been dead in a matter of minutes, could have taken an hour, but it was still those were without Yes, she was going to die.
00:08:29
Speaker 2: It was impossible to know how long it took her to die. Now, this was interesting because we had been talking about, or at least trying to imagine, what the defense could possibly be. One of the possibilities we just talking amongst ourselves was that they could suggest that Celeste was so upset he was breaking up with her that she stabbed herself. That does seem like that is something they are considering, or at least suggesting. In the questioning the medical examiner, they asked, or they made the suggestion that she could possibly have done this to herself.
00:09:08
Speaker 1: This is our first that, I mean, this is our first clue at all of a direction they might go. They have offered no other narrative, so rose to see that any suggestion. And again the medical examiner didn't, I mean, he didn't necessarily go on board with it. But to hear to hear him say it's possible to hear him say that you can't rule out her doing this to herself. I don't know how significant that is, but that's the first little whiff of something for the defense, is it not?
00:09:38
Speaker 2: Yes, Because we've always I mean, they have said from the beginning that he was not responsible for her death, that he did not murder her. So there are only a couple of possibilities, and this is among them. And so yes, the defense attorney asked the medical examiner, or said to him, you cannot determine whether miss Hernandez was holding the knife that caused the two wounds.
00:09:58
Speaker 3: Correct, said correct.
00:10:01
Speaker 2: She followed up, you can't rule that out right, The medical examiner said, So, that is a consideration, but we would expect to find hesitation marks.
00:10:10
Speaker 1: I get that when folks do suicide, they when somebody's gonna slit the wrists or use a knife in some way, they often say there's a hesitation, so there's there's little wounds. He's suggesting that, but still he flat out says, yeah, that is a consideration that she was holding the knife. Robes, how do you the medical examiner ropes, am, I now just coming around to how significant that could be. The medical examiner can't say for sure she didn't do that to herself.
00:10:42
Speaker 3: That's what I heard.
00:10:43
Speaker 1: Is that a big deal?
00:10:44
Speaker 2: Maybe that is a big deal, Goo jury. It's a consideration absolutely that you have to take into consideration. But what's the likelihood of it. I mean, all of that will play into.
00:10:55
Speaker 1: It reasonable doubt. Sorry, there's a bunch of other.
00:10:57
Speaker 2: Stuff, yes, yes, so, but look that is the first window into perhaps the defense's line of thinking. And look that was where I was headed in my I mean, where else could they go with it other than pointing the finger at somebody else, either she did it to herself or someone else did it to her. If David isn't the person who stabbed her.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: And now you're making your theory. From before I was with the idea like you couldn't say it was an accident. You were always saying, well, yeah, he could try to say she accidentally died, but how do you accidentally get too punctual rooms? And then you were saying, oh, they're going to try to say she did it to herself. My thought was, that's ridiculous. Obviously she didn't stab herself twice. If you're going to kill you, but Rose, maybe maybe this is the direction they're going to go. I thought worth pointing out as well, that they thought it was worth pointing out there's no evidence that were asking the medical examiner, he doesn't know for sure, He can't say if when she bled if she bled internally or externally. Why that was important. There's this suggestion that makes him sound like even more of a monster that he stood by and watched her bleed out. So that was I guess important for them to at least get on the record that that is not what happen. Now Detective Farrell got of Colin. I keep wanting to call him Colin Ferrell is Corey Farrell.
00:12:19
Speaker 2: Well, I can see what that can happen. That's close. Yeah, Colin Ferrell is thinking about it.
00:12:23
Speaker 1: I keep wanting to call this guy that, But it's Detective Corey Ferrell. He testified and I rose, this is another investigator that was That was I guess day one. He was one of the main investigators. But Robes, he went through the phone. Holy hell, how do you overcome this?
00:12:41
Speaker 2: Yes, and by the way, I believe he is going to be back up on the stand again today, so we're going to be hearing more from him on Monday. But Friday, it was a doozy going over and we were waiting for this because we had heard prosecutors reference David's phone text messages all of that. Well, we actually saw and read or heard some of these text exchanges. But among the photos that were there, they had several of them kissing picks and videos of sexual acts between them, and they said some of these photos and videos were way too explicit to be shown in court, so they had him describe them. But close up pictures of their genitalia, the lock screen image of the two of them in a naked embrace.
00:13:29
Speaker 1: You see this about the ring. There's a picture they described as well, in which David is holding a ring, and then there's another picture in which you see a close up of a hand with the David tattoo, so presumably hers wearing that ring. Good Lord Rod, I mean, what was he's she's thirteen? What was he thinking was going to happen here? Again? Forget the murder part of it, what is he thinking? Just she's a child? This is but they are what they described robes. They full on adult relationship. This is how grown folks in their late twenties thinking about life together. Yes, we're supposed to be discussing.
00:14:03
Speaker 2: Planning a life together. And the planned b contraception pick was there as well. Look, and there's a lot of text messages that we'll get into that had a lot to do with her reported or it seems as though she was pregnant and at least once.
00:14:20
Speaker 1: I will stay here, We will give you those details the rest of it, And yes, they do describe what was at least one abortion for ci Lesriebus Hernandez when she was thirteen years old. Also will describe the code word they had for their plan to run off together. Also, somebody decided it would be funny to make a song about this and attribute it to David. And yes, it went out for the public to hear. Stay here, welcome back everyone.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: We are talking about what was a gruesome, a difficult, and a fascinating day in court, Day four of David's preliminary hearing, where we heard from the medical examiner and then we heard from a detective who's going to be back up on the stand on Monday today talking about what they found in David's phone, from explicit photos and videos to text messages. But the text messages tell a tale of yes, you mentioned an adult relationship. That things we're seeing these two text back and forth to one another are not the text you would think you'd be reading between a thirteen year old and an eighteen year old.
00:15:45
Speaker 1: A thirteen year old in anybody should be talking about this thirteen. She's thirteen. Sabina is thirteen going into the eighth grade. This thirteen year old had an abortion at the age of thirteen, according to police. And that makes rohas this jaw dropping and that I cannot it Roves. From the moment we heard about this story, we were blown away and disgusted by it. How every single day we hear something that is more shocking and is more disturbing and disgusted you even more. The messages, they say started rose back in twenty twenty two, when she was eleven years old, up until the last message between the two of them, which was in twenty twenty five, on April twenty third, which is the day they believe he called her over to the house to kill her. Now, Robes, this is bizarre. Oh A, this weird little code they had between each other.
00:16:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, it stood for Operation Awesome. That was their code word for their plan for her to run away with him, which she ultimately did to have a cold. Just oh a Operation awesome.
00:16:53
Speaker 1: Back and forth and Romese, we saw there was plenty of talking these text messages, according to this testimony, about concerns about her pregnancy, about her being pregnant, about her being pregnant again, about him keeping up with her menstrual cycle robes. These are the back and forth, but at least in August of twenty twenty four, this was one exchange.
00:17:13
Speaker 2: You have it up there, I do, yes, well, yes, she Celeste says, realistically, I care about you. I killed my kid first for you. David says, it has to be in the right time, with the least complications.
00:17:26
Speaker 3: Celeste. I still would have been there for it. David. Yeah, selfishly because it would also have been mine. Celeste.
00:17:33
Speaker 2: David, I'm going to have to lie to people around me, even my kid, for the rest of my life.
00:17:38
Speaker 3: Celeste.
00:17:39
Speaker 2: I didn't like talking about it because it gets me really upset. But I do it again.
00:17:45
Speaker 1: She's thirteen. He was what eighteen nineteen at the time. She's thirteen. Another message they read in court. This was from March of twenty twenty four. So let's saying, quote all we do is hang out and have sex. I want more than that man. She would have been thirteen. Yeah at the time.
00:18:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:18:03
Speaker 1: Another uh from David. I don't have the date on this one, but this is a suggestion, ropes. I guess at least why they think there was more than one abortion. I guess it was one they confirmed, but then it seems this suggests something else.
00:18:17
Speaker 2: There was one five months later, I believe, where she thought that maybe the abortion didn't work because she thought she was pregnant again, or she was worried that maybe it was the same pregnancy. But he said, let's let this abortion be the last one till we have the real one. So look, look, it's disturbing that they're dealing with all of this at for her, at such an unbelievably young age. But also he's still suggesting that they're going to have a life together, that they're going to actually have kids, they're going to get married, they're going, I mean, this is what he is saying to her, and it I mean from the pictures and the texts and like that ring, the tattoos. I mean, this wasn't just a casual fling. This was a serious relationship.
00:19:01
Speaker 1: She's thirteen, Robes, And with all of this, the new song came out. You pointed this out to me this morning. I hadn't heard of it before you mentioned it, But he had a new track apparently that just got released. Robes.
00:19:14
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it was a fake track.
00:19:16
Speaker 2: It's been taken down, but it was up for quite a while enough for it to be downloaded. It went viral, but yes, on his Apple Music account, on David's Apple Music account, there was a song, a new song that posted over the weekend. Someone must have been able to it's kind of remarkable hack into his account and upload this track. And on the track, it's Those who heard it said it actually sounded like him.
00:19:42
Speaker 3: Whoever it was was mimicking his voice.
00:19:44
Speaker 2: They had Celeste's name in the lyrics, talked about the chorus just named Celestie, describes her as the girl with my name tattooed on her chest. And yes, the name of the song, I did it.
00:20:00
Speaker 1: Somebody thought that was funny worth doing, but hacked into the account. Apparently hell took the time to produce a song.
00:20:07
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and I didn't mention the cover art of I did it was the aerial photo we've seen of his tesla in that impounded lot where they found Celeste's body. So yeah, it was meant to be shocking and a lot of folks, yes, listen to it before they finally caught wind. Apple finally caught wind of it and took it down.
00:20:29
Speaker 1: Last thing we'll wrap with ropes. One thing I think we failed to mention was that during some of this we gave a warning hear about some of the testimony. But during some of the difficult testimony, her parents were in the courtroom and then they got up and left and rose, I think you saw the same reports that the prosecutor felt bad enough and noticed that they were leaving that she turned to the family and said, I'm sorry.
00:20:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, das can you say? I mean, you're trying to get justice and you have to put all of this awful stuff out there for the judge to see. But my god, you would feel awful just on behalf of what they must be on behalf of them, and it's a tough spot to be in.
00:21:14
Speaker 1: The last thing, ro Is, I've questioned, and I've stopped, and we haven't discussed this at all. David, like we have continued to call him David because that's his stage name, David Anthony Burke. Should we be calling him Burke? Right? Doesn't that the last name, David Anthony Burke. I haven't seen how the coverages go. I guess I just call him Burke throughout I guess it's just we've been so used to saying and we just call him David. But given the gravity of what's going, there is something that shifted for me, and talking about this and a stage name felt inappropriate for whatever reason. I hadn't discussed it with you at all, But David Anthony Burke. Should we be going? Should we just call him Burke from now on? This guy?
00:21:55
Speaker 3: No, I actually I don't know.
00:21:57
Speaker 2: I hear what you're saying, but I actually just kind of feel like that is what he's known as. And instead of, you know, we always say singer David, I mean, I will likely believe most people will refer to him as a murderer, not a singer.
00:22:11
Speaker 1: So Burke is the murderer and David is the singer. I guess that's where I'm maybe maybe that's what is I'm trying to make some separation between some art. Like I'm almost like, I don't know, but.
00:22:23
Speaker 2: His art was violent, his music was violent, his lyrics were violent.
00:22:28
Speaker 3: It actually all reads.
00:22:29
Speaker 1: This is it keeps getting worse. I cannot imagine what that family he's dealing with sitting in there or sexually explicit images of their child with a grown man.
00:22:42
Speaker 2: And knowing probably I'm sure they've heard this from prosecutors. I'm sure they were prepared for what was going to be presented in court. But to just know that your daughter was going through all of that without you, like that's so sad. To think she was dealing with the pregnancy, dealing with adult issues. She shouldn't have had to be trying to maneuver through and around without you. That's that's got to be gutting. In addition to all the awful things that happened to her, just to know that while she was alive, that you weren't there, you didn't know what was going on. That has to be so hard to hear.
00:23:17
Speaker 1: Day five today in LA, they've been starting what round nine nine thirty.
00:23:21
Speaker 3: Local time, just afternoon East coast sometimes, so.
00:23:24
Speaker 1: We are keeping an eye on it once again, and once again, thanks for the reporters in there doing the work as poor reporters since there are no cameras, no live streaming allowed. We appreciate you reporting out so we can report back to our listeners as well, and we always appreciate you all listening to us. I'm TJ along with my dear Amy Robock we'll talk to
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Monday, July twenty seventh, and this will be day five of the preliminary hearing for singer David was accused of murdering and then dismembering a fourteen year old girl. Yes, today is day five. It's hard to imagine things getting more graphic and disturbing and what we saw in day four and with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Rob to Day four was on Friday, So this is our first time hopping back on and giving the updates. Robes. I can't imagine gasps and her parents had to leave the courtroom. Robes. This is the toughest stuff we've heard so far in a case that's been very, very tough to follow.
00:00:46
Speaker 2: Yes, and it began with the medical examiner, doctor Grant Ho on the stand, testifying about the condition of fourteen year old to Les revss or celest Revus Hernandez his body and look it grewsome awful just.
00:01:06
Speaker 3: Incredibly difficult to.
00:01:07
Speaker 2: Read and to imagine, and then to just think that you're the parents sitting there listening to what happened to your daughter, and all the while the man accused of doing these unthinkable acts is just sitting a few feet away from.
00:01:20
Speaker 1: You, and that is going to be repeated today again the very difficult preliminary hearing. This is what the judge you're determined whether or not there's enough evidence to go forward with a trial. Obviously there is. We do want to give a warning as we go through. We have been giving daily updates about this preliminary hearing, but we just warn you here. A lot of stuff we've reported on this is some of the worst stuff that you will hear. So some of the stuff at least we're going to report about Robes. I thought it was worth at least heads up because some of the stuff does have to do with, yes, graphic violence, but also has to do with graphic sex, having to do with an adult and a thirteen year old girl. Yeah, so just a warning here some of the stuff we're going to get into. But once again, Robes, he's in court looking the same, same jumpsuit and whatnot. I did hear excuse me here. We had to read these reports, but I think you probably saw them as well. It looks like he was a little more engaged in court on Friday that he has been in the rest of the preliminary hearing, and that was at least something that the reporters thought was worth noting.
00:02:28
Speaker 2: Yes, because he has been described as unfazed or just with kind of a blank, stoic look. But when you think about the fact that there were gasps, audible gasps in that courtroom, I'd like to think that there was at least some reaction from him, given all that was being seen, all that was being said, everything that folks in that courtroom had to witness and experience. Yeah, it was emotional, it was powerful, it was disturbing.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: And the disturbing testimony actually came from two witnesses. We continued with the medical examiner, doctor Grant Ho. He was up first, and he went through more detailed parts of the autopsy, and then we had a detective that got up and went through robes David's phone and some of the things we heard about and some of the images that were showed in court just are the worst stuff you can imagine. But let's go with Grant Hoe. Robes he described and again we forgive us here, folks, We're just going to go through what he actually described brokes. First of all, just the condition of the body that we've heard so much about. He is the guy obviously who knows most about it, because he did the autopsy on what was left. He said it was impossible, given the condition of the body, to determine when she died, but it was several weeks at least before she was found. And we asked, could it have been she'd have been killed in April? He said, yes, that's possible, but Robes, there was so much of what he answered said potentially possibly, but it's impossible.
00:04:02
Speaker 3: To know, right.
00:04:03
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just an indication as to what the condition was the fact that he couldn't tell you if she had been killed months prior or weeks prior that.
00:04:14
Speaker 3: What had happened.
00:04:15
Speaker 2: The decomposition was so significant that there was no way to hone in on a date. Certainly not a time of death, but not even a date or month of death.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: Androds, I don't know why this detail mattered, but it still stood out. We'd hear so much, and you and I have just in our career, as we know, there is a stench to a decomposing body that is unmistakable, and you can't get rid of it. You can fabrieze the hell out of anything you want, it will not get rid of that smell. For him to make note of Robes, the smell that was emanating from the autopsy room. I just thought it was an interesting detail that kind of hit home just how awful this was.
00:04:54
Speaker 2: It does bring it to the perspective of the fact we all basically understand that David was living with this corpse, this badly decomposing body in his home for a period of time, and then in his vehicle.
00:05:11
Speaker 3: And to hear folks who see this unfortunate situation day in and day.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: Out, this is their job to handle and to look at and to investigate dead bodies. For them to be making note of just how horrific the odor was that it could be smelled in the hallway, it is of significance because these are trained professionals who are used to this, and for them to be describing something this extraordinary gives you a sense of what David was reportedly living with and operating around. It's just it blows your mind.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: They did go on to and this is where some of the details Robes get a little more difficult in describing the condition of the body. But what has into two celestibus ornandez we did hear plenty of times. Robe was about dismemberment. Yes, that he did chop her up, for lack of a better phrase, but how he did so, and how many times he did He cut the arms not as many times as he cut the legs, and that's just sorry, folks, But that's what the guy testified to.
00:06:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, he said that he basically just dismembered her arm, one on each arm, just one time.
00:06:27
Speaker 1: One cut on, one.
00:06:28
Speaker 2: Cut on each arm, yes, and then multiple dismemberment sights on each leg upper thigh below the knee, so.
00:06:36
Speaker 1: He cut the leg in two places and the arm off in one place. Also showed images of the left ring and pinky finger that were cut off. Now, this is one of the moments that people describe robes in the courtroom that there were audible gasps and some of the images that were shown that they showed her dismembered fingers. They showed the fingers cut off. That's tough robes, and they showed well, you saw this term mentioned plenty of times in the writing. But this idea of skin slippage, yeah, was described plenty of times in the courtroom.
00:07:14
Speaker 2: It makes your skin actually tingle and makes you feel sick to your stomach to imagine this happening to what was a fourteen year old girl. He also described the fact that her left I was gone, that there was actual partial skeleton skeletonization of her face already, that that's how much decay had gone on. And there was only some of her And we've seen this in her beautiful, youthful photos of that curly black hair. They said only some of it remained on her scalp at this point. That's just how badly decomposed the body was.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: Also pointed out those punctures showed her torso and they said they showed a full body. Yeah, autopsy photo that you couldn't recognize as a human being almost and certainly wouldn't recognize it Celestie Us or Nandez. But she did have an abdomen injury and a chest injury, those penetrating injuries consistent with stab wounds. Said either one of those would have been independently life threatening, so didn't even need the two. She would have possibly bled out and died with either one of them. I think he said this could she could have been dead in a matter of minutes, could have taken an hour, but it was still those were without Yes, she was going to die.
00:08:29
Speaker 2: It was impossible to know how long it took her to die. Now, this was interesting because we had been talking about, or at least trying to imagine, what the defense could possibly be. One of the possibilities we just talking amongst ourselves was that they could suggest that Celeste was so upset he was breaking up with her that she stabbed herself. That does seem like that is something they are considering, or at least suggesting. In the questioning the medical examiner, they asked, or they made the suggestion that she could possibly have done this to herself.
00:09:08
Speaker 1: This is our first that, I mean, this is our first clue at all of a direction they might go. They have offered no other narrative, so rose to see that any suggestion. And again the medical examiner didn't, I mean, he didn't necessarily go on board with it. But to hear to hear him say it's possible to hear him say that you can't rule out her doing this to herself. I don't know how significant that is, but that's the first little whiff of something for the defense, is it not?
00:09:38
Speaker 2: Yes, Because we've always I mean, they have said from the beginning that he was not responsible for her death, that he did not murder her. So there are only a couple of possibilities, and this is among them. And so yes, the defense attorney asked the medical examiner, or said to him, you cannot determine whether miss Hernandez was holding the knife that caused the two wounds.
00:09:58
Speaker 3: Correct, said correct.
00:10:01
Speaker 2: She followed up, you can't rule that out right, The medical examiner said, So, that is a consideration, but we would expect to find hesitation marks.
00:10:10
Speaker 1: I get that when folks do suicide, they when somebody's gonna slit the wrists or use a knife in some way, they often say there's a hesitation, so there's there's little wounds. He's suggesting that, but still he flat out says, yeah, that is a consideration that she was holding the knife. Robes, how do you the medical examiner ropes, am, I now just coming around to how significant that could be. The medical examiner can't say for sure she didn't do that to herself.
00:10:42
Speaker 3: That's what I heard.
00:10:43
Speaker 1: Is that a big deal?
00:10:44
Speaker 2: Maybe that is a big deal, Goo jury. It's a consideration absolutely that you have to take into consideration. But what's the likelihood of it. I mean, all of that will play into.
00:10:55
Speaker 1: It reasonable doubt. Sorry, there's a bunch of other.
00:10:57
Speaker 2: Stuff, yes, yes, so, but look that is the first window into perhaps the defense's line of thinking. And look that was where I was headed in my I mean, where else could they go with it other than pointing the finger at somebody else, either she did it to herself or someone else did it to her. If David isn't the person who stabbed her.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: And now you're making your theory. From before I was with the idea like you couldn't say it was an accident. You were always saying, well, yeah, he could try to say she accidentally died, but how do you accidentally get too punctual rooms? And then you were saying, oh, they're going to try to say she did it to herself. My thought was, that's ridiculous. Obviously she didn't stab herself twice. If you're going to kill you, but Rose, maybe maybe this is the direction they're going to go. I thought worth pointing out as well, that they thought it was worth pointing out there's no evidence that were asking the medical examiner, he doesn't know for sure, He can't say if when she bled if she bled internally or externally. Why that was important. There's this suggestion that makes him sound like even more of a monster that he stood by and watched her bleed out. So that was I guess important for them to at least get on the record that that is not what happen. Now Detective Farrell got of Colin. I keep wanting to call him Colin Ferrell is Corey Farrell.
00:12:19
Speaker 2: Well, I can see what that can happen. That's close. Yeah, Colin Ferrell is thinking about it.
00:12:23
Speaker 1: I keep wanting to call this guy that, But it's Detective Corey Ferrell. He testified and I rose, this is another investigator that was That was I guess day one. He was one of the main investigators. But Robes, he went through the phone. Holy hell, how do you overcome this?
00:12:41
Speaker 2: Yes, and by the way, I believe he is going to be back up on the stand again today, so we're going to be hearing more from him on Monday. But Friday, it was a doozy going over and we were waiting for this because we had heard prosecutors reference David's phone text messages all of that. Well, we actually saw and read or heard some of these text exchanges. But among the photos that were there, they had several of them kissing picks and videos of sexual acts between them, and they said some of these photos and videos were way too explicit to be shown in court, so they had him describe them. But close up pictures of their genitalia, the lock screen image of the two of them in a naked embrace.
00:13:29
Speaker 1: You see this about the ring. There's a picture they described as well, in which David is holding a ring, and then there's another picture in which you see a close up of a hand with the David tattoo, so presumably hers wearing that ring. Good Lord Rod, I mean, what was he's she's thirteen? What was he thinking was going to happen here? Again? Forget the murder part of it, what is he thinking? Just she's a child? This is but they are what they described robes. They full on adult relationship. This is how grown folks in their late twenties thinking about life together. Yes, we're supposed to be discussing.
00:14:03
Speaker 2: Planning a life together. And the planned b contraception pick was there as well. Look, and there's a lot of text messages that we'll get into that had a lot to do with her reported or it seems as though she was pregnant and at least once.
00:14:20
Speaker 1: I will stay here, We will give you those details the rest of it, And yes, they do describe what was at least one abortion for ci Lesriebus Hernandez when she was thirteen years old. Also will describe the code word they had for their plan to run off together. Also, somebody decided it would be funny to make a song about this and attribute it to David. And yes, it went out for the public to hear. Stay here, welcome back everyone.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: We are talking about what was a gruesome, a difficult, and a fascinating day in court, Day four of David's preliminary hearing, where we heard from the medical examiner and then we heard from a detective who's going to be back up on the stand on Monday today talking about what they found in David's phone, from explicit photos and videos to text messages. But the text messages tell a tale of yes, you mentioned an adult relationship. That things we're seeing these two text back and forth to one another are not the text you would think you'd be reading between a thirteen year old and an eighteen year old.
00:15:45
Speaker 1: A thirteen year old in anybody should be talking about this thirteen. She's thirteen. Sabina is thirteen going into the eighth grade. This thirteen year old had an abortion at the age of thirteen, according to police. And that makes rohas this jaw dropping and that I cannot it Roves. From the moment we heard about this story, we were blown away and disgusted by it. How every single day we hear something that is more shocking and is more disturbing and disgusted you even more. The messages, they say started rose back in twenty twenty two, when she was eleven years old, up until the last message between the two of them, which was in twenty twenty five, on April twenty third, which is the day they believe he called her over to the house to kill her. Now, Robes, this is bizarre. Oh A, this weird little code they had between each other.
00:16:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, it stood for Operation Awesome. That was their code word for their plan for her to run away with him, which she ultimately did to have a cold. Just oh a Operation awesome.
00:16:53
Speaker 1: Back and forth and Romese, we saw there was plenty of talking these text messages, according to this testimony, about concerns about her pregnancy, about her being pregnant, about her being pregnant again, about him keeping up with her menstrual cycle robes. These are the back and forth, but at least in August of twenty twenty four, this was one exchange.
00:17:13
Speaker 2: You have it up there, I do, yes, well, yes, she Celeste says, realistically, I care about you. I killed my kid first for you. David says, it has to be in the right time, with the least complications.
00:17:26
Speaker 3: Celeste. I still would have been there for it. David. Yeah, selfishly because it would also have been mine. Celeste.
00:17:33
Speaker 2: David, I'm going to have to lie to people around me, even my kid, for the rest of my life.
00:17:38
Speaker 3: Celeste.
00:17:39
Speaker 2: I didn't like talking about it because it gets me really upset. But I do it again.
00:17:45
Speaker 1: She's thirteen. He was what eighteen nineteen at the time. She's thirteen. Another message they read in court. This was from March of twenty twenty four. So let's saying, quote all we do is hang out and have sex. I want more than that man. She would have been thirteen. Yeah at the time.
00:18:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:18:03
Speaker 1: Another uh from David. I don't have the date on this one, but this is a suggestion, ropes. I guess at least why they think there was more than one abortion. I guess it was one they confirmed, but then it seems this suggests something else.
00:18:17
Speaker 2: There was one five months later, I believe, where she thought that maybe the abortion didn't work because she thought she was pregnant again, or she was worried that maybe it was the same pregnancy. But he said, let's let this abortion be the last one till we have the real one. So look, look, it's disturbing that they're dealing with all of this at for her, at such an unbelievably young age. But also he's still suggesting that they're going to have a life together, that they're going to actually have kids, they're going to get married, they're going, I mean, this is what he is saying to her, and it I mean from the pictures and the texts and like that ring, the tattoos. I mean, this wasn't just a casual fling. This was a serious relationship.
00:19:01
Speaker 1: She's thirteen, Robes, And with all of this, the new song came out. You pointed this out to me this morning. I hadn't heard of it before you mentioned it, But he had a new track apparently that just got released. Robes.
00:19:14
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it was a fake track.
00:19:16
Speaker 2: It's been taken down, but it was up for quite a while enough for it to be downloaded. It went viral, but yes, on his Apple Music account, on David's Apple Music account, there was a song, a new song that posted over the weekend. Someone must have been able to it's kind of remarkable hack into his account and upload this track. And on the track, it's Those who heard it said it actually sounded like him.
00:19:42
Speaker 3: Whoever it was was mimicking his voice.
00:19:44
Speaker 2: They had Celeste's name in the lyrics, talked about the chorus just named Celestie, describes her as the girl with my name tattooed on her chest. And yes, the name of the song, I did it.
00:20:00
Speaker 1: Somebody thought that was funny worth doing, but hacked into the account. Apparently hell took the time to produce a song.
00:20:07
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and I didn't mention the cover art of I did it was the aerial photo we've seen of his tesla in that impounded lot where they found Celeste's body. So yeah, it was meant to be shocking and a lot of folks, yes, listen to it before they finally caught wind. Apple finally caught wind of it and took it down.
00:20:29
Speaker 1: Last thing we'll wrap with ropes. One thing I think we failed to mention was that during some of this we gave a warning hear about some of the testimony. But during some of the difficult testimony, her parents were in the courtroom and then they got up and left and rose, I think you saw the same reports that the prosecutor felt bad enough and noticed that they were leaving that she turned to the family and said, I'm sorry.
00:20:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, das can you say? I mean, you're trying to get justice and you have to put all of this awful stuff out there for the judge to see. But my god, you would feel awful just on behalf of what they must be on behalf of them, and it's a tough spot to be in.
00:21:14
Speaker 1: The last thing, ro Is, I've questioned, and I've stopped, and we haven't discussed this at all. David, like we have continued to call him David because that's his stage name, David Anthony Burke. Should we be calling him Burke? Right? Doesn't that the last name, David Anthony Burke. I haven't seen how the coverages go. I guess I just call him Burke throughout I guess it's just we've been so used to saying and we just call him David. But given the gravity of what's going, there is something that shifted for me, and talking about this and a stage name felt inappropriate for whatever reason. I hadn't discussed it with you at all, But David Anthony Burke. Should we be going? Should we just call him Burke from now on? This guy?
00:21:55
Speaker 3: No, I actually I don't know.
00:21:57
Speaker 2: I hear what you're saying, but I actually just kind of feel like that is what he's known as. And instead of, you know, we always say singer David, I mean, I will likely believe most people will refer to him as a murderer, not a singer.
00:22:11
Speaker 1: So Burke is the murderer and David is the singer. I guess that's where I'm maybe maybe that's what is I'm trying to make some separation between some art. Like I'm almost like, I don't know, but.
00:22:23
Speaker 2: His art was violent, his music was violent, his lyrics were violent.
00:22:28
Speaker 3: It actually all reads.
00:22:29
Speaker 1: This is it keeps getting worse. I cannot imagine what that family he's dealing with sitting in there or sexually explicit images of their child with a grown man.
00:22:42
Speaker 2: And knowing probably I'm sure they've heard this from prosecutors. I'm sure they were prepared for what was going to be presented in court. But to just know that your daughter was going through all of that without you, like that's so sad. To think she was dealing with the pregnancy, dealing with adult issues. She shouldn't have had to be trying to maneuver through and around without you. That's that's got to be gutting. In addition to all the awful things that happened to her, just to know that while she was alive, that you weren't there, you didn't know what was going on. That has to be so hard to hear.
00:23:17
Speaker 1: Day five today in LA, they've been starting what round nine nine thirty.
00:23:21
Speaker 3: Local time, just afternoon East coast sometimes, so.
00:23:24
Speaker 1: We are keeping an eye on it once again, and once again, thanks for the reporters in there doing the work as poor reporters since there are no cameras, no live streaming allowed. We appreciate you reporting out so we can report back to our listeners as well, and we always appreciate you all listening to us. I'm TJ along with my dear Amy Robock we'll talk to