Hey there, folks.
It is Thursday, April thirtieth, and a story that we already thought was just unthinkable actually keeps getting worse now that prosecutors have released new graphic details about their case against singer David and with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Roobes. It was horrible before we got all these details.
I cannot believe the details that have been released now. This is some monstrous, methodical stuff we're talking about.
It really is.
And prosecutors said it best when they called it horrifying. That is, there's no other word to describe it. And perhaps this is one of those cautionary tales for the defense. Be careful what you wish for, or be careful what you asked for. They pushed for this evidence to be released immediately, and my goodness, given what we've just read and seen, why would they want that.
You know, they pushed in. What's the other thing they've said? We said at the very beginning when David was arrested real name David Anthony Burke, twenty one year old singer charged with first degree murder in the death of fourteen year old Celestribus Hernandez. When they first came out with their statement. You and I said, wow, we've read a lot of statements from attorneys over the years who kind of you know, they'll be cute with some words here
or there. They came out in a full throated defense. We are going to show this dude is innocent. I can't wait to hear them.
I have a one word response to that.
How can't wait?
When you see what.
The prosecutors were about to go through the page filing. This is a new evidentiary filing that the prosecutors were forced to present because of David's attorneys pushing this process quickly along, which is very unusual. Most of the time, defense teams want time to go through the evidence, prepare their defense. They don't want this all put out for public consumption. And yet here we are with eight pages of the worst horror movie I've ever seen in my life.
So this sets up, folks says we were about to go through robes is that he was arrested with April sixteenth, seventeenth when he was arrested. All right, this case has been going on for months. We were waiting to see what was gonna happen, And they're going to arrest him. They finally arrest him, we don't get a lot of details robes. So we got a few early on which were that they said he was in some kind of inappropriate sexual relationship with this girl when she was under age.
She threatened his career in some way, and that's why he had to kill her. That is essentially as most as we got that got us to this point. We were supposed to get hearing this week, and this evidence has now been presented in a new filing. You're talking about this eight pager robes it goes through. If this, how do you begin to even defense put a defense up.
If they have what they say they have.
Yes, from text messages to forensics like DNA linking the death of Celestrivus Hernandez to.
David and his home.
They have just a number of items that he purchased which would lead to how he dismembered her.
According to prosecutors.
So look from the relationship which was inappropriate, the text messages between the two, a clear motive that they've established, and then the physical evidence they have. This is a pretty overwhelming case against singer David.
All right, where you want to start.
Let's start with perhaps you know, can I say something that was really interesting to me. I didn't realize this we've been talking, as we've been telling the story that Celestia had been missing for a year and a half. I didn't realize when she was first reported missing in February of twenty twenty four, where those flyers went up. Later that month, she came back home and her parents took her cell phone away because they knew she was
having this relationship. I didn't realized that, and that then he drove the almost two hours to her house to pay off a classmate to buy her a phone so that he could continue to communicate with her. And then it sounds like in twenty twenty four, he took her all around the world, whisked her around with him, and brought her with him everywhere from London to the Hamptons. I didn't realize all that was going on, and.
I didn't realize you talk about that missing. She resurfaced and was reported missing again. And when she was reported missing again, Rose, this might be one of the most devastating details that I, for whatever reason, she's never seen again. What they believe it was April twenty third, twenty twenty five, is when he killed her. Well, on April twenty second, they say, he put her in an uber and she was driven to his home and she was never seen again.
What do you have you well, it was just April twenty third. Yeah, he sent an uber to pick her up.
Yeah, she was never seen again. He was reported missing, they say again after that moment robes he They say, lurd was the word they kept using previously. Now we're understanding a little better what they're talking about. He put her in an uber to bring her to him, to her death.
It's it's pretty disturbing. So he says that she arrived.
At his home at ten ten PM, and then at about ten thirty that night, he texted her to say where are you as a pre premeditated cover up for the fact that he had just murdered her. They believe she arrived at ten ten and by ten thirty she was already dead. And then here's the big deal. After he was texting her, they see that a couple of times, where are you?
Where are you?
He never tried to contact her again after April twenty sixth.
I said the and they know her phone there was no activity, So that's why they're so sure about when she died. But Robes, we the premeditated part we heard about, you know, right after he was arrested. Now they're saying he actually was sending messages to her phone and trying to cover up that they like to act like for later when they're looking at me, I'll this will be proof that I was just looking for.
She was in a new Bern. She never came to my house.
The other thing, how about this, So this all happened on the night of April twenty third. On April twenty four fourth, the following day, he gave a radio interview and had a record release party promoting his new album, which came out the following day on April twenty fifth.
So the timing of.
That, it doesn't make any I mean, okay, he's an innocent man. Robes, until proven guilty. This look, We've seen a lot of cases recently, Robes. I haven't seen one that is this overwhelming in evidence. I have not seen one so disturbing.
I would like to quote from the filing from the prosecutors about what they had to say, knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career, as she had threatened. Very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out. At no time did he call law enforcement or nine to one one or take her to an emergency room to attempt to save her life.
This is a fourteen year old girl, always talking about he was what at the time to see would have been twenty.
He would have been twenty.
And they said that there are text messages leading up to this day on April twenty third, that reveal Celeste's jealousy over his relationships with other women. As they claim he led her to believe that he and Celeste had a future together and she became extremely upset and threatened to disclose their inappropriate relationship.
And they have these text messages, they say, some of this back and forth. But Robe's other thing that came out. This relationship they say started when she was what thirteen at least sexual one. He was eighteen, but they had been in touch for years prior to that, since she was eleven.
Id's I don't understand that one.
Again, I as you could argue he was a kid himself at the time, Well, he would have been what sixteen maybe maybe people will.
Look at it some way differently. There.
But when he gets to eighteen and nineteen and twenty, I mean Robes, she's thirteen years old, So yes, that I didn't realize Robes that, as they explained, there seemed to be more time, more history, more years, more depth. Even if you can forgive me for that one to their relationship, then I certainly previously understood they were in a full on relationship. She broke up with him and then got jealous, and there was a back and forth.
At least Robes that sounded like a normal, if you will, relationship between two consenting adults.
Except for that she was far, yes, beneath the age of consent.
Yes, she wrote to him.
They showed some text messages about all we do is have sex and just hang out.
Man, I want more than that for myself.
So you know, they discussed their sexual relationship in these texts. It's undeniable, according to prosecutors, back and forth and back and forth. But they also say that when you look at these text messages, it clearly shows how David was manipulating her because he was an adult and she was a child.
How do you okay he is an innocent man until proven guilty. Now, all this we've discussed, now Robes, it sounds awful. You can't even imagine that this story can get worse.
Robes.
Every time they release a new detailed about this story, I go, are you freaking kidding me? This gets more and more monstrous, which includes robes, all of these orders he made and his Amazon and Postmate deliveries. Are you freaking kidding me?
It's sickening.
Actually, so he purchased will explain an inflatable pool, two chainsaws, a shovel, a body bag, heavy duty laundry bags, and other materials under a fictitious name Victoria Mendez.
I have no idea why he used that.
Name, but got all of these items delivered to his home.
You have the dates.
What was April twenty fourth, You have the day in May, April and May, and then there was a later one in July that got me. So let's start with what he ordered. Chainsaws. I guess that's pretty self explanatory. Bodybags, kind of pretty self explanatory props. Yes, you pointed out, and the prosecutors made a point to point out how important that inflatable swimming pool was.
Yes, they say that he basically dismembered her body in this inflatable pool to try and stop the blood from spilling onto his garage floor, which it still did, because that is among the evidence that prosecutors say they now have, which is DNA from Celestrivus Fernandez from this blood stain that they found in the garage. But the inflatable pool was meant to prevent that from happening.
IW that what that suggests ro you're talking about premedage. This was a lot of thought and landing into what he did. Maybe not initially, but we've seen another case like this recently. Forgive me, I can't remember the guy's name, but it was a dismemberment case that sure enough, after they believe the woman died, the guy goes out, they have all these receipts of all this stuff he started buying to try to chop up and get.
Rid of a body. This plays exactly.
Like that, yes, because they believe, yes, he used those two chainsaws and some other tools they said, to dismember her body in that inflatable pool, and then he amputated. We mentioned we knew this that he amputated two fingers. It was not the tattoo because they did actually use that to help identify her body. Initially, he amputated her left ring and pinky fingers, according to prosecutors, because they say her ring finger contained a tattoo of his name.
Now those fingers have not been found, they have not been recovered, but according to people who knew her, she had his name on her ringing.
That's crazy.
I will give you krit this is and you're right, you caught that detail. Like this case has been studied since September. When I say studied by internet sleuths. They've been on top of this story since her body was found last September and connecting and piecing together her relationship with David, and they finding old live streams, they're finding old photos, and they kind of pieced together their relationship online. And one thing they pointed out Robes was she appeared
to have that tattoo on her finger. And when we first heard the fingers had been ammutated, a lot of folks jumped to that conclusion immediately. I remember being on the podcast with you and you say, wait a second, it's not the right hand, it's not the correct hand, and we didn't understand, but you caught. We've been following the story so closely that you knew immediately that's the wrong hand.
It's the wrong hand. It was the left hand. And you know what that says to me. She put his name on her left ring finger. She wanted to marry this guy. She wanted to marry him. She was in love with him. You don't put someone's name on your left ring finger unless that's the person who you think you're going to marry.
But you also do it if you're thirteen.
You don't know any better, and a grown man's manipulating you.
You know what I'm saying.
I yes, it was serious to her. It was more significant to her. I don't doubt that at all. But she is a baby, a baby, And to hear, man, it gets worse. It's almost some stuff I didn't even I would rather not hear. Let me just let me hear the charge, not the details. To think this happened to a baby.
Man, it's just awful.
And when we come back, there are even more details why that pool is so important, what his friends and business associated associates notice, and how they are sure that David is the one who parked that tesla a few blocks away from his home. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ, where we are going over there.
The horrified, the grizzly, the unthinkable, the stomach turning details about what prosecutors allege singer David did to fourteen year old Celeste Reeves Hernandez, from their relationship which was wildly inappropriate and criminal, to the murder itself, the motive behind it, and then the method to how he got rid of her body. It's all beyond disturbing these eight pages this court filing. Just when you think the story can't get
more shocking, it does. I found this particular detail. I don't know if you did, Babe, to just be so deeply concerning and also confusing why it took them so long to arrest him. Apparently David was lying to his friends, to his business associates, and to other people who had come over to his home or be in his vehicle and complain.
About the strong smell of decay.
Several people commented to him and said aloud, why does your home smell like a rotting body.
It's unmistakable, frankly, that smell and robes.
My biggest question through all that, I don't know if they have dates on those visits and when people were over to the house. But I thought it was crazy that they said July seventh is when he ordered a bum cage, a cage to be used to essentially want to burn some stuff, get rid of something. Robes, if he's still planning and trying to get rid of her body she disappeared in April, Where is her body? Where is he storing her from April to July, robes and
then obviously goes on to September. But Robes all this stuff he or how long does it take a body to start smelling and decaying? Days?
Days, babe.
And by the way, Burke was the last person to drive that vehicle. They can actually place him in the Tesla where he parked it on July twenty ninth, so we know that that's when her body was, at least at that point put in his car. But yes, that is a significant amount of time for a body to be decomposing in a body bag.
It was in the house, then, I mean that suggests it was her body was in the house the whole time, and he had people coming over.
He had people coming over complaining about a smell. Now there was also small blue plastic fragments that they found embedded and Celestes remains, and it was a physical match, an absolute match to the blue fragments from the blue inflatable pool, so they can directly tie her body to that pool, which was purchased by David on Amazon and delivered to his home.
So these are just all of these. There are so.
Many dots that they have connected, pointing all back to singer David. Also, people had made note of the trips he was allegedly taking to Santa Barbara. They didn't know what that was all about. Well, apparently they found items from Celeste in the area where he was in Santa Barbara, including her passport and other identifiable items. So again they can directly from a GPS standpoint pinpoint him to the location where they found some of her items that had
been discarded. So it's just one thing after another legally evidentiary. It's all pointing to David.
Anthony Burke will wait, right, we always do this in cases robes. We hear overwhelming evidence and then we hear the defense make a defense, and we go, okay, well we'll listen, but this is unbelievable what they've laid out, Robes said, there was a lot of criticism for the police department for what they are releasing enough information. They haven't been giving up public updates. They had the medical examiner seal the reports so it wouldn't be public before
they were ready. Robes, do what you gotta do, Police, Robes. This is an overwhelming case that you need to get right. And I'm looking at all of this they had to do and all all they had to collect to present this now to what looks like an absolute air tight case. They want to get this rightes it hats off to them. This is a It's been a very difficult investigation for months, and dealing with something like this publicly, there's a rare cases Robes where we give them credit where credits do
but Robes. I can't imagine the gargantuan investigative task this was, and to do it with such public scrutiny. This is one I will give cops their.
Guests, and I am impressed at their ability to prevent leaks. There were almost no leaks on this case. You know something else before we go that stood out to me. I wanted to see if you had any thoughts on it. I talked about what prosecutors showed in these in this filing about all the places that he had taken to her taken her to in twenty twenty four Vegas, London, But one thing stood out to me Texas to meet his family.
I am just so curious.
We had stories about how prosecutors, or at least they were trying to bring his parents to that grand jury to testify.
Not sure if that ever happened.
Those are secret proceedings, but to think that he brought her to meet his family, that really that shocked me.
I mean, I did go to some suggestion about what this relationship was that we don't fully understand. We know it was inappropriate, at least according to authorities. They say it was wrong. What was that friendship? Like when there's a sixteen year old kid an eleven year old kid, which is what they were right, What do.
You have in common with an eleven year old when you're sixteen nothing.
You're about to go a certain direction in your life. This kid is going to is many years before catching up. I don't know. I don't know ropes And does that even matter, No, it doesn't matter how old you were at the beginning of it. Happened matters how old you were at the end, and this is a grown man and this is a baby.
And they found we don't know the details as to who, or how many or how much would they set a significant amount of child pornography on his phone when they went through his devices.
So including sexual images of Celestrievus Hernandez.
Correct, Yeah, that is among the mounds of evidence they have. But photos of their sexual behavior, certainly that's disturbing. And also I forgot to mention they also have text messages that refer to pregnancy, abortion and plan be emergency contraceptive. So there was a suggestion perhaps that maybe even at one point celest was pregnant.
Like we say, every new detail, it's almost like just I don't want to hear anymore. This is it keeps getting worse. But this is a significant story. A lot of people keeping an eye on. We are doing the same. And again this is a reminder, with all this and all the headlines and scandal you're going to see, this is about a fourteen year old baby that met her demise and was left in the trunk of a Tesla on a car, in a car, just on a random street, just discarded in that way, and there was a tragedy
of her life even before she died. But man, this is a tough story, Robes. What's his next couple of things?
He has a court hearing on May twelfth, That is next as far as we know.
But yet we do not expect him. He is no bail right now, and I can't imagine any suggestion and we haven't mentioned it here, Robes, but couldn't imagine any chance of him getting bail of any kind because this is a potential death penalty case.
It is a potential death penalty case. Prosecutors have not ruled that out. Not sure when they'll make that decision, but certainly it qualifies for the death penalty with the charges that he is facing murder, continuous sexual abuse, and unlawfully mutilating a body. We will stay on top of this one for you, everybody. We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roeboch alongside TJ.
Holmes. We will talk to you soon.