Sept. 8, 2026
Family Of Celeste Rivas Hernandez Calls For D4vd To Face Death Penalty
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RSS Feed On what would’ve been Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s 16th birthday, her family released a new photo of her and a statement saying the death penalty “would be perfect” for singer D4vd, who’s been charged with the killing and dismembering the young teen. Today is the one year anniversary of the discovery of Hernandez’s remains in the front trunk of D4vd’s Tesla. Even though the last execution in California happened two decades ago, the DA has not yet taken the death penalty off the table. Hernandez’s family also called into question D4vd’s legal representation, saying he is not indigent and should not qualify for public defenders after after his private attorneys withdrew from his case last week.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there folks, it is Tuesday, September 8th, and one year ago today, the body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was discovered in a Tesla registered to singer David. And today, her family is making clear what they want to happen to him. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. The dates kind of line up here. Yes, we're talking about today, the one-year anniversary, but yesterday was a pretty important day to the family as well.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: Yes, it would have been Celeste Rivas Hernandez's 16th birthday, and they paid tribute to her by posting a new photo of her and releasing a statement about their wishes about how they would like things to proceed in the future.
00:00:47
Speaker 1: They want him dead. That is a crass and short way to put it, but they are asking for the death penalty, Robes, and we're going to share some of the statement that they did put out. But we're hearing this from them now, and Robes, it's It's remarkable that we're sitting here. It was a year ago today.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: It feels like it was 10 years ago today. And I say that because of everything that we have learned and experienced as a public. And then I imagine, I try to imagine what that must have been like, what this year must have felt like for that family because of all of the details.
00:01:25
Speaker 3: First, there was so much mystery. There was so much concern. And then.
00:01:31
Speaker 2: It was the unthinkable, but then actually the unimaginable when we started to get the details this summer about what happened or what at least prosecutors say happened to this young teen.
00:01:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so much that we got that we were floored by came from that, what was it, five days, that preliminary hearing that went on, that mini trial that they- The prosecutors essentially laid out all the evidence they had against him. So we heard, was that in April? No, he was arrested in April.
00:01:58
Speaker 3: But July, I believe, was the hearing.
00:02:00
Speaker 1: And my goodness, it's worse than we ever could imagine in hearing some of those details. But Rose, the DA has been dangling this for a while, right? Holding on to this, maybe we'll use the death penalty. We haven't made a decision about it or not. I don't know. I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise to hear that the family wants... him to pay with his life. And Rob, some of the language they used, we see a lot of statements. They sound pissed and disgusted and had choice words for him.
00:02:34
Speaker 3: Yes, and look, after seeing what they saw, hearing.
00:02:39
Speaker 2: What they heard that we all heard, we didn't get to see some of the, and I say get to, I don't think anyone wanted to see some of these autopsy photos some of these horrific photos that they actually had to leave the courtroom in some moments to not actually have to live with for the rest of their lives. But yeah, I actually think they were fairly reserved in what they said, given how I imagine I would feel, how you would feel if you had to sit through in the same courtroom with a man who you would absolutely view as a monster, to hear what he did, to hear.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: How he moved even before, during, and after what happened to your daughter? Yeah, I think this statement is understandable and maybe even understated.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: It's hard, Rose, after we heard some of the details, to imagine that anyone with a conscience was able to do this. This is different level stuff, Rose. This is not just murder. This was... intentional manipulation, luring is what they said, and Robes then going about his day and his business, going to parties, the launch. That was a four-day stretch. Do you remember how that went, Robes? It was a crazy four-day stretch of stuff that was going on.
00:03:57
Speaker 2: She basically threatened his career and his life because she was upset about his flirting or his relationships with other women and.
00:04:06
Speaker 3: And yes, he lured her to his home.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: I believe it was the next day or the following day that his album was released. Then he had an album release party. And then his tour began. And he just went about his business. And to know and to hear reports that his friends smelled what we now know was Celeste Rivas Hernandez's body.
00:04:28
Speaker 3: Somewhere in his home. And then to have, to live with that.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, we haven't figured that out, right, Rogues? We, uh. She disappeared. It was last seen late April. Her body was found September 8th.
00:04:41
Speaker 3: A year ago today.
00:04:42
Speaker 1: What did he do with her body in all that time?
00:04:45
Speaker 3: For five months.
00:04:47
Speaker 2: For five months, what did he do with her body?
00:04:50
Speaker 1: Not in a freezer, not in a robe. It takes days, and that stench is impossible to get away from. There's some of the details. She has, what, puncture wounds, right? They suggest that as soon as she walked in the door, he killed her. So they don't know what weapon might have been used, but they do say they could show that it was some kind of a sharp object in which she had these puncture wounds.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: And then he created these fake texts, where are you, trying to act as though she never showed up when he ordered that Uber for her to arrive at his home, where prosecutors say he had full plans to get rid of her.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: It's just awful. And so, yes, this family statement reads.
00:05:33
Speaker 1: You reminded me of some details, Robes. We know she had been, her body was dismembered. We know she was decomposing. Robes, they shared the details of all the stuff he bought to get, it's a body dumping kit with saws and the blue pool and tarps and all this stuff, Robes, and to hear how her body was cut. Was it in two places on the leg, one place on the arm? Yes. Is that right?
00:06:00
Speaker 2: And removed fingers that had a tattoo of his name on it so that they've never recovered. But yes, to be able to place her body in these different bags and just.
00:06:12
Speaker 3: Disregard her, it's just awful.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: And oh yeah, by the way, we're talking about the murder. By the way, he for years sexually abused a child. Really, remind me, what was the age they think it started?
00:06:28
Speaker 2: She was 11 when they first met online. Prosecutors allege the sexual relationship began when she was 13, and he was 18.
00:06:38
Speaker 1: So, yeah, Robes, it's ugh on top of ugh. Like, you can't imagine somebody capable of one of these things, even. And then there's another element to it. This is a baby, man. This is a baby. He did this stuff, too, and it's very, very difficult to get our heads around this story. The charges are murder with special circumstances. The special circumstances, of course, important because this means they can now go for the death penalty if they choose to. Also charged with sexual abuse of a minor and mutilation of human remains. Now, Roe is a family statement we'll go ahead and get into now if you have that in front of you.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: I do.
00:07:12
Speaker 1: The words you spoke of here that you said were, you can understand why they, if they had gone harder than they did.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: Yes, yes.
00:07:19
Speaker 2: If the death penalty were activated, it would be perfect for this kind of human being, devoid of feelings and emptiness inside and without conscience, who only caused pain to our daughter, our family, and the world that supports our precious daughter.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: Well, that's interesting. That way they put it, who only caused pain. He was in her life for a long time, and I'm sure there were moments where it was pleasant for her. She enjoyed it. She liked being around him. Maybe even loved him, if you go that far, Robes.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: As far as she knew what love was, yes, I would say that's fair to say.
00:07:53
Speaker 1: But that stood out to me. Him being in her life was wrong from the jump. He only caused pain. The only thing. It doesn't matter what picture you might see, the time they spent together. This is her boy. He only. That's the only thing he provided to this child.
00:08:11
Speaker 3: And you know what?
00:08:12
Speaker 2: They make a point there because also in that mini trial, in that evidentiary hearing, we also learned that Celeste Rivas Hernandez was pregnant at least once and had at least one abortion. Look, to imagine a girl that young, 13, a baby herself, now having to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. And it even sounded like in the text that we saw back and forth, she wasn't even so sure she didn't want the baby. She had extreme feelings of grief and remorse at having had to have the abortion.
00:08:48
Speaker 3: And that is just pain that no young child should have to ever deal with.
00:08:54
Speaker 1: And she was going through it alone. Like we didn't, we plan to just give the facts of this case. This is so upsetting. This is just to think she is a baby. She's a baby. And the things, you know, it's hard. How can you do this to anybody? The stuff this girl went through. Jesus Christ. You remind me of the text messages. Text messages were hard to stomach because we got a 13-year-old now.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:09:20
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:09:20
Speaker 2: Your, your baby is exactly the same age as Celeste Rivas Hernandez. And that hits, that hits hard because you put yourself, you, you would imagine what these parents must be feeling. And look, I can imagine the statement that you would release. I think it would be even more cutting than this, perhaps.
00:09:40
Speaker 1: This is impossible. It's just, I don't know, Robes, we, the horror of this story, I guess, um, I guess there's some way that people look at it and they were in a relationship, right? This was her boyfriend. It seems like some... I guess the murder was so horrific that the other part about the sexual abuse... is not as, I don't know, it's not playing as much, but that part about it, I don't know why, for whatever reason, that idea of how this child robes For a year. And she didn't have family. She was a runaway.
00:10:12
Speaker 3: She wasn't protected.
00:10:13
Speaker 2: Missing.
00:10:13
Speaker 3: She wasn't protected. That's what I'm saying. She wasn't protected by anyone.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: And a lot of people have had some harsh words for her parents as well.
00:10:21
Speaker 1: To go through an abortion on your own at 13? Yes. You think he walked her into a clinic? You think he walked her into a place to whatever?
00:10:27
Speaker 3: And I'm wondering about that clinic.
00:10:29
Speaker 2: A 13-year-old?
00:10:31
Speaker 3: I don't know what the law is. I don't know what the privacy laws are.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: I don't know if she needed to have someone with her, if someone should have been notified. Clearly, abuse was going on. She was below the age of consent. I have questions about that. If you are under the age, severely under the age of consent, and I don't know if, again, she lied about her age when she walked into that abortion clinic, but this was a 13-year-old girl or 14 at the most getting an abortion.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: How did that not raise alarms? I don't know.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: So many people failed her. The people who were closest to her. I would even say the school system she was supposed to be in, the government, like everyone failed her.
00:11:10
Speaker 1: Isn't it crazy? No one knows where a 13-year-old is, and this is not an emergency.
00:11:14
Speaker 3: And meantime, she's getting an abortion, and she's just slipped through the cracks.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go sideways. It's just, ugh, this story.
00:11:22
Speaker 3: It's something that's worth discussing.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: There were many, many, many people who failed her. Obviously, David is the one who committed the atrocities against her. But he was allowed to, unfortunately, in this vacuum. And I hate to say allowed to, but there had to be a lot of things in place for this to all have taken place. But they went on in their statement to say, it is unfathomable that our justice system qualifies... David Anthony Burke as indigent when David has five plus billion streams with 16 million monthly listeners on a single streaming platform and controls three corporations. David Anthony Burke is not indigent. His assets are protected by his companies. And look, I think that's such an important point. They're pissed off because there was a headline last week that David is no longer being represented by his high-powered company.
00:12:18
Speaker 3: Highly paid private.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: Attorneys that he is now being looked after or defended by a public defender, which means the taxpayers of California are footing his legal bill. And that is a fair question. Why should California taxpayers be paying for his defense? If he is a millionaire many times over.
00:12:41
Speaker 1: I don't know how those, how that stuff works, uh, in California, but yes, it's upsetting. Um, Right on its face. But when you stop, I do have to understand and appreciate that everybody has a right to a defense. And there's a reason they provide this. Now, if he's able to game the system in some way, that would really piss them off.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: The idea is that he's moved assets around to his companies. His father and his parents have sold homes and moved assets around. And they're protected within trusts, which means they're not legally, I guess, connected to his name.
00:13:13
Speaker 3: So he can say, look, I don't have anything.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: In my personal bank accounts, even though his music is still making money. I mean, there's a whole argument about that. Can you continue to profit? Can you continue to make money?
00:13:26
Speaker 1: What have companies, the Spotify's of the world, do they have rules about it? Have they set standards about this type of stuff? Because you can still get R. Kelly's music.
00:13:34
Speaker 2: You can still get Michael Jackson. I mean, Michael Jackson was never convicted of anything, I guess.
00:13:38
Speaker 1: But R.
00:13:38
Speaker 3: Kelly certainly has been.
00:13:40
Speaker 1: There was another high profile.
00:13:41
Speaker 3: What about Diddy?
00:13:42
Speaker 1: That music's still all over the place. Yeah. So should they take his down? Does it feel wrong? I mean, are people still listening to his music?
00:13:49
Speaker 3: I think people have a right to listen to whatever music they want to. But you're right.
00:13:53
Speaker 2: A server, a company that provides that music can make their own choices. Yeah.
00:13:58
Speaker 1: I didn't realize, they suggest here, people are still going to his music.
00:14:02
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:14:03
Speaker 1: That feels a little.
00:14:04
Speaker 2: Oh, I believe he was. His streams significantly shot up. His downloads shot up when news of all of this became apparent.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: And yes, that is disturbing.
00:14:14
Speaker 1: Are they sampling or are they fans?
00:14:16
Speaker 3: I don't know.
00:14:18
Speaker 2: That is unclear, but he has absolutely made significant amounts of money, or at least his trust has, his company has. I don't know how he's moved money around, but it does seem like that's a potential for what you would call gaming the system.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: So even though the family, yes, the family has come out and stated for everybody to hear, we want them to give him the death penalty. The DA says they are considering the death penalty. But will he ever actually be sentenced to death and then put to death in a state that has not had an execution in 20 years?
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ on this one year anniversary episode. Of that day when police found the remains, the badly decomposing remains of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
00:15:19
Speaker 3: Her birthday the day before, she would.
00:15:21
Speaker 2: Have turned 15, but police know now that she had been dead for months. And yes, yesterday would have been Celeste's 16th birthday.
00:15:33
Speaker 3: And in honor of her birthday.
00:15:35
Speaker 2: And certainly the finding of her remains, her family released a new photo.
00:15:38
Speaker 3: They released a statement.
00:15:40
Speaker 2: They say they want David Anthony Burke, they want singer David to die by lethal injection for murdering and dismembering their beautiful young teenage daughter.
00:15:53
Speaker 3: And look, yes, the DA has not ruled it out of question. He hasn't taken it off the table.
00:16:01
Speaker 2: But a lot of people point to the fact that California has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2019. Then Governor Gavin Newsom put that in place. But before that, they hadn't executed somebody since 2006, January 17th, 2006.
00:16:19
Speaker 1: So what could happen? Yes, they're in the middle of a gubernatorial election there, and depends on who gets in place, they could absolutely make a decision to lift that moratorium. You got a Democrat and a Republican at the top. Becerra has already come out, Rosen, he said he would keep the moratorium in place. Hilton, Steve Hilton, the Democrat, it's weird, he said he's not a supporter of the death penalty, but he supports the people's right to have it. He said, this is what California wants. It's in place. Who am I to say we're not going to do it? They've tried through ballot measures to.
00:16:56
Speaker 3: Lift the moratorium.
00:16:58
Speaker 1: And they keep voting it down in California. Californians say they want the death penalty. They have the option to vote, and they have voted to keep it. So what's going to happen? You could still sentence this guy to death, Robes. And then this is why some don't think there'll be a plea deal, because dangling the death penalty isn't necessarily that much of a threat because you can't guarantee, I mean, is California going to fire it up again? 10 years, 20 years, who's going to get elected governor? That's just a lot of variables. So it's not really a strong stick that the DA has.
00:17:30
Speaker 3: That makes a lot of sense.
00:17:31
Speaker 2: And look, if it's been 20 years since they've executed someone, even if they were to start the process up again, you've got two decades of people who'd been on death row for a period of time already leading up to that. So it would take quite some time. It wouldn't feel like an immediate threat for sure. 20 years. Right?
00:17:54
Speaker 1: Florida's been like 20 minutes. Yes. Florida's boom, boom, boom. And, Yeah, whoever's got Clarence, Ray Allen was the last. All those years, like 20 years, bro. That's incredible.
00:18:03
Speaker 3: That's wild. And look, the DA, Nathan Hockman, is his name.
00:18:07
Speaker 2: There are reports that he actually has delayed the decision now because these new attorneys, David's new attorneys, have to now, they had to give them additional time to submit what they call mitigation materials. So the prosecutors will consider, obviously, all of the aggravating circumstances that we've discussed, certainly the family's wishes that they've now very publicly stated, and then they'll consider Burke's new attorneys' reasons why they believe he shouldn't receive the death sentence. And after all of that is considered, they will decide. We don't know when, but certainly a decision will be made at some point.
00:18:44
Speaker 1: And this trial could be coming by the end of this year.
00:18:47
Speaker 2: Yes. They do have.
00:18:48
Speaker 1: People are going to all over the place. When the clock starts for 90 days, they were supposed to start a trial. So this could come by the end of the year. Rose, I don't know how. We listened to that preliminary hearing, all that evidence that came out of there. Insurmountable. It's insurmountable.
00:19:03
Speaker 3: And that may be why.
00:19:04
Speaker 2: Like, we don't know the reason why David let his... attorneys go and why he decided to pursue or at least ask for a public defender.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: But look, a lot of.
00:19:14
Speaker 2: Us may have reached the conclusion that, wow, when you see that evidence, what could his defense possibly be?
00:19:21
Speaker 1: It's crazy. It's insurmountable to go through the trial. I mean, I guess you got to go through it. You never know. Roll the dice. It's insurmountable. We heard all this stuff. Digitally. Text message. The Uber was ordered by him. Yeah. They can confirm where she was dropped off.
00:19:40
Speaker 3: Yes, there is physical evidence. There is digital evidence.
00:19:43
Speaker 2: There is man on the street evidence. There is every kind of evidence you would need to convict someone.
00:19:50
Speaker 3: Independent of one another. Now you've got it all together.
00:19:53
Speaker 1: They even have the evidence of him dropping off the Tesla on the street. His phone was the last connected to the Bluetooth.
00:20:02
Speaker 3: And then there's door cams.
00:20:03
Speaker 2: There's like surveillance video of him walking from the car.
00:20:07
Speaker 1: The evidence is... Insane. To salvage, what is this one? The preliminary hearing, would there be, yeah, I don't know if there'll be cameras if they did a trial. There haven't been in the prelim and the other ones, right?
00:20:19
Speaker 3: No, there hasn't.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: And all of that, this is some tough stuff to have to.
00:20:22
Speaker 2: Look, the Lindsey Clancy trial became, you know, the sensation it did, I think, in many ways because cameras were in the courtroom. But there were times where just what, Evidence was being presented was so horrific, they had to shut down the cameras. In this case, it feels like every bit of evidence would be too difficult to process.
00:20:41
Speaker 1: This is what he did to this girl. My God. So he's going to be in court again October 19th. He is going to remain in jail. There is no bail. I don't know. I told you I was a little tired. I was a little off.
00:20:56
Speaker 3: You got really emotional.
00:20:57
Speaker 1: I was talking... We were debating about possibly doing this as an episode on YouTube. I don't think I can talk about this shit again. No.
00:21:04
Speaker 3: No, you know what, though? It is true.
00:21:05
Speaker 2: I think when you have a child the same age, it hits you differently. When Newtown happened, I had a six-year-old.
00:21:12
Speaker 3: I couldn'tâ I.
00:21:14
Speaker 2: Wasâ I had PTSD for a year. It affects you because you see your child in that victim. You see an innocent girl who you love, who you're nurturing, who you'reâ Caring for her every need and to think that someone could do something to someone so innocent.
00:21:29
Speaker 1: And so young. She was just helpless, baby. She was helpless.
00:21:32
Speaker 3: It destroys you to think about it.
00:21:35
Speaker 1: So we'll keep an eye. I want to give you the update, but this... Case certainly is moving along, it appears. Robes and he'll be back in court as expected to October 19th. Is that a status hearing? Is that what that was?
00:21:45
Speaker 3: Yes, I believe it.
00:21:46
Speaker 2: And some people are saying that the clock starts then or the clock started earlier. But yes, we could see a trial date set for sure come October 19th.
00:21:56
Speaker 3: Of course, we'll stay on top of the story as we have. We always appreciate you listening to us, everyone.
00:22:00
Speaker 2: I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:22:03
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there folks, it is Tuesday, September 8th, and one year ago today, the body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was discovered in a Tesla registered to singer David. And today, her family is making clear what they want to happen to him. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. The dates kind of line up here. Yes, we're talking about today, the one-year anniversary, but yesterday was a pretty important day to the family as well.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: Yes, it would have been Celeste Rivas Hernandez's 16th birthday, and they paid tribute to her by posting a new photo of her and releasing a statement about their wishes about how they would like things to proceed in the future.
00:00:47
Speaker 1: They want him dead. That is a crass and short way to put it, but they are asking for the death penalty, Robes, and we're going to share some of the statement that they did put out. But we're hearing this from them now, and Robes, it's It's remarkable that we're sitting here. It was a year ago today.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: It feels like it was 10 years ago today. And I say that because of everything that we have learned and experienced as a public. And then I imagine, I try to imagine what that must have been like, what this year must have felt like for that family because of all of the details.
00:01:25
Speaker 3: First, there was so much mystery. There was so much concern. And then.
00:01:31
Speaker 2: It was the unthinkable, but then actually the unimaginable when we started to get the details this summer about what happened or what at least prosecutors say happened to this young teen.
00:01:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so much that we got that we were floored by came from that, what was it, five days, that preliminary hearing that went on, that mini trial that they- The prosecutors essentially laid out all the evidence they had against him. So we heard, was that in April? No, he was arrested in April.
00:01:58
Speaker 3: But July, I believe, was the hearing.
00:02:00
Speaker 1: And my goodness, it's worse than we ever could imagine in hearing some of those details. But Rose, the DA has been dangling this for a while, right? Holding on to this, maybe we'll use the death penalty. We haven't made a decision about it or not. I don't know. I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise to hear that the family wants... him to pay with his life. And Rob, some of the language they used, we see a lot of statements. They sound pissed and disgusted and had choice words for him.
00:02:34
Speaker 3: Yes, and look, after seeing what they saw, hearing.
00:02:39
Speaker 2: What they heard that we all heard, we didn't get to see some of the, and I say get to, I don't think anyone wanted to see some of these autopsy photos some of these horrific photos that they actually had to leave the courtroom in some moments to not actually have to live with for the rest of their lives. But yeah, I actually think they were fairly reserved in what they said, given how I imagine I would feel, how you would feel if you had to sit through in the same courtroom with a man who you would absolutely view as a monster, to hear what he did, to hear.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: How he moved even before, during, and after what happened to your daughter? Yeah, I think this statement is understandable and maybe even understated.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: It's hard, Rose, after we heard some of the details, to imagine that anyone with a conscience was able to do this. This is different level stuff, Rose. This is not just murder. This was... intentional manipulation, luring is what they said, and Robes then going about his day and his business, going to parties, the launch. That was a four-day stretch. Do you remember how that went, Robes? It was a crazy four-day stretch of stuff that was going on.
00:03:57
Speaker 2: She basically threatened his career and his life because she was upset about his flirting or his relationships with other women and.
00:04:06
Speaker 3: And yes, he lured her to his home.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: I believe it was the next day or the following day that his album was released. Then he had an album release party. And then his tour began. And he just went about his business. And to know and to hear reports that his friends smelled what we now know was Celeste Rivas Hernandez's body.
00:04:28
Speaker 3: Somewhere in his home. And then to have, to live with that.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, we haven't figured that out, right, Rogues? We, uh. She disappeared. It was last seen late April. Her body was found September 8th.
00:04:41
Speaker 3: A year ago today.
00:04:42
Speaker 1: What did he do with her body in all that time?
00:04:45
Speaker 3: For five months.
00:04:47
Speaker 2: For five months, what did he do with her body?
00:04:50
Speaker 1: Not in a freezer, not in a robe. It takes days, and that stench is impossible to get away from. There's some of the details. She has, what, puncture wounds, right? They suggest that as soon as she walked in the door, he killed her. So they don't know what weapon might have been used, but they do say they could show that it was some kind of a sharp object in which she had these puncture wounds.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: And then he created these fake texts, where are you, trying to act as though she never showed up when he ordered that Uber for her to arrive at his home, where prosecutors say he had full plans to get rid of her.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: It's just awful. And so, yes, this family statement reads.
00:05:33
Speaker 1: You reminded me of some details, Robes. We know she had been, her body was dismembered. We know she was decomposing. Robes, they shared the details of all the stuff he bought to get, it's a body dumping kit with saws and the blue pool and tarps and all this stuff, Robes, and to hear how her body was cut. Was it in two places on the leg, one place on the arm? Yes. Is that right?
00:06:00
Speaker 2: And removed fingers that had a tattoo of his name on it so that they've never recovered. But yes, to be able to place her body in these different bags and just.
00:06:12
Speaker 3: Disregard her, it's just awful.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: And oh yeah, by the way, we're talking about the murder. By the way, he for years sexually abused a child. Really, remind me, what was the age they think it started?
00:06:28
Speaker 2: She was 11 when they first met online. Prosecutors allege the sexual relationship began when she was 13, and he was 18.
00:06:38
Speaker 1: So, yeah, Robes, it's ugh on top of ugh. Like, you can't imagine somebody capable of one of these things, even. And then there's another element to it. This is a baby, man. This is a baby. He did this stuff, too, and it's very, very difficult to get our heads around this story. The charges are murder with special circumstances. The special circumstances, of course, important because this means they can now go for the death penalty if they choose to. Also charged with sexual abuse of a minor and mutilation of human remains. Now, Roe is a family statement we'll go ahead and get into now if you have that in front of you.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: I do.
00:07:12
Speaker 1: The words you spoke of here that you said were, you can understand why they, if they had gone harder than they did.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: Yes, yes.
00:07:19
Speaker 2: If the death penalty were activated, it would be perfect for this kind of human being, devoid of feelings and emptiness inside and without conscience, who only caused pain to our daughter, our family, and the world that supports our precious daughter.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: Well, that's interesting. That way they put it, who only caused pain. He was in her life for a long time, and I'm sure there were moments where it was pleasant for her. She enjoyed it. She liked being around him. Maybe even loved him, if you go that far, Robes.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: As far as she knew what love was, yes, I would say that's fair to say.
00:07:53
Speaker 1: But that stood out to me. Him being in her life was wrong from the jump. He only caused pain. The only thing. It doesn't matter what picture you might see, the time they spent together. This is her boy. He only. That's the only thing he provided to this child.
00:08:11
Speaker 3: And you know what?
00:08:12
Speaker 2: They make a point there because also in that mini trial, in that evidentiary hearing, we also learned that Celeste Rivas Hernandez was pregnant at least once and had at least one abortion. Look, to imagine a girl that young, 13, a baby herself, now having to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. And it even sounded like in the text that we saw back and forth, she wasn't even so sure she didn't want the baby. She had extreme feelings of grief and remorse at having had to have the abortion.
00:08:48
Speaker 3: And that is just pain that no young child should have to ever deal with.
00:08:54
Speaker 1: And she was going through it alone. Like we didn't, we plan to just give the facts of this case. This is so upsetting. This is just to think she is a baby. She's a baby. And the things, you know, it's hard. How can you do this to anybody? The stuff this girl went through. Jesus Christ. You remind me of the text messages. Text messages were hard to stomach because we got a 13-year-old now.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:09:20
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:09:20
Speaker 2: Your, your baby is exactly the same age as Celeste Rivas Hernandez. And that hits, that hits hard because you put yourself, you, you would imagine what these parents must be feeling. And look, I can imagine the statement that you would release. I think it would be even more cutting than this, perhaps.
00:09:40
Speaker 1: This is impossible. It's just, I don't know, Robes, we, the horror of this story, I guess, um, I guess there's some way that people look at it and they were in a relationship, right? This was her boyfriend. It seems like some... I guess the murder was so horrific that the other part about the sexual abuse... is not as, I don't know, it's not playing as much, but that part about it, I don't know why, for whatever reason, that idea of how this child robes For a year. And she didn't have family. She was a runaway.
00:10:12
Speaker 3: She wasn't protected.
00:10:13
Speaker 2: Missing.
00:10:13
Speaker 3: She wasn't protected. That's what I'm saying. She wasn't protected by anyone.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: And a lot of people have had some harsh words for her parents as well.
00:10:21
Speaker 1: To go through an abortion on your own at 13? Yes. You think he walked her into a clinic? You think he walked her into a place to whatever?
00:10:27
Speaker 3: And I'm wondering about that clinic.
00:10:29
Speaker 2: A 13-year-old?
00:10:31
Speaker 3: I don't know what the law is. I don't know what the privacy laws are.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: I don't know if she needed to have someone with her, if someone should have been notified. Clearly, abuse was going on. She was below the age of consent. I have questions about that. If you are under the age, severely under the age of consent, and I don't know if, again, she lied about her age when she walked into that abortion clinic, but this was a 13-year-old girl or 14 at the most getting an abortion.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: How did that not raise alarms? I don't know.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: So many people failed her. The people who were closest to her. I would even say the school system she was supposed to be in, the government, like everyone failed her.
00:11:10
Speaker 1: Isn't it crazy? No one knows where a 13-year-old is, and this is not an emergency.
00:11:14
Speaker 3: And meantime, she's getting an abortion, and she's just slipped through the cracks.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go sideways. It's just, ugh, this story.
00:11:22
Speaker 3: It's something that's worth discussing.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: There were many, many, many people who failed her. Obviously, David is the one who committed the atrocities against her. But he was allowed to, unfortunately, in this vacuum. And I hate to say allowed to, but there had to be a lot of things in place for this to all have taken place. But they went on in their statement to say, it is unfathomable that our justice system qualifies... David Anthony Burke as indigent when David has five plus billion streams with 16 million monthly listeners on a single streaming platform and controls three corporations. David Anthony Burke is not indigent. His assets are protected by his companies. And look, I think that's such an important point. They're pissed off because there was a headline last week that David is no longer being represented by his high-powered company.
00:12:18
Speaker 3: Highly paid private.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: Attorneys that he is now being looked after or defended by a public defender, which means the taxpayers of California are footing his legal bill. And that is a fair question. Why should California taxpayers be paying for his defense? If he is a millionaire many times over.
00:12:41
Speaker 1: I don't know how those, how that stuff works, uh, in California, but yes, it's upsetting. Um, Right on its face. But when you stop, I do have to understand and appreciate that everybody has a right to a defense. And there's a reason they provide this. Now, if he's able to game the system in some way, that would really piss them off.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: The idea is that he's moved assets around to his companies. His father and his parents have sold homes and moved assets around. And they're protected within trusts, which means they're not legally, I guess, connected to his name.
00:13:13
Speaker 3: So he can say, look, I don't have anything.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: In my personal bank accounts, even though his music is still making money. I mean, there's a whole argument about that. Can you continue to profit? Can you continue to make money?
00:13:26
Speaker 1: What have companies, the Spotify's of the world, do they have rules about it? Have they set standards about this type of stuff? Because you can still get R. Kelly's music.
00:13:34
Speaker 2: You can still get Michael Jackson. I mean, Michael Jackson was never convicted of anything, I guess.
00:13:38
Speaker 1: But R.
00:13:38
Speaker 3: Kelly certainly has been.
00:13:40
Speaker 1: There was another high profile.
00:13:41
Speaker 3: What about Diddy?
00:13:42
Speaker 1: That music's still all over the place. Yeah. So should they take his down? Does it feel wrong? I mean, are people still listening to his music?
00:13:49
Speaker 3: I think people have a right to listen to whatever music they want to. But you're right.
00:13:53
Speaker 2: A server, a company that provides that music can make their own choices. Yeah.
00:13:58
Speaker 1: I didn't realize, they suggest here, people are still going to his music.
00:14:02
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:14:03
Speaker 1: That feels a little.
00:14:04
Speaker 2: Oh, I believe he was. His streams significantly shot up. His downloads shot up when news of all of this became apparent.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: And yes, that is disturbing.
00:14:14
Speaker 1: Are they sampling or are they fans?
00:14:16
Speaker 3: I don't know.
00:14:18
Speaker 2: That is unclear, but he has absolutely made significant amounts of money, or at least his trust has, his company has. I don't know how he's moved money around, but it does seem like that's a potential for what you would call gaming the system.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: So even though the family, yes, the family has come out and stated for everybody to hear, we want them to give him the death penalty. The DA says they are considering the death penalty. But will he ever actually be sentenced to death and then put to death in a state that has not had an execution in 20 years?
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ on this one year anniversary episode. Of that day when police found the remains, the badly decomposing remains of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
00:15:19
Speaker 3: Her birthday the day before, she would.
00:15:21
Speaker 2: Have turned 15, but police know now that she had been dead for months. And yes, yesterday would have been Celeste's 16th birthday.
00:15:33
Speaker 3: And in honor of her birthday.
00:15:35
Speaker 2: And certainly the finding of her remains, her family released a new photo.
00:15:38
Speaker 3: They released a statement.
00:15:40
Speaker 2: They say they want David Anthony Burke, they want singer David to die by lethal injection for murdering and dismembering their beautiful young teenage daughter.
00:15:53
Speaker 3: And look, yes, the DA has not ruled it out of question. He hasn't taken it off the table.
00:16:01
Speaker 2: But a lot of people point to the fact that California has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2019. Then Governor Gavin Newsom put that in place. But before that, they hadn't executed somebody since 2006, January 17th, 2006.
00:16:19
Speaker 1: So what could happen? Yes, they're in the middle of a gubernatorial election there, and depends on who gets in place, they could absolutely make a decision to lift that moratorium. You got a Democrat and a Republican at the top. Becerra has already come out, Rosen, he said he would keep the moratorium in place. Hilton, Steve Hilton, the Democrat, it's weird, he said he's not a supporter of the death penalty, but he supports the people's right to have it. He said, this is what California wants. It's in place. Who am I to say we're not going to do it? They've tried through ballot measures to.
00:16:56
Speaker 3: Lift the moratorium.
00:16:58
Speaker 1: And they keep voting it down in California. Californians say they want the death penalty. They have the option to vote, and they have voted to keep it. So what's going to happen? You could still sentence this guy to death, Robes. And then this is why some don't think there'll be a plea deal, because dangling the death penalty isn't necessarily that much of a threat because you can't guarantee, I mean, is California going to fire it up again? 10 years, 20 years, who's going to get elected governor? That's just a lot of variables. So it's not really a strong stick that the DA has.
00:17:30
Speaker 3: That makes a lot of sense.
00:17:31
Speaker 2: And look, if it's been 20 years since they've executed someone, even if they were to start the process up again, you've got two decades of people who'd been on death row for a period of time already leading up to that. So it would take quite some time. It wouldn't feel like an immediate threat for sure. 20 years. Right?
00:17:54
Speaker 1: Florida's been like 20 minutes. Yes. Florida's boom, boom, boom. And, Yeah, whoever's got Clarence, Ray Allen was the last. All those years, like 20 years, bro. That's incredible.
00:18:03
Speaker 3: That's wild. And look, the DA, Nathan Hockman, is his name.
00:18:07
Speaker 2: There are reports that he actually has delayed the decision now because these new attorneys, David's new attorneys, have to now, they had to give them additional time to submit what they call mitigation materials. So the prosecutors will consider, obviously, all of the aggravating circumstances that we've discussed, certainly the family's wishes that they've now very publicly stated, and then they'll consider Burke's new attorneys' reasons why they believe he shouldn't receive the death sentence. And after all of that is considered, they will decide. We don't know when, but certainly a decision will be made at some point.
00:18:44
Speaker 1: And this trial could be coming by the end of this year.
00:18:47
Speaker 2: Yes. They do have.
00:18:48
Speaker 1: People are going to all over the place. When the clock starts for 90 days, they were supposed to start a trial. So this could come by the end of the year. Rose, I don't know how. We listened to that preliminary hearing, all that evidence that came out of there. Insurmountable. It's insurmountable.
00:19:03
Speaker 3: And that may be why.
00:19:04
Speaker 2: Like, we don't know the reason why David let his... attorneys go and why he decided to pursue or at least ask for a public defender.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: But look, a lot of.
00:19:14
Speaker 2: Us may have reached the conclusion that, wow, when you see that evidence, what could his defense possibly be?
00:19:21
Speaker 1: It's crazy. It's insurmountable to go through the trial. I mean, I guess you got to go through it. You never know. Roll the dice. It's insurmountable. We heard all this stuff. Digitally. Text message. The Uber was ordered by him. Yeah. They can confirm where she was dropped off.
00:19:40
Speaker 3: Yes, there is physical evidence. There is digital evidence.
00:19:43
Speaker 2: There is man on the street evidence. There is every kind of evidence you would need to convict someone.
00:19:50
Speaker 3: Independent of one another. Now you've got it all together.
00:19:53
Speaker 1: They even have the evidence of him dropping off the Tesla on the street. His phone was the last connected to the Bluetooth.
00:20:02
Speaker 3: And then there's door cams.
00:20:03
Speaker 2: There's like surveillance video of him walking from the car.
00:20:07
Speaker 1: The evidence is... Insane. To salvage, what is this one? The preliminary hearing, would there be, yeah, I don't know if there'll be cameras if they did a trial. There haven't been in the prelim and the other ones, right?
00:20:19
Speaker 3: No, there hasn't.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: And all of that, this is some tough stuff to have to.
00:20:22
Speaker 2: Look, the Lindsey Clancy trial became, you know, the sensation it did, I think, in many ways because cameras were in the courtroom. But there were times where just what, Evidence was being presented was so horrific, they had to shut down the cameras. In this case, it feels like every bit of evidence would be too difficult to process.
00:20:41
Speaker 1: This is what he did to this girl. My God. So he's going to be in court again October 19th. He is going to remain in jail. There is no bail. I don't know. I told you I was a little tired. I was a little off.
00:20:56
Speaker 3: You got really emotional.
00:20:57
Speaker 1: I was talking... We were debating about possibly doing this as an episode on YouTube. I don't think I can talk about this shit again. No.
00:21:04
Speaker 3: No, you know what, though? It is true.
00:21:05
Speaker 2: I think when you have a child the same age, it hits you differently. When Newtown happened, I had a six-year-old.
00:21:12
Speaker 3: I couldn'tâ I.
00:21:14
Speaker 2: Wasâ I had PTSD for a year. It affects you because you see your child in that victim. You see an innocent girl who you love, who you're nurturing, who you'reâ Caring for her every need and to think that someone could do something to someone so innocent.
00:21:29
Speaker 1: And so young. She was just helpless, baby. She was helpless.
00:21:32
Speaker 3: It destroys you to think about it.
00:21:35
Speaker 1: So we'll keep an eye. I want to give you the update, but this... Case certainly is moving along, it appears. Robes and he'll be back in court as expected to October 19th. Is that a status hearing? Is that what that was?
00:21:45
Speaker 3: Yes, I believe it.
00:21:46
Speaker 2: And some people are saying that the clock starts then or the clock started earlier. But yes, we could see a trial date set for sure come October 19th.
00:21:56
Speaker 3: Of course, we'll stay on top of the story as we have. We always appreciate you listening to us, everyone.
00:22:00
Speaker 2: I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:22:03
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon.